NASCAR is unique among North American sports in many ways. It starts the season with the biggest race of the year: the Daytona 500. I guess it's too big a tradition to move it so that it's more like other sports, where the big events happen later in the season. And I think the 2016 Daytona 500 finish was one of the best I have watched in my short history of being a NASCAR fan. I certainly remember those tandem-drafting races won by Trevor Bayne and JJ. This one was more exciting and showcased how good a race car driver Denny Hamlin was: he weaved through the traffic after the final restart to get to the front, was passed by Martin Truex Jr briefly but he took the lead back at the last second for a photo finish!
The night before there was an equally exciting race in Texas: it was the 450 class of Supercross. Defending series champ Ryan Dungey has been dominating since the beginning of the season in January. This was the first time that he got to the front but lost the lead, to the German star Ken Roczen, who showed flashes of brilliance ever since he moved from Europe to race here in US but injury stalled his progress last season. Roczen was able to fend off Dungey at the end and won the race.
Another star in making was the 18 year old Marcus Rashford. I watched the Europa League match between Man U and Midtjylland, the 2015 Danish league champ. Rashford's name was on Man U's lineup and I had no idea who he was. I thought Van Gaul intentionally put in some rookies because it's a easy game that he wanted to rest his regulars. Wrong! It's the 2nd leg and Man U lost 1-2 in the 1st leg so it's pretty much do-or-die. Van Gaul had no choice because the regulars were injured! And they got to a poor start for this 2nd leg by giving up one more goal to Midtjylland so they needed 2 goals just to force overtime. I was glad to see Memphis got his form back and scored. Then it's Rashford time! He scored 2 in the 2nd half to help Man U to advance. Then he shined some more in the Premier league match against Arsenal by scoring 2 goals! What an incredible start in his young career. I hope he develops in the right way and doesn't become another Man U "1-hit wonder." (I remember Januzaj. My friend reminded me Macheda was another)
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
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