When Frank McCourt put up the L.A. Dodgers for sale, he initially, per reports in November, also put up the L.A. Marathon on the block also, looking to consider offers for the $20 million valued event.  He later pulled the event off table.  Which had me wondering what his motives were for the long run of the event if he was willing to put it up to begin with.

The L.A. Marathon started in 1986, just a few short years after the 1984 Olympics had come and gone, but the event did not really flourish, as most contestants were driving to it to compete in it.  Then a few years ago McCourt purchased the event and slapped the starting gate up at Dodger Stadium and called it the “Stadium to the Sea” course.

It seems that he retained part ownership of the land/parking lots around the stadium but there’s also the business focus of new owners, who may wish to capitalize on this unused territory surrounding the stadium.  But the new owners will be working with McCourt… they’ll control the use of the parking lots during games while cooperating with McCourt for any future developments.

But how much does he own?  He gave up half his parking lot shares but retained control of 20 acres (5 parcels) and he already owns a city block of territory that goes from the 110 Freeway to the stadium.

There’s still interesting speculation on the $2 billion purchase of a team with half that, but I’m not the baseball man here.  Plus folks are leery of McCourt… apparently he doesn’t have the greatest business rep.  Again, just a detail in the noise.

But regardless, there seems to be faith that now that McCourt has sold the Dodgers and settled his silly-expensive divorce bill, some say he can now focus on making the L.A. Marathon something even bigger.

He’s been quoted to saying that he wants his race to become such an event that it gets mentioned in the same sentence as the Boston, New York, & Chicago marathons.

But I wonder what is going to become of the event now that McCourt sold the Dodgers.  Why did he initially look to sell it?  Is he really, as committed as some believe or hope he is?

I hope he focuses on developing it.  My wife loves the event.  And a happy wife is a happy hubby!  And we’ve heard other runners give praise to the event of recent years.

One can only hope he creates an even bigger race, now that he has the space to focus on it!

[Psst: Don't forget the Santa Monica Classic being held on May 20th, 2012!]

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References:  tonireavis.com , latimes.com , la.curbed.com

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Todays Boston Marathon was a bit different than runs in the past.  Today, the projected highs for the premium race event were for the mid-80′s, looming to put a heat induced damper on the 22,500 runners attending the event today.

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The organizers, worried about the heat, offered waivers for folks who didn’t want to tackle the heat, to be able to come back next year, but this is an invite only kind of run where you have to have a certain qualifying time on certain courses throughout the country and is one of the premiere events of the running season.

With that said, around 4,300 folk accepted the deferment.

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To a runner, when you head out the door in 45 degree mornings, you know that within the first mile or so you warm up enough to effectively feel like it is around 20 degrees or so warmer than it really is.  On a cool day.

No telling such on a hot day.  And the heat had its way as it hit 87 degrees and higher.

At least fifty folk succumb to the heat, or at least that’s the official tally of runners treated that were taken to hospitals by ambulance.  There’s no telling how many others were self-admitted or impacted by the heat from participating in the event.

Official tallies saw 800 folk looking for medical assitance along the course, but how many of those were heat-related, is not known, though I suspect many of them probably were.

Some local ER’s even went into emergency deferrment mode because they became too full.

And kudos to the operators of The Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association and its executive director, Tom Grilk..  They had prepared for the heat and staffed their medical tents accordingly and their staff were near but not over-taxed as the stricken showed up.

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Boston Marathon Results and Winners

Meanwhile, up front, Kenyans Wesley Korir and Sharon Cherop won the event in men’s and women’s categories, but from the heat, the winning times were the slowest posted since 1985.

Men:

Wesley Korir, 2:03:02
Levy Matebo, 2:13:06
Bernard Kipyego, 2:13:13

Kenyans accounted for 7 of the top-10 finishers.  United States entrant Jason Hartman finished fourth with a 2:14:31.

Women:

Sharon Cherop: 2:31:50
Jemina Jelagat Sumgong: 2:31:52
Georgina Rono: 2:33:09

The above top-3 women were all Kenyan.

