Sports Conversation

[Silverwing]

Yes it is.  Practice has begun.

But the real news is in the NFL off season.  Some major shakeups.  Houston Texans imploding... Carson Wenz to Indy.  Stafford to LA Rams.

[Wolfwood]

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Race at Atlanta today... but the wild thing is next week.

They race at a fan-favorite track, Bristol.  But here is the kicker.  For the first time in 60 years, the NASCAR Cup Drivers will be racing on a dirt track!  So this will be a very exciting and different event.  Sure to draw in big ratings.

[Grapefoot]

That will be interesting.  I am going to tune in to see how that goes.

[Anyponedrawn]

Dirt racing?  With those modern cars?  I'd tune in to see that.

[Grapefoot]

Looking forward to seeing what the MLB will do this season.  Check out some of the new players for teams.  I hope it's a good year for baseball.

[MasterXtreme]

That will be interesting.  I am going to tune in to see how that goes.

They had practice today, here are some highlights.  So weird to see those cars physically drifting.

[Grapefoot]

NASCAR is running into some trouble again with mother nature.  So their biggest event of the year, the DAYTONA 500 was rained out and had to be raced the following Monday.

So at Bristol in the dirt, they tried to get the Camping World Truck series a go...

And there was issues.  Rain had caused the track to become mud and it completely blocked the vents for air to get to the engines, and more importantly, blocked the windows for the drivers.

NASCAR Cup heats were RAINED OUT.... and the forecast now shows rain all day Sunday which would also rain out the NASCAR events.  Even if it stopped raining, the track will be a muddy mess now.

Poor NASCAR cannot catch a break.  When it isn't raining on their events, they've had one of the more exciting seasons with more new drivers winning for the first time in a long time.

[MasterXtreme]

Monsoon rains have cancelled the race for Sunday.  The CUP car and Truck series will try to race Monday.  The second biggest event of the season  with tons of promotion is rained out.  I feel bad for NASCAR here.  It would have made awesome racing and now most people will miss it if it's on tv on Monday.  RATINGS would have been really high, now they won't.

[Anyponedrawn]

The track practically flooded.  Here is the latest report.

[Silverwing]

Joey Logano won a very exciting delayed Bristol dirt race.  It was intense racing and was good throughout. NASCAR comes back after one week off for Easter to the equally exciting track of Martinsville! Super small, high speed track!

[Silverwing]

Today is opening day of Baseball season!!!

Article

Small Spokane Catholic School, Gonzaga in NCAA Basketball Final Four!!!

Article

[Grapefoot]

Them ore and more MLB has been pushing politics, the less and less I am interested.  First it was the NBA, then the NFL and now MLB.  Don't these leagues realize people watch sports to get away from the world and politics?  Keep politics out!    Losing interest fast in these major leagues.

I am left with NASCAR as the last major sport and a bunch of smaller leagues for my sporting enjoyment.  I wonder what ping pong is up too?

[MasterXtreme]

^ Agreed.  Keep sports out of politics and politics out of sports.

[Darrin]

I COULDN'T agree more gents.

[RainySunshine]

It's official.  There are now 32 NHL teams!  The Seattle Kraken begin play later this year.

Seattle Kraken officially join NHL as league's 32nd team

Article

Release the Kraken! The Seattle Kraken officially became the 32nd team in the National Hockey League on Friday.

The NHL announced that the Kraken ownership group completed its acquisition of the expansion team and officially joined the league.

"On behalf of the Board of Governors, I am delighted to officially welcome the Seattle Kraken to the NHL as our 32nd Member Club," Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Congratulations to David Bonderman, the Bonderman Family, their partners, the entire Seattle Kraken organization, the city of Seattle and Kraken fans as the Club continues on its exciting journey towards puck drop in October."

The team wrote on Twitter: "Today marks a HUGE moment in our club’s history: we have officially completed the process of joining the National Hockey League. To our fans, ownership group, partners and the @NHL  - thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you."


The Kraken will join the Pacific Division in the Western Conference starting in the 2021-22 season, along with Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver and Vegas. The Arizona moves to the Central Division.

The NHL first announced Seattle was approved for a new franchise in December of 2018, paying a $650-million expansion fee to join.

General manager Ron Francis has been able to talk to colleagues around the league, and he and his staff have been scouting and planning for the expansion draft July 21. The final payment by ownership allows him to make official transactions, such as signing college free agents.

The team will play at Climate Pledge Arena, formerly KeyArena, which is undergoing a major renovation. The Kraken training facility is being built at Northgate in Seattle.