the spliff committee 
Necessary Evils...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Spliff Committee Goes to NASCAR
Before this past Winter I never would have thought I'd ever go to a NASCAR race, that was until ESPN ran some awesome ads for the upcoming season, the first year of an 8 year deal that was signed last December, which peaked my interest. After a failed attempt to go to the Pocono 500; numerous Sundays trying to watch but always losing interest after 15 minutes; my favorite radio host Bubba the Love Sponge recapping each weekends races and interviewing people in the industry, I had all but given up on trying to get into the phenomenon. Then one Friday a few weeks ago, our boy Karm was complaining about how Bubba goes into his rants about NASCAR and that it always forces him to change the channel; well one thing lead to another and we were buying tickets to the Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway. I then picked my buddy Jerry's brain, who happened to be a fan, about the rules, rented NASCAR 08 for XBOX360 and my interest had been renewed and I was set for race day Sunday September 23, 2007. I even found myself a driver to root for, #20 Tony Stewart (who I was able to get 7 to 1 odds on to win the race).
The crew that we put together was Danny Flops, Karm, and myself along with our boys from Jersey City, Traina, Omar and E.
After tossing around a couple of ideas consisting of staying in a hotel or camping, we decided to just hit the road at 7AM to embark on our 2 1/2 hour journey.
The plan was to tailgate for a few hours and then get in there for the "Gentleman start your engines" jumpoff...that didn't happen. We got to the stadium for 11AM and then sat in traffic for almost 2 hours as we tried to find a spot. When we finally got there we really got to see what the hype was all about. There was one parking lot after another filled with trailers, tents, games, food and of course fans, it actually looked liked an enormous carnival was going on.
We finally parked about a mile away from the stadium at 1 o'clock and decided to chill for a bit, eat some burgers, do some boozing, etc. People have always told me that if you are within 5 miles of a race you can hear the roar of the engines. I promise you this is no myth.
When we finally got to our seats we realized that this was going to be awesome. Unfortunately our seats weren't the best but we had no idea what the deal was in terms of which seats were better than others, and t
hey really weren't too bad. We were 5 rows up on the entrance of the 3rd turn so we got to see some action.
In NASCAR there are basically two types of tracks "oval", which has several variations and the drivers only make left turns, and "road" tracks which consists of both left and right turns and really puts drivers to the test, Watkins Glen in upstate New York is said to be the most difficult road course. In addition to the different track styles there are also 3 types of races regular races in which the cars are powered by 750hp engines; restrictor plate races where the engines are reduced to 430hp (this is only done at Daytona and
Talladega); and Car of Tomorrow races, only 13 of these have been ran so far this year, these cars will be used full time next year and are considered to be much safer for the driver if they were to get into a wreck. The Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover was a Car of Tomorrow race on an oval track.
About 20 minutes after we got there we witnessed our first accident as Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall, but he was able to return. But it was in the 386th lap when "the big one", a 12 car
whammy, happened. Kurt Bush, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Green and J.J. Yeley got it the worst. It figures that 5 minutes before this happened I decided to hit the men's room with Dan, so the two of us actually didn't get a chance to see this happen live.
Aside from the race the fans were quite amusing as well. About a year ago NASCAR was pushing to build a new track on Staten Island and thinking back on it I really could not imagine 
this type of environment here on the Island. Just about every car in the all of the parking lots
were either made in America, a pickup truck or both. Passionate rednecks and hillbillies were representing to the fullest. The one thing that surprised me the most was that the fans really weren't too rowdy, I was expecting people to go nuts every time their driver made a past or got bumped by another driver.
In the end it was pretty close as Carl Edwards was able to hold off his teammate Greg Biffle in the closing laps. Upon winning Edwards performed his signature victory backflip this time the fans did make some noise. But the drama did not end at the finish line as Edwards failed his post race inspection but was only docked 25 points in the standings. My boy Tony Stewart came in 9th, costing me a whopping $25, but he did move up to 2nd in the Cup Chase.
All in all, I think we all really enjoyed the race and would more than likely go to see another one.
After tossing around a couple of ideas consisting of staying in a hotel or camping, we decided to just hit the road at 7AM to embark on our 2 1/2 hour journey.
