ZuDfunck

ZuDfunck Migrates To Twitter

Hear Ye!, Hear Ye!, Hear Ye!

The micro blogging reality that is Twitter has taken out another Blogger!
We can no longer deny the death of Blogging
Under that stress and dismal fact
We are forced to move our operations
Lock Stock and Barrel
Great film! Actually:
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
To a more stringently structured location.
But man on man it is jumping!
There are followers galore
ReTweets by the Dozens
If you don't know what I am saying
Then you don't know what is Happening
Why am I writing this way
I am practicing my Micro Speak
This is how they Write
Little bursts of Text
Tweets of Wisdom
Blurbs of Text
Tweets

Good lord
Who thought ZuD would end up at Twitter
Not me
I thought we could Survive
But the Tide is Changing
And go with It
We Will
Tweet
Tweet
ZuD is a Twit
@ZuDfunck

NASCAR 2009 Season A Wait and See Attitude Prevails

Great article from USA Today, the best sports page around, on how things will be different this year. Check it out and keep in touch with ZuD's VoiD as we no doubt will post a few NASCAR pieces this season:

If you're a NASCAR fan worried that a host of recent seismic changes will wrap the sport in an exhaust cloud of extreme uncertainty throughout 2009, here's horsepower-tinged hope. Each Saturday or Sunday should bring solace for at least three hours or so.

Despite all of the sponsorship and budgetary upheaval that has engulfed stock car racing in conjunction with the financial crisis rippling through corporate America, the on-track product will seem very familiar this season. There have been no major rule changes and no tweaks to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format. For the first time in three years, the same rear-winged car will be raced at every track as in the previous season.

"As far as race cars, the bodies, the chassis, the engines … the nucleus of our sport, the racing on the track, hasn't been affected," says Larry McReynolds, a TV analyst for Fox and Speed. "But there's a lot of things affecting everything else behind the scenes."

UniBody Aluminum MacBook Blogging Son of a Gun

Hello to all I am keyboarding this post from a 2.4Ghz MacBook with a lit keyboard and a 250-gig drive they don’t come anymore beefy than that but that really isn’t of interest to you what you want to hear about is what I did for the big game, isn’t it. Well I just wanted to cover where we at with the computer dilemma cause it took up all our time the last 5 days for certain and we have decided to be a 3 computer office for the time being until someone takes the tablet off my hands anyway we had a delightful weekend with it being capped off by a cliffhanger end to the super bowl that had me wishing for the Cardinals but feeling reluctantly pleased with myself when the Steelers pulled it out at the end. You’ll recall I had projected the playoffs to be a Pittsburgh victory so I not only was champion of the fantasy football league I had the picks go my way as well. I am not bragging really I am not it is that I so rarely am right about these things.

Man that was a long paragraph, is this is what we have to expect now that I am blogging again with a MacBook? That’s why I bought it you know, to have the ability to be long on text just like the big boy bloggers I want to be like. So whoopee do! It’s working like a charm.

What I found delightful this weekend was the movie I waited on coming to home video which is Guy Richie latest rock’nrolla which had a fantastic cast of British actors, did you know Stringer Bell from the Wire is British? I didn’t either and he co-starred with a stunning group of actors that spoke in tongues that require close captioning but that didn’t slow down the pleasure one bit! I recommend that film with guaranteed delight for anyone who has a sense of humor and an appetite for British gangster movies.

So just a week or so and Pro Football will be over til summer and I will have my life back for what six months that will be kind of coll. I am thinking of NASCAR but not really, I may miss a few races just focus on the short tracks that’s all I really like. The Bristol’s and Martinsville’s are what I dig. The big 2-mile ovals are just round and round but on the short tracks they bump and bang each other and wrecks are so cool. Not when they die but the characters are the main thing. With the economy what it is I am not sure how it will all play out. A lot of teams closed down this off-season so it will be interesting just to see what or who is left and where.

