The remainder of NASCAR season
Garrett Hall April 28, 2022
As the semester draws to an end, many of the nation’s big sports are beginning either playoffs or a big moment like the draft. One sport that is very close to me the Nascar cup series. Only 10 weeks into the season, and eight different drivers in victory lane. The Nascar season is nowhere close to done, though it’s never too early to look at playoffs and who may make a jump late in the season prior to the playoffs.
A few drivers who are close to the cutoff point are Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch. All five of these drivers have shown competitive charge and drive to win a race or even continuously make top 10’s. Going through the list, names who scream out a win is coming are Suarez and Jones. Jones almost had a win this past Sunday at Talladega before Kyle Larson tried to go around him and caused a big wreck that took Jones out of the lead. Jones has really progressed since he left Joe Gibbs Racing for Petty GMS Motorsports. Even with Jones still not consistently ending in the top 15 or closer, he is showing he’s a guy to look out for in upcoming races. Jones is strong at Super Speedways similar to Wallace and Buescher. There are three races where NASCAR runs a superspeedway gain in the season. These are going to be the points to watch for these three drivers to secure a win.
Looking at Bubba Wallace, he is showing a little bit of struggle and strength. He currently is 21st in points and most likely a must win driver to get in the playoffs. Again, Wallace is strong at superspeedways, but he also has shown this season at the only road course he has gained abilities at the road courses. He may have a chance at Indy in late July, or Gateway in June. Both of these are a place Wallace may get a win due to the fact both are new to the series (Indy road course having one year in cup). We saw how wild Indy can get with the configuration, the fact the straight in the rear is where most issues are coming out of the turtle. Wallace has a chance at Gateway due to the fact it’s a new track and from what we’ve seen the last two new tracks we added we’ve had a shock winner (Joey Logano at Bristol 21’ and Clash in LA).
Looking at Daniel Suarez, he really looks like he can win anywhere. This season he has been pretty solid on all the different track types Cup Series runs. He is showing potential on road courses and ovals at speedways like auto club, phoenix and Atlanta. Two of these are just speedways, and Atlanta is now a superspeedway. To truly narrow the track Suarez can win at is almost impossible. His situation is similar to Wallace, where his win could come at a track we’ve never raced or haven’t seen in a while.
Chris Buescher is a wild card here, as he has shown the chances to win this season. The only thing with his chances they don’t last long. He is a short run driver who needs to get a caution or green flag pitstop that puts him out front with 10-15 to go. Beuscher may have a chance at the upcoming throwback race at Darlington, since Darlington is known for cautions and bringing out the edge on drivers. Meaning that Beuscher may try some different tactics such as early green flag pitstops, or only taking two tires on one side. This would be similar to Jones who almost owns that tactic.
Kurt Busch is the final on my list of drivers who could make a slide into the playoffs. Kurt is a veteran of the sport and a champion, and he has shown he can’t be counted out until it’s over. Kurt in 2020 shocked the world with a surprise win at his hometown track of Vegas. The only difference this year is Kurt is in a different car than the last few years. He’s running a car for a team that is only two years old and doesn’t have much footing or confidence. This isn’t to say Kurt can’t win, since he almost did it at Talladega and Atlanta. The track Kurt could win at is Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600.
A thank you to my fellow Sycamores
Garrett Hall April 28, 2022
First and foremost, I must say thank you. I would never have written even a single article if it wasn’t for the Sycamore student body who pushed me. I am so grateful to this university and the newspaper for what it has done for me. Showing me the passion I didn’t know I had for sports writing, the drive writing gave me to write for those who read the paper.
I have only written for two years but I owe so much to those around me and the ones who came before. Without the writers and editors who helped make the Indiana Statesman what it is, there would be no sports section. Even though they may not know their passion or know what their future may bring, I must say thank you to those who come next. To some the position of “sports editor” is simply a title. Though to me it’s more than that, it was a time to truly unveil what I love. It was a moment to see athletics from a different point of view. I was able to analyze and critique what I saw with more than just friends, but rather with an entire university. This position was a chance to meet great athletes, coaches and personnel. If I was to give one quote of what I’ve learned, it would have to be don’t be afraid to call on what you see, question what is happening, and never let people silence you. Write the truth and be a voice for the student body on athletics.
Now for the other side of the road, photography. I have been a photographer for three years, and editor for two. My time as an editor was short but it felt like a lifetime, I got to cover many of ISU’s best, from a new era in women’s and men’s basketball to breaking news on campus. As said before, this job wouldn’t be as great as it has without the students who gave tips on things or even pushed to make sure fellow students got coverage. For the next photo editor, I promise this job isn’t going to be easy. There will be days you feel like it is, then others you will feel as if you are a one-man army. Photography isn’t meant to be easy, it meant to be tough and challenging. Don’t be afraid to be tough on your photographers, not because they are bad but because you see their potential and they just need that little push. You will have people quit, you will have people who are new to it, but at the end of the day only you can help them grow.
Once again, I must say thank you ISU, and with that this is the end of the road. It’s time to turn down a new path and someone else to take this road and maneuver its ups, downs, curves, and most of all lead the Sycamores with weekly sports news.
End of an era at Joe Gibbs Racing?
Garrett Hall April 25, 2022
The two-time Nascar cup series champion Kyle Busch has spoken on his contract ending in 2023 with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). When Kyle was asked if he knew of the extension that many have been waiting on, he told Bob Pockrass, “ask Joe Gibbs.”
Many fans have speculated about the departure of Busch ever since 2020 when he had a lackluster season and showed frustration with the team. Busch has also shown that he isn’t happy with the car he’s been driving the last two years. Busch has only gotten three wins in the last two years.
Joe Gibbs owner of JGR said that he is confident they will secure a contract with Busch. Busch has been with JGR since 2008 after he was let go from Hendricks motorsports. Busch is 39 and would be a top free agent driver if he does in fact depart from JGR. He recorded his 60th cup series win at Bristol in his last lap victory in the dirt race.
Busch isn’t the only driver many fans see leaving or retiring soon. Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr are both nearing the end of their careers, Hamlin seems to be only staying a driver due to the lack of a championship on his resume. Truex has a championship from his underdog season in 2017 with Furniture Row Racing. Truex doesn’t seem to really want to be an active driver for much longer with his wife still fighting Ovarian cancer. Truex has been open on the topic as in March he stated the next gen car could speed up his retirement plans. Truex last year was in the championship four alongside of teammate and questionable future at JGR Denny Hamlin.
The fan speculation around the future of JGR is Christopher bell being the veteran and bringing in John Hunter Nemechek, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs. All three are strong in their respective series. If fan theories are true, we may see this new generation of JGR by 2024. It’s very obvious that owner of JGR and grandfather of Ty Gibbs wants to see his grandson in the cup series soon. Gibbs has already had a successful time in Xfinity series as he has won three races this season and won four last year running part time. John Hunter Nemechek, who has run the cup series with lower level teams, is showing strong presence in the truck series with a championship appearance last year for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM). Nemechek doesn’t have a win this year, though he won 11 truck race last year and was the regular season champion. Brandon Jones, who hasn’t really shown his superstar abilities is young driver and is still learning xfinity. To date, he has won one race this season, while Jones won three races in 2020. However, Jones had no victories last year.
As the cup series continues more and more information will come out on the 2015 & 2019 champion Kyle Busch. It is expected we know more in late September or early October.
Talladega opens her gates for another classic in the making
Garrett Hall April 20, 2022
Nascar is headed to Talladega this weekend and the famous track is expected to create big moments and intense racing. The track is known for its big wrecks and the feuds that come with racing there.
A feud many fans will be watching to boil over is between Chase Elliott and Cody Ware. The two drivers had a moment at Bristol last weekend when Ware tried to dump Elliott after they made contact. Whether the two will get a chance to battle it out and possibly wreck each other is all based on where each of them qualifies. This means the chance of the two being next two each other is slim to none, maybe in lap traffic is Elliott is leading and coming up on Ware. Ware is in a lower tier car that doesn’t get much time in the front of the pact, he is usually sitting mid pact in 28-30.
The talk of the next first-time winner is the biggest buzz with the way both Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick have run the first eight races of the season. Both drivers have had their chance at a win, with Reddick being the most recent last Sunday at Bristol. Looking at Reddick’s past at Talladega, he has a solid past. Reddick is also pretty quick at the track with having his 2/4 starts being in 20th or back. Both of those races ended with him finishing in 7th place both times. His other two starts aren’t as good, with 39th and 20th place finishes. His 39th place finish was due to an accident though so it truly doesn’t show or count to his driving abilities. Taking this finish away Reddick is easily a top contender to win this race, he’s been close before and there is no doubt in mind that he couldn’t bring home the checkered flag this Sunday.
The other driver who is being thrown around for a chance at his first win is Daniel Suarez. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders as Ross Chastain, his teammate, has already captured the team’s first win. Suarez has run at Talladega ten times in his Cup series career, only having one top ten and several 20 or back finishes. However, Suarez does seem to have a better understanding of his car this year than any time before. If Suarez doesn’t win this race this weekend he easily can have a top ten with the pace and abilities he has shown this past eight races.
Talladega kicks off Friday at 5:30 with Xfinity Qualifying. Saturday has a full day starting at 11am with the Cup series qualifying, followed by ARCA race at 1pm. Ending Saturday is the Xfinity series at 4pm. To end the weekend, the Cup series runs their race at 3pm.
The return of Bristol Dirt
Garrett Hall April 18, 2022
On Sunday afternoon NASCAR made its second appearance on dirt at Bristol Motor speedway. This year with a different combination for the dirt, a new car, and new rules. Last year’s Bristol dirt race was a massive failure, from running during the day causing drivers to have no vision to too dry of dirt to add to the vision issues.
This year’s dirt race however was significantly better. The new combination of the dirt and clay compacted quick to keep the dirt in the air down. The drivers were able to see and the next gen car reacted pretty well to the dirt. Yes, this race had its downs & the next gen car also had its downs such as dirt being able to slip into the engine from the hood vents. This happened to three drivers, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, and Austin Dillon. Some downsides of the dirt race this year were more on the fact the new rules they enacted for pit stops and stage breaks. This was one major rule that confused drivers and fans, at the end of a stage the field is frozen after the 10th place car [asses start finish. This is to make sure that a caution/pit stop is noncompetitive. Making it so if a car pits during the stage break and say a red flag for weather comes out (we saw this twice) the leader at the end of the stage would be scored the winner of the race. Now contrary to a normal race where if you pit but other cars on the lead lap stay out the new leader is the car that stayed out. For instance, last night after the half way point of the race rain came after the stage end, Chase Briscoe who was the stage winner pitted and Kyle Busch stayed out, under normal rules Busch would be the leader. Not under the new rule for dirt tracks though, he only becomes the leader after the caution during the stage break and the green flag is waved again. This is what happened after the first rain delay, and again after the second delay Tyler Reddick was the leader.
Besides the rules and next gen car issue, the racing was amazing. We saw these new cars take a beating and saw some great passes. We saw the dominance of Kyle Busch who tied Richard Petty record for most consecutive seasons with a win. Busch was a monster on dirt who himself said he wasn’t a fan of and felt it took them backwards. Though this feeling of the track didn’t stop him from pushing to the lead early in the third and final stage, falling back due to condition of the banking dirt, and then taking the win after Briscoe and Reddick spin out.
The aftermath of the Bristol dirt race was a great moment even, Busch was called out on twitter for “backing into the win”, this being a call back to how he called Alex Bowman lucky and he only backs into wins. Busch though took this with pride and said he did but he still takes a win no matter the way to do it.
The other drivers the fans were waiting to see post-race were Briscoe and Reddick, due to the ending many fans expected a fight or an altercation. Rather we got to see how two drivers who respect each other talk it out. Briscoe came up to Reddick’s car mid interview to apologize and both drivers laughed about the ending. Briscoe ended with telling Reddick “that should have been you winning”.
The Bristol dirt race definitely wasn’t perfect but it showed that we can run a dirt course, and have a nearly perfect one next year or in a few years. This race was easily a 7/10 race, would be a higher ranked race if we didn’t have two rain delays.
NASCAR makes its way to Talladega next weekend with ARCA practice Friday and Xfinity qualifying. Saturday is a double header with the ARCA Menards series and Xfinity, then Sunday with the Cup Series at 3pm.
Is WWE learning from its mistakes?
Garrett Hall April 4, 2022
In the past few years, sports fans who follow Bleacher report and other big-name sports brands on social media have shed more light on the WWE and its competitor AEW. Both of the brands have been making waves by bringing big name stars like Rhonda Rousey and Pat McAfee. AEW is bringing in the stars we grew up watching form the 90’s-2000’s. AEW giving storylines that feel similar to what many fans love such as The Hardy boys going extreme. Jericho being the X factor star running the business.
Many people of Gen Z who either grew up watching wrestling or maybe have brothers or sisters who loved it will remember the Monday and Friday nights staying up late to watch Raw and Smackdown. It seems that this is returning amid the pandemic, with more people getting back in touch with their former love for pro wrestling.
This takes us to this past Saturday and Sunday, which was WrestleMania 38, the Return to WWE of Cody Rhodes. This sparked a larger than life pop from the crowd, chanting “Cody, Cody, Cody...” and other names he went by six years ago when he left the brand. Rhodes himself said that his return was to cap off the legacy his father, the late great Dusty “American Dream” Rhodes left behind. Cody was one of the first stars to leave the brand back in 2016 to create AEW. Rhodes had many moments where he called WWE out. Many of these were directed at Triple H, the son in law of Vince McMahon. H was in charge of the way stars were used along with his father in law. They both decided to use Rhodes as a jobber (to make other stars look better). In other words, taking a generational talent and basically throwing in the trash.
Six years later at Mania, Rhodes returns in his gimmick/character he created and bloomed at AEW, shocking many fans that he was allowed to stay in this character. Almost as if the WWE has saw how they messed up and are wanting to fix that wrong. As of now there isn’t any known talk of whether Rhodes is going to get the title shot against the newly unified WWE universal champion Roman Reigns.