The plan was to tailgate for a few hours and then get in there for the "Gentleman start your engines" jumpoff...that didn't happen. We got to the stadium for 11AM and then sat in traffic for almost 2 hours as we tried to find a spot. When we finally got there we really got to see what the hype was all about. There was one parking lot after another filled with trailers, tents, games, food and of course fans, it actually looked liked an enormous carnival was going on.
We finally parked about a mile away from the stadium at 1 o'clock and decided to chill for a bit, eat some burgers, do some boozing, etc. People have always told me that if you are within 5 miles of a race you can hear the roar of the engines. I promise you this is no myth.At about 100 laps into the race we made our way over. As we actually got to the outside of the stadium you immediately realize that NASCAR is much more than just a sport, it is a culture. Everywhere you looked people were wrapped from head to toe in their favorite driver's apparel, memorabilia stands were lined up for miles on the streets and in parking lots.
When we finally got to our seats we realized that this was going to be awesome. Unfortunately our seats weren't the best but we had no idea what the deal was in terms of which seats were better than others, and t
hey really weren't too bad. We were 5 rows up on the entrance of the 3rd turn so we got to see some action.
In NASCAR there are basically two types of tracks "oval", which has several variations and the drivers only make left turns, and "road" tracks which consists of both left and right turns and really puts drivers to the test, Watkins Glen in upstate New York is said to be the most difficult road course. In addition to the different track styles there are also 3 types of races regular races in which the cars are powered by 750hp engines; restrictor plate races where the engines are reduced to 430hp (this is only done at Daytona and
Talladega); and Car of Tomorrow races, only 13 of these have been ran so far this year, these cars will be used full time next year and are considered to be much safer for the driver if they were to get into a wreck. The Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover was a Car of Tomorrow race on an oval track.About 20 minutes after we got there we witnessed our first accident as Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall, but he was able to return. But it was in the 386th lap when "the big one", a 12 car
whammy, happened. Kurt Bush, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Green and J.J. Yeley got it the worst. It figures that 5 minutes before this happened I decided to hit the men's room with Dan, so the two of us actually didn't get a chance to see this happen live.
Aside from the race the fans were quite amusing as well. About a year ago NASCAR was pushing to build a new track on Staten Island and thinking back on it I really could not imagine this type of environment here on the Island. Just about every car in the all of the parking lots
were either made in America, a pickup truck or both. Passionate rednecks and hillbillies were representing to the fullest. The one thing that surprised me the most was that the fans really weren't too rowdy, I was expecting people to go nuts every time their driver made a past or got bumped by another driver.In the end it was pretty close as Carl Edwards was able to hold off his teammate Greg Biffle in the closing laps. Upon winning Edwards performed his signature victory backflip this time the fans did make some noise. But the drama did not end at the finish line as Edwards failed his post race inspection but was only docked 25 points in the standings. My boy Tony Stewart came in 9th, costing me a whopping $25, but he did move up to 2nd in the Cup Chase.
All in all, I think we all really enjoyed the race and would more than likely go to see another one.
Bonds HR Ball to be "Branded" with Asterick
One week and ten million votes later the people have spoken, and they have said that Bonds' 756th HR ball will be branded with an asterick.
As most of you know, Marc Ecko, Spliff Comm fav/fashion designer/magazine editor/etc. purchased the ball on Sept. 15 for $752,467 on an online auction and then setup a web poll to allow the fans to decide the record breaking ball's fate, which was ultimately to brand the ball; the other options were to bestow it to the Hall as is or banish it to outer space. The fiasco drew major attention from all media outlets over the past week. Even Bonds himself chimed in calling Ecko and "idiot". In the end the fans had their say.
Amazingly, the Hall of Fame is going to accept the ball and they are going to help Ecko come up with a method to do the "branding".
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Barry Bonds HR Ball
Fashion Designer/Graff Writer Marc Ecko is out there creating some noise once again. Ecko recently bought Bonds' 756 HR ball at auction for the overpriced amount of $752,467. In an effort to "democratize the debate over what to do with the ball" Ecko has created a website that will allow people to vote on whether or not he should bestow it to the Hall of Fame, brand it when an asterick and then send it to Cooperstown, or banish the ball into space.
The Spliff Committee vote has been to brand the ball, we don't like cheaters.
Mad props to Marc Ecko!!
Linx
Etc