Passion, Addiction and Super Bowl 2009

So here in the Void we are free to speak on any topic, passion or addiction ZuD may be experiencing at any moment. Let’s bring you up the speed, since we abandoned Nicotine Gum Addict.com we have been unable to keep you up to speed on ZuD’s gum addiction. As it stands at this point in January 09 we were able to quit the gum for 2 weeks and all nicotine for a week. We have since gone back to the gum and with my gums (in my mouth) screaming in pain we have gone back on the patch and will forsake gum hopefully forever and nicotine shortly after that.

 

Regarding technical addiction we have decided to sell this HP tablet for a ridiculously cheap price on craigslist and get us one of them there luscious aluminum Unibody MacBooks! Yeah buddy! Then that will be the blogging computer that will bring you all of these fabulous posts. Screw trying to do handwriting to text computing! You’ll recall that was my approach in November and that fell flat with a boom.

 

I think that’s it for now. Oh wait there is a game tomorrow of some interest, the Super Bowl, not a real game, more of a dog and pony show for the non football fans. I speak with disdain because I am a football addict and will be forced into withdrawal in a week. Something I have faced for some thirty years. It’s not so bad as it allows me to get caught up with life until NASCAR rears its head in a couple weeks. I am going with Pittsburgh in case you want to place a late bet.

ZuDfunck Widens Focus of His Blog and Monday Night Televiewing

Random Thoughts as we enter yet another change in focus:
The multi-faceted realm of Popular Culture
The niche of NASCAR was just to narrow!
Popular Culture according to my notes is:

Popular culture (also known as pop culture) deemed as what is popular within the social context — that of which is most strongly represented by what is perceived to be popularly accepted among society. Otherwise, popular culture is also suggested to be the widespread cultural elements in any given society that are perpetuated through that society's vernacular language or lingua franca. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires and cultural 'moments' that make up the everyday lives of the mainstream. It can include any number of practices, including those pertaining to cooking, clothing, consumption, mass media and the many facets of entertainment such as sports and literature. Source: Wikipedia

So that about covers everything I blog about. Pretty clever, eh?

This Week In NASCAR:
Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's crew cheif was on with Michael Waltrip and Chad took a shot at Mikie!
A viewer question had to do with what happens to the scrap that falls off cars after a wreck and Michael went into this long thing bout how they become souvenirs for the fans. And then out of the blue Chad brings up sway bars. Well Michael recovered quick and asked Chad if he had any cause he was short a full set, but the shot was felt I think.

MSNBC's Hardball w/Chris Matthews:
Chris was like a Pig in Slop. Interviewing or spewing , sometimes he just rants with Scott McClellan. All kind of Detailed under the hood, behind the scenes questions that eventually just made my head hurt. But for the political junkies and Matthew lovers it was a grand moment

WWE's Monday Night RAW:
At the beginning of the main event between John Cena and Jeff Hardy some huge Mark Henry looking dude climbed in the ring and started going for Cena. An official and some other equally huge security person swooped into the ring and took him out. Difficult to say how they managed because the camera immediately panned away to Jeff Hardy to avoid showing the guy. JR and King joked it was live TV and Cena and Jeff had smiles as they tried to get back in character and proceed with the match. Oh yeah it was a first contenders match and it determined that Cena will fight Triple H at the next pay per view. No surprises there.

So there is your random viewing for Monday night, some say I am merely justifying my over watching of my Plasma but you know better don't you ZuDDies. It's because I am providing a service to all my precious subscribers of my feed who do have a life and can't watch this stuff themselves.

 

Talk About a Busch-Whack! Kyle Busch is Gonna Wreck NASCAR

 This boy has got to be cut open and analyzed. Find out what he’s got inside him because this boy can flat out race. I went for a walk so I missed the lap 19 take out of every driver I care about and when I looked up with 30 laps to go there he was leading the race!