The return of Rhodes leaves many fans guessing. Are we going to see a return of some departed stars who went to AEW? As unlikely as it sounds, if WWE can show they aren’t looking to waste the talent we may see returns of some big names.
Since Rhodes’ departure, WWE has since realized their main problem with why they had to waste so much talent, roster size. WWE has since released almost three fourths of the roster they had in 2016. They did this so wrestlers would be able to do what they love without sitting at home waiting for the call to compete. Plus, WWE has become more lenient since 2016 on talent going and working small independent scenes and created a deal with IMPACT wrestling to cross platforms with wrestler, though we have only seen that so far with Mickey James at Royal Rumble. It does seem WWE is trying to fix the issues they have had, but storyline is their biggest issue. It looks as if they are currently trying to fix that too.
Gamecocks win women's NCAA
Garrett Hall April 4, 2022
South Carolina beat the no. 2-seeded UConn Sunday night, a year after their tough loss in the final four for 2020. South Carolina was 14-0 against ranked teams in the top 25 this season, and became the eighth program in women’s NCAA basketball to win multiple national titles. South Carolina’s history making wasn’t finished there though. They were also the 12th team to be ranked 1 to go and win the entire tournament.
The women’s national player of the year and Gamecocks junior forward, Aliyah Boston, recorded her 30th double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Boston was also named the final four MVP.
The Gamecocks head coach (Staley) is also now a two-time National champion with her title in 2017 with Mississippi State. She is also first Black coach to win multiple titles in the NCAA Division I national basketball championships. Staley’s Gamecocks are the first team to give UConn a tournament loss after a 14-0 streak.
Destanni Henderson, the Gamecocks Guard, became the first player since 2000 to set a career high in the national championship game, with 26 points in the final game of her career. She also had four assists, two rebounds, and heavy defense against the women’s national player of the year (2021), Paige Bueckers. Henderson only allowed Beuckers to score 14 points.
Henderson spoke on her record game stating, “I really didn’t know I had a career high, to be honest with you.” Henderson wasn’t here to set records, she was here to win a natty. She showed that with a quick 3-pointer shot only 22 seconds into the game, giving the Gamecocks a lead. Her fellow players showed this by scoring the first 13 of 15 points in the game, leading to a 30-12 advantage early in the second. UConn was able to cut this with a 15-5 run before halftime to go to 35-27.
Coming off Half the Gamecocks looked unlike the team we saw in the first half, letting UConn go on a 10-0 run to 43-37. Though this only fired the Gamecocks up and they fired off the last three points of the third and six of the first eight points of the fourth to cushion their lead.
Even UConn Head coach Geno Auriemma says the Gamecocks deserved this national title. "They were the best team all year. The first five minutes I thought they came out and set the tone right then and there for how the game was going to be played." Stated Auriemma.
Fudd’s and Buecker’s 3’s made it a 10-point game and the Huskies couldn’t bring the game back in their favor. The Gamecocks ended the game with a 15-point lead to win 64-49. South Carolinas record after the tournament sits at 35-2. Their only losses came from Mizzou (12/30) and Kentucky (3/6).
It's time to go short track racing
Garrett Hall March 30, 2022
Nascar moves into Virginia this weekend and prepares to hit the “premier short Track of America,” as Richmond Raceway is called. Many fans are curious if the streak of new winners will continue. Also, fans are asking, “is Hendrick no longer a power house?”
Richmond is a 3/4-mile track and has brought some of the best racing we have seen in the past few years. There is no doubt the race weekend will be packed with some great racing and some great feuds.
Though this isn’t what fans are talking about on social media, fans are more curious about the fact we haven’t had a repeat winner this season. We have seen six different drivers in victory lane this year, with three of them being first time winners in the cup series. The fans are wanting to see more of this and its more likely we will, with the likes of Daniel Suarez, AJ Allmendinger and Tyler Reddick showing they are oh so close to capturing the checkered flag.
Another massive question stirring around the fan base is Hendricks struggles this season so far. Three of their four drivers have gone to victory lane, and surprisingly Chase Elliott is the only one who hasn’t won yet. His struggle has been due to the fact that his pit crews can’t get the pit stop down. Since Elliott has been fast all season so far, he can’t seem to keep up on the race off pit road. Some may even say he is just not getting a handle of the Next-Gen car. Though you look back at Elliott a year ago with six races in he was in this same predicament: winless and he didn’t get that first win until 14 races in, almost halfway through the season. You can say the same with Hendrick Motorsports, they looked rough a year ago after week six. The only winners for Hendrick this time last year? William Byron and Kyle Larson. To say they aren’t a powerhouse is way too early to say, they look stronger than last year with three wins.
The real surprise this season so far though is the fact that Joe Gibbs Racing hasn’t won a race yet, even with Christopher bell, Martin Truex Jr, and Kyle Busch have gotten eight top ten finishes combined. Yes, most of these are out of the top 5 but it shows they are there, yet they just can’t capitalize. Though we can expect to see them come out with a win soon as we head in to Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol over the next three weeks. Since 2019 Joe Gibbs Racing has won eight races at these tracks combined. The most recent winner at each of these tracks for Joe Gibbs. Truex Jr. at Martinsville & Richmond (playoffs) in 2021, and Kyle Busch at Bristol in 2019.
The Nascar weekend starts on Friday afternoon with the Whelen Modifieds on Flo Racing at 6:30pm. The trucks don’t run this weekend at Richmond, their next race is on April 7th at Martinsville. Xfinity and Cup Series kick off Saturday morning with the Xfinity practice (8:30am) & Qualifying (9am) followed by Cup practice (10:30am) and qualifying (11:15am). To End Saturday is the Xfinity Series race (ToyotaCare 250) at 1:30pm. Sunday kicks off with Nascar Race day on FS1 followed by the Nascar Cup Series at 3:30 for the Toyota Owners 400. “Boogity Boogity lets go racin boys!” – Darrell Waltrip
Should Browns be ashamed of signing Watson?
Garrett Hall March 28, 2022
Just over a week ago, the Cleveland Browns announced a mega trade to get Deshaun Watson. Many were quick to say this shouldn’t have happened due to the current allegations against Watson. Many teams and players have put their opinions out for the world to see. Many of them saying something along the lines of “disgusted” “ashamed” or even “the Browns being Browns, setting their morals aside.”
Fans took to twitter to give their opinions, with @gracefaceRQM tweeting, “‘We're no longer @Browns fans.’ My husband, who has been the most faithful #Browns fan for decades just said words I never expected. Because this franchise chose a QB with 22 civil suits alleging sexual assault/misconduct & are awarding him $230M.”
Once again, the NFL and its fans are being hypocrites. Look back at players like Adrian Peterson and Ray Lewis. There are many great NFL athletes who were convicted on crimes and still teams were in talks with them to come back. Where is Deshaun Watson in this case? Not being convicted. Both courts who were in talks of conviction or trial have decided to not convict the QB.
As a Browns fan, NFL fan in general, it’s a shock teams were wanting to get him for the allegations. But when the courts decided to not convict the QB there should’ve been no surprise for the trade rumors. Anyone who is a fan of the NFL shouldn’t feel disgusted by this. We know the Browns are going to do whatever they need to in order to win a ring. The NFL is a game of winning and the NFL isn’t going to let an elite QB walk away from the game if they can win big on him. The Browns, Colts, Raiders, and a few other teams were all in contact with the Texans the day he was announced to not being convicted. Why is there outrage now that the Browns have acquired Watson? Is it because these other teams didn’t get him? Is it because the Browns gave him a guarantee even if he’s suspended by the NFL?
At the end of the day, Cleveland won the Watson trade race, and they are in contention for a big playoff run. After the Watson acquisition they are sitting at a +1700 to win the Super Bowl, while before the trade they were a +4000 to win.
The Browns offense currently looks like a super team with Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper, D'Ernest Johnson, Kareem Hunt, and others who are currently in talks with the Browns to return/come to Cleveland (Jadeveon Clowney, Odell Beckham Jr, Ryan Switzer).
NASCAR returns to Austin, Texas
Garrett Hall March 23, 2022
NASCAR and its three divisions return this weekend to the great state of Texas to run the first road course of the 2022 season. Circuit of the Americas is a 3.14-mile road course featuring over 20 turns. When Nascar made its inaugural stop here in 2021 it was quite a show due to the weather and the battle between the Hendrick leaders Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. As of now there isn’t any chance for rain, unlike last year when it poured the entire time and the race was cut short due to the weather.
No matter the weather last season we know that COTA will give us an amazing race, and we get to see the Next Gen car for the first time on a road course. The obvious pick to win is Chase Elliott, he’s practically the king of road courses. Before COTA last year, Elliott had won five of the last six road course races. Since COTA 2021, Kyle Larson has won the last three out of four road courses.
So far both of the top Hendrick drivers have had their own troubles trying to get wins. Larson has one win and Elliott doesn’t have a win yet in 2022. COTA could easily be the one course to get Elliott back in swing to win a race. Larson and Elliott both are set to be going back and forth for the win. Knowing you can’t count either of them out means that even if they look to be falling back or losing their momentum, they won’t be back there long. They expect a caution or are saving to make a big run farther into the race.
In the current standing of points, Larson sits in 12th while Chase Elliott is the points leader by 7 points ahead of Joey Logano. The top five in points is (9) Chase Elliott, (22) Joey Logano, (14) Chase Briscoe, (24) William Byron, and (45) Kurt Busch.
NASCAR kicks off their weekend on Friday afternoon with the Camping world Trucks practice at 3pm on FS1. The NASCAR Cup Series will kick off their weekend Saturday Morning at 10am (FS1) for practice, 11am for Qualifying (FS1), and the race Sunday at 3:30pm on Fox.
Matty Ice to be traded to Indianapolis
Garrett Hall March 21, 2022
On Monday afternoon Adam Schefter broke the news that veteran QB Matt Ryan will be traded to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts gave a third round pick for Ryan, but many doubt his abilities and wonder if he will just be another first year QB.
After getting Ryan, the Colts will have started seven different QB’s in the last 4 years since Andrew Luck retired. Ryan will be the fifth under Coach Frank Reich.
Ryan’s stats are definitely more welcoming and better looking than Carson Wentz, though many fans are citing his last few years as a flaw. Few fans remember that the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead and lost their entire team in the following years. The final member of their Super Bowl appearance was Matt Ryan.
The Colts may have found their starter for the next 2-3 years. Ryan is a Gold standard QB who has been stuck in Atlanta with a team who hasn’t had a winning record in four years. The same team who wanted to get rid of all of Ryan’s weapons and left him with lackluster talent. The Colts who also are in a rebuild period since 2018, have the weapons and the run game to ensure Ryan can win games. Ryan is known for having a deep ball pass, putting him in the same uniform as the Colts’ WR’s T.Y Hilton and Michael Pitman Jr. These three will be connecting with deep threat TD’s in week one.
Again, fans have to remember that Ryan is just a filler until the Colts can either find a QB in the draft, or GM Chris Ballard feels that Sam Ehlinger is ready to be a franchise QB. It’s pretty clear that the Colts aren’t ready for him to start, though they’ve put him in the same room as many great veterans this past year and next season. Ryan is going to hopefully be the last Veteran we have to see before Ehlinger is ready to be a starter and a Franchise QB.
As a fan, the trade is not what many Colts fans or NFL fans expected from Indianapolis. Especially after Colts owner Jim Irsay said “the colts are going all in.” It’s actually quite a lackluster trade. Yes, the Colts got rid of a third-round pick for him, though Ryan is only going to be in the league for 2-3 more years. If the Colts’ plan is to use Ryan to prepare Elhinger, that’s great. In that case, Elhinger should play preseason and start a game or two in regular season. This gives the Colts a chance to see him fresh in the preseason, and hopefully warmed up and loose in regular season. Ehlinger can learn a lot from Ryan, and hopefully the veteran can teach him more than Wentz. We know now after his departure that he wasn’t keen on being a leader and teaching the rookie much. In the end of this offseason hopefully we can see the Colts have a veteran to lead them and a rookie who is ready to learn and prosper.
The Colts and their veteran QB will kick off preseason in early August. The preseason schedules haven’t been released yet.
Is the Mayfield era officially over?
Garrett Hall March 16, 2022
On Tuesday afternoon the Browns met with Texans QB Deshawn Watson, the same night current Browns QB Baker Mayfield wrote a statement about his time in Cleveland. He started his statement saying, "With many uncertainties, here is where my head and heart is."
The rumors of Mayfield leaving or being demoted to backup have been spurring since the end of the 2021 NFL season, and it seems Mayfield knows this will be the fact. He thanked the fans and the city who he says “embraced him for who he is.”
Cleveland, who has been bringing the heat in the last two years, is looking for their elite QB, they may have found that in Watson. The idea of having Mayfield in the depth chart as a backup isn’t looking plausible with the money his contract is worth.
If Cleveland can bring Watson to the Dog Pound, many say they will be a playoff contender with their star WR’s and most recent addition Amari Cooper.
Watson has met with all four teams who are bidding to get him and he has yet to announce his decision, nor have the Texans made any decision on who they will be trading with.
The only knowledge there is on Watson’s meeting with the Browns is that his contract would have a No-Trade clause as they intend to keep him as a franchise QB.
If the Watson trade falls through for Cleveland, you can expect to see Mayfield suiting up week one as the starter. Baker, who has been run through the meat grinder in his four years in Cleveland, has had some great moments. These include bringing Cleveland its first playoff win in 26 years. Mayfield has had a rough past season since he tore his Labrum in his left shoulder. He was still able to throw 3,010 yards and 17 touchdowns with said injury. To say Baker is washed and a bust now would be a long shot with the fact he played the entire season with the said injury.
In January the Browns stated they are all in on Mayfield though this has changed since the grand jury decided to not indict Watson on his prior sexual allegations from 2020. The trade or release of Baker will open up Nineteen million in cap space.
The notable moves Cleveland has made this offseason are, acquiring (WR) Amari Cooper from the Cowboys, Signing (WR) Jakeem Grant, Trading for (DE) Chase Winovich, signing (DT) Taven Bryan, and franchise tagging (TE) David Njoku.
