Garrett Duke

Everytime the Cubs lose, I want to cry.

I really like Toby Keith. Are you singing his "I wanna talk about me" song, Roger? That is one of Toby Keith's great songs!

Wow! Did anyone watch last night's race at Daytona? What an action packed race...no one could have said that it was boring, because it was anything but boring. Then again, I can say that, because Gordon missed getting wrecked out by all the accidents that had occured durring the last half of the race. If he was, I might feel differently. Only half the field was able to finish the race after all the accidents...especially after the big one that involved twenty cars! Gordon just missed that as he swerved and drove around it on the apron of the track - it started right before him. But it took out Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and a lot others. Mark Martin was involved, in fact when he pulled his car to the pits, his car caught on fire and a couple of crew members from Jimmie Johnson's pit crew pulled him out. Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch getting together was what started it several car lengths ahead of them. Juan Pablo Montoya got into race leader Kyle Busch (another accident) to take out Kyle Busch...Kyle went up the track as Juan went down and they connected to spin Kyle into the wall and out of the race. Kyle was mad and had a few sarcastic remarks afterwards for the media. Sadly my fantasy team didn't fare so well since I only had one driver (Dale Earnhardt Jr) that finished the race. Oh well I guess. LOL. They had over 45 lead changes throughout the race...Gordon led several laps and was in the lead with only a few laps remaining but lost the lead. He ended up finishing third, Kasey Kahne second, and Kevin Harvick won his second race of the season. Here is the top ten that finished 1. Kevin Harvick 2. Kasey Kahne 3. Jeff Gordon 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr 5. Jeff Burton 6. Carl Edwards 7. Kurt Busch 8. Reed Sorenson 9. Mike Bliss 10. Scott Speed (Several of those drivers were involved in accidents as well...) Here is the unofficial points as of now: 1. Kevin Harvick 2. Jeff Gordon ( -212...am excited about him climbing three spots in points since last week. He was really competitive last night. Looking more like the old Jeff Gordon. ) 3. Jimmie Johnson 4. Kurt Busch 5. Denny Hamlin 6. Kyle Busch 7. Matt Kennseth 8. Jeff Burton 9. Tony Stewart 10. Greg Biffle 11. Dale Earnhardt Jr (finally in the top twelve!) 12. Carl Edwards Would love to hear what everyone else thought of the race last night and of the fireworks. Would have enjoyed it better if Gordon got the win he is deserving of (my opinion, of course), but am glad with third and that he was able to finish the race. There was a lot of good race cars out there that got taken out of the race...McMurray and Allmindinger to list a couple of them. I thought it was a fun and exciting race once it got started since it was rain delayed for a while last night, then went into over time with a green-white-checkered finish - they were still wrecking each other when the race finished. It was a crazy race, but a good one for a hand ful of drivers. That will be the last race on the old track, they are starting to repave Daytona starting on Monday so come February they'll have a new track to race on. Also enjoyed Darius Rucker's performance before the race as well. What y'all think?

Well, I am honored to hear that your expert thinks I know my NASCAR. So when do I get classified as a NASCAR expert? LOL Seriously, I do find it an honor to hear that and did make me feel good. Now if only you can get him to sign up here... Race starts at 7:30 tonight...am excited for it. Restrictor plate racing is always fast and exciting. Daytona is always fast and exciting. Dale Earnhardt Jr won the Nationwide Series race last night at Daytona. Wish I could have seen it. He drove his dad's old car. The highlights at the end of the race looked pretty exciting. Hopefully he can carry the momentum into tonight's race...he can come in second after Gordon. LOL. Any of you get to watch it? Tony Stewart won last year (think I may have said that already). They'll have some pretty good fireworks at the end if I remember right. Hopefully it will be a fun and safe race and all our drivers will have great finishes!

Well, I don't know how many if anyone reads all my ramblings here, but I guess I will continue with them until someone tells me to shut up. LOL. Well the Cola 400 is Saturday night...another night race. Khee...am excited for it. Then again, I look forward to every race. But as I posted earlier, I like night races. Not only does it give me an entire day on Sunday to do something or nothing, but they are also racing under the lights. Which is different than normal. It is also Daytona...hopefully they got the track repaved or fixed from the Daytona 500! Last thing anyone wants is to be dealing with pot holes as they did at the 500. I think they said they were going to repave the entire track after this race, so the next Daytona 500 they'll get a fresh track to race on. Not only am I having a hard time grasping that it is already July, but even more so having a hard time believing that the NASCAR season is already half over. I try to be optimistic to see that they still have half a season left, but still, it also means it is also half over. Perhaps I'd feel better if Gordon had a win or two to his name for this year or if he was being more competitive as he was at the beginning of the season. He is fifth in points, which is good, but don't feel as if he is championship caliber as of yet this year. Hopefully I am wrong. I am sure a lot of people are looking forward to the season to be over with and consider it to be a long season. But to me, it can't be long enough. LOL. December through Janruary has got to be the longest months for me! (Y'all think of why? LOL) It also means that we only have around seven races left until the chase starts. . . Anyway, they're racing at Daytona again on Saturday night. Dale Jr, Gordon, and Stewart are a few drivers that is known to be good at this track. Tony Stewart won the race here last year (he seems to get better as the weather gets warmer.) So it will be interesting to see where all our "favorite" drivers will end up on Saturday night.

