Daytona 500
Last week I told you that I thought I heard the sounds of racing engines firing up, and sure enough, the Daytona 500 will run this upcoming weekend. This will be the first Daytona in many, many years that will not have Jeff Gordon taking the green flag. Tony Stewart will not be among the starters either, so that is a double whammy for Indiana NASCAR fans. Gordon’s number #24 will be on the pole, however. For the second year in a row, 20 year old Chase Elliot will lead the pack to the green. Elliot is the youngest driver to ever win a Daytona pole. Forty-three year old Matt Kenseth will start next to him. Chase is the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliot.
Obviously dad is quite proud of his lead foot son. “It’s not about me, it’s about Chase,” said the senior Elliot.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third and Kyle Busch will start fourth. The qualification runs of Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were disallowed for rules violations (their cars were just a bit underweight). They will have to start on the back row. Jeff Gordon will be in the Fox Sports broadcast booth providing color for the race. The Great American Race is this Sunday, February 21. The green flag drops at noon EST. The race will be televised on the Fox outlets.
Litigation for Peyton
A couple of days after the Super Bowl, a suit was filed by a group of women against the University of Tennessee claiming that while they were employed by the university, they were subjected to sexual harassment by student-athletes at the school, and that the university’s failure to take the allegations seriously created a hostile work environment. It was a violation of the Title IX rule. The incidents were alleged to have taken place 20 years ago. A number of student-athletes were named as co-defendants in the suit. Among them was Peyton Manning. Jamie Ann Naughtright a trainer and physical therapist worker for the U-Tenn athletic department at the time complained that on one occasion while she examined Manning for a possible foot injury he exposed his buttocks while she was under him. There were other allegations. The school gave Naughtnight financial compensation and she left the school for another job. There was an agreement stating that none of the parties involved would ever speak of it again. The incident was not unknown to the public, just overlooked. Peyton violated the agreement in 2002 when he called Naughtright a “potty mouth” in his autobiography. She sued for defamation of character and there was an out-of-court settlement. The timing of the suit is interesting. There are those who say the statute of limitations applies, but that is only in criminal cases, not civil. The Peyton-haters are claiming that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that Peyton’s carefully controlled public image is a fallacy. There are others who claim that there are a whole group of opportunists who are trying to cut in on Peyton’s money and reputation at the end of his career.
Sports Illustrated Cover for Rhonda
Rhonda Rousey will be the cover girl on the 2016 Swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. Ms. Rousey admitted that after losing her championship boxing match, she was quite despondent, and even considered suicide, but she is now back on track and ready to resume her career. Also, her face healed up. In one shot Ms. Rousey will be attired only in body paint.
NFL Scouting Combine
The 2016 NFL Scouting Combine will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium February 23 through the 29. More than 300 of the top college prospects for the upcoming NFL College Draft will be in Indianapolis to be scrutinized for their mental and physical football prowess. So if you are downtown next week and see a large number of gigantic young men milling around the downtown restaurants accompanied by well groomed men in thousand dollar overcoats and wearing Rolex watches on their wrist, you will know what’s going on.
Players such as Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunset, Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, Cornerback Jalen Mills from LSU, Baylor wideout Corey Coleman, and Jared Goff, the top rated quarterback prospect from California, will be under the gun trying to justify their status as the top rated players available to be drafted. The Colts will be looking at offensive linemen and defensive talent particularly at inside linebacker. Indianapolis will once again be at the center of the football stage.