It was a boring race and it must have really upset folks to have their favorite driver sucked into that 10-car pileup, but who knew it was just a prelude to seeing something very special:
Dare I say a dynasty in the making?
Afraid so...
This isn’t good kids, this is bad for NASCAR
I’ve lived it; I’ve been through it, not in racing but in Football.

Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots
Yep that kind of dynasty. But dynasties are for football & basketball team sports that have a whole crew of folks pulling in a coach led direction. Not some punk who can race the wheels off those cars or trucks and win most every week if the car or truck holds up.
 
I Thought when I signed up for NASCAR there would be a different winner every week! Well, someone desired a change from that and here we are looking into that face. So someone leave a comment and talk me off this ledge cause I am feeling very upset that I have to look at that face on this beautiful Monday morning. Here's an exchange from the winners press conference via Motorsport.com:

Q: Kyle, you mentioned in Victory Lane it was a busy weekend, you had a chance in the truck race, had a problem in the Nationwide race. Have you ever felt this greedy before with the situation you're in?

KYLE BUSCH: Well, when you feel like you've got the dominant truck or the dominant car, then you feel like you missed out on something. I feel like we missed out at the All Star Race. I feel like we missed out in the truck race at Charlotte. So four wins in the past two, three weeks that I feel like more we could have gotten.That's a good question. I mean, is it greed? I just want to win everything, man. That's all I'm here for, is to win as many races as I possibly can. Whether it's the truck, Nationwide car, or the Cup car... Joe wants me to win in the Cup cars. I think he wants me to win in his Nationwide cars, too. Unfortunately I kept him out of Victory Lane last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He probably wasn't happy about that.

         JOE GIBBS: We haven't talked about that.

KYLE BUSCH: Tried to pay him back today a little bit, get him back into the Victory Lane, when he was here and J.D. wasn't, so at least we could have one of the Gibbs in Victory Lane with us.

Ricky Bobby Saying Grace

Although I have yet to see this movie, I snatched this off the Don Imus show earlier today. And so I don't get in trouble you can listen to Imus in the Morning every weekday from New York City 6-10 AM.

Download ricky_bobby_saying_grace_20080529_1230.1.mp3

 

MSNBC's Chris Matthews has a NASCAR Kyle Busch Moment

Chris Matthews Had a Political Seizure the other day as did ZuD.

So this book comes out by a hack named Scott McClellan, he was the press secretary for President Bush awhile back. For those who don’t know, Matthews has been railing bout the war since it began, saying the American public was duped and made to believe by manipulating the situation in Iraq, that an invasion was necessary, because Saddam Hussein was a member in high standing of the Axis of Evil.

Maybe you watch Matthews, but if you missed Wednesdays show, he had his usual gaggle of folks and he barely allowed his guests to speak as he went on and on about how this proves Bush did what he said he always knew. He was in an orgasmic glee that a White House insider, the president’s press secretary, was now spouting what Chris had been saying all these years! He was so elated and full of himself he could die that minute, a happy man.

Now I am a responsible hippie of some fifty plus years and relate to most of what Matthews puts down, but even I thought he was showing his stripes a little garishly and I am now feeling uncomfortable with his show. As a moderator of a major cable news network shouldn’t you try to maintain a less partisan glee at moments such as this? I avoid Fox News Channel just for that reason. The slant is distasteful on Fox News and so too is the opposite political slant.  I treasure the 5pm MSNBC time slot but will find another spot to point my attention if he continues to babble on like some right wing windbag I avoid vigilantly at anytime of the day.

Disclaimer:
Although I am proud to be a small time NASCAR Blogger I felt it important to say this in my usual slot for pre race columns, this week being Dover, but I needed to log this historic moment when I saw Mr. Matthews have his political seizure, or for my NASCAR readers, a Kyle Busch moment. I mention Kyle Busch as I feel that young lad is a talented misunderstood fella much as Chris Matthews is a older version of the talented and misunderstood cadre of talking heads that appear on media outlets through out the maze of shows on my Panasonic Plasma.