The fastest 5k runner was Glenn Randall, cranking out the 5k distance in 15:04.  A Palmdale, CA resident was third, with a 15:22 time.  (USA entrants locked up the top three spots in Men’s 5k.)

The fastest 5k woman was Caroline Kilel, from Kenya, with …  OK, hold on here….  I’m typing and reviewing as I go and there’s a one-second difference between first and tenth!

The tie was for 18:50 amongst 7 women, with Caroline Kilel being shown as the winner… somehow.  Dang, that must have been a sight to see that sprint!

Results are on the front page of the 2012 Boston Marathon website.

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The local watch!

Menlo Park, CA had 13 runners participate in the 2012 Boston Marathon!

Cassandra Allread cranked out a 3:26:12
Alexander Gagnon – 3:31:45
Amy Eastwood – 3:35:52
James Schroder – 3:54:01
Scott Moffitt – 3:55:23
Rafael Ornes – 3:55:46
Laura Coppeto – 3:59:10
William Moore – 4:20:38
Glenn Hahn – 4:28:39

Good job and congrats gang!  Actually, congrats to EVERYONE who ran this event.  You make up the 0.10 to 0.13% of the population that have actually run a marathon.  Be proud, no matter where you came in!

In fact, here’s my tribute to all marathon runners, after a race. A funny after-run video:

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Other info sources:    The Boston Globe; Los Angeles Times.
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This is a race report, from one person’s battle with life and how, despite the odds, she not only did not slow down while battling cancer, but grabbed it by the *lls! and tossed it to the ground.  Her name is Amy and she’s my wife.  And she’s awesome!  Not many folk can actually say they ran 26.+ miles or participate in the conditioning required, but she’s one of them.  Check it out:

The 2012 Los Angeles Marathon was my comeback marathon.

Long story short:  I was diagnosed with breast cancer last September, had surgery in October, finished up radiation at the end of January, and started my cancer drug treatment in February.  I was NOT about to let all of that get in the way of me running the LA Marathon this year!

Training through all of this went okay… I had my good runs and my bad runs… but I was still hoping that I would be able to PR in LA.

Editor’s note:  PR:  Personal Record.

Headed into the marathon, my sister and I decided to buy matching shirts that supported breast cancer research for the big marathon day.  I’m in the shorts, she is in the throw away pants.

We arrived at Dodger Stadium in plenty of time, which doesn’t always happen at the LA Marathon!  The weather was perfect for me, in the 50′s, storm clouds with small patches of blue sky, and breezy.

I was feeling great, and so ready to run well.  My sister and I lined up together, but since we always run our own pace/races, as we crossed the start line, we wished each other good luck and I reminded her to “enjoy the journey”, which, as most runners might know, isn’t always easy during a marathon.

My goal was to run every mile as close to or under a 9:30 pace, because I was trying to beat my PR of 4:10:09.

The first 5 miles felt awesome, and I even ran the second mile at an 8:45 pace, which I knew was a bit too fast, so I slowed down a little.

I was really enjoying myself, and I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have such a beautiful day for the marathon, when the forecast was to dump rain on us like last year.  I remember at one point looking up and seeing the mountains with snow in them, and the sky was just amazing, and I was happy.

I loved seeing the Hollywood Sign, and all of the people volunteering and the ones that were watching for their friends or family members.  I was just so excited to be a part of this. I felt really great through the first 13 miles, but then I began to slow down.

This was my 10th marathon, and usually when that happens, I’m able to pick back up and finish strong.  I saw my brother-in-law, niece and nephew after mile 18, and I was happy to see them, but I just couldn’t seem to get my pace out of the 10′s. I even walked for about 20 feet at around mile 21, which I NEVER do.

I felt defeated when the 4:15 pace group passed me up right around the same mile marker. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. I’m usually SO STRONG during the closing miles of a marathon.

I kept going though… I LOVE this marathon and I wanted to ENJOY it.  I was able to get back down at a 9:30 pace for the last mile or so, and finish with a 4:16:43.