In the coming of weeks we can expect to know the status of Mayfield and Watson. Knowing the NFL Draft is coming fast most teams are trying to get as many of picks they can or trade away those picks for star players.
The goat rises again six weeks later
Garrett Hall March 14, 2022
On Sunday afternoon, amidst the NFL rumors and trades beginning, a small little tweet was sent out. That tweet was from the 43-year-old, seven-time super bowl champion Tom Brady.
Brady’s tweet read “These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands. That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG”
This came only six weeks after Brady announced that he was retiring. The Buccaneers were thought to be a landing spot for quite a few of the free agent QB’s. With Brady back under control and returning, the NFL and fans are all wondering what’s next for the Buccaneers in the upcoming draft and remainder of free agency.
The Buccaneers still have nearly 10 star players who have yet to agree to terms with the team, though we can expect most players to sign in the coming of weeks due to Brady’s announcement. General manager Jason Licht and Head Coach Bruce Arians have stated that they don’t have the ability to keep everyone they’ve had in the last two years. Some names to expect to see in Tampa this fall are Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, Ndamukong Suh and Jordan Whitehead. Other names to join or leave the team will come in the next week or so as the Buccaneers change their game plan for the draft.
According to ESPN, Brady has been making calls to teammates who are expected to be either leaving Tampa to talk about what it will take for them to come or stay in Tampa Bay.
ISU Baseball looking to bounce back
Garrett Hall March 14, 2022
The Sycamore baseball team returns home to start their home games today and tomorrow against Southeast Missouri State. The Sycamores are looking to bounce back with a sweep on the Red Hawks. ISU is coming off a rough series against the Wright State Raiders, after losing two of three games against the Raiders to put them overall at 7-6.
Even with losing the series Sunday against Wright State, the Sycamores are looking strong with multiple players bringing the heat the past few weeks. One of the more dominant players is Sean Ross, who extended his hit streak to six consecutive games. Ross also is currently sitting with 14 RBI’s, 8 runs, 2 Homeruns, 4 two base hits, 1 three base hits, and only been struck out 9 times in his 40 at bats.
On the other side of the field, the RedHawks come in on an 11-game winning streak and sit at 13-1. They’ve only lost to one of ISU’s rivals: Dallas Baptist. The Sycamores will have to keep a heavy hand on getting strikeouts and not allowing many hits.
In the series sweep against Loyola, the RedHawks saw two of their star players ring in six homeruns through the three game series.
The RedHawks have never beat ISU, in the five matchups the teams have had. The last matchup was in 2015, where they lost 7-8. The rest of the games have been either a blowout or a close game. The 2015 game was a one run loss. Their first meet in 2006 was a blowout to be 6-0 in ISU’s favor.
The Sycamores take on the RedHawks on Tuesday and Wednesday at 3pm each day at Bob Warn field.
ISU falls short in St. Louis
Garrett Hall March 3, 2022
ISU Sycamores fell in a last few minutes comeback form the Illinois St. Redbirds 53-58. The sycamores looked strong coming out of the first half where the sycamores had 23 rebounds, though this wasn’t enough to match the redbirds scoring when shooting a fifty percent making 12-23 shots. the Sycamores also accounted for almost as many turnovers (11) as baskets (10) in the first half.
The sycamores with this loss created their longest losing streak of the season at 6 games and ending their season 11-20.
Junior Kailex Stephens and sophomore Zach Hobbs led the team with 12 points apiece. Stephens also grabbed a team high of 7 rebounds. While Hobbs was on fire with the 3, making four threes. Xavier Bledson extended his free throw streak to 27 made free throws, making two in the second half.
Even though the sycamores ended up losing to the redbirds the game was a nail biter all through out. The sycamores had a chance to take the lead in the game on a multitude of different occasions including during a 10-0 run that included 2 three point shots form Bledson and Stephens. That run came to an end though when the redbirds turn it around and began their on slaught to take the win late in the second half. The sycamores just couldn’t regain their momentum in the last few minutes of the game giving up a 20-9 scoring run for the Redbirds.
This loss ends the Sycamore’s season, though this team definitely is taking this year and the final game as a reason to build back up and come back with vengeance.
Women prepare for Hoops in the Heartland
Garrett Hall Feb. 28, 2022
ISU Women’s Basketball travels to Moline, Ill. next week to face off against the entire MVC and compete for a spot in the women’s March Madness tournament.
Currently, ISU sits in eighth place. With two games remaining for the women, they can tie with Drake if they can beat Drake Saturday and win Thursday afternoon against Northern Iowa. The women should be able to have a close and hopeful win against Drake, as they won 78-70 in December at the teams’ last meeting.
Northern Iowa, on the other hand, will be a harder team to beat as they sit in third in the standings and also blew out ISU when they met back in early February.
Since this game against Northern Iowa ISU has lost 8 of their last 9. The next time the women are in action is this Thursday at home against Northern Iowa. Come out and support the Sycamores as they prepare for their trip to Moline for Hoops in the Heartland on March 10.
The new season of the underdogs
Garrett Hall Feb. 23, 2022
As NASCAR marks the Daytona 500 off its schedule and moves to Auto Club Speedway in California, you can only think of the fact that the underdogs controlled the 500 for the most part. Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, all had a massive change in racing ability and understanding of their cars.
A few drivers who also look promising in the new generation are Tyler Reddick, Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe. They all look ready to control and dominate the season. Even though not all of these drivers had a major lead or control of the race, they all looked stronger in the next-gen car than some of the veterans.
Unfortunately, some of the younger guys and some veterans were the unlucky ones who got involved in the big one (the big wreck). Such as Harrison Burton who looked to contend for the Daytona 500 in his rookie year. These drivers who were looking good and involved in some kind of wreck gave us a look at how malleable these cars can be in the suspension and axles. A great example of this is Denny Hamlin on the same wreck that took Burton out. He got hit on the passenger side rear quarter-panel, causing his suspension to get skewed and sending him driving down the backstretch at an angle.
As this season carries on to Auto Club Speedway (where Nascar hasn't raced in two years), the same rookies and underdogs look to continue their dominance. Some of the few who may be able to carry this momentum from Daytona to California are Austin Cindric (Daytona 500 winner), Harrison Burton, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick and Justin Haley. All of these drivers are either looking to go continue their reign of dominance or look to turn it around with a race win. There are also a few drivers who looked strong at Daytona who will more than likely go back to their normal selves. Likely drivers include Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola, and most of the Rick Ware team.
Even though fans seemed to fairly enjoy the Next-Gen car there has been some uproar, from the part shortage to the fact these cars flip easily. Both of these issues are bad and need to be fixed quickly, especially the fact these cars can flip easier than the last Gen car. With last Gen cars, you’d see maybe a flip once or twice in like 10-15 races if a bad enough wreck happened. Though that’s quite different now, as we saw Burton flipped early on in the race, and then a few other cars almost flipped in the closing cautions of the 500. Many fans worry this will cause the season to be lackluster or even become deadly quick. As for the part shortage, we can only assume this will last as long as the pandemic carries on.
NASCAR will make its return to Auto Club Speedway for the first time in two years Sunday, at 3:30 on Fox.
The Great American Race
Garrett Hall Feb. 16, 2022
NASCAR is set to kick off its annual season this Sunday at Daytona International Speedway. This is the 64th annual Daytona 500, and the mark of the next-generation car. Gen 7 will make its first point race appearance this weekend and the car already is having rule changes occur. During the practices on Tuesday afternoon officials noticed that the amount of skew a car can have. If you watched practice, or even any of the testing that was done in early January, you understand why. To say this was needed is undercutting the seriousness, if you look back at the test in January you will find a video or picture(s) of Erik Jones looking like he's driving almost at an angle.
Even with rule changes, the car itself is bound to change over the next coming years. We also know that the shocks and surprises of who will win and who will lose are coming along too. If you watched the Cup Series practice on Tuesday you would have seen some names in the top 10 that you wouldn't have thought to see last season. To name a few you had Michael McDowell, David Ragan, Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher in the top 10 of the first practice. Practice two was a tad tamer with four surprises being Cody Ware, Harrison Burton, Buescher and Austin Cindric.
As of writing, we don't know who qualified and who has to race into the 500 at the duals. For the sake of not knowing the field at this moment, the thought of who could win the 500 is slim. Looking at practice I instantly think of how McDowell came out looking fast and strong, though I don't see him as a contender to win the 500 back-to-back. My pick for the 64th Daytona 500 is Tyler Reddick. Reddick is my pick due to his rise in abilities over the last year. He has been fast and not afraid to thread the line. You look at him at the clash in the coliseum - he looked strong to have a chance at winning.
The top 5 I feel we will see this Sunday are 1) Tyler Reddick #8, 2) Justin Haley #31, 3) Denny Hamlin #11, 4) Kyle Busch 5) Ryan Blaney #12.
The Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 & 2 will be tonight at 7 and 9 pm followed by the Daytona 500 on Sunday at 2:30 pm on Fox.
NFL Hall of Fame takes on NASCAR team ownership
Garrett Hall Feb. 9, 2022
This past Monday Navy veteran and Nascar driver Jesse Iwuji announced his brand-new Xfinity series team with co-owner Emmitt Smith. The team will drive a Chevrolet and don the number 34 to honor the late great Wendell Scott.
“Wendell Scott, back in the day, he had the 34 and it meant a lot because he was the first African American to win a Cup Series race,” Iwuji said. “With everything he did to pave the way for African Americans in the future, we just felt like it would be fitting.” said Iwuji.
The newly formed team said they will run the full 2022 Xfinity series race schedule. This will be the first time Iwuji has ran an entire season in the Xfinity series.
Iwuji raced his first race back in 2020 with B.J. McLeod racing at road America. He went on to drive three more races that season driving for B.J. McLeod at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. He then raced for Mike Harmon in 2021 at Pocono Raceway.
With Iwuji running all 33 races this year, it makes his team eligible for the playoff in their first year. The team says it has a plan to cross the hurdles of unknown and when that time comes they will be prepared.
“Change creates opportunity for us to get better,” Smith said. “And to embrace it is the way that I look at it. Embrace change. I’m proud of this man and in order to go through the fire, you’ve got to be willing to do it and he’s built for it.”
Students need to support ISU athletics
Garrett Hall Feb. 9, 2022
As the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams are in their first season with a new coach there is one thing you instantly notice when you walk into Hulman center for a game. The student section is nearly empty, especially for women’s games.
For ISU to have a successful team they need more than a new coaching staff and all-star players, they need the fans. Our basketball teams need to know we support them, and seeing more students coming to games will motivate and provide that support the team needs.
Truly shocking that students don’t come to Basketball games with the stadium being right next to campus, yet a large percent of students go to the football games that you have to drive to. It’s not because the football stadium sells alcohol, the Hulman center does too.
The bigger issue for student may be the fact we have had bad seasons for the last 8-9 years. For example, the last time we made the NCAA March Madness was 2014. If I can say one thing, with the rebuild happening and showing hope fans should give the Hulman center one more chance. Our athletes deserve our presence and support.
The clash at the Coliseum
Garrett Hall Feb. 7, 2022
NASCAR took over the LA Coliseum this past weekend to kick off the 2022 season. To say that the race was the worst we’ve seen or as bad as we expected would be a lie. The race itself was decent, not like watching the 40 cars run around Daytona International or any normal NASCAR track. The flaw within the Clash was the way it was organized. NASCAR was almost trying to push so much down the fans’ throats at one time you’d almost forget this is supposed to be a flashback to Saturday night races at the local track.
To give context of the Clash at the Coliseum, this race was framed in four heat races, two Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ), and the main event 23 car race. The framing was great. We saw some great short track racing and some real strong efforts from rookie drivers/low funded drivers. The issue with the Clash was the fact you had to sit through an hour of music performance before getting to the main event. Having Pitbull, ICE Cube, and a random DJ perform was odd to say the least. Pitbull didn’t even seem to remember his music so he sang a song he is feature on for maybe a verse. ICE Cube’s performance was more fitting for the LA area, just wasn’t fitting for the fan base of NASCAR.
The main event itself wasn’t lackluster, though it was pretty predictable due to the way we saw heats and LCQ go. Starting positions 1-4 were the only cars we saw who had a chance at taking home the nearly $2 million winnings due to the small corners and straightaways.
The Nextgen cars looked and sounded amazing though they had some issues of their own. The next gens are starting to show issues, from trans-axels breaking mid race, cables snapping on tight turns, and crush points on the fenders. We can’t say these issues will last throughout the season until we see how the cars run at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20. Some of these issues themselves caused the race outcome to change. Rookie Justin Haley and Tyler Reddick both were having a tremendous showing of their cars. Unfortunately, both of these young guns were taken out by mechanical failure (Reddick) or a small crash into the retaining wall (Haley).
NASCAR returns to Daytona International on Feb. 15-20th for the 64th running of the Daytona 500.
WHO DEY!
Garrett Hall Jan. 31, 2022
A year ago the Cincinnati Bengals were sitting at home preparing for the 2021 NFL draft. Now they are on their way to the Super bowl in LA.
Sunday afternoon the Cincinnati Bengals had an if not the best AFC Championship game of all time.
The Bengals looked as if the game was over as the clock hit double zeros going into halftime. Oh by how that was wrong. The Bengal’s made a first time as they held Patrick Mahomes to only 3 points in the second half and came back to upset the reigning AFC Champions.
To look at the stats of the game both teams put up a legendary game, Mahomes and Burrow combined for 575 yards (250 for burrow, 275 for Mahomes).
The stars of the game are easily Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, & Samaje Perine. Chase had 6 receptions for 54 yards and 1 Touchdown. Perine had 3 receptions for 43 yards and 1 touchdowns. Burrow through for 23/38 attempts, 2 touchdowns, and 250 yards.
Yung Money is now a champion
Garrett Hall Nov. 8, 2021
Kyle Larson is a NASCAR Champion in his first year with Hendricks Motorsports. After what seemed like he would never run a Nascar merely a year and half ago, to now coming off of one of the best NASCAR seasons since Jimmie Johnson in 2007.
