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By now, we all know the story. Dale Earnhardt Jr. carried a weight on his shoulders for four years until dumping it off in Michigan this past weekend.
Junior went 143 races without a win, but driving with a Batman scheme on the car, the No.88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevy made a long-awaited appearance into victory lane on Sunday. The Batman paint scheme fit perfectly as he by far and away had the best car on Sunday and even seemed like a super hero as he came down to receive the checkered flag.
With raucous ovation, it was Junior Nation that celebrated not only in Michigan, but around the country. It seemed almost surreal after so many missed opportunities in the last couple of seasons, even letting last week’s probable win at Pocono escape his clutches after a late pit stop. He sits second in points now, just four markers back of the lead.
And yes, it took him four years to find a Gatorade Victory Circle, but Junior is no doubt a legitimate title contender and in line to win more races this season. His demeanor and interviews made me realize that Junior may have found himself, his focus, now a girlfriend and he seems happy and content with life.
More than it was a battle about victories, Junior learned that battling himself was the major issue. Rick Hendrick and his three teammates played a huge part in regaining his confidence and grounding him into being a happier individual.
Lastly about Junior, the reason he is so popular is that he has never lost sight of the fact of who he is in general. The lines between how to perform on the race track at the level many believed in him and dealing with his own personal life seemed to have held Junior back for the most part.
In the NFL, LaDainian Tomlinson started his career as a San Diego Charger and then ended it as Charger. Tomlinson, who spent the final two years of his career as a New York Jet, came back to sign and then retire in San Diego on Monday.
Tomlinson goes down in the record books as the fifth all-time leading rusher in NFL history and the charted third all-time in NFL touchdowns, hitting pay dirt 162 times his 11-year career.
Although, he was a great runner, Tomlinson also had a great vertical leap, great hands and shot the gap about as good as any running back the game of football has ever seen.
While the 33-year-old felt like he had a couple of more season left in him, the 2006 NFL MVP decided to walk away in class act form and move on with life. LT has a wife and two small kids, so I can’t really blame for the decision.
NCAA Cinderella, Stony Brook fell in two straight games at the College World Series this weekend and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At least underdog, Kent St. was hanging around on Monday as they knocked out the No. 1 overall ranked Florida Gators.
Right now, it’s South Carolina’s to win again, but I believe Arizona is the only team that can really give the Gamecocks any sort of challenge at this point.
And the Forest City Owls (12-6) lead the first half of the west division by a half game over the Columbia Blowfish. With 10 games left for the midpoint, the Owls look in good shape to stamp another postseason bid for the fifth year in a row.
