The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat

Sad news with the death of Jim McKay. If you're my age, you can still recite word-for-word the opening stanzas of the opening of ABC's Wide World of Sports. (OK, maybe I'm the only one - but it was always the highlight of my TV week as a grade schooler...) In the ancient old days, Wide World was usually the ONLY place to see racing. McKay was there at the Indy 500 for years, and even places like Terre Haute's rugged "Action Track" where USAC sprint cars got their 20 minutes of fame each year. McKay was brilliant as host of a dozen Olympics telecasts - and will forever be associated with the tragedy at the 1972 Munich games - which marked some sort of beginning of modern-day terrorism and the decline of the Olympic sense of purity. McKay could seemingly cover any sport - and no one has come close since. I can highly recommend his book, The Real McKay.

How about the performance of Brad Keselowski and the NAVY/ JR Motorsports team?! A job well done as they get a well-deserved win. Brad's on-track results of the past month or so really foreshadowed a potential victory. Dale Jr. should get a bucket of kudos as well. I recall vividly the day at Bristol when Junior was driving the Sharpie-backed Busch Series car, and was located next to Brad's shabby lil' team on pit lane during practice. The two chatted several times at length - and it was a few months later when Junior was the ONLY one who wanted Brad in the seat of the number 88. The sponsor and the rest of the JRM operation were adamantly opposed - but Junior held his ground and earns an "I told you so" pass.