In fact, this is the first time a Nascar driver has won 10 races and the cup title in the same season since 2007 when Johnson won his second consecutive title.
NASCAR themselves had hyped this season up to be “the best season ever” many would certainly say that it was in fact exactly that.
The return of Kyle Larson, the famous 5 car, the ending of Chip Ganassi Racing, and 23XI in their rookie year to win a Cup Race.
Though the season goes beyond all the crazy wild wins and wrecks we saw. This season goes down in history as being one of the best due to the fact that Kyle Larson broke one of the mind-boggling records. Larson in his first year at Hendricks broke the most laps led in a season record that has been untouched since 2001. The record being held by the one and only Jeff Gordon, now part owner of Hendricks Motorsports and most importantly the reason Larson went to Hedricks. Larson broke Gordons record by 261 laps. That is 1 lap over the number of laps that were ran at Atlanta in July this past summer.
In total Kyle Larson led 2,581 laps, had 10 points wins, 20 top 5’s, 26 top 10 finishes, and the winner of the 2021 All Star race.
Kyle Larson will be marked the final Champion of the Generation 6 car, as in February Nascar moves to the Generation 7 car when the run the Clash at LA Coliseum.
Henry Ruggs done in Sin City
Garrett Hall Nov. 3, 2021
Henry Ruggs, the now former WR for the Las Vegas Raiders, was involved in a deadly car accident Tuesday morning. Ruggs was under the influence when he collided with a woman. Ruggs and his passenger were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The lady and dog inside the Rav-4 Ruggs rear-ended were killed when the vehicle caught fire. Since the accident, NFL fans and the world have watched as the raiders had to make a massive decision on their star WR’s contract.
The charges that Ruggs is facing under Nevada law are, DUI resulting in death (class B felony) and reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm. Both of these charges can add up to 26 years in prison. Ruggs had his first court hearing Wednesday morning, where they discussed the matter of Ruggs driving 154mph and having a blood content of double the legal limit.
Currently Ruggs is allowed to be signed with any of the other 31 teams in the NFL, as he isn’t on the Commissioners exempt list. Roger Goodell has not yet stated whether Ruggs will be added to the exempt list. It is obvious though that there are not any teams interested in Ruggs at this time.
This was Ruggs’ first career season in the NFL as he was drafted with the 12th pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Ruggs also was Vegas’s deep threat averaging 19.5 yards a reception & two touchdowns through week eight. The Las Vegas raiders are currently the leaders in the AFC West sitting at 5-2. It is uncertain how the tragic events that occurred will affect the Raiders Performance. It is expected that the current backup for Las Vegas Zay Jones or Hunter Renfrow will have to take on a massive amount of pressure to perform above their average.
Can anyone stop Larson?
Garrett Hall Oct. 27, 2021
With the NASCAR season nearing its end in only two weeks you begin to wonder if anyone can stop the winning ways of Kyle Larson. Kyle Larson sits with nine wins on the season after his win at Kansas this past weekend. With that win Larson set Nascar history being the second driver to win three times in a row twice in one season, joining the rank of Dale Earnhardt Sr.
The big topic on everyone’s mind around NASCAR is, can anyone stop him? And that simply the toughest question. There are two drivers who stand a chance at beating Larson in the final two races. Those two drivers are Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin. When it comes to Chase Elliott, we know he can run the wall as close as possible and busting out slick moves similiar to ones his father Bill Elliott would pull. With Larson and Elliott being teammates it’s pretty easy to say they will more than likely pull out a 1-2 finish. Though we also know that Elliott is a great driver when it comes to being in a cutoff situation race. If you look back at 2020 you’ll see Elliott won at Bristol, Martinsville, and then Phoenix to take the title. Where will the final two races be? Martinsville and Phoenix.
Denny Hamlin hasn’t had a great year, though he has been right on Larson’s tail all season or they have been switching all season. The only way that Hamlin can win the title over Larson though, is a win in the next at Phoenix. Denny will have to beat Larson at Phoenix no matter if he wins Martinsville this weekend. As it stands now Kyle Larson should receive the poll no matter who wins at Martinsville Sunday. This is due to Larson having two wins in the round of eight. Let’s say though Denny does win at Martinsville and gets the pole, he would still have to worry about Larson since he would start in the second position and right next to him on the line to start. Denny hasn’t been able to match Larson’s speed much this year, the only time he has is because Larson is dinge dup and can’t run properly due to aero issues.
Solely looking at Martinsville, a big name who is in the round of eight pops up. Martin Truex Jr. has won the last 3-4 races at Martinsville and could give Larson a run for his money if he starts in the front of the pact. Though you can look at Truex in the past at Phoenix he has not really been running as well as he needs to win the title. So, you pretty much can assume he won’t be an issue at Phoenix for Laron, Denny or Elliott.
The Martinsville race takes place Sunday October 31st at 2 pm on NBC.
Next Gen Cup car gets mixed reviews
Garrett Hall Oct. 13, 2021
NASCAR had been running the NextGen cup series car at the Charlotte Roval on Monday and Tuesday. Many fans expressed their opinions on the car and so did the drivers who ran them. Some fans are enjoying the cars and others are still angry about things. Many of the ones who are angry are stuck on the fact Nascar is going to a single lug nut wheel and tire package.
Though many drivers are excited and proud of the new car, one of the drivers who is preaching the new car is Corey LaJoie. LaJoie is quoted as saying, “these cars will give small teams a MUCH bigger chance to be competitive than I anticipated.” With LaJoie being a member of a small team this can give hope to the smaller teams such as Rick Ware, JTG, and many other low funded teams.
On the other hand, some drivers aren't fans of the new cars, as they feel there need to be major changes. Such as less downforce, better airflow inside the cars, or more drag on the tail. One of the drivers who stated they wanted less downforce on the front of the cars is Tyler Reddick, who spoke in a media session after the test run Tuesday. He stated that he wants to see less downforce on the car that he feels it's going to limit the drivers. Many drivers also took to social media to echo their worries about steering issues. Heavy.com stated, "Reddick, Bowman, Blaney, Logano, LaJoie, and Byron all mentioned the steering issues on social media and during sit-downs with media members. They explained that the handling was fantastic on the road course until the steering issues surfaced. At this point, the stock cars became very difficult to handle”.
Outside of issues arising and driver's opinions on technical stuff, many drivers said that the next-gen is fun to drive and it's better than the performance of the current car. The driver of the 22 Shell Mustang, Joey Logano, stated, “It’s definitely going to change everything,” talking about the fact we will be seeing a lot more "pact" racing (clustered together closer to each other). We will see a closer and on edge race-style vs the flowed out and wide racing we have now. We will get to see drivers who tend to fall behind quickly have a stronger chance at staying with the pact.
One thing many drivers brought up during media sit-downs was the fact we will see less wheel hop (cars getting air when hitting a curb or turtle on road courses) due to the new independent suspension in the rear wheels similar to what is in the front of current cup cars. These new suspensions also give the drivers more leeway on pushing the stock cars to their limit. They can make more risky moves when exiting corners as they make the cars nimbler and more go-kart-like.
The Next Gen NASCAR Cup car will premiere at the 2022 Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20.
The real child on track is Harvick
Garrett Hall Oct. 11, 2021
The Charlotte Roval is always a rough track for the playoffs. This weekend was another weekend of that, Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott have been going back and forth for 3 weeks. It finally came to head in the middle of stage 2 of the final playoff race of the Round of 12. Coming off of the infield of the road course Kevin Harvick took his opportunity to get "revenge" on Chase Elliott.
If you don’t know what happened to give Harvick a chance at revenge it all began 3 weeks ago at Bristol. Harvick was leading and got up onto Elliott’s rear quarter panel and cuts his tire down. Elliott took this as a personal attack and came out of the pit road. Elliott proceeded to get up in front of Harvick and blocked him while his teammate Kyle Larson was leading with roughly 15 to go. This became a big deal to Harvick and decided to try to fight Elliott after the race concluded.
Harvick was quoted as saying “it was like speaking to a 9-year-old. So, I have good experience with that. Cause, that’s a daily process. Day in, day out, process,” calling Elliott a child and comparing him to his son shows his true character, he can't admit that he was in the wrong and cut Elliott's tire down. Instead, he gets out of his car keeps his helmet on, and proceeds to get in Elliott's face. After Elliott walked away and went to congratulate his teammate. Harvick takes his helmet off and begins to slam it into the roof of his number 4 Subway mustang.
Yet Harvick was the one at Charlotte who acted like a child. Harvick proceeded to blatantly spin Elliott into the wall and cut his playoff chance down to zero almost. Nascar commentators Jeff Burton and Dale Jr. talked about the fact that Elliott had to dump Harvick to secure a spot in the playoffs. They compared it to the incident between Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth. Where Kenseth dumped Logano to get revenge on him for an incident that Logano bump and ran Kenseth causing an accident.
When talking if it would be legal for Elliott to dump Harvick for a playoff spot they called it a basis on when and where it happens on the track. Meaning if Elliott dumps him coming off a turn it would be legal considering it's just a bump and runs. Whereas if he dumps him on the Straight stretch or at the line. Nascar would be forced to penalize Elliott for deliberately dumping Harvick. The hypocritical basis of that is Harvick blatantly dumped Kyle Busch at Bristol last year to try and make the playoffs. He failed there just as he failed at Charlotte on Sunday afternoon. The fact that Harvick has done it multiple times and has to do this to get close to a win should be a sign to Harvick and Stewart Haas that it’s time for Harvick to retire.
If Nascar calls an action onto Harvick for blatantly trying to dump Elliott that would be much overdue for the fact he has done it 5 or more times this season alone.
“I wanna wish them a merry off-season and a happy Christmas” – Chase Elliott.
Bubba Wallace brings home first win
Garrett Hall Oct. 4, 2021
Talladega is the most wild and untamable track. The famed track is again breaking history, as Nascar’s Only African American Driver is finally a Winner of the Nascar Cup series. The young driver of the 23 car has had a long time of waiting for his first time in the Win column. It’s been even longer for fans to see an African American Driver in victory lane. It’s been 21,128 days to be exact. On Dec 1 1963, Wendell Scott became the first African American driver to win in the highest level of stock car racing. That section of history now holds two names now that Bubba Wallace is on that list.
Bubba Wallace spent his first three years with Petty Motorsports and joined the new 23XI team. This is the first year of the team and Michael Jordan, the Hall of fame basketball player, is owner. Jordan was quoted with saying that he wants to win a race in his first year. 23XI is the only new team of the 2021 season to win a race in their first full time season.
With Wallace winning the Talladega race he becomes the first Black driver to win a race in the premier Nascar series in over 65 years.
Wallace had a wild run to the day in his time to get to the lead. Wallace started in the 19th position, he ran strong all day and generally strong at Super Speedways. Bubbas start to the lead began on lap 100 when he and multiple different drivers stayed out to gain some laps on other drivers. He was running in the lead when Ryan Preece (4th) spun and took out William Byron and Matt DiBeneditto. The red flag was displayed for rain and the rest was history.
This is a great thing for 23XI as they will be going to a two-car season adding Kurt Busch, he will be running the 45 car in 2022.
Sports Graphic for upcoming intra-squad meet for ISU Swim and Dive. Athletic Communications (photos) Garrett Hall (sports graphic)
Swim & Dive to open season
Garrett Hall Sept. 29, 2021
The ISU swim and dive team are set to open their season on Friday with an Intra-squad meet. The team will be split into two teams: Blue and White. The two teams have been posting on social media all semester long competing in different games and challenges.
This past week, as the days countdown to meet day, both Blue and White have been posting advertisements of the meet. Such as the one pictured above this story, both White and Blue are stacked with talent.
Some of the swimmers that are on Blue are Emily Webb, Andrea Putrimas and Kaimi Matsumoto. The White team is also stacked as they have swimmers such as Jordan Gruce, Rhiannon Wozny, Marni Gray and Jayln Talbot. Both teams will be putting up close races and nail biter finishes.
Marni gray is coming into her junior year off a great season, as she was conference champion for 200 Fly and runner up in the 100 Fly. Gray is only the second conference champion in the program’s history.
For the diving side some divers on Blue team Keara Shelton & Bailey Betzer. Some divers on White team are Sierra Bowman and Sarah Montgomery. When it comes to diving you have got to give it to the White team, they have some stacked divers on their end. Shelton is a diver to watch closely as she is coming into her final season with the diving team. As she will be looked at as the leader of the diving team and looking to bring home some hardware in diving later this season at the Missouri Valley Conference in February.
The meet will open with the 1000 Free, 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 200 Fly and 50 Free. Then then team will take a 15-minute break to catch their energy back and get ready for the second group of events. The second ground will be 100 Free, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 500 Free, and 100 Fly. Then there will be another 15-minute break. After the final break the swimmers will conclude with the 200 IM and 400 Free Relay. The divers will also compete doing the 3M dive and 1M dive during the meet.
The Swim & Dive intra-squad meet is going to be at the Vigo County Aquatic Center Friday at 6pm.
Women's basketball looks more united
Garrett Hall Sept. 22, 2021
The Women’s basketball team is already looking like a new team. With the changes that came in the offseason, they’re already looking more united. You can see this in their Instagram posts even, if you go to their page they have pictures with their new coach that are relating to what ones would call a modern “goat moment” or better yet a recreation of Lebron and D. Wade’s famous dunk photo from their Miami years.
This team looks like they are genuinely happy, they feel more real. They don’t feel they are putting a mask on to hide their feelings towards the program.
A controversial take is that this team really needed a new coaching staff, and unfortunately a Hall of Fame coach does not mean MVC championships. Vickie Hall had her moments where they looked great, yes, but over the years and the continued losing seasons the fans began to wonder when will we’d admit she’s not it.
The women’s new head coach and coaching staff look to be bringing this team to greatness. Now we can’t expect a championship anytime soon, though, as this team still has to grow closer and bond to be a championship team. That doesn’t mean we won’t see a drastically different season this year, because we most definitely will. This year I believe we will see this team win more games, play better, and look happier on the court.