Speaking of media mazes, Fox Sports will conclude their coverage of NASCAR this weekend and it will be on to the dreaded coverage that TNT provides. I originally loathed NASCAR on Fox but then have learned to realize they do the best job of the three networks that cover the sport. I will miss DW, Chris Meyers and even Mike Joy as we get turned over to the clowns on TNT, who are tolerable only when we realize after six races we really start to get headaches when ESPN takes over for the remainder of the season.  ZuD will surely need some Goody’s Headache Powder when that occurs…

Endurance the Key to Sunday's Coke 600

Although sitting on the pole Kyle Busch will not have the patience to last 600 miles.
Biffle who came in fourth would have sat on the pole had it not been for a garbage bag sitting on the track.

And with ‘Big Baby Kyle’ out front we will see a replay of last weeks all-star race where mechanical failure took him out after leading every lap

Can’t count out Mr. Lowes Jimmie Johnson but he’s snake bit this year

So as odd as it is to pick a winner we feel very comfortable with picking Biffle.

Regardless of the winner I think it will be a fabulous race with lots of activity behind the leaders.
There is another race Sunday as no doubt you are aware in the USAToday there is a great comparison on costs and competitive position open wheel racing faces versus NASCAR. Apparently things are looking up for the IRL but certainly there is a way to go for their resurgence to become anything like what NASCAR has.

Important to point out the holiday on Monday and its' purpose to remember those brave men and women who have died protecting our freedoms. Be sure to say thanx to those no longer with us, as we celebrate this holiday.

Kyle Busch Will Be The Target in Saturday Night's AllStar Race

When the green flag falls some four times Saturday night with the goofy setup that the AllStar race has keep your eye on Kyle as will the half dozen or so drivers that are carrying a grudge against him. Oh sure they all say there is no retribution in NASCAR but you and I dear fans know better. Hell, he may as well be driving the Target car as he swoops and dives around Lowes Motor Speedway as his new found enemies plot to take him out.

That may not be NASCAR racing but it will sure make for some fine WWE racing. In fact my money is on John Cena, I mean Carl Edwards taking out 'Big Baby Kyle.' Can't wait to see who it is, but whomever, they will be my favorite driver for at least a few races.

Another subplot is the fact Fox will be covering just a couple more races before TNT takes over coverage and that is always a great adjustment for me as we become enamored with DW and crew and have to get use to the dulcet toned Bill Weber who should be a FM Rock Jock and not the voice of NASCAR. But even golden throat is better than the clowns ESPN will use when they take over this Summer.

2008 NASCAR Sprint All Star Race Weekend Primer

Ok so I don't always remember how these things work so as a public service I Post this from NASCAR.com:

Hope that helps. By the by, don't forget you can vote your favorite driver in here. Unfortunately being a Comcast subscriber I will be forced to watch in standard definition, so no wide screen high resolution thrill for ZuD. I will look past that limitation for the chance to see 'Big Baby Kyle' get racked up by any number of vengeful drivers who have it in for him.

Steven Wallace Channeling Elvis Presley Calling Kyle Busch a Girl

In the confrontation between 'Big Baby Kyle' and 'Elvis,' I mean Steven Wallace who has finally figured out how to avoid hitting walls, the  grab of Kyle Busch's helmet by Steven was well shown but what grabbed me was Steven's voice. He sounded agitated and upset but his delivery was very similar to Elvis Presley. Click on this link to go to a YouTube video wherein at the 3:50 mark you can hear it yourself. I have always been distracted by his constant eye blinking, but if you just listen to his words and how he phrases them you'll hear a direct connection to how Elvis used to speak his lines in all those classic movies of his.

Of course that whole deal got overshadowed by the next nights taking out of NASCAR's most popular driver. It will be a great story line to follow the rest of the season how white hat Junior gets treated by black hat Kyle as the next races go on, particularly coming up this weekend at Darlington!