Does anyone know any times for this? I tried looking up on line and couldn't find it and my computer was having troubles bringing it up. If anyone knows or could help me with this, it would be very much appreciated.

I always find that kind of ironic as well, but then again, Dale Jr has been voted as the most popular driver for the past seven years now. The announcers and the media don't talk about him half as much as they did when he was winning so much and was doing great behind the wheel. Back then, that was all you heard about, Dale Jr. It got old real quick and found myself not liking Jr at all. But now I have to say, he's my third favorite driver. I think with his name and who his father is, Dale Jr will always be well talked about and followed no matter where he is at in points or on the track. Which is kinda sad for the other drivers who may be deserving of that attention. Kinda like Danica Patrick and all the attention she is getting in the Nationwide Series race when she has yet to finish better than thirty-one in her several starts. Who else would get that much attention driving like that? As for what it will take for him to join the elite once again, I think he needs to continue to finish strongly within the top ten or five as he has in the past couple of weeks. He needs to start winning once again. I still don't understand why he hasn't done that yet. Driving for Hendrick he has the best cars under him with the best engines under the hood with the best equipment and all that. Just like Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Then again, Mark Martin drives for Hendrick and he has done nothing this year. In fact, am surprised to see Martin in the top twelve as of now. As for Jr. he needs to find whatever is missing in his team or within him that is making him come up short. Perhaps him and Lance McGrew need to get on the same page or better communications. Lance McGrew seems to be a pretty good crew cheif, but also have heard Jr talking pretty harshly to McGrew when he got upset or frustrated with the car. I think Jr is a good driver and he has it in him to win, we've seen him do it week in and week out for awhile there. He had a pretty bad accident a few years ago that I heard was a lot like his dad's accident, so maybe he still has that fear within him that is holding him back. Whatever it is, he needs to figure it out, deal with it. Perhaps he needs that one win to boost his confidence, his teams confidence to point him in the right direction.

I meant that I wasn't aware that the rule had changed (about only being able to post/vote once a day) and then had sarcastically said it would help your favorite character progress by posting twice in one day. Didn't mean to confuse anyone. As for me, it don't matter one way or another how many times anyone posts. I was just kind of wondering what was going on and all. This thread is getting nowhere and just decided to step down and watch y'all have at it, because obviously by me posting for one person it is probably not helping matters any. Didn't mean to upset or confuse anyone. I am sorry for my part.

Well, did any of you catch the Loudon race yesterday for the Sprint Cup Series? I was sure to watch it. That surprise any of you? LOL. As a whole, it was a pretty good race and for the most part a pretty clean race. There was a couple of instances of events that weren't so clean, but it was a lot more clean than what Sonoma had been where everyone left upset at one another. Was relieved not to see any retaliation from last week's race come yesterday to Gordon or to anyone else. I know NASCAR is trying to get more viewers and more fans back that they lost over the years and one way they are trying is by this year have the attitude of have at it boys. In other words, the drivers are to police themselves. Guess they had a lot of complaints of them stepping in and stuff like that - fans wanted it to be like it had been. Which it does make it more interesting and exciting at times. But between that new prospect of the sport and the double file restarts as well as the green-white-checkers rules that NASCAR has implanted within the past year, year and a half it has caused a lot of hard racing which has left a lot of drivers with hot tempers and agrivated at one another. A lot of teammates upset at eachother this year and so forth and the season is only half over! (Sorry for getting sidetracked! LOL. Just commenting on why I think all this fighting and everyone getting upset had started from.) Anyway, Loudon yesterday. Was a good race and it even helped me in my fantasy team (which I thought I was doing horrible at!) But Jimmie Johnson (who I didn't have on my fantasy team for Loudon) won his fifth race of the season yesterday with Tony Stewart coming in second, Kurt Busch third, Jeff Gordon fourth, and Kevin Harvick fifth. (The top five drivers of the race.) Dale Earnhardt Jr had a pretty good race to finish eightth at yesterday. They made a statement yesterday how the past few races Earnhardt has gotten better and it has been tracks he is normally not as good on. Well Saturday night's race is Daytona and Jr is known to be good at Daytona so it will be interesting to see if he can keep it up on a track he is good at and see what he can do. Am glad to see him progressing. (He is now three points out of the top twelve!) Here is the points after yesterday's race: 1. Kevin Harvick 2. Jimmie Johnson (-105) 3. Kyle Busch 4. Denny Hamlin 5. Jeff Gordon 6. Kurt Busch 7. Matt Kennseth 8. Jeff Burton 9. Tony Stewart 10. Greg Biffle 11. Mark Martin 12. Carl Edwards and again...Jr is 13th and only three points behind Edwards. Had to feel bad for Jeff Burton yesterday...was leading at the end of the race, but didn't go in on the last caution (at that point. It was towards the end of the race and they just pitted not that long ago. Everyone did.) So Burton stayed out, but Johnson and everyone else went in and got fresh tires and gas so when they got out there, Burton was pretty much a sitting duck. He finally lost control of his car and spun him and Kyle Busch out. He had it won, I think, until then. Burton is another driver I feel that is like Jeff Gordon where they have a good car and has the desire for the win, is competive, yet the win just keeps eluding them due to one reason or another. They get close yet never get it yet this season. Anyone else watch the race? What y'all think of it?

