Second thoughts

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a popular interview this week at the Daytona 500, according to one columnist, because he’s dating Danica Patrick, not because of his driving ability.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a popular interview this week at the Daytona 500, according to one columnist, because he’s dating Danica Patrick, not because of his driving ability.

— Danica’s boyfriend races, too?

All eyes today will be on Danica Patrick as she starts the Daytona 500 from the pole position.

There have been plenty of eyes on another driver too, according to Tom Sorenson of The Charlotte Observer,

“Before Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

became half of NASCAR’s biggest celebrity couple since Kurt and Kyle Busch, he was a race car driver,” Sorenson wrote. “He didn’t attain fame until he began to date fellow Sprint Cup rookie Danica Patrick. She announced last month that they were dating.

“But he was always fast - the 2007 USAC National Sprint and Midget Car rookie of the year, 2010 Nationwide Series rookie of the year, 2011 and 2012 Nationwide Series champ.

“On Thursday in the second of the Budweiser Duels at Daytona International Speedway he was even nailed for speeding on pit road.

“This week, however, he is less a racer than an exhibit. Watch him. Better, watch fans watch him. As he stands near his Ford Fusion Thursday a woman in a Jeff Gordon jacket points and says: ‘That’s Danica’s boyfriend!’

“Stenhouse is a popular interview, the second most popular rookie in all of Daytona Beach. Of course, he’s popular not because of who he is but who he’s with.”

After interviewing Stenhouse on Thursday, Sorenson had one last thought.

“I thank Stenhouse for his time and ask a final question,” Sorenson wrote. “When was the last time anybody interviewed you without asking about Danica Patrick?

“This is it, Stenhouse says.”

From suit to swish

Hard-pressed for tuition money? Not by a long shot.

Mason Kaluzniak gets his next semester for free at Brandon University in Manitoba after Gil Cheung, coach of the school’s men’s basketball team, swished a half-court shot in his stead as part of a halftime promotion at a recent Bobcats games.

“I started laughing [when Kaluzniak chose Cheung],” Brandon sports information director Matt Packwood told Yahoo! Sports. “Gil was a shooter when he played 10 years ago, but he had the whole team to pick from. Gil walks out, takes off the suit jacket, says ’game time’ and makes it.”

He said it

Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald columnist Brad Dickson recently offered his thoughts on various sports happenings:

“An eight-foot statue of [former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher] Bob Gibson will be erected at Werner Park (which is located in Papillion, Neb.). It’s appropriate because Werner Park promotes a family atmosphere and Gibson would have brushed back his grandmother to win a game.

“Tennis star Novak Djokovic is opening an eatery featuring specialty cheese made from donkey milk. With concepts this brilliant, it’s hard to understand why most restaurants opened by former athletes don’t pan out.

“Tiger Woods said [President Barack] Obama could be a pretty good golfer with practice.

Does Obama need this type of encouragement? Nobody wants to see the president fail to appear at the next G20 Summit because he’s working on his short game.

“Pandemonium broke out when the Bakersfield Condors hockey team brought an actual condor into the arena and it went crazy.

I can only imagine one scenario worse - if the Memphis Grizzlies did something similar.”

Quote of the day

“I was just trying to get one at least deep to the outfield. I put a big swing on it and just tried to be aggressive in that situation.” Arkansas redshirt freshman Tyler Spoon on his eighth-inning grand slam that led to a 5-2 victory over Evansville on Saturday

Sports, Pages 26 on 02/24/2013

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