This string of fabulous races, 'Dega, Richmond and Darlington provide great drama as these drivers confront each other up close and personal in a short three week span and the fact the last two are under the lights with sparks, shiny cars and glowing brake-pads add to the already colorful and hypnotic displays these races possess.

Its a fine time for NASCAR fans and shouldn't be missed, even with other sports being in the playoffs, it's hard not to make NASCAR my primary sport in this beautiful time of year.

No High Definition Coverage of Tonight's Nationwide Race

It’s Friday so it’s hard to find fault

But I do find fault all the same with ESPN’s decision to run the Nationwide race tonight on ESPN Classic due to the fact that there are three NBA Games tonight and something had to give and guess what, NASCAR gets the short stick tonight.

Now I can’t berate ESPN because they have been my primary pusher of sports programming and being a devout Sports Junkie they keep me satiated with all their great programming and I certainly understand that NASCAR fans gets slighted in deference to the NBA Playoff audience.

Being a High Def freak I won’t be able to see the race in High Def and as such will be groaning mightily. I can only hope the Cav’s/Wizards game runs short and the race runs long.

The fact the race is a night race and as you may already know ZuD is a fan of night racing over all others and it’s a short track so I have great excitement brewing even if it won’t be in wide screen, high-resolution splendor I am addicted to.

And as long as we are complaining HBO Saturday night has Oscar De La Hoya's warm-up fight at 10pm and that of course will conflict with Fox’s coverage of the Richmond Sprint Cup race.

It's on to Talladega's 'The Big One' and Let's Wreck There

One of the most popular races of the year is Sunday.
Anticipation of the Big One is a huge part of the race.
You know its like chasing women
Anticipation is the thing.
Random Quotes:

Sadler says: "Each driver has a different mentality going into Talladega where we're going to ride in line and we're going to behave until we get to the last quarter of the race, or we need to get to the front as soon as we can and keep the wreck behind or we're just going to ride in the back and let the guys fight in the front and let them wreck and then we'll go to the front. Each driver has a different strategy, a different mentality, and it's tough racing like that."

Jeff Gordon says: . "It's going to tighten the cars up that much more. The tighter the packs, the easier it is to make mistakes. We all make mistakes. At Talladega you make a mistake and there is a 20-car pileup."

Harvick says: "There is always a chance for somebody to make a mistake, and when that happens at Talladega, it's always big.

"What some people don't know is the banking at Talladega is like six stories high. When we round the corner, I can look to my left and see the roofs on campers in the infield."

The corners at 'Dega are banked 33 degrees, allowing drivers to almost slingshot their way around the track. But you have to stay with the pack or risk going to the rear.

"I know I catch flak for saying this, but I honestly believe that 99 out of 100 times, the Big One is started by driver error," said. "Some teams come in with a strategy on how to avoid it, but it's really a game of chance."

I have been longing for this weekends race because it is Talladega and the feature of that race is the fact the cars run at 200 miles per hour in a very confined space
Now that 200 mph isn’t reached quickly cause it is a restrictor plate race
And as they get up to speed after a caution and start closing in one another the announcers start going on and on about the big one and that any minute Boom Bang Bash Boom here it is.

Now the real dilemma is going to be how we juggle the race coverage and preliminaries with the NFL Draft. Two mega events not to mention that Game 4s of the NBA will be going on as well.

Such dilemmas for sports addicts such as myself!

OvalScream Has The Answer to NASCAR Withdrawal

A faithful ZuDDie Ovalscream has the answer to my previous post about dealing with my withdrawal symptoms:

Three times a day til April 27, take the loudest appliance you have and lock yourself into the bathroom with it. (Me, I'm taking the vacuum into the shower stall.) Crank that sucker up as far as it will go, scream "Talladega" til you're hoarse and whack the appliance against the wall till it sounds like car parts sprinkling all over the pavement. Dunk your head under the spigot and pretend it's hillbilly champagne showering all you as you do burnouts in Victory Lane. File your teeth in the mirror and pray to the spirit of the Intimidator that every Sprint Cup driver gets so riled up that they howl at the moon every night until the next race.