Well just thought I'd say something because I thought of you while watching the Cubs game on Saturday when they said they were playing the Pirates on Monday...tonight. It does get discouraging to have your team always in last place. Being a Cubs fan, I can rightfully symphatise for you, Roger. Been there plenty of times. Haven't caught much games this year, but it seems like they are either really good or really bad. No in between. Guess they are lucky to be where they are at in standings right now, but if they are wanting to make it into the playoffs this year, they really need to pick it up. Guess placing their rotation from 25 man roster to 24 due to Zambrano's tantrum may hurt 'em a bit, though am glad to see them stepping up and facing up to Zambrano's tantrum to let him know it won't be allowed. Well Roger, you must be into baseball as a sport in general. I mainly just follow the Cubs and see where they are going and as I said, I haven't seen that much games thus far this year. I don't have cable and I always forget to turn on the radio to listen into it, though find it easier to watch than to listen to. I am a visual person. Same with the races. Hope your Braves are doing well for you...and for my cousin, he likes the Braves too.

Unicorns are mystical animals that has a horn on their foreheads and looks like horses, but are not known to be on the Dukes of Hazzard.

(Well if people are going to post more than once, then maybe we should make it official that it is ok to post or vote more than once since that isn't the original rule? I don't know. Just a thought. On my end...sorry to disappoint Bo since I had so stubbornly been voting for my favorite Duke boy, but I'm not being much help on this thread but slow it down. So to his dismay, I am going to say that I am dropping out on this thread. It isn't going anywhere but in circles. Y'all have fun. Hopefully someone else will pull Bo through without me. )

Ryne Sandberg is my favorite baseball player.

Bo 29 Luke 28 Jesse 28 Cooter 15 (Not that I am aware of, but I guess that is one way to help your favorite character progress faster than the others. )

Everyone wonders which certian Duke boy you have your eyes on.

Well, Roger you better watch out, sounds like your Pirates are up to play my Cubs in the near future sometime. I'll have to look it up. If you're lucky, the Cubs' ace pitcher will still be serving his indefinite suspension he was given last night...by the Cubs themselves! Though don't know if they consider Carlos Zambrono as their ace anymore, he hasn't been as hot as he use to be. Didn't see the event when it had happened but have seen it online and heard a lot about it from TV sports shows and online...have to agree with the Cubs manager and GM that it was uncalled for. Very sad that he would take out his frustrations on his own teammates. Understand it is frustrating that they are losing and that he gave up four runs in the first inning, but by what the media is saying, it wasn't the players' fault that the runs were scored or allowed on base. Even if it was their fault, I'd still find it uncalled for. Think they are done or tired of his temper tantrums already, especially now that he isn't pitching as he use to. Think the Cubs made the right choice by giving him the suspension...guess he didn't punch anyone (this time) and the only thing that was physically hurt was the water cooler, but the last thing the team needs is for each other to take out their frustrations on one another. Not good for team morale at all either. It is sad when the team has to suspend their own players. . .(am hoping that Zambrano will get help for his anger/temper and that the Cubs will be able to move forward from this event...) GO CUBS GO!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry Roger...had to say that. I'll be a die hard Cubs fan til the day I die. Sorry to disappoint ya!)

