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IndyCar – GP of St. Petersburg: Vote Hinch for Victory Lane

James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 Andretti Autosport ChevroletHey look! We’ve added IndyCar coverage this year on the blog. Regular readers know that I’m a passionate fan of American open-wheel racing. I watched CART long before I ever watched Formula One or NASCAR so I think it’s about time that I brought some IndyCar posts to the blog. It’s a bit of a work in progress but for now, our IndyCar coverage will be similar to the race and news recaps we do for F1.

And what a week it was for us to start writing regularly about IndyCar. We saw Will Power dominate the weekend only to get literally run over during the race. Two drivers made us go “Danica who?” during the race. One was Simona de Silvestro who ran in the top five for all but the final lap. The other was the man who scored Go Daddy’s first IndyCar win as the Mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe, scored his maiden IndyCar victory.

Continue reading →

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Weekend Link-Off: When All Else Fails…

eliza-dushku-allure

Keeping with last week’s theme and going with the best from the week.  By request, Eliza Dushku from her recent appearance in Allure magazine.  This wasn’t as good as her recent Maxim spread.  After the jump, when live TV goes wrong.

Speeding is perfectly alright.  Sex while driving is fine as well.  Doing both at the same time… Well, the Norwegians won’t look too kindly on that. (BBC)

Your testify moment of the week:  Jamie Foxx gives Miley Cyrus some much needed career advice when he finds out that she plans on ruining Radiohead. (Zap2It)  He later apologized because he has no marbles. (Major League 2 reference)

Unreality found 20 of the strangest looking USB drives available. (Unreality)  Although, I still think that getting a real USB finger is more cool than a USB finger on a keychain. (MacQuarie National News)

A British television personality and automotive journalist decides he’s going to make a garden plot for a major botanical show… out of plasticine.  This can only end well. (Daily Telegraph)

An ant species in the Amazon has developed into an all-female species that doesn’t need sex to reproduce.  I think I speak for the male gender when I say that this idea has absolutely no merit and should be immediately disregarded by everyone. (BBC)

Experts say that Twitter will cripple you.  They’re just jealous that they don’t have any followers. (Daily Telegraph)

The world’s most rediculously famous dog heads to the White House.  And people care why? (National Geographic)

The Octomom wants to trademark the name “Octomom.”  It’s all yours.  Nobody cares about you anymore. (Zap2It)

How not to fire a nurse: A Wisconsin hospital pulls a nurse out of surgery to lay her off. (Wisconsin State Journal)

They should be glad they didn’t have to pay the overdue fine on that one. (CBC) Continue reading →

15 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Sports

F1 In Canada: TSN Sucks and Return to Montreal

So the 2009 F1 season kicked off with a bang.  Rubens Barrichello managed to cause a four car pile-up in the first turn after chunking the start.  Meanwhile, some guy named Jenson Button won the race followed by Barrichello (who got back to second after some other guys crashed) and Lewis Hamilton (thanks to a stewards’ decision that went his way for once).

Over here in Canada, things weren’t quite so rosy. Continue reading →

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The NBA D-League Rips Off Nick Kypreos

The NBA announced today that their development league, imaginatively called the NBA D-League, will use a new playoff format.  The three division winners will qualify (as seeds #1, #2, and #3) along with the next five highest teams in the standings.  The highest seeded division winner will pick its opponent from the teams from the bottom four seeds.  The #2 seed will pick from the remaining teams followed by the #3 seed with the #4 seed getting the not-so-fat kid everyone is scared of.

Now, some would say that this is ground breaking but I would beg to differ.  In fact, I would claim that the NBA D-League has stolen their idea and not given the originator any credit.

The idea of high seeds picking their opponent was originally proposed by Hockeycentral at Noon host Nick Kypreos.  His proposal had the #1 seed in the NHL picking its opponent from all of the other 15 teams qualified for the playoffs with the next highest remaining seed picking until all eight series were made.  The high seeds would also get this privilege in the second and third rounds.  The only real difference between the D-League system and the Nicknundrum (as it was dubbed by Hockeycentral host Darren Millard) is that the NBA gives a bonus for winning the division and forces the choice to be from the bottom half of the rankings.

I like the idea.  If only Nick would get the credit when one of the big leagues adopt it…

2 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Sports

Canada’s Sexiest Sportscasters

Playboy is following up on their sexiest sportscaster poll (won, of course, by Erin Andrews) with a list of the sexiest international sportscasters.

Canada has two entrants on the ten woman list.  And in case your firewall at work won’t let you click on to Playboy’s complete list, I have the nomination videos for you here.

Martine Gaillard (Sportsnet)


This video of Martine isn’t as flattering as most of the other videos Playboy uses and definitely not as flattering as the next one. On the other hand, she is probably the best of Playboy’s bunch at doing her job. But just to be mentioned with the world’s hottest does Martine justice.

Jennifer Hedger (TSN)


What was I saying about flattering? What was I on about in the first place? Is it too late to mention that YouTube suggests that the video may not be suitable for minors? Does anyone care?

The Lowdown’s Unofficial Honourable Mention: Evanka Osmak (Sportsnet)


I’ll admit, I was surprised she didn’t make the list. But then again, when was the last time anyone saw her on Connected? Do something about it Sportsnet!