To round out my prediction of the women’s basketball season, I see the women bringing home a record of 9-9. I say this because, though they aren’t going to just turn around and win a title, they definitely are going to be playing better ball, and have a better dynamic bond on the court. The women’s basketball team will open their season on Dec. 30 at Drake.
Women's basketball head coach Chad Killinger and forward Mya Glanton imitate NBA legends Dwyane Wade and Lebron James' famous dunk photo from Dec. 6, 2010. (GoSycamores.com)
The importance of sports to all
By: Garrett Hall
Sept. 20, 2021
I know what you are thinking. This story is about the importance of sports for our generation and future generations.
Though I want this to have a different idea. Sports are not just a hobby to some, sports are sometimes the way out from the dark tunnel we hide in. For some sports are a hobby or a lifestyle to enjoy with their friend and loved ones. The way to bond with those friends who take sports super serious when they want to feel included. Though to others sports are the way to let go of the “shadow” we hide in. Sometimes sports are that happy times every Sunday or Saturday, of watching football all day. The day to let their personal issues and sadness subside. To some sports are the time where they no longer have to hide their true selves, as it’s a day they know they won’t be judged for their preference of a team or group. To some it’s the day to relax and not have to worry about coming face to face with their bully. To some it’s a day to cheer and boast about their team’s star player, not because they are scared to say they like that team but because society has judged them for whom they are.
To some sports are that moment where they aren’t afraid to talk on it, they aren’t scared to say they relate to it. To some sports are their holy grail. To those who hold sports to a high standard aren’t addicted or obsessed, but rather feel that is their safe space. To them the people who say “why are you constantly posting/talking about sports” are the ones who make them hide themselves. They feel it’s odd that they enjoy sports or hold it personal.
Sports aren’t just important for physical health or physical well-being, but rather to some sports are the mental healer, the peaceful and tranquil way of dealing with their mental health. To some sports are the way to relax.
Sports aren’t just a hobby, activity, or pastime. To some sports are everything, or per say the only thing that hold them together when times are tough. To some their favorite sport may be what keep that dark time or issue subsided.
The next time you feel a person who talks about sports a lot remember that they may have a personal reason for that, so engage and ask them more. Show the interest in their love for sports instead of asking them why they are obsessed with that sport(s).
If you or someone you know are struggling with depression don’t be afraid to call 800-273-8255 (Suicide Hotline).
NASCAR Clash to move out west
Garrett Hall Sept. 15, 2021
Nascar announced Tuesday that the season opener Clash will take place the LA Coliseum. Many of the fans who heard this were not very pleased with Nascar decision to send all teams to Los Angeles for a nonpoint race. Many drivers seem to be perfectly fine with this, though, as they have been testing it and giving positive feedback. Nascar has said they’ve already began the process to get the coliseum ready as the construction of the temporary track surface will begin on New Year’s Day 2022.
This will be the first time the Historic Coliseum has hosted a Nascar Event, it will become the smallest track Nascar has ever ran on, beating out the legendary Bristol Motor speedway, and the former track quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1958-1971 and .2-mile Islip (N.Y.) Speedway from 1964-68, 71.
The coliseum has been getting bad rap for this being a non-point race and teams having to travel from the east coast to the west coast. Though Nascar has said there will be a good reason for the teams to travel all the way to LA.
The coliseum also got a massive renovation adding luxury boxes and club level suites. They also replaced the old general seating with new modern seats.
The Nascar Schedule for 2022 was released on Wednesday and included former Championship race track Miami Homestead brought back into the playoff picture as the final race of the round of eight for 2022.
Nascar will be returning to Indianapolis on July 31st 2022, where they will run the Road Course once again. The Indianapolis Motor speedway has said they are wanting to talk about running the oval and Road course in possibly 2023. As they feel the Oval is so historic and know fans wish they ran the oval as well this past summer.
Another big race many fans were shocked to see was Bristol Dirt race will return in March and be a night race. As many fans were disappointed with the dirt race at Bristol last year due to weather and visibility issues, many fans are shocked it returns and that it will be run under the lights at Bristol.
The series announced also another famous course that will be making an appearance on the cup series calendar in 2022, that being the World-Wide Technology Raceway or better known as Gateway by race fans.
A new age in Cleveland
Garrett Hall Sept. 13, 2021
The Cleveland Browns are not even close to what they used to be. This past weekend the Cleveland Browns lost in their week one matchup with the Chiefs. Though it wasn’t a typical Browns game, they were leading for the first three quarters and just weren’t able to keep up with Mahomes and the fierce Chiefs offense.
The Browns were running the table on the Chiefs until a few mishaps that turned the table onto the Browns. For the most part of the game we saw a different Baker Mayfield that we have seen in the NFL so far. We also saw that the added power the Browns got in the offseason truly show to be helpful.
Mayfield threw for 321 yards, 21/28, and 1 int. What a game, this former first round draft pick is finally getting a team built around him. The Browns are finally seeing the success after many years of hurt and pain. Though as Mayfield said yesterday “team game in all phases” (ESPN), being said Nick Chubb ran for 83 yards, where Kareem Hunt and Jarvis Landry had a touchdown a piece for the browns.
The Browns still have a lot to work on, such as proper coverage down field. This is one of the biggest reasons they lost Sunday afternoon. The Browns kept letting both Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce get free and score on big plays. The Browns’ defense though was a great help when they could get behind the line and either pressure Mahomes or Sack him for a loss.
The Browns aren’t the same Browns we have seen, though they are still working to be a top tier team. With more coverage in the deep on the field and stronger confidence we could see a Super Bowl appearance by the Browns in the coming years.
NASCAR honors 20th anniversary of 9/11
Garrett Hall Sept. 13, 2021
This past weekend was a very special weekend in racing and in American History, marking the 20th anniversary of the attack on the twin towers in 2001. Nascar in their best way possible remembered those we lost on that sad day. Before the Nascar Xfinity series race Nascar had an entire fire department, Police battalion, and EMS crew take laps around Richmond raceway, while the national anthem was performed.
The greatness of the race weekend didn’t end there, the ending to the Xfinity race was even more meaningful as Noah Gragson in the 9 car and Justin Haley the 11 car first 1-2 to show 9/11 in the podium. This also was the second week in a row that Noah Gragson won the race.
When it came to the Nascar Cup Series race the great night wasn’t as great. As it was mainly spaced out pact racing and boring back and forth for top five. Other than the boring pact racing and back and forth for playoff points there were a few honorable things to mention for the honors of 9/11. During laps 9-11 the pits closed, crew and fans stood up and waved American Flags for the entire three lap period.
Though the race wasn’t a great race to watch, Martin Truex Jr. came out on top and won his 4th race of the season to lock himself into the round of 12. The three drivers locked into the next round so far are Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Larson.
The next and final race of the round of 16 is Bristol on Saturday the 18th. It will be the Bristol night race and it starts at 7:30pm.
McDowell is the underdog
Garrett Hall Sept. 8, 2021
Michael McDowell was having a great playoff start before he wrecked out half way through stage one this past weekend at Darlington. McDowell was running top 10 and was proving the analysts wrong on how he would do in the playoffs. Unfortunately, this put McDowell in the must win category to make the next staging of playoffs.
McDowell can do this though. As we go to Richmond this weekend, he has a chance at winning due to the fact that he has ran strong all year. He has been running a top ten car in 90% of the races we have ran. The only tracks McDowell has struggled on are Road courses, thankfully for him there aren’t any road courses in the next two races for the set of 16.
Yes, McDowell isn’t a top tier driver, and he isn’t running the best of the best car. But if the Darlington race was an example of what we will see in the playoffs this year, then the chances McDowell can advance on points are good. As of now McDowell is sitting in sixteenth being behind 20 points. If McDowell can run in the front and win he will secure a spot in the round of 12. If he can’t secure a win this coming weekend then he needs to run in the front and top ten in the next two races to get a spot in the round of 12.
But it’s not guaranteed that he will secure that 12th place spot. Again, McDowell has been proving he isn’t a fluke and deserves a spot in the playoffs. Before McDowell wrecked out he was running top ten and moving farther forward, and he was on the brink of passing Erik Jones. The two got into each other after McDowell slid into the turn two wall and came down in the quarter panel of Jones.
Again, to put out the chances that McDowell can make the round of 12, they are slim without a win at Richmond or Bristol. Though there is a chance if McDowell can run top ten in both of the next two races than McDowell has a chance to take the twelfth-place spot in the playoffs.
The Richmond race is on NBC Sports coverage begins at 2:30 Saturday with the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway. The Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders starts at 7:30 pm Saturday.
Soccer fights their way back into the "Win" column
Garrett Hall Sept. 8, 2021
Soccer traveled to the Carolinas this past weekend and had two matchups. Their first on the weekend was against the Furman Paladins. ISU brought home the win against Furman and gave the Paladins their first loss on the season. Soccer won 1-0, Mackenzie Kent scored the first and only goal in the match. This was Kent’s second goal in the season, though she wasn’t the only Sycamore to shine bright on the field Thursday. CeCe Wahlberg and Maddie Alexander also were playing their best. Wahlberg led the team in shot attempts with five, and Alexander saved all four shot attempts to complete her seventh shutout in her Sycamore career.
The sycamores would travel to UNC Ashville Sunday where they would end with a tied game. Though this game was a close game the entire time - the Sycamores had nine shot attempts in the first half, and the Bulldogs had three shot attempts. Both teams where scoreless in the first half.
In the second half of the game the Sycamores scored fast, as Sasha Thompson scored the first and only goal at the 67-minute mark. This would be her first Collegiate goal of her career.
The Sycamores ended in a tie. This tie broke UNC Ashville’s 10 game losing streak and put them at a record of 0-5-1.
The Sycamores are back in action Friday Sept. 10th in Toledo at 7 pm.
Rick Ware wasting charters
Garrett Hall Sept. 1, 2021
Rick Ware racing has four charters in the Nascar Cup series and many fans are sick of them. This team is known for running back pact, wrecking out every week, and causing many issues in Cup races.
The 2021 season has been a great example of this, you can look at each race from Daytona (Daytona 500) to Daytona (Coca Cola Sugar Free 400) there is a wreck that has been caused by a Rick Ware racing driver.
A perfect example of this is from Saturday’s Nascar race in Daytona. With less than 30 to go in the race, Garrett Smithley spins into his fellow team Rick ware racing teammates Cody Ware and Joey Gase. This is a weekly occurrence as they simply have drivers who don’t know how to drive a cup car, they also don’t have cars that get funded enough to even compete in the Cup Series.
This team is holding charters who could go to teams who want to go into cup series. Some of these teams are JR. Motorsports, Kaulig Racing and Niece Motorsports. All three of these teams could easily take one of the charters that Rick Ware Racing is wasting away just by running in the cup every week.
With JR. Motorsports being the largest team that has talked on the cup series, they could easily take two or even three of the charters and run a car that can sit in the front pact or mid pact at first even. This team would be an actual competitive car - they have two drivers who could come up to Cup and show JR Motorsports is a competitor. The two who can come up and actually compete are Justin Allgier and Noah Gragson. Both of these guys have powered through the standing in Xfinity series and both winning a multitude of races.
If we want to look at the possibility of a team such as Kaulig taking a charter that means they can put Aj Allmendinger into a full time cup car. If they did this it means they’d have two full time cars in 2022, Justin Haley and Aj Allmendinger, which means they can push Kaulig Similar to Xfinity. You can just look at this past weekend at Daytona. The Kualig cars in Xfinity finished in 1-2-4 place. The two drivers who will run full time (Justin Haley) and part time (Aj Allmendinger) in 2022 finished first and second. These two completely controlled the field on Saturday. They were in the front 90% of the race and kept the pact clean and calm.
All in all, Rick Ware Racing is wasting charters away by putting at least two cars on the track each week and wrecking out. The fact Nascar hasn’t said it’s time to pull their charters is a shock and an embarrassment. At the end of 2021 hopefully Nascar makes a statement saying they will pull/give Rick Ware a certain amount of time to sell at least one of their Charters. If this happen one must pray that a team who deserves it will receive one.
Soccer plays at Furman today
Garrett Hall Sept. 1, 2021
ISU plays Furman Thursday in Greenville, SC at Stone Stadium. This will be the first time these two teams meet, but the Furman Paladins will be a great matchup. They come into this game 3-0 and have shutout each opponent so far this season. This could be the matchup the Sycamores need to bring their season back around. As they currently sit with a 3-game losing streak, and a record of 1-3.
Thursday’s game will be a great game to watch though as the fire is running wild through the Sycamores. As mentioned before, they are currently sitting on a 3-game losing streak. The Trees desperately need to get back in the win column and there is no better time to do that than on the road, and it would be even better taking down Furman.
If the Sycamores win they will give the Paladins their first loss of the season. With a lot of Sycamore women itching to get their first career goals in the NCAA, this game would be even better if they got to take down an undefeated Furman.
The Sycamores need to secure a win Thursday to bounce back and prepare for their next road game against UNC Ashville, who they will play Sunday at noon. This also is an away game; the Sycamores return Sept 12 for their next home game against St. Louis.
Maddie Helling (8) heading the ball to set up a shot attempt on the goalie. (Garrett Hall)
ISU falls short to UT Martin
Garrett Hall Aug. 30, 2021
Women’s soccer held their first home game of the season Sunday afternoon. The Sycamores fell behind quickly as UT Martins Jill Hildreth scored in the 19th minute of the game. The Sycamores wouldn’t score until the 55-minute mark into the game when Nora Anderson brought a fast kick from outside the box and scored her first career goal. Mackenzie Kent is acknowledged for the assist.
The Sycamores would fight hard during a tied game for roughly 20 minutes until UT Martin would score the final goal of the game at the 71-minute mark. The Sycamores put up a hard fight though they just couldn’t capture the win Sunday afternoon. The Lady Sycamores put up a total of seven shots and held the Skyhawks to five attempts. The Sycamores now are on a 3-game losing streak and look to break it Thursday at Stone Stadium in Greenville SC.