Possum on a gummbush Roger, you did it again! And right after you said you wouldn"t do that.

Danica Patrick returns to NASCAR's Nationwide Series race after a couple months of absence, says her goal is to get a top fifteen in today's race. I watched a few minutes of the race a little while ago and she was 36th and two laps down from everyone else. Brad Keselowski was leading with Kevin Havick behind him. Looks like she has some work cut out for her today if she is wishing to get a top fifteen. Anyone else been following her or the Nationwide Series here? I haven't really been watching her nor do I really watch the Nationwide Series due to time and forgetting about it. But I do generally hear who wins or if anything "big" happens in the race as well as hear where Patrick finishes out in the few races she has raced so far this year. They said that her highest finish was in the thirties so far this year. So with that in mind, maybe a fifteen top finish is a too high of a goal to start out with. I don't know. Am not a big fan of her's, but I think that is because of all the publicity she has gotten in the series...hopped on and watched a few minutes of the race today and that is all they were talking about...was her. If that was anyone else in 36th spot they may mention it, but wouldn't go on and on about them. But don't find that too surprising since she seems to bring a lot of attention no matter where she is running. My opinion is, is that the announcers and the media need to stop putting all their attention onto one person. That goes for Sprint Cup as well. They seem to follow the drivers that are the hottest or doing the best...especially on certain channels over some others. It use to be Jr that they followed, then Stewart, then Kyle Busch and a little on Jimmie Johnson as well. No matter where they were running, that was who they were following. Maybe it is just me that feels that way, but that's how it feels to me. Anyway that is my two cents worth. For Danica's sake, I hope that she will be able to learn the sport and to become good at it. I think she is a good Indy driver and she has a big name which is why she is getting all the attention she is getting.

Yet again, another statement ending in Y and it makes me wonder why.

Bo 30 Luke 28 Jesse 27 Cooter 15

]Bo 29 Luke 29 Jesse 27 Cooter 15

I have to agree this is a good topic, though can't exactly pin an exact song that Garrett seems to like or suits him best. Generally it is the entire CD playing. Kutless- Strong Tower CD Kenny Chesney - No shoes, No Shirt, No Problem CD ...or any of his Greatest Hits CD Keith Urban - Golden Road CD - Greatest Hits Toby Keith - Greatest Hits One and two Tim McGraw - Greatest Hits 2 Dwight Yoakam - his latest Greatest Hits album Waylon Jennings - any of his hits CDs that I have As it looks a lot of Greatest Hits from favorite artists with well played song or well known songs on them. Either Christian or Country.

Everyone is welcomed at the Duke farm.

Well they are racing at Loudon on Sunday. Enjoyed the road course because it is something different and something they don't race on that often, but am glad to be back on track again. LOL. But perhaps some of the reason being is from all the drivers that had left upset and all the negative attention that had been directed at Gordon. One would have thought they were racing at Bristol by how they were racing each other and how high their emotions was after the race. Not a road race. A typical road race is kinda slow compared to a regular race because the cars can't go as fast as they do on track and it is harder for them to pass one another. They may not have been going as fast and may not have passed that often on Sunday, but there was a lot of drivers that left upset at each other and then you have the whole incident with Ambrose. Glad Johnson got his first road race win though (got to correct myself...Johnson won Bristol in the spring to win his first Bristol race. My post before Sunday's race said Johnson didn't win at Bristol yet, when he did this year.) After talk of retaliation and all that at Sonoma, am hoping that the drivers has patched up their hard feelings with one another and that there will be no retaliation at Loudon. Then again, the incident I am talking about is of Martin Truex Jr threatening to retaliate against Gordon; so that may have a lot to do with it. Gordon's having enough trouble on his own getting a win, he doesn't need any help by any other upset drivers he got mad at him last Sunday. Anyway, as always, am looking forward to the race on Sunday. It should be a good one. Gordon is good at tracks like Loudon. As is Ryan Newman it sounds like. Tony Stewart starts getting better and winning more in the summer so he should be getting better as it gets warmer. OK now that I have succeeding in boring y'all, I'll shut up now. Just had to throw a little tid bit in here after not posting anything here for a couple of days. Roger - would be interested in hearing your "expert's" reasons behind thinking the races are fixed and to hear how NASCAR has it's way of controling who wins and all that. All I can think of is by them throwing un-neccessary cautions towards the end of the race. (which is killing Gordon right now BTW. Not un-neccessary cautions per say, just the restarts in general.) As I said, I've heard other people upset online accusing NASCAR of the same thing and had a few thoughts of it here and there, but have thus far refused to think too much into it. Does your "expert" ramble on as much as I do about NASCAR? LOL