I know that this was still a great time for me, especially with all that I’ve been through in the last 6 months, but I have to admit that I cried when I saw my brother-in-law, because I felt like I let myself down by not getting a PR. In my mind, THAT would have been the PERFECT comeback, and a big kick in the butt to my cancer.

It’s been a few days now, and I do look back at this marathon with pride. It was really an AWESOME day overall, and I’m just so glad that I was healthy enough to run it.

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If you haven’t caught the news, I’ve moved my NASCAR content out into its own space.  I wanted to focus the content and not force readers to have to weed through the content…

But enough of that…  since moving offsite, I’ve published a few articles that I thought you might be interested in!

First is where I explain about how qualifying for the Daytona 500 works.  Once it’s spelled out, it doesn’t seem too complicated.  That is, well, as long as you have a cheat-sheet around to keep tabs with!

The other aspect is some of the Daytona coverage on TV… I’ve put out the Speed Channel Daytona Coverage Schedule, if you’re interested.

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Just in case you were cruising the web looking for a few TV telecast dates, here’s some info from NBC on the 2012 Super Bowl TV schedule and (like totally related… or not) NASCAR’s Daytona 500 telecast date:

SPECIAL SUPER BOWL EDITION OF “NFL TURNING POINT” AIRS THURSDAY AT 10 P.M. ET ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK

Final Episode examines Turning Point of the season for Giants and Patriots and Turning Points that shaped season for other teams

Bill Belichick and Eli Manning also featured in Final Episode

Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison to Conclude Program with Super Bowl XLVI Quarterback Analysis

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On NBC (All Times are Eastern):

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5

12 p.m. – 1 p.m.:  ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL (live)

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1 p.m. – 6 p.m.:  SUPER BOWL XLVI PRE-GAME (live) 
Commentators: Bob Costas, Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter King, Alex Flanagan, Mike Florio, Randy Moss, Jim Cantore, Liam McHugh, Doug Flutie

From Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

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6 p.m. – 10 p.m.:  SUPER BOWL XLVI ON NBC: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots (live)

Commentators: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya, from Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

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NASCAR Speedweeks:

Budweiser Shootout:  Saturday, Feb 18th, on Fox

Gatorade Duels: Thursday, Feb 23rd, on SPEED

Daytona 500: Sunday, February 26th, on FOX.

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NASCAR announced that they’ve extended (and restructured) their digital partnership through the year 2016.

And something that many folks behind the industry think, will be a good thing, is that NASCAR is regaining control of their interactive, digital and social media rights while Turner will continue to represent sponsorships and advertising for all NASCAR digital platforms.

Believe it or not, this regain of control that starts in 2013 includes NASCAR.com and such.  Yep…  their own site was run by another entity.  Turner had managed all their digital content since 2001.

And for the SiriusXM fans, this could finally mean more content streamed from the satellite radio station and other digital content.

If you’ve ever wondered why they haven’t done one thing or another with their site, and kept hearing the term “rights issues,” well, more than likely you won’t be hearing that as much any more.

I can’t wait to see what they do with the place!

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“Turner Broadcasting and NASCAR have helped make each other successful for more than 28 years through a working relationship that, over time, has evolved with the media and technology landscape,” said David Levy, president of sales, distribution and sports, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. “The latest extension of our partnership is a strategically and fiscally enhanced business model for our company and ensures that NASCAR.COM remains a core asset of Turner’s leading digital ad sales portfolio. Our unrivaled sports assets and scale offer advertisers the means to deliver the most targeted and relevant marketing messages across multiple digital and mobile platforms and properties.”

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for one of North America’s premier sports. NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in 20 languages. In the U.S., races are broadcast on FOX, TNT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2, SPEED and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. NASCAR fans are among the most brand loyal in all of sports, and as a result more Fortune 500 companies participate in NASCAR than any other sport. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, and one local grassroots series, as well as two international series. Also part of NASCAR is GRAND-AM Road Racing, known for its competition on road courses with multiple classes of cars. NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races at 100 tracks in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., NASCAR has offices in eight cities across North America. The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the 54th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, will air Feb. 26 on FOX at 1 p.m. ET. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nascar.com. Follow NASCAR on www.facebook.com/NASCAR or on Twitter: @NASCAR.