A few honorable mentions on the Sycamores are Nora Henderson for her goal, Mackenzie Kent with her shot on goal and her assist, Anna Holcomb with her two shots, and Celeste Wahlberg for her shot on goal.
ISU students, alumni win Paralympic medals
Garrett Hall Aug. 30, 2021
Indiana State University had two members of the Paralympic team win medals in Tokyo: Noah Malone (Silver in 100meter dash) and Robert Griswald (gold in 100m backstroke).
Noah Malone is a current member of the ISU Track and Field team. He is the first ISU Athlete to win a Paralympic medal. Noah won the medal Sunday morning in the t12 100-meter dash. Noah qualified for the event Friday with a time of 10.55, which also set an American record. Sadly, Noah claimed only silver with a time of 10.66 Sunday morning.
The second Paralympian who won a medal is Evan Austin, who won the bronze in the 400m freestyle. Evan has a condition called spastic paraplegia. This is his 3rd Paralympics and first time winning a medal. Austin says, "I think more emotions will come in waves the next couple minutes or maybe the next couple days. It was a great race. I got in there and didn't really think about the time that much. I just wanted to get my hand on the wall."
An honorable mention for an athlete is Robert Griswald, who won gold in the 100m backstroke. Robert also in toll of winning the gold set a world record of 1:02.55. Robert was a Volunteer assistant for ISU’s Women Swim and Dive team. Robert was also coached by the ISU Swim Coach Josh Christensen.
ISU football returns to gridiron this weekend
Garrett Hall Aug. 25, 2021
The Sycamores are returning to the gridiron. This fall is the first fall since the pandemic started that we will see our fighting Sycamores play some football.
The Sycamores are picked to finish 10th this season, but this is only fuel for them to do better than the critics think.
The Sycamores will open up their season with a week 0 game against Eastern Illinois. This will be hosted at Memorial Stadium Aug 28th. The Sycamores have a 2-1 record against the Easter Illinois Panthers for the last three games.
The Sycamores will also have many of the well-known names playing their final seasons. Some of these names include Inoke Moala, the big man is a powerhouse on the Defensive line. Inoke averages 3.5 sacks a season and is a great help when rushing the QB. Another big man returning for his last season with the Sycamores is Zach Larkin. Zach is a Tight end who scored three touchdowns in his career with the Sycamores. In 2019 Zach had 12 receptions for 109 yards, he averages 9.1 yards a catch.
The Sycamores have a tough schedule this fall with teams such as Missouri state, North Dakota state and Southern Illinois all in the back half of the season.
The Sycamores will also be without one of their Wide Receivers this fall, as Dakota Caton suffered an ACL tear. Head Coach Curt Mallory says, “Dakota made significant strides in preparation for the fall and we're heartbroken for him. He’s embodied everything that this program is built on and has represented himself, the program and the University in a first-class manner throughout. He still has a lot of football ahead of him and I know he will do everything in his power to come back next season healthy.”
In 2019 Dakota had 21 receptions for 221 yards and two touchdowns. This only means the younger guys will have to take up more challenges of scoring and helping push the Sycamores towards wins.
My prediction is the Sycamores end with a record of 5-7. The team will have a tough schedule and be losing to teams such as Illinois State, Southern Illinois, North Dakota State, Missouri State, South Dakota State and South Dakota.
A.J. Allmendinger's future in Cup Series
Garrett Hall Aug. 23, 2021
With the season that AJ Allmendinger is putting up in the Xfinity series and his Cup win at IMS this past month it truly makes you wonder where is AJ’s future in the Cup series. We already know that Allmendinger is going to run a part time basis next season similar to what he did this season. Though that is only for one year and based off his performance this year he is a top contender in the names of drivers who are looking for a ride in the Cup series for 2023.
AJ has thrown a lot of top tier performance for teams to see just this past season when he ran Cup cars on road courses. In his 4 starts at cup Level this season he has had 3 top ten, and 2 of those being top 5.
At the Xfinity series AJ has had a great season as well, with having 3 wins, 2 pole starts, 14 top 5’s, 15 top 10’s. he has also led 166 laps this season. AJ is currently sitting in second place for the Xfinity series standings.
Now AJ more than likely is being looked at by a multitude of teams. There are a few drivers that may retire after the 2022 season. Two of those being, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. The speculation around Kurt is that he will go to 23XI for the 2022 season if he doesn’t announce retirement after the conclusion of 2021 season. Kevin Harvick is nearing his end of his long career. Not many fans would be surprised to see him retire after this season or next due to lack of ability we have seen this season.
If there had to be a car AJ could fill it would be the 23XI second car that we expect to see Kurt Busch in next season, now thinking Busch will retire after the 2022 season is reasonable as he has already talked on retirement. The 23XI second car would be a great fit for AJ due to it being a top tier car with Toyota and Joe Gibbs hosting it. AJ has the veteran standard as he once was a cup driver up till the 2018 Cup season. Which is exactly what 23XI needs, bubba isn’t going to be able to lead the team since he isn’t really had a veteran to teach him. Denny (co-owner of 23XI) isn’t doing any help too train bubba.
If JA doesn’t go to 23XI the 4 would also be a good fit but not as well as the 23XI car. The 4 is a great car with Stewart Haas, though they aren’t showing much ability this season so it makes one worry if it would be a top tier car for AJ.
Let’s say it is top tier and when next gen cars hit he track in 2022 we see this team shoot to the moon. If that happens then yes, we could see AJ win big and put the 4 back in victory lane.
At the end of the day NASCAR silly season always gives a surprise so nobody knows where AJ may end up in his soon return to cup.
Predictions for the NFL season
Garrett Hall Aug. 18, 2021
With the preseason of the NFL revving up and the craziness of the offseason ending, it’s time for some wild and odd predictions.
First prediction of the NFL season is that Trevor Lawrence struggles. Lawrence is the guy who has everyone looking and watching his every play this year. This is going to cause him a lot of stress and he’s not going to play how he did in college. This is for multiple reasons - the NFL is a different game, and he’s with the jaguars. Lawrence is going to break a record though: the one record Manning still has - the most Interceptions by a rookie. This will happen for many reasons. Again, because of the Jaguars, and because he has a rough (and I mean rough!) selection of weapons.
My second wild prediction? The Browns take it all. This offseason we saw the Browns build an NBA-like super team. They’re definitely a high-level team now, they’re not the Browns we saw 5-10 years ago. This team is going to run through the NFL and break records and have a run it back season. The preseason is going to be rough for the Browns as it has in the past. But that’s because the team won’t really tempt fate to protect their pro-bowlers. In the end I see the Browns having a 12-5 record, winning in the Super bowl against the Seahawks.
The final wild prediction is that Joe Burrow has a record setting season where he will win the comeback player award and set records for the most passing yards in a game, most TD’s in a game, and set the record for highest passer rating.
This NFL season is going to be a great season to watch and it’ll be even better to be at the games now that the NFL has said fans are allowed to return for full capacity games. There will be amazing moments to see and break taking plays to witness. This season will be unlike any other, the first season with 17 regular season games. The first time we may get to see Burrow vs Lawrence again. There are way too many things to say that will make this season unbelievable. All you can think is, “Thank God football is back!”
The world famous Pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Garrett Hall)
Why attend a NASCAR race?
Garrett Hall Aug. 18, 2021
Nascar, the pinnacle of American bootlegging. The pastime of many of our grandparents and families. When you think Nascar you think of the few names everyone just knows: Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Richard Petty.
Now Nascar is traditionally known as a white redneck sport, so one may think of beer and mullets. Though Nascar isn’t just about the culture of being a diehard fan stuck to the roots of racing. Modern day Nascar is about the love for speed, wrecks and the good ole fashion in your face argument between drivers/teams.
When one asks me if they should go to a Nascar race, I always say yes. You don’t have to love Nascar or racing to enjoy it. Going to the race gives one the feeling of speed and adrenaline unlike any other event. As soon as you enter a track you can feel its warm welcome.
You will feel welcome anywhere you go at a Nascar race. Yeah, you and the person next to you may go back and forth about who’s the best or the worst. Though at the end of the day that’s a friend you will have made because that’s what Nascar fans are like. Nascar fans have this thing where we all give each other a hard time but at the same time they will have your back if someone gives you a hard time.
As a Nascar fan myself you should go and experience a race at least once. This is because this past weekend my fiancé and I went to the inaugural Verizon 200 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). This was her very first Nascar race, going into the race her thoughts were that the race wasn’t going to be action packed and exciting. However, the race turned out to be the opposite of what she anticipated.
If one ever gets to attend a Nascar race, it’s not just sitting in one spot and waiting for the cars to come around. The whole day at the track is an experience like any other. You can meet the drivers, walk the pits (if you purchase a pass), see the teams work on cars, and even buy exclusive merchandise.
You may even get to witness history, since every race is an unpredictable experience. For instance, this past weekend at the IMS fans got too see AJ Allmendinger win his second Nascar Cup series win. That’s major history in Nascar, with AJ being out of the Cup Series as a full time driver after the 2018 season. AJ is also a fan favorite and underdog in the possible return to cup in the next season of 2022.
Once again, if you have a chance to attend a race don’t even contemplate it. Take that chance and run with it! You never know what you may experience and you may discover a new passion.
Long shot final prediction of NASCAR cup winner
Garrett Hall April 28, 2021
Going into summer means a lot of racing, and crazy things happening on the track. We are 10 races into the season and we already have seen some wild things. Since that puts us almost at the halfway point in the NASCAR season, it’s time to make a ridiculous prediction of who I think is going to win the season.
My drastic pick to win the season is the one and only Denny Hamlin, even though he hasn’t won a race yet this season. He’s been running high in the pact every week and we’ve seen a driver go through before without winning until late in the season and take the Title. I mean Tony Stewart did it and stole the title from Carl Edwards.
I’d like to see a lower name driver win but we all know that this won’t happen due to the fact the big names have better performing cars and just smoke out the lower end cars. These lower teams also make big mistakes to often that ruin their chances. Take Matt DiBenedetto, for example. He had the win at Talladega but his spotter told him to take the outside to block Blaney. That win was Matt’s but his team took it out of his hands.
Now with this season only 10 races in we’ve only seen one driver win twice, so that makes me think maybe we see Martin Truex win the title in November. Though Truex isn’t a playoff guy he’s a more last second run guy. He doesn’t pull the big moves enough to pull another title win, though this season is crazy and maybe it’s his year.
Now the craziest pick I would love to see is Christopher Bell. The young gun has a great season - he’s got his first Cup win, he’s been running top pact, and he’s aggressive driver who isn’t afraid to rub fenders. Bell is a young gun but even though he is running a great season and has what it takes, I don’t see him being able to pull off what it takes to capture a NASCAR Cup Series championship. Maybe in a few seasons he can take the title, but not until names like Keselowski, Logano and Harvick are out of the season.
When are we going to stop?
Garrett Hall April 26, 2021
Joey Logano had a nasty crash this past Sunday during the race at Talladega. Though I think Joey may have thought he was in a worse one than he was.
Joey is quoted saying “On the other hand, I think when are we going to going to stop? Because this is dangerous doing what we are doing. I got a roll bar in my head. That is not OK. I am one hit away from the same situation Ryan Newman just went through."
Except Joey’s wreck wasn’t close to what Ryan Newman experienced. Joey’s wreck was bad don’t get me wrong. Though he is a professional NASCAR driver, who is aware of the risk you take when entering the sport.
The guy is old enough to have seen what happened to Dale Earnhardt at Daytona. He also should be aware that the likelihood of dying in modern day NASCAR is almost zero. The sport hasn’t seen a death in over 20 years. The last driver to die was Dale Earnhardt Sr., again I get it Joey is one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR currently. He is over 6 foot so yeah, he probably got a ding on his head from the cage. But he can’t compare this to the wreck that Ryan Newman was involved in. Newman flipped multiple times, had a car hit him, landed on top of a car roof first, and then stopped. Where Joey flipped, hit the ground and rolled over to his tires.
If Joey is so concerned about the “danger” of the sport, why doesn’t he quit? Why are trying to get your kids into racing? So many questions for Logango, though I’m not surprised he wants to complain since he is slowly turning into a has been.
Joey Logano the Child of NASCAR, the man who had no driver to blame so he blamed the sport itself for his wreck. Maybe it is time to consider retirement Joey, or maybe just go run the back of the pact if the front is too “dangerous” for you. Give your seat up to a driver like Matt DiBenedetto, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse or even Tyler Reddick. If Joey can’t take the well-known danger he is going into then he shouldn’t be in a top tier car. Plain and simple don’t talk trash about something you should know straight up you might have to face.
The end of an MLB dynasty
Garrett Hall April 21, 2021
The New York Yankees are a true dynasty of Major league baseball, or they were at one point. The Yankees currently sit at the bottom of the American League East (AL East). This comes as the Yankees were on a 5-gmae losing streak, though they broke it Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves.
The Yankees are currently sitting at the bottom of the AL East with a record of 6-10 (at the time of this article being written). They lost five times straight including two series sets against AL rival Tampa Bay & Toronto. This draws the question: Are the Yankees no longer a titan in the MLB? Has their 100 plus year reign of dominance come to an end?
As a baseball fan myself, I love watching the Yankees lose. This hasn’t been a common thing until the last 5 or 6 years now. I truly can’t say I’m surprised the Yankees are dead last. They are a dying franchise that is slowly losing its key players.
The downfall I see came from when Derek Jeter retired, they just haven’t been the same team since then.
I will not be surprised to see the Yankees become a sunken ship of a team in the next few years, with star players such as Aaron Judge showing less and less every year. It’s almost guaranteed they will be irrelevant again.
It’s pretty widespread in the MLB fanbase that this isn’t the same program we saw when they won their last World Series. The team in the famous black pinstripes isn’t scary as it once was, so as a Tampa Bay fan I truly can say I don’t worry about the Rays losing to the Yankees.
The Yankees with all their honor and glory as a program are no longer what they once were. They are just a program that ESPN analysts and non-MLB fans cheer for because they have 27 World Series titles.
