WMBC Weekend Rewind

Trying to establish more of a standard set up here at the ever-evolving WMBC, so why not start posting weekend recaps on Monday? The sports world sure doesn't take it easy Saturday and Sunday, so let's give the weekend warriors their due.

I'm also going to try to be more interactive. You guys stick your necks out with comments, and it's my responsibility to try and make you sound stupid give you a fair response, so expect more from me via comments.

So, weekend rewind. Here we go:

Jamie McMurray won the Brickyard 400 yesterday, providing a triplet of wins for team owner Chip Ganassi, whose team also won the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. For fear of sounding like a moron misinformed, I'm not going to elaborate on this too much, mostly because I don't care watch enough to know anything about racing strategy (for instance, the leader with 15 laps remaining, Montoya, apparently lost the race for choosing to replace all 4 tires instead of 2. According to the most trusted source there is, a pit stop for 4 tires takes 12-15 seconds and a pit stop for 2 tires only takes 5-7 seconds. He dropped from first place to 11th in 5-10 seconds and the 2 extra fresh tires made no difference in 15 laps? Nope, don't get it.) Still, you got to give credit where credit is due, and this is an impressive feat, even from the perspective of someone who isn't all about NASCAR. Thing is, as a loser student of the classics, I can't help but think how the sport NASCAR evolved from was way cooler. Don't get too down on yourself, NASCAR, the Romans just did some things cooler. Sure the battling to the death thing probably wouldn't fly today, but they got creative when faced with boredom. I mean, they used to flood the Coliseum for naval battles when things needed a-spicin' up, just for kicks. Can you imagine if the NFC/AFC championship games were played while the players treaded water? Wouldn't that be awesome and original? Wait, nevermind...

Next up...

The New York Mets lost yet again, rounding out their stellar road trip with a 2-9 record (one of those wins coming on a blown call that should have cost the Mets a game). At this point, what can you even say? As a fan, it's hard not to sink into complacency. In fact, it's hard not to almost root for disaster in the hopes of clearing out the fantastic leadership we fans have come to know and love. Why root for an early collapse? If something doesn't happen, there could be serious ramifications. Last night, an interesting point was brought up on the radio airwaves (though not interesting enough to nullify the fun of 2 hours of traffic). If management does nothing major this season and fans simply accept mediocrity, this could have a huge impact on revenue for the team. If fan complacency causes an average of 7,000 less fans to attend each remaining home game (35 total left) at an average of, oh, I don't know, $45 a ticket, that'll cost the Mets $11 million, NOT including revenue from food/drink sales (which is a ton when you charge $12 for hot dogs and $yourfirstborn for a beer "Limit two per customer? How's that even possible?") or parking (which is up to approximately $125 a wheel, "Buy 4 get 1 free during double header deal days!"). Solution? Well, Mets management could go after a high priced player and spend that $11 mil now to, worst case, save future revenues and, best case, generate additional revenues if this team turns it around and somehow makes the playoffs. But that comes with some risk. If they spend that money and the player turns out to be a bust, they've sunk even further into a hole. No worries, I have a better solution. Simply get rid of some of the higher priced never was, never is, and never will be contracts and operate the rest of the season like a minor league team, ridiculous give-a-ways. My suggestion? Dollar hot dog nights. Why? You'll still make a killing on that margin and it'll let some of us live like our heroes for a day. Just promise us you'll do something...

Next up...

What would weekends be without fun? If you're not one of the 11 million people to see this video on youtube yet, you need to watch it as soon as possible. If you are one of the 11 million people who have seen it, you need to watch it as soon as possible. Seen that already? Still fun-less? Fine, try this awesome time-waster. I will warn you, it got Jaws and Charlie Kelly back to back, so it is scary smart. That and the creator of the program is some company called Sky...corp or something, but that probably isn't that big of a deal.

That about sums 'er up. We'll revamp, reload, and retry next week.