Sports highlights: Daytona 500, UFC 170

I was really looking forward to this weekend because it's NASCAR's season opener, Daytona 500, which happened to be the biggest event of the whole sports. Among all sports, NASCAR probably has the shortest off-season. Still, I had waited for 3 months! The other big event for me was UFC 170 featuring Rhonda Rousey vs Sara McMann as the main event. It has been a little less than 2 months since Rousey's last fight. I am happy about the winners of both: Daytona 500 won by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rhonda Rousey successfully defended her title. However, the road to victory cannot be more different between them: Junior hasn't won a race since two years ago. And before this victory, he had exactly two W since 2008! Yet he was the most popular driver among fans 11 years in a row, mostly because of his last name. Anyone could see how much pressure was on him. The amount of frustration must have been through the roof! On the other hand, Rhonda Rousey has been undefeated in UFC. She dominated her opponents most of the time and scoring 1st round victory one after another (until her Dec 2013 fight in which she needed 3 rounds) She TKO-ed her opponent (who was well-rested compared to her) in the 1st round again this time. Junior had to "fight" really hard among all those great drivers who were front-runners towards the end of the race: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Danny Hamlin (they were either former Daytona 500 winners, former NASCAR series champs or driver on a hot streak!) Even though he was leading the race late, he had to restart perfectly to hold off the competition several times after wrecks/cautions. It's certainly no fluke as Junior finished close to the top many times during the past few seasons which showed how good he was.

I also watched a bit of Winter Olympics (mostly hockey and curling) but certainly nothing as dramatic as the above.

RIP Helen von Ammon

I attend the (free, Classical) Noon Time Concert at Old St. Mary near SF China town from time to time. Just learned that one of the long time supporters, Helen Von Ammon, has passed away recently. RIP. People like them made this a wonderful community to live/work in. Case in point: the concert today is fantastic: it featured pianist Sophie Xuefei Zhang and violinist Solenn Seguillon (yes, she is attractive. Check out the previous link to her pictures) Both had superb techniques and were perfect for playing modern pieces like the Debussy and the Ravel.

Schindler's list music chosen by skater at the Olympics

I was surprised when I heard it during Russian figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya's performance. It was great music and she did a pretty good job (except for a few mistakes) The first thing came to my mind was that the movie was about a brave person acting against dictatorship. Isn't it ironic considering where the skater came from (and it's the host country too!)? Anyway, I don't think using the music for figure skating performances trivialized the Holocaust. Some journalists agreed while some disagreed. See this. One comment said it best: the music was NOT used in concentration camp and if the controversy made more people pay attention to the movie and the topic, that's a win.