Swim & Dive take third
Garrett Hall April 19, 2021
This past weekend ISU swim and dive attended the MVC Conference, where the Sycamores captured third place and set multiple records for the program.
Marni Gray (Sophomore) captured the MVC Championship in the 200-butterfly with a best time of 2:01.89. This is the second MVC Championship in program history. Marni also broke the school record for the 100-butterfly prelims with a time of 54.85. She would go on to break this time in finals with a time of 54.42, knocking off 0.42 seconds off her time. Marni wasn’t the only one to take a podium though; Senior Marlene Pavlu Lewin scored a second-place finish in the 200-backstroke with a season-best time of 1:58.51.
The Sycamores had another great race in the 100 freestyle, where Emily Webb, Kaimi Matsumoto and Caitie Mansker all three scored points for sycamores. Webb had a 9th place finish with a season-best of 51.61, Matsumoto placed 14th with a 52.43, and Mansker placed 16th with a time of 53.26.
The Sycamore women also earned multiple All-MVC Honorable mentions, thanks to Madie Rutan and Anna Maria Nasiou. Rutan placed 8th in the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:05.13, while Nasiou placed 7th with a season-best of 2:19.72 in the 200-breaststroke. Molly Fogarty and Colleen O’Connor earned All-MVC honorable mentions with Fogarty’s time of 4:28.02 and O’Connor’s time of 4:29.52. Rutan also earned an MVC honorable mention with a season-best and fourth-place time of 55.57. Marlene Pavlu Lewin earned an honorable mention with a ninth-place time of 56.07.
Rhiannon Wozny and Andrea Putrimas earned All-MVC honorable mentions in the 500 freestyle. Wozny had a time of 4:58.83 in 6th place, and Putrimas earned a 7th place finish with a time of 5:00.56.
The 200 freestyle relay team (Kaimi Matsumoto, Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Ashleigh Sinks and Caitie Mansker) earned a third-place finish Wednesday night with a time of 1:34.28.
Bailey Betzer made the finals in the one-meter dive and finished 15th with a score of 184.00.
The 800 freestyle relay team consisting of Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Kaimi Matsumoto, Rhiannon Wozny and Emily Webb got a second-place finish to conclude Thursday’s swim with a time of 7:30.25.
For the first time in program history, a trio of divers (Sarah Montgomery, Keara Shelton and Bailey Betzer) made the finals in the 3-meter dive. Shelton was the top finsher with a 4th place finish in the B final.
For the final relay of the championship, the team of Marlene Pavlu Lewin, Kaimi Matsumoto, Caitie Mansker and Emily Webb took finished 4th with a time of 3:26.52. This time is the second-best in the Sycamore program.
Missouri State took their 5th straight Conference Championship. The final scores are Missouri State (929.5), Southern Illinois (548.5), Indiana State (475.5), Illinois State (444), UNI (344), Evansville (328.5), Little Rock (318) and Valparaiso (117)
Is Bubba Wallace really NASCAR cup ready?
Garrett Hall April 14, 2021
A few months back we ran an article over the new NASCAR team 23xi, the team of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, and their driver Bubba Wallace. A a lot has happened since then and public opinion has started to go the opposite direction.
The team hasn’t seen much success in the first half of the season, as Bubba is looking well just like his old self, running back of the pact and sliding in top ten just to fall out. Bubba Wallace has in my opinion shown he isn’t a cup ready driver.
Though this isn’t Bubba’s fault, I mean look, the guy drove for Richard petty. I’m sorry to say but the king isn’t truly a guy to get lessons from on modern NASCAR racing. Petty drove a lot of tracks we don’t run, the dirt circuit, and different cars.
Oh yes, I am sure Petty taught bubba a few things, but he is running a Toyota car that is way different than anything Petty drove.
Let’s be honest, Denny Hamlin isn’t going to give any secrets to Bubba. Denny is still racing against him and most likely doesn’t want to teach his secrets to his competitor. What needs to happen for Bubba is that he needs to take a step back to either trucks or xfinity. He should run a season or two with a cup driver who can actually help train Bubba to a Champion. A great example of this is Jr motorsports, they have had multiple champions drive for them. They had Martin Truex jr, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski, to name a few. I can see Jr Motorsports being a great spot for Bubba to learn from fellow teammates and NASCAR HOFer Dale Jr.
Another option I could see Bubba doing is going back to trucks and running it permanently. Bubba isn’t a bad truck racer, and he would be a great fit for Kyle Busch Motorpsorts (KBM). A great example of this is current KBM driver John Hunter Nemechek. John Hunter came down from cup after not winning any races and running back of the pact. Now he is winning in trucks and finally feeling like himself.
We still have seven and a half months left in the NASCAR season and anything can happen. Hopefully Bubba can come out of this situation with a win or two.
NFL Draft Picks
Garrett Hall April 12, 2021
With the NFL draft less than a month away, we are expecting to see some crazy things. Like trades at the last second, or a team picking a player nobody expected.
These are my top ten picks for the 2021 draft, as of Thursday April 9. The draft order goes as follows: Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, The San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, and the Dallas Cowboys.
For the first pick we all know it’s going to be Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson, there isn’t anyone else in the draft that is worth even thinking of taking over him. The only quarterback close to Trevor is Justin Fields and even then, it’s a long shot.
Second pick for the 2021 draft is going to be Kyle Pitts out of Florida. The Jets don’t need to draft a QB at this moment. They need to build up an offense that can guard the Quarterback and be lethal for the QB before getting a starter.
The third pick is going to come down to the big debate of Mac Jones. Jones is out of Alabama and fresh off a National Title win. That game showed he isn’t a mobile QB but rather a deep thrower who if he has targets can make the plays.
With the Fourth pick, the Atlanta Falcons are going to pick Devonta Smith, a Wide Receiver from Alabama. Smith is the most recent Heisman winner, and also fresh off the National Title win with Alabama. The reason I see him going fourth is the same reason ESPN’s Mel Kiper picked him. He’s a great route runner, and he knows how to evade the defender and get open.
The fifth pick in the draft is Penei Sewell. With Joe Burrow returning to starter in 2021 the Bengals need to build a strong line on offense line to let burrow do his magic.
The sixth pick Jaylen Waddle, a Wide Receiver from Alabama. Waddles stats are all you need to know to see his dominance and why he is the best pick. Waddle recorded 78 catches for 1,408 yards (an average of 18.1 yards per catch) and 13 touchdowns.
The seventh pick is Micah Parsons, an Inside Linebacker form Penn State. Parsons is a great start to building the defense up. As you can see from his stats on ESPN,“Parsons racked up 192 tackles and 19 tackles for loss in his first two seasons at Penn State. He had five sacks, four forced fumbles and five pass deflections in 2019.”The Detroit Lions need to build a defense that can hold offenses, and let their offense play with ease knowing the defense will hold that lead they may have.
The eighth pick is Reshawn Slater, an Offensive tackle from Northwestern. With the Panthers acquiring Sam Darnold, this pick is a great choice, as the Panthers haven’t truly had a great protection plan for their Quarterback. Slater is an effective positional blocker and has excellent power for run plays.
The ninth pick is Justin Fields From Ohio State. Fields is a great Quarterback who has excellent ability to get the ball down and precision to keep defenders away from intercepting the ball. In Fields’ first season as starter at Ohio he had an amazing TD-INT ratio of 41-3.
The tenth and final pick in my top ten picks is Zach Wilson from BYU. In Zach’s 2020 season at BYU he had a 73.5 completion rating, throwing for 3,692 yards, also, with 33td to 3 int. This past season was his breakout year and may be a bust but I have a strong feeling this is no fluke. We will see Zach give the Dallas cowboys a solid backup behind Dak Prescott.
Baseball is back
Garrett Hall April 7, 2021
Major league baseball (MLB) began their season Thursday, April 1. This will be a full season with 162 games. Baseball is back in full swing, and even full capacity stadiums are here. The Texas Rangers hosted their first home game this past weekend. The Rangers had a full capacity sold-out game, and roughly 30,000+ fans packed the stadium. The Rangers are located in Texas where there are currently no regulations for Covid-19. The season kicked off with a big start, as we saw Francisco Lindor get a 10-year $341 million contract extension. The contract guarantees Lindor will be a NY Met for the next decade. ESPN covered this and laid out what his contract means, stating, “The deal starts in 2022, tacking it onto the $22.3 million he'll make this season. Lindor has no opt-out clauses. He has a 15-team no-trade clause until 2026 when his 10-and-5 rights will kick in and give him full no-trade protection.”
The world of baseball making predictions for the future World Series Champion on Thursday. Many of the pros and big names of baseball called on the Yankees to grab another AL title, and the Dodgers to repeat and win the NL.
It seems like an every year occurrence for the Yankees to get the call of being the best in the American League. Many MLB fans are calling the bluff on the Dodgers as well, though many say the San Diego Padres, the offseason free agency/trade winner, are to run through the Dodgers.
The conversations don’t end there; they are already talking MVP as well, with the biggest names being Mike Trout for the AL MVP & Juan Soto for the NL MVP.
The MLB season is destined to be a great season, as we will finally be getting back to normalcy in the world of baseball. My take on all the champions is that we are going to see Rays as AL champions and the Padres as NL champions.
As for the World Series champion, I feel the underdog Rays will come out on top for their first Major League World Series title. As we know, the season is only starting, so as it continues teams will be mixing all around and showing more and more who the top dogs are.
NASCAR explores street-racing in Chicago
Garrett Hall March 31, 2021
NASCAR announced earlier this past week that they are working with iRacing to build a Chicago street race to run to see if it’s possible to run a real-life street race in Chicago.
NASCAR has run a street race before though, Nascar has run a street course way back in 1957. This race took place at Titusville-Cocoa Airport a 1.75-mile street course. The winner of that year Fireball Roberts. This race was only run once.
The I-racing track that is being made of Chicago is a test to see if Nascar could do a street race in the greater Chicago area. If this is a possibility NASCAR has said that this would be a possible race in 2022.
My take on this is that this will be an odd race if they decide to run it. For many reasons due to the fact we see a lot of violence in Chicago and they don’t seem to be able to stop it normally so how do they plan on stopping something from going down during this. Another thing I’m worried about is will we have to see the roads that would become the street course have to be repaved and fixed due to potholes, and such.
We also haven't gotten any big information on if it will be a staged course. With Nascar heavily liking the fact of stages are we going to see this have stages, or will this be a classic Nascar race of run it to the very end?
If Nascar decided to run this course I will say it'll be an interesting race to watch. For a couple of reasons, one being the thought of wrecks on a street course and the idea of being a completely different race compared to the 35 other races.
At the end of the day, we have no idea if this will truly happen but as a major Nascar fan, I would like to hear more before being 100% on board with it. As for the I-racing event it is scheduled to run on June second. The race will be a Pro-Invitational and hasn't been announced if it will be televised
Sophomore Rhiannon Wozny set a personal best in the 200 free relay at Friday's dual meet. (Garrett Hall)
Swim & Dive defeat Ball State, lose to SIU
Garrett Hall March 29, 2021
The Sycamores had a tough Friday afternoon, splitting their final dual meet of the year as they lost to the Salukis and took a win against Ball State. The day got off to a rough start, as they fell behind to Southern Illinois early on. The Sycamores came back quickly though, as it came down to the last three swims of the day and diving to determine the winner. The Salukis would end up taking the win over ISU 151 to 149, though that’s not where the story ended for ISU. The Sycamores ended up beating the Ball State Cardinals, 172.5 to 127.5.
This meet wasn’t just close, it was also a big day for setting personal bests. One of the swimmers to set a personal best at Vigo Aquatics Center was Rhiannon Wozny. Rhiannon set a personal best in her 200 free relay with a 24.14.
After Friday's meet I spoke with head coach Josh Christensen. Christensen said he feels that the Sycamores exceeded his expectations and is proud of how they performed. He went on to say, though, that they are still in the season and are finishing up the last bit of their tough training. Christensen said he has a few swimmers who have broken his expectations on the year, including sophomores Kaimi Matsumoto and Andrea Putrimas.
The Sycamores now look towards their conference match-up on April 14-16in Carbondale. Coach Christensen, speaking on how they can improve to secure the win, said that the Sycamores have great depth and that they need everyone to perform at their top abilities to win conference. He ended by saying that that anything is possible in this crazy year and the Sycamores are ready for the challenge.
Bristol to host star-studded dirt races this weekend
Garrett Hall March 24, 2021
The dirt race(s) at Bristol is one of, if not the most, anticipated weekends in the Nascar schedule. The entire weekend consists of two different series races, which are the Cup and Trucks. Both races are seeing top drivers taking on both races. You have Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Martin Tuex Jr and Kyle Larson, just to name a few, who will be running the truck race along with the cup race the next night.
Now the race weekend at Bristol will look tremendously different than any other weekend on the schedule. The qualifying for both races will involve heat races. There will be four qualifying heats that are 15 laps each. The size of each heat will depend on how many drivers we will see enter the dirt races. But for trucks specifically, say there are 50 trucks that enter. In that case, there will be roughly 12 trucks in each heat. According to Nascar.com, the qualifying procedures go as follows: “The starting lineup will be determined by a formula that weighs finishing position plus positions gained during each heat. Drivers finishing first in their heats earn 10 points, second place earns nine, third place earns eight and so forth. Additionally, drivers earn one passing point for each position gained in their heat.”
Currently, it doesn’t seem like Nascar will be cutting drivers after heats. My guess is if they have more than 45 trucks we will see five or so cut from the main race. Though with Bristol being this coming weekend, names still being added to he truck race alone, so we may see the heats be more important to win if they want to run the main race under the lights in Bristol.
As many Nascar fans know, they run races in stages. That isn’t going to change just because of the Bristol dirt race. The truck race has three stages as normal. The three stages end on 40, 90, and lap 150. Each stage is meant to be short enough that drivers won’t run out of gas. Normally, green flag pitstops for gas would happen. This also is the first race of the season to host a practice session, as each series will be hosting a 50-minute practice. The qualifying heats for each series are scheduled for Friday.
