Sunday, February 18, 2007

More about how much I love MB

Those of you who know anything about me know that besides MB and flying/controlling airplanes, there is nothing in this world I love more than Nascar, and today was it's Most Holy Day, the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. This is the the Nascar edition of the IRL's Indy 500, Formula 1's Grand Prix of Monaco, and sports cars' 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the day my sport looks forward to all winter. Okay, I can hear some of you out there screaming, "It's not a sport! At the very least, call it a motorsport!"; however, let's not get into it right now. Perhaps some other time.

Anyway, so today is the biggest event of the year for me as a Jeff Gordon-loving, Dale Jr/Tony Stewart-not-so-loving, reluctantly-accepting-a-foreign-manufacturer Nascar fan. I have been dying to see this race on TV ever since last season ended, and today I...... was driving a truck full of MB's stuff, trekking through the snow in between Cincinnati and northern Virginia. I managed to pick up the race on different radio stations as I drove along, but it's not the same as seeing it on TV, or watching in person.

The reason I'm marrying Tink is because she appreciates the sacrifice I made today. She could care less about Nascar herself, but she understands that the race today was a big deal for a rabid fan like me, and I gave up seeing it on TV so I could move her stuff from Cincy to our future home. Gentlemen, you will be happy the rest of your life when you find a woman who understands and accepts your die-hard love of your favorite sport, and who appreciates it when you give it up for a day for her sake.

Concerning the race itself, congrats to Kevin Harvick on the win, and now I guess Mark Martin, who was winning but lost to Harvick by a bumper length at the finish line, will be coming back again next year to try to win the 500. For you non-Nascarites, Mark is like Brett Favre. He can't decide when to retire, so he keeps going, seeking the ultimate prize of his sport even when he knows he's probably past his best years. If you don't know who Brett Favre is... never mind.
My favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, finished 10th, which is a good start to the season and way better than he ran during the race. I think he wound up that high because he managed to miss the big wreck at the end.

That's racin' at: josh_hunter04@yahoo.com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, true love - wonderful indeed :). Congratulations to you both :).

PS: Forgive me for being such a pedant, but the expression should be "COULDN'T care less" not "COULD care less" :).

Anonymous said...

Yeah, serious bummer about Martin. We here in the South Bend area claim Martin even though we're now overloaded with NASCAR talent (Ryan Newman and David Stremme are both native 'Benders, and Tony Raines is from LaPorte) since Martin lived in nearby North Liberty while racing on the ASA circuit in the late '70s and early '80s.

The Brett Favre analogy doesn't really hold, though, since Favre has won a Super Bowl/season championship, while Martin has never won either the Daytona 500 or the Winston/Nextel Cup. He has several second-place finishes in both, though.

Anonymous said...

Josh, get Sirius. And I don’t mean that in a “get honest with yourself” kind of way. I mean get Sirius satellite radio. They have a whole station for Nascar. That way you’ll never miss a race again. : )

AlaskaMe said...

JTP,

I wasn't sure if Gordon was even in the race until the very end. As for Waltrip I think he was in a different state. I personally was cheering for Dale Jr (crunch) and Kyle Busch (caused the last accident) but for the last 10 seconds of the game I was yelling for Martin (Go ARMY!)Guess I lost all around but I too appreciate your sacrifice.

Anonymous said...

Well, D must love me a ton because of how I have embraced the love of Auburn football. And to attend the SEC basketball conference with him dressed as Elvis? That is true, dedicated love.

Anonymous said...

Blonde Champagne readers:
I now know that my brother truly is IN LOVE! No joke, I had to read this blog 3 times to make sure I had read it correctly. I COULD NOT BELIEVE that my brother would MISS the DAYTONA 500 for a CHICK! Yes...this...Ladies and Gentlemen...is TRUE LOVE. JTP, I'm glad MB appreciates it. I would have to fire her as pending-sis-law if she wasn't ON HER KNEES grateful. MB, congrats on your ability to pull my brother away from NASCAR (if only for a day)! A thing I've almost been disowned for attempting. ;) love you both!

Anonymous said...

If you don't know who Brett Favre is... never mind.

LOL!

JtP: That was hilarious. We Packer fans always appreciate seeing our glorious QB being referenced in other sports.

But I, for one, totally thought he was done with this past season. I mean, he cried on national television, on New Year's Eve, with "Auld Lang Syne" playing in the background. AND they'd beaten the Bears. It was a good way to go out.

But he's back again for 2007. I'm now convinced he will play until his arm falls off. And then they will turn him into a cyborg for the next football season.

Anonymous said...

If it weren't for "There's something about Mary" I wouldn't know who Brett Favre is.

And I'm ok with considering Nascar a sports, since I hate all kind of sports anyway, but I do acknowledge these guys must be in top physical condition to manouver their vehicles.

Anonymous said...

Josh,
You are truly wonderful to miss the race for MB's stuff. You should remind her of this every time she wants you to do something during a race.

My favorite part of the race was when Smoke (the 20 car) went behind the wall and was the first of the DNF list. I don't care who wins as long as it isn't him.

Personally, I'm still waiting for Dale to race the truck.

Anonymous said...

Josh,

OK, I'll let you call it love but the rest of us (guys) know you're whipped. Yep, pure and simple. She's got you right where she wants you. This is just one of the little sacrifices you'll make. There will be plenty more, I promise. (And, yes, this was a miniscule sacrifice.)

I'm not a big racing fan, but I like watching football (or, even better, attending a game). I missed the Superbowl once. Then again. Then again. I've now missed more games than I've seen in the past 20 years. It's not a "bad thing", priorities are just different for those with a significant other. I wouldn't change a thing.

But get used to watching the highlight reel on the news. :)

Josh The Pilot said...

Kredin,
Of course I'm whipped! But guess what... she is too! That's why we're getting married! All kidding aside, she really is worth it. :-) Say what you will, but I'm confident I won't be watching only the highlight reels, I'll be watching a lot in person! MB has been to not one, but TWO races with me, and she says she'll do it again because she likes seeing me having a blast at a race. I can't remember if MB has mentioned it previously, but I asked her out while we were at a race, and obviously she accepted, and then she went to another race with me, which is why I'm confident I'll get to watch plenty of racing after we're married.
Hey, if nothing else works, I can always threaten to leave and take my federal health insurance with me. I consider this a fair trade; she lets me watch Nascar, I give her health insurance.

Jill,
Everyone says Jeff whines, but frankly I don't see it, or hear it rather. Can you tell me a specific instance of when he whined, in a situation other than when any other driver would have complained about the same thing?

Classickelly,
I agree! I like the commercial where he actually is driving the truck. :)

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