Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Weird Superstitions in the Sports World From Fans

I may be a little late, but in the last month or so I have been hearing the craziest things in the sports world. Sometimes these fans come up with the craziest things to say! The first craziest thing is when Serena Williams lost her match and they blamed it on her current boyfriend Drake. I just don't understand how he plays a part. All he did was sit in the stands and support her. 

Is Serena not allowed to lose? I understand that she may be the best at tennis but I truly believe that she is allowed to lose every once in a while. You just can't win them all. Even Michael Jordan lost.  I am pretty sure that Drake and Serena both were just shaking their heads. That's all they could do. There is no need to even feed into any of that non-sense because that's all it is. People just come up with the most bizzar things to say just to have something to talk about. How about reaching out to congratulate her anyway on a great match.

The second craziest thing was a 2-in-1. This Ciara and Russell Wilson superstition. First, the DJ for the Seahawks couldn't play a song by Future because it might have made Russell feel a certain type of way. In my opinion, it shouldn't because ain't none of Future's songs about him nor Ciara. Future is one of the hottest rappers out now and his music just hypes everybody up. Speaking of hyping up, I'm pretty sure that some of the Seahawks team and some fans can agree with me. The next thing was when the Seahawks started off with an 0-2 record. The fans blamed it on Russell not being able to concentrate because of Ciara. 

As a quarterback, he should be able to separate his game mind frame from his personal. When he is on that field, Ciara needs to be non-existent for 48 minutes. He has business to take care of when it comes to winning games! Ciara on the other hand, is doing her job of being the supportive girlfriend by showing her face at the games. People just need someone to point their finger at not even considering how crazy they are going to even sound or look after they do it. Russell has to take better control and the defense needed to help him out. He couldn't win both games alone. 

I just feel bad when things like this is said and then it just spread all over the internet like wildfire. I am not a big fan of gossip and slander. I'm pretty sure no one is, but it just burns me up inside. It's like these athletes cannot date anyone famous. they just have to stick to someone who is not in the limelight and it's not right. It's their choice to date whomever they want. The fans and media just need to leave them alone and let them live their lives.  I wonder if this turns any other athlete away from wanting to date anyone famous? It wouldn't if I was an athlete. I'm just saying. That's my rant/thought for today...Stay tuned for more with Helen Knows Her Sports!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Helen Knows Her Sports: My First Drag Race...

Helen Knows Her Sports: My First Drag Race...: ATLANTA- This past Friday August 28, 2015, I got the opportunity to come out and cover Championship night for Friday Night Drag Race at the ...

My First Drag Race...

ATLANTA- This past Friday August 28, 2015, I got the opportunity to come out and cover Championship night for Friday Night Drag Race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. As I walked in, I was in complete awe. I just couldn't believe my eyes. I was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I never imagined in my lifetime that I would experience this, but why not?

My first instinct was to hurry up and get to the track. Throughout my path I was able to witness the drivers preparing their cars in their assigned garage before their practice runs. Once I approached the fence behind the track a certain young man caught my eye and I approached him. The conversation went as follows:

1. "Is this your first time here?" "Yes my co-worker usually comes here."
2. "What made you want to come?" My co-worker talked me into racing my car."
3. " What kind of car do you have?" "A 2006 Jetta 2.0 Turbo."
4. "Is checking out the practice laps helping you determine if you want to race?" "Oh, I'm racing, it's just that I wanted to see how everything goes first,"
5. "Is there a particular driver or car that you want to race?" "Yeah, one of my other co-workers is here and he drives a BMW M-3."
6. "In order to get yourself ready do you have any motivational music to get you ready?" "Yeah, Young Thug"
7. "What's your game plan to beat him?" "Take the hell off!"

After successfully speaking with him, I was able to speak with an actual fan that loves drag-racing. This conversation went as follows:

"Hello how are you" "I'm good and you?"
I'm good! How long have you been coming to the drag races?" " I've been coming for about five years now on every Friday night. It gives you something to do."

The gentleman then went on to inform me about all of the crazy experiences that he has witnessed throughout the past five years. I then went on to ask...

"What is the difference between Drag Racing and NASCAR?" " NASCAR drives 200 laps around the track trying to win and Drag Race is between two cars." After he answered this question, he went on to inform me that there are 12 divisions in Drag Racing along with describing to me that if a car goes off into the other lane or on the concrete outside of the track then the other driver automatically wins.

By this time, night time has fell and ALL of the lights has come on to light up the track! At first, people who just wanted to drive their car around the track got to drive around a few laps just to get the experience. Afterwards, was the car show where the fans got to come to the grass inside the track and take a look at all of the antique and current cars with thousands of dollars worth of work on them.

Last, is what we've all were waiting for! The races began! to see all of those cars ranging from the 1950's on up to 2015 pull up to the start line! Hearing the noise of all of those engines crank up made me feel like I was on the set of Fast & the Furious! The highlight for me was that a 1970's Volkswagon Bug was winning races against Cameros, Ford pick-up trucks, Firebirds, and Malibus! There was also a 1980's Mustang that was un-beatable! Everyone was looking forward to seeing who he was going to race next and if he was going to win.

From 9 PM til about 11:45 PM the races continued all the way up until they crowned a champion. The types of cars racing were BMW, Malibu, Ford pick-up, Corvette, Porsche, Mustang, Cutlass. Below is the list of champions that was crowned:

Harbin's Mechanical Services Super Pro Division
Billy Clevenger (Jonesboro); 1963 Chevrolet Corvette
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Pro Division
David Clevenger (Hampton); 1986 Chevrolet Corvette
Zaxby's Street Outlaw Division
Lamar Chambers (Griffin); 1985 Chevrolet S-10
Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Division
Lee King (Sharpsburg); 1987 Ford Mustang
Harbin's Mechanical Services Domestic Advanced Division
Stephen DeFayette (Sharpsburg); 1988 Mazda RX7
Harding Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Domestic Division
Chris Morgan (Jackson); 1966 Ford Mustang
Truck Advanced Division
Will Coots (Stockbridge); 1985 Chevrolet C-10
Street Modified Division
Douglas Anglin (Griffin); 1988 Ford Mustang
Factory Street Division
Zachary Stripling (Stockbridge); 2014 Ford Mustang
Diesel Truck Division
Taylor Wilder (Locust Grove); 1994 Dodge Ram 1500
Truck Division
Brian Leath (Hampton); 1976 Chevrolet C-10
Sport Compact Division
Bobby Bramblett (Loganville); 1970 VW Beetle
Tuner Division
Leo Martinez (Griffin); 1993 Honda Civic
Super Bike Division
Tony Freeman (Stockbridge); 2006 Suzuki
Sport Bike Division
Bryan Berube (Forest Park); 2006 Suzuki 1300
Motorcycle Division
Ricky Harrelson (McDonough); 2006 Yamaha R6
Thunder Tower West Harley-Davidson Cruiser/Dirt Motorcycle Division
Andrew Bunn (Hampton); 1999 Harley-Davidson
ATV Division
Omar Ruiz (Cumming)
There you have it! I look forward to covering another race sometime soon in the near future! I hope you all enjoyed this read and that you felt like you were there! In the meantime, stay tuned I'll have plenty more to write about!

-Helen