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[NASCAR Press Release]

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You know what they say, it only takes a few to ruin it for the many.

It seems that after a few incidents with Kyle Busch, NASCAR is pondering the “Boys have at it” stance, and trying to determine where the line should be drawn when it comes to letting the drivers settle things amongst themselves.

It wasn’t just Kyle Busch, but also incidents with Brian Vickers “fencing” Tony Stewart onto a pile of tires at Infineon an then again, Vickers raging vendetta against Matt Kenseth at Martinsville.  (If you remember that race, that was a pretty piss-poor move on Vickers part… blatant and arrogant.)

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NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton feels that generally speaking, the self-policing policy is working.  It would only be the intent of a few that are making headlines from the sport.

He also pointed out that he’s also aware of differences like retaliations at a small track vs a high-speed track, and takes everything into consideration.

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At one point, drivers weren’t sure where the line lay, as far as having gone too far with their need for retaliation.

Common sense says one thing, but in the height of competition, it can become an entirely different beast.

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The old-school way of handling things was a mix of on-track and off-track “opinion exchanges.”

On-track meant bent up fenders while off-track meant a one-time deal and a black eye.  And to be honest, black eyes create much stronger memories.

But drives like Kyle Busch, while he used to be totally willing to send a driver into a wall or push an empty car down pit road, will never get out of his car.  I think Richard Childress made that point clear when he “old schooled” Kyle that one day back in mid-2011.

But what has me wondering is why in 2011 is the sanctioning body now taking action?

In 2010 Carl Edwards inflicted a horrid amount of damage across multiple race series involving many cars, including when he sent Brad Keselowski flying through the air…  but despite the obvious, was only hand-slapped.  It just seemed oddly silent on actions that had much more heinous repercussions than what Kyle Busch did.

But it’s all still a learning curve, as far as when one steps in to break it up.

As things have progressed, I’m sure that a line will have to be suggested… and it will be a judgement call on NASCAR’s part.  But it also rests in the hands of the drivers and teams.  When you retaliate and how will make a big difference as to when or if NASCAR will need to step in.

But as is all media, even bad media is good for the sport, because it brings the lookee-loos out of their corners to check out the boxing match that broke out on the race track!

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While balancing out pros and cons for keeping KHI afloat, Kevin Harvick had one tipping scale reason to NOT having kept the NASCAR Truck Series team going, it would seem, as Kevin put it,

“When your wife tells you she’s not starting a family unless you get out of the race team business, that’s a pretty big factor in things that are going on.”

No pressure there!

But all joking aside, it was a matter of evolving priorities and timing with other events going on around the NASCAR race industry across the different series that helped Kevin pull the plug on KHI.

So much for all the aspirating rumors!

On a side note, with KHI being mostly all absorbed by RCR (Richard Childress Racing) that now RCR will be fielding nine full-time teams across the threee NASCAR premiere series in 2012.

Cool…

And congrats to the happy couple, who are due in July.

[nascar]

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Did you know that at one point Dale Earnhardt Jr. was thinking about moving his JR Motorsports operation into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but believe it or not, he cannot do that while he’s driving for Hendricks Motorsports, of all things!

In a (weird) set of rules that (I think) should really be non-exclusive to each other, NASCAR has inadvertently put the ix-nay  on Dale Earnhardt Jr. moving into the Sprint Cup Series.

Mike Helton made the point that

“if a driver owns a team but drives for another organization, then the total number of cars for both organizations counts toward the four-team cap.”

Which to me, initially makes absolutely no sense in how the Hendricks Motorsports team cap should affect JR Motorsports desire to field a Sprint Cup Series team.

Helton says that any component that would tie teams together is the limiting factor.

This same rule impacts Michael Waltrip and his desire to drive in the Daytona 500… since he owns three teams now, he has to be fielded by a single-car team.

