The Cheap Seats with Liz Drabick : CBSSports.com Blogs

In the (fuel) tank for nascar

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:51:35 EST

Ok, technically it's the fuel cell but whatever. And sorry for the parentheses.

Again, not at all a cheap seat.. This time: Richmond International Raceway for the nascar race. Enjoyed the final race prior to the race for the actual championship with the #29 pit crew in the actual pit box. The actual pit box. Like where the crew chief sits and the crew goes to work. Words cannot do it justice. The experience of being that close to cars traveling 180 mph, the eardrum-shattering decibel level of the cars as they raced their way down the track (though even under caution they're still crazy loud), and the ground shaking with Richter-scale-measurement like rattling was unlike any other. TV does not do it justice. And as an ardent nascar fan, there's nothing wrong with watching a race on TV; do it all the time. That said, TV does not do it justice. All the cars moving in concert with each other on TV can't convey the speed at which they move. Not possible. Sort of like when you watch a football game and you have no idea how big and fast football players are, or with the NBA and it's not at all easily discernible how tall they are.

The (Almost) Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:57:01 EDT

Maybe?

So there's the first official kick of college football, pre-season NFL games wrapping up meaning record-counting football starts straightaway, impending postseason baseball, Tiger Woods and elite fields playing a few golf tournaments this time of year, NASCAR's getting ready for it's shootout with a pair of semi-local races looming...

This time of year just feels like football, college football and playoff baseball. It's absolutely palpable, no?

What would be the the most wonderful? Football playoffs and the Superbowl? March Madness? Those events, while undeniably amazing, stand alone; and rightfully so. That said, there isn't a cornucopia of burgeoning sports stories and chases to follow in a variety of sport. Plus, with the Superbowl there's the inevitable post-NFL season letdown knowing that you have to wait for what feels like forever until football comes back. Sure it bumps up against Daytona (if you're into that kind of thing and quite obviously I am.) March Madness, which never lacks for drama and finding clever ways of watching it at work is always fun, has the stage pretty much all to itself except for when it goes head to head with The Masters and the ramp-up of the NASCAR season.

Shilling for the Nationals

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:09:15 EDT

No, not Curt Schilling for the Nationals. Though that'd be something. Hear he's done, though.

Was invited courtesy of Nats staff to check out a game earlier this week and not gonna lie, it was pretty terrific. My media dorkness on DEFCON 5, it was a hoot to hang out with DC sports glitterati like Phil Wood, Craig Heist and George Wallace. Press box was lovely with an amount of food that would make any fan jealous. (So maybe today's blog should be called The Free Seats?) There's a $10 all you can eat policy in the press box. Who knew?

What also made the game thoroughly enjoyable was, well, the game. Was August 5th, the middle game of a 3-game set against the Marlins. Needless to say, expectations were low. To my surprise, Nats bats were on fire with Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Dunn going yard on back to back homers in the first. Yeah, in the first. Also notable, Cristian Guzman fell a home run short of hitting for the cycle. Pitching was effective if not unspectacular. John Lannan threw for 6 allowed 8 hits and 2 runs. Bullpen was didn't-blow-the-lead so that's always good, right? (Reminder: LOW expectations) But then factor in that in the doing they matched their season-high 4-game win streak. Lightly remarkable.

A smorgasbord of thoughts

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:36:08 EDT

But that's really what a blog is, right?

Almost done with week 2 and 106.7 The Fan has not switched to a country music station. Plus everyone's door card still works.

Then there's the rumor of new competition in the form of Mr. Tony's return to the airwaves. Intrepid blogger Dan Steinberg confirms it over on the dc sports bog.

Lavar Arrington is the ironman of highfivers. Has not missed a post-sports update high five yet. Sometimes there's a dance. It's like when NBA players have really intricate pre-game introduction handshakes. It is as fun as it sounds. There was the old running man dance one day. Today the classic miming of casting a fishing line. Waiting on the sprinkler. Or the grocery cart.

Pulling the curtain back...

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:46:25 EDT

So week one's in the books for the new dc sportsy talker 106.7 The Fan...

The radio station neither broke nor flipped to smooth jazz today so that makes it a wholesale success.

From the cheap seats, some of the "best of" moments from the first week...

Mike Wise's coup with getting Coach Joe Gibb on the debut broadcast*. He was really proud of that. (*It should be mentioned that Gibbs is pretty much doing a radio world tour promoting an upcoming book. You don't want to know all the other programs Gibbs was on. Sorry, Wise.)