Boogity, boogity, boogity

.... Let's go racing, boys!! This will be a first for the blog as I write my inane "opinions" and watch a Sprint Cup race simultaneously. I will be combining NASCAR, gambling, and blogging all into one spectacular morning. My bets are in, I have the speeds in front of me, the TV turned to FOX HD, and the surround sound turned up in anticipation of Fox's "Crank It Up" segment. (And no, I'm not wearing pants.) This should be good.

Saturday was a pretty quiet night at the Superbook. The NBA is off until Thursday and the kids didn't know what to do with themselves. The only real excitement they had all night was when we put on a tape delayed showing of last night's Mixed Martial Arts event in New Jersey. We had a crowd out there well past 11:30 watching the fights, including one that featured a suprisingly attractive girl named Gina Carano. She may look cute but she is definitely a badass. I'll talk a lot more about the MMA event in my blurgbs.


As you can probably tell, I'm really forcing this blog out. So let's just jump ahead to that thing where I give my random thoughts next to an asterisk.

* Darrell Waltrip just said "Boogity, boogity, boogity, see you in February, boys...." because apparently this is the last NASCAR on FOX race of the season. Bummer. No D.W. until February? All of my earlier NASCAR/blogging enthusiasm is gone but I'll try to push through it....

* Chris Bennett opened up to me on Saturday about his future plans to join the blogosphere. Without actually saying as much, Bennett claimed that his blog will eventually be recognized as the best of the Hilton bunch. Bennett clearly has a lot of ideas for his blog (which will apparently be very controversial and hurt everyone's feelings) but he admitted that he is having trouble coming up with a good name. Always quick to lend a hand, I've taken the liberty of coming up with a few potential names:

- "Actually Sharp Sports Betting"

- "Brilliant Blog Breakdowns by Bennett"

- "I Don't Like You and Here's Why"

- "It's Rarely Sunny In Minneapolis"

- "These Are My Opinions - And They Should Be Yours"

As you can tell, I'm really looking forward to his blog....

* Speaking of Chris, (Let's feature him today. He's earned it.) he came into the back room yesterday to get some baseball-related work done while I was there. It provided us with a nice opportunity to talk about blogging and our mutual disdain for Austin - until Chad came in. I can't recall Chad shutting up the entire time he was in the room. I'm not even sure he paused to take a breath. It was really uncomfortable for me, as I was very nervous the entire time - I was almost positive that Chris was going to murder Chad. When Chris finally (And coldly) reminded Chad that his lunch break was likely about to end, I was extremely relieved. No, I wasn't relieved because Chad was gone and it was finally quiet enough to think. I was relieved that Chad left before Chris had bludgeoned him to death with one of the computer monitors. I'm going on vacation next week and I didn't want to be stuck out here, in a courtroom, explaining why I thought Chris was right to murder Chad....

* Huge pile-up just now in the Cup race. Of course, Tony Stewart was involved through no fault of his own. That guy cannot catch a break. I bet him against Junior but it looks like Stewart's car caught the worst of it. There's one loss so far. This race is not going well....

* I wonder how much it would cost for my blog to sponsor one of these drivers. I'm not talking about Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch. I want to sponsor one of the bad drivers who always wrecks, like Elliott Sadler or Robby Gordon. Imagine you are watching a race, you see a horrific wreck, and as you look at the mangled car being dragged away, you see - http://www.forsharpsbysharps.blogspot.com/. I'm always looking for ways to expand my following beyond the current four of you....

* Here's an actual encounter I had with two young customers last night while we were airing the Mixed Martial Arts event:

- Kid #1: How much do I have to lay on Kimbo Slice? (He didn't specify what he wanted to win.)

- Me: Well, actually all these fights are being shown on tape delay. Kimbo Slice already won.

- Kid #2: So we can't bet it?

- Me: Well, no....

- Kid #1 (To his buddy): Dude, how could we bet on something that's already over? Then we could bet like 60 million dollars!

- Kid #2 (discouraged): But I wanted to bet the Kimbo Slice fight.

- Me (trying): I think it's coming on next, right after this fight ends.

- Kid #2 (desperate): But I wanted to bet on something.

- Me (wondering how I ended up in this conversation): Sorry, guys....

I like Mixed Martial Arts but I don't think there were many Ivy Leaguers following it last night....

* I overheard another exchange in which a customer went up to the betting window and tried to place a bet on Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni over Joey Villasenor. The teller then correctly informed him that Villasenor had already won the fight hours before. That's the kids at the Hilton for you - they can't even pick the winner when the fight has been over for three hours....

* What kind of a nickname is "The New York Badass" anyway? That's terrible. Does that mean that anyone can just put their home state in front of the word "Badass" and call that a nickname? Can I be the "Virginia Badass?" More importantly - can Jorgen be the "Iowa Badass?" I think that would be an upgrade over any of his current nicknames - even "The Jorgmeister"....

* The Cup race is not going well so far but I did manage to win a bet in yesterday's Nationwide race. I played Carl Edwards over Joey Logano. I wasn't really sure who Logano was but I felt confident enough to bet on Edwards thinking that the two of them shouldn't be matched up against each other. So I turn on the race and who do I see talking to the broadcast crew during a rain delay? None other than Joey Logano, who is apparently car racing's next great prodigy and will be piloting the #20 car, Nationwide's best. Great! Long story short, Edwards managed to finish 2nd and give me a winner but Logano did give him a good (A Heluva Good!) in fact) run for his money. During the race, Metcalf pointed out that Logano really needed a nickname and recommended "Joey Logs." I countered with "J-Logs." We're still working on it....

* The Lakers were the runaway winner of my poll asking which team had the worst fans. I still say that is as much a reflection of where we are in the sports calendar as it is an indictment of Lakers fans. To me the most surprising part of the poll was the fact that out of 13 votes, only one was cast for the Boston Red Sox. Does any franchise in America have more people on their bandwagon right now? I was sitting on my balcony this morning listening to the Sox-Orioles game (On Bennett's recommedation I bet the Birds) and I kept hearing boisterous cheers from the Camden Yards faithful. Thinking that the Orioles had scored, I stepped into my living room to see a replay - and I saw the Red Sox crossing the plate. Apparently all these "fans" making noise were actually loudmouth, bandwagon-hopping members of Red Sox nation. I really hope the Celtics don't win the NBA Finals....


I'm not posting any of my picks today. I bet the Orioles who are losing, the NASCAR race is not going well, and Chase Utley just hit yet another home run - his 20th. Down times for the blog.

I'm putting up a new poll and some new pictures today. Enjoy. I'm going to go watch the only thing that will cheer me up right now - Saved By The Bell.

There's really not much going on today so you're going to have to really make an effort to....




Enjoy the game.