As SpeedTV took a look at that ever-elusive NASCAR rulebook, they took note of

“Teams are not to have affiliations with shared control, ownership, financing, management or revenue sharing.”

“…the owner cannot have a relationship with another owner where he’s “entitled to receive (or actually receives), directly or indirectly, from the other car owner(s) any financial consideration or other form of value based upon the participation, performance, or degree of success of the car(s) entered by the other car owner(s).””

I find this to be an interesting facet from the NASCAR rule book.

I see two sides to this issue.  I understand the premise of teams having affiliations and trying to put an ix-nay on certain aspects of a cooperative effort where both teams might benefit from it.  But it’s a bummer for the world of NASCAR that Dale Jr. can’t start a Cup Series team because he drives for Hendrick.  I’m befuddled.

I wonder if there’s enough fanfare about this restriction that NASCAR might let and the sports most beloved driver, if it will suddenly find itself lifted if Dale Earnhardt Jr. pushed hard enough.  He’d have the fan support, that’s for sure.

nascar.speedtv.com

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In other NASCAR news, JR Motorsports signed Cole Whitt to be their full-time NASCAR Nationwide series pilot in 2012 for their No. 88 Chevrolet.

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Last year, the entertainment product that NASCAR produced was some of the best racing I’ve seen, across all three series, in a long time.  Many races were decided by mere seconds as contenders traded paint and hand gestures throughout the season.  And in the end, we saw one of the closest points finishes, well, technically, the closest points race, for the championship in the history of the sport, seeing as how it ended in a tie!  That tie was thanks in part to the new points system NASCAR instituted last year and Tony Stewart‘s team.

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When we watch any entertainment venue, it’s usually (for me) the first and last impressions that stick with me.  Or, in NASCAR terms, the starts, the restarts and the finishes generate a lot of drama and excitement for me because that’s when the poop can potentially hit the fan.

And NASCAR is cursed with the long-lasting middle section of every race… the time-period that fans call snoozers, nap-time, break-time, do the laundry time, etc..  It’s a little bit different when you’re at the track but on TV, this is the dark period of any race.

But in the end, when two cars are rubbing fenders or Kyle Busch wrecks someone or Kurt Busch (Yes, they’re related: brothers) flips off the world and degrades a veteran ESPN reporter, well, those are the moments that generate the buzz.  Those are the moments that send the fans to work on Monday, saying, wow, did you see that?!

And that can be said especially for that last race at Homestead where the only way Tony Stewart could win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship was by winning the race, beating Carl Edwards.

THAT, was one exciting race… to watch Carl Edwards dominate up front all day, but watch Tony Stewart drive his way up to the front, run into on-track issues, pit to fix, then drive his way up to the front again.

It was freaking magic people!  A “meant to be” kind of thing.

Yet despite all that, despite Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards being tied in points and the tie-breaker being Stewart’s 5 wins over Edwards’ 1 win from the season, there’s something we might be overlooking, and that was the point spread out behind these guys.

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Had Carl or Tony not been in the mix of points in that final race, the next driver back in the standings was Kevin Harvick, 58 points back.  Then Matt Kenseth, 73 points back from first, and so forth.

In other words, if it weren’t for Stewart and Edwards gun-slinging, boxing match like press bravado, the Miami-homestead NASCAR season closer would have been a serious snoozer, despite some of the best season of racing I’ve ever seen.

And so there in lies my worry.  Will we potentially see another close battle for the points at that last race, or will it already be locked up and the only drama will be, if the driver’s car starts and he doesn’t develop problems doing the pace lap and taking the green flag.

I hope that’s not the case.  In fact, here’s one case where I hope I am wrong and that this season can once again produce the kind of fun and excitement that NASCAR delivered to the fans.  I liked the fun NASCAR’s last season generated.  I truly hope we see something like that again.  But with all the hoopla, no one seemed to mention that huge point spread out behind the points leaders.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and watch for Danica Patrick to bring some excitement to both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series this year!

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2011 Season NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Standings

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