Withdrawal Symptoms Setting In For This NASCAR Junkie

Starting to get a runny nose
Legs and arms starting to ache
Feels like the flu, but I know what it really is.

Withdrawal Symptoms
No, not for Dope, but for NASCAR!
Classic withdrawal symptoms realizing there will be no NASCAR worth watching.
Sure the Nationwide series goes to Mexico City Saturday, but road racing doesn't really count.

The only comfort I have is that when the Sprint Cup schedule does resume, we will be in Talladega and that being one of my favorites, I take great comfort, because 'The Big One' always looms. And that race, quite frankly, is about as good as NASCAR gets.

Not that I am a freak for crashes
But damn, thats what I call a wreck
The Big One
start drooling, just thinking 'bout Talladega.

But what do I do for this withdrawal pain? Here it is Wednesday and the next race isn't for 10 days. What will you folks do, fellow NASCAR Fans.
I am open to ideas. Any port in the storm.
Help me with my withdrawal.
I need a NASCAR fix fast!

BurnOut TV Sampler

Guest NASCAR Blogger David Rubin with excellent taste in NASCAR Blogs...

Phoenix Aftermath, NASCAR Bloggers FT Digest Debut and FOX Sports Disappoints

I'm writing this post as the BoSox beat the Yanks for the hundredth, oh wait, the third time this weekend!

And I celebrate the victory of Hollywood Jimmy over WWE's Cena, I mean Carl Edwards Saturday night. Even though we missed the green flag drop and DW's Boogity routine because of Fox's inability to get their priorities straight.

Glad to see Hendrick back in Victory Lane for this so far paltry NASCAR Season. It was good to have a Night Race wasn't it? Love the way those cars shine and glow in the desert light of Phoenix Raceway.

I struggled to stay up, but I did thanx to the fact I am featured over at NASCAR Bloggers FT Digest. A site that has put together a fascinating collection of NASCAR Bloggers under one banner. Since joining that blog I have experienced dazzling traffic from all over the blogosphere and surges of super human strength and prowess. Hell even Charlie Turner from On Pit Row has visited ol' ZuD. Now that is cool!

If you too blog, you should go on over and look into signing up or if you just like to read NASCAR blogs you should bookmark or burn a feed and get in on the latest of NASCAR blogs. A list of contributors so far appear to the right of this post.

Ovalscream from NASCAR This Week reports this occurred:

In Central Florida, rioters in supercharged Monte Carlos tore up baseball fields on Saturday night, chasing Little Leaguers howling into the arms of their mamas. The Fox commentators, splattered with mud and pieces of turf, were not amused.

Kevin Harvick Wants to Pee in the Cup

Kevin Harvick wants NASCAR to institute drug testing. According to this article from ESPN.com Terry Blount these Quotes stand out:

"In the 10 years that I've raced, I've never been drug-tested," Harvick said. "To me, that's not a proper drug policy for a professional sport. We haven't made any headway whatsoever on the drug-testing policy."

Harvick and Stewart were reacting to an ESPN The Magazine story this week in which former driver Aaron Fike said he competed in Craftsman Truck Series races while he was on heroin.

"I have been in a race with him and I know for a fact that he's not the only one," Harvick said. "There's another driver that was suspended that I can almost guarantee you was in the race car while he was under the influence, and that pisses me off.

"I'm sure I'll be blasted for saying what I feel, but I don't want to be on a race track with people like that. It's irresponsible more than anything."

"I'm sure I'll have to do it for speaking my mind," Harvick said. "But if I have to pee in a cup 15 times a year, I'm happy to do it.

Regardless how you may feel about Happy Harvick, the dude speaks his mind and from a distance seems to be concerned about the integrity of NASCAR and his participation in it.

How Did Michael McDowell Survive This Wreck?

The Car of Today now establishes itself as a Safe and Reliable Race-car, when a driver can withstand this kind of destruction.