Out of the big names to be coming to the truck race on dirt, there are a few who stand out. The first one being Kyle Larson, who won 46-90 dirt races he ran last spring. Larson isn’t the only dirt guy to be running the trucks; Chase Briscoe, who is a current full time Nascar cup series driver, has entered the truck race at Bristol. He has a long history on dirt, as he has ran and almost owned the Chili Bowl dirt nationals. Briscoe has won a Nascar truck race on dirt though, as he won at Eldora in 2017.
Nascar has a star studded race weekend planned for Bristol, all racing fans will be watching to see if Nascar can put on a successful dirt weekend at Bristol this Friday through Sunday. Practices are scheduled to be televised 3 pm Friday on FS1, with heat racing at 4:30 on FS1 and the “Pintys Truck Race on Dirt” at 8pm Saturday on FS1. For the cup series, televised practices will be at 4 pm Friday on FOX, Heat racing is 6:30 Saturday on Fox, and the “Food City Dirt Race” is live on FOX Sunday at 3:30.
ISU coaching cleanup?
Garrett Hall March 22, 2021
ISU has parted ways with two of their coaches already this semester, so does this mean we may see other coaches who aren’t doing too well leaving as well? Many will say that the release of Coach Lansing was a mistake, but others will disagree. Though we can say that we have a great replacement. We also know that Vickie Hall, the women’s basketball coach, won’t be returning this fall as the coach of women’s basketball.
Are we going to see more coaches’ contracts not renewed? One of these coaches I believe won’t return is the women’s softball coach, Mike Perniciaro. This past weekend against the Illinois state Cardinals, the coaching staff made a few odd calls on pitching in their second game of a double header on Saturday.
They left the starting pitcher in through the third inning. This is where we saw 7 of the 10 runs scored in the second game against the Cardinals. The question that first comes to mind is why keep a pitcher in after the first inning where the cardinals scored three runs. These three runs came after two batters walked, when the next batter hit a homerun to deep center.
Though we didn’t see the rampage of the Cardinals stop in the first, the second and third innings were a similar sight, where a combined four runs were scored. This is when we finally saw the starter come off and not return. Though the coaching staff seemed to be giving a new pitcher a chance, they didn’t keep it long.
She was pulled after only one inning where three runs brought in. I’m not truly sure if this was too blame on the pitcher, as the three runs were easy outs that were capitalized on by the outfield and infield. The scores came from a single hit to the outfield that advance the runners too second and third bringing in one run. The final run came in on a fly to deep left that skid off the outfielder’s glove allowing the runner to score.
This isn’t the only reason I feel we may see a new face running the softball program next year. Over the last four years, Coach Perniciaro has a record of 62-88. Every season in his four years at ISU has been a losing season. Although, this season still has 27 more matchups for ISU, so we could see a turn around on the season. Time can only tell, as this season isn’t close to being finished.
What if NASCAR could bring back North Wilkesboro
Garrett Hall March 17, 2021
Though, it's almost impossible to bring back North Wilkesboro, what if there was a way to bring back the classic track? Many current drivers want to see the track brought back to glory and have a chance to run it. We know that the track is too far-gone to truly make it functional. The true only way to run it again is I-Racing, like we saw at the beginning of 2020. At the start of the pandemic, we saw NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and I-Racing come together to make the track virtual.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., back in December of 2019, began the long process of making the famous track a copy of its once glory. It was only meant to be virtual, but they still had to go in and landscape the entire track. This meant they had to go in and clear all grass from the track and clear the banks of dirt that had piled at the bottom. This process took roughly three to four months. I-racing had to come in after the track had been "landscaped" and they took multiple days to scan the entire track 400 feet every 45 minutes. The entire I-racing experience with North Wilkesboro is a truly exciting moment in time, it finally gave us a look at what it would be like to run the track if it was able to host a race.
North Wilkesboro is one of the most famous tracks in NASCAR’s long history due to the fact it stayed true to being the only track where you could go see a race for $15 dollars. This was one of its downfalls, with NASCAR in the '90s becoming one of the larger sports in America. Prices skyrocketed, and even today you can't go to a NASCAR race without spending $90-$100 dollars. North Wilkesboro is still being eyed by drivers, such as Joey Logano, who has done a project at the track. The project was just a promotional video for the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas. This did show that the track has potential, but not for the typical NASCAR race. It would work better for drifting, or possibly dirt racing, but definitely could be used for rally racing.
Since North Wilkesboro shut down in 1996, the tracks NASCAR runs are super stadium speedways, such as Bristol, Daytona, Talladega and Indianapolis. North Wilkesboro had a capacity of 40,000, where modern superspeedways can hold between 100,000-400,000.
Unfortunately, there is no possible way we will ever see the famous track ran in the modern-day race schedule. The track is too far gone, as the oval is all cracked and destroyed, the infield is destroyed, the grandstands have deteriorated, all around the track is way past gone to be a success story in NASCAR again.
The NASCAR playoffs are a disaster
Garrett Hall March 15, 2021
The NASCAR playoffs are a terrible, and I mean a terrible idea. Before I dive into the disaster that is the playoffs, let me explain how the playoffs work. When a driver wins a race, they are automatically into the playoffs. Also, if you've won a NASCAR championship for your respected series and run all 36 races of the season, you are automatically in the playoffs. This means a driver who wins a race due to a wreck, or is lucky enough to be in the front after halfway point and the red flag is thrown (if a race is past the halfway mark, and a red flag is called the race ends in that exact moment). The playoffs consist of four rounds, tournament bracket style. The playoffs also have rules that have to be met to be eligible for the playoffs. You have to run all races on the season, though this rule gets broken by the "cash grab" drivers. An example of this is in 2015 when Kyle Busch broke both of his legs and had to miss half of the season. He got a waiver saying if he won so many races he would get in. That year, the champion was Kyle Busch.
When it comes to the playoffs for NASCAR, they are a little confusing. You would assume if you’re the points leader in the series, then you would be champion regardless of who wins the last race. You would be wrong. NASCAR’s playoff doesn't rely on points except for telling if you make through to the next round of drivers. The NASCAR playoffs have four cut-off points, 16, 12, 8, and 4. The final four all go for the trophy in the final race of the year, this race could be won by any of the final four and that person would be the champion. Basically, the regular season doesn't matter.
A great example of this is the 2020 season, Kevin Harvick & Denny Hamlin won a combined 65% of the regular-season races. At the end of the season, neither of them won the championship. How did neither of them win the championship? Well, that's due to the fact of the playoffs point system. The point system knocked Kevin Harvick, the points leader, through the entire season because the three races before the cutoff had three different winners. Which put them automatically into the round of four. Where Denny Hamlin finished ahead of Harvick, which put Harvick out. Now, why should anyone care? He lost out correct? No, Kevin Harvick won nine races, out of 36 on the season. The other four who got past won a combined of 19. Denny Hamlin had seven of those wins. The other three drivers in the round of four had five or fewer on the season. The season champion had five wins, which included the championship race win.
This modern point system came into the picture in 2014, but the old system was better. This system was called The Chase, which was simple and true to declaring a champion. The Chase worked through the first 26 races, if you were in the top ten of the standings, you were in the playoffs. These points were the leader having 45, second having 40, and so on down to five points for tenth in standings. These races created more completive races, and not only for the playoffs. There were drivers fighting every week for those points. Now, this format worked well in its first season, we had drivers who won and just barely made the cutoff. You had Kurt Busch who lost a tire and was able to still come back and win the title. Now I say it worked in its first season because halfway through the 26 races guys were locked in and didn't try for wins. A king at doing this is Jimmie Johnson. The most recent driver to get seven championships, Jimmie and his crew chief used the first 26 races as a test session. They would lock into the top ten and hit the jests to win five straight titles. This is when NASCAR changed the system. Now, I agree with why they changed it to what we have - it requires guys to race and win. They can’t sit in the back of the pact after locking in halfway through 26 races. This made it where anyone could win the chase, even if they were way behind in points in the playoffs. Though when NASCAR changed the format, they added four slots to make it 16 drivers in the first round. Which meant the 16 is where we watch the guys who slid by and won a race on some oddity, who most likely are gone after the first three playoff races.
NASCAR’s playoffs are a disaster and I mean that you go and you could win a race, chill until the playoffs, and then either win one more each three race series before the next cutoff, or finish ahead of a few other guys above that cutoff and so forth. Until the final race at now Phoenix Raceway in Arizona, where it's the one time you must win. Now, yes, I do like that the champion has to win in this case, though it still makes winning more than once in the regular season a waste of time. You could still use the 25 other races (if you won the first race) as a test session. In a perfect situation, you could go to the playoffs hit the jets, win a race relax, repeat, and go win the final race, and boom. You are now NASCAR Champion, and won it on a dumb basis of win and you're in.
NASCAR works to become more inclusive
Garrett Hall March 10, 2021
Many people know Nascar has a very strong and old stereotype of being a "white man's sport." Ever since its creation in 1948, Nascar has always held the title of being a predominantly white sport. Even with its first black driver Wendell Scott being an icon to the sport and being praised for his legacy he left on the sport. Even though Scott only was able to win one race in his career, he still stands tall as one of the best to run the series. Scott was put in the Nascar Hall of Fame in 2015. Nascar now honors Scott one weekend every year. Scott was of course a target of prejudice and hatred for his heritage, but this didn’t stop him from proving those people wrong and growing a large fan base through the year of his career until his last race in 1973 at Charlotte.
Though time has gone by, the sport has seen only two more African American drivers, the most recent being Bubba Wallace. When Darrell “Bubba” Wallace spoke out in 2020 about racial issues and the killing of George Floyd, a large number of fans were outraged and felt he shouldn't speak on "politics." But this only drove more fellow black athletes to rise in support for Wallace and become fans of Nascar. Some of these Athletes are Lebron James, Tyrann Mathieu, Alvin Kamara, and many more. Kamara was the main athlete to have a light show on him from Bubba and Nascar. Bubba and his Management at the time of Petty Motorsports sent Kamara a care package full of Wallace Merch. Even Nascar themselves invited Kamara to a Nascar race at Homestead Miami. Alvin has been one of the biggest supporters since attending the race in Miami, he has since gone on to sponsor a car at the 2021 Daytona 500 in February. The driver was Ryan Vargas. After Kamara's trip to Miami for his first-ever Nascar race, he said "I feel like I’m a part of it now,” speaking on the racing fans and Nascar President welcoming Kamara with open arms. Kamara has said that he wants to bring more athletes and fans to the sport, as he has offered to pay for his teammates and other NFL players to attend races.
When Bubba spoke out, this made Nascar take notice to its fans who aren't white and voted to ban the Confederate flag at races. Many fans blamed Bubba for this and began to give him hate. In the same week, Bubba spoke up about being told there was a noose in his Garage at Talladega (though this was later proven false). This only puts more rage into the fans and began to say he was trying to ruin the sport. This brought more publicity to Nascar, along with more attention on social media. Lebron James took to Twitter, saying:
“@BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone! I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete. I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports! @NASCAR I salute you as well!”
This though also didn’t just bring in fans, it was the final straw for Micheal Jordan. As Nascar and Michael Jordan came together to make Jordan the first Black Team majority owner. Jordan started a team with Joe Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin, their team goes by the name 23XI racing. Though the team hasn’t had a tremendous amount of success in the first four weeks of their inaugural season, Jordan has said that he will stand by Wallace and he knows that he is truly their driver. He said, “I think he presents a great opportunity. Not just as an African-American, but in terms of talent… He’s someone who aspires to be good. All you have to do is support him.” Wallace though has been putting up better finishes under his new car with backing from Toyota And Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). This is important because many fans spoke out and said that Wallace doesn't deserve to be in Nascar since he was averaging 23rd place. This and the fact he hasn't had many top-five finishes with currently sitting with two top-five finishes in five years. With this season starting only a little under a month ago and his finishes all being 17th, 26th, 22nd, and 28th. While these aren't the best finishes, he is certainly proving he belongs in the series because he has been strong running with big names such as Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. Now Nascar isn't only bringing more African American viewership and big names. They are also bringing in more stars like platinum recording artist Pitbull, who over the off-season of late fall/early winter became part owner of Track house Racing. Pitbull’s team isn’t just any regular team though, as his driver was the first foreign-born driver to win a Nascar Championship at the Xfinity Series Championship in 2016. Nascar is also having firsts for women, as Jamie Little becomes the first Female correspondent to do play-by-play for Nascar.
Outside of famous athletes, Nascar has seen a rise in African American fans. In 2018 Nascar had an average viewership of African American viewers around 8.2%. In 2020 Nascar saw this rise to 8.6%. Even though this isn't a large increase, it still is progress for the sport. It went from being a deep south sport made from running moonshine and other liquors during Prohibition that was primarily white, to now having one of its biggest teams majority-owned by Michael Jordan.
Nascar isn't just making changes to the race experience. A great example of this is from last season during the pandemic. Driver Kyle Larson was in an I-racing race and had a hot mic moment when he was caught saying a racial slur. Since this incident, Nascar and Kyle split ways for the remainder of the Nascar 2020 season. In order for Kyle to return to racing, he had to take some sensitivity training courses. He has since completed these and returned to the sport after being heavily vetted and questioned. This process, of course, didn't end here, as Nascar took major heat for this, though Bubba Wallace said, "I am not mad at him, and I believe he, along with most people deserves second chances and deserve space to improve." Kyle Larson would end up winning the fourth race in the new season this past Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the first driver to come to him in victory lane was Bubba Wallace. I say all this because Nascar is sticking true to its hopes of making Nascar a household name in more areas. Because they are punishing drivers who say something racist or insensitive, they are proving that this sport will not put up with the division of their fans, drivers or teams.
With everything Nascar has done to bring in more diversity to its fanbase, I think there could be a major rise in Cultural firsts such as more foreign-born drivers, more diverse fans, and possibly the first female team owners. Nascar is proud to grow as a company and isn’t afraid to tell people they aren’t going to stand by the racist stigmas some may try to push onto its fans and drivers. I don’t think we are going to see Nascar shun out or tell anyone they aren’t allowed to be a part of this great sport.