Jeff Diehl's NHRA Funny Car Crash in Las Vegas

Anytime Jeff Diehl gets strapped into an NHRA Funny Car anything can happen.  Diehl has blown engines, caught on fire and has had violent crashes.

He had a little bit of everything last night during qualifying for the NHRA event in Las Vegas.

Diehl hits the right wall, catches on fire, and then stumbles out of what remains of his car when it stops, thankful to be intact himself.

Diehl did not qualify for the event finals to be run on Sunday.

Steve Perry Shows up at World Series

It's been years an years since Steve Perry appeared on stage in an official capacity with Journey.  It seems Perry had disappeared off the face of the earth. 

Well it took the San rancisco Giants making the playoffs and World Series to brin Perry out to the ballpark.

Here he is in one sing-a-long to "Lights."

2010 World Series Preview

It's a World Series nobody predicted.  While a few "experts" mentioned the Giants as a potential World Series team at the start of the season, the Texas Rangers are the surprise team, and now they are the favorite at baseball's biggest stage.

The Rangers have advanced this far by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. The Giants have advanced this far by defeating the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Texas won all three of their road games in round 1, and took two of three in New York in round two. The Giants won both of their road games in round 1, and took two of three in Philly in round two. Going by those trends, one may think Texas has the upper hand here being on the road, but San Francisco’s home field advantage is one of the better ones in baseball.

Thanks to the NL finally winning an All-Star game, the Giants have home field advantage for the series and they might be the one NL team that benefits from it the most. They are 52-34 SU at home this season and since 2000, the Giants are 11-1 against the Texas Rangers. 9 of those 11 wins all came in San Fran, and while most of that doesn’t mean a whole lot given how different these teams are now, the Giants did sweep them three straight last year.

Texas will be counting on their during the season trade acquisitions to give them the upper hand in this series. Cliff Lee has been dominant once again in the post-season and he will be the game 1 starter. He still has yet to lose in post-season play and Texas is hoping that string continues. The other addition that could prove to be what puts Texas over the top is C Benji Molina. Molina played most of this season with the Giants and caught for all of the pitchers he and his team will be up against. You know that he has got one of the best scouting reports around on the Giants staff given that he was a part of it for so long, and if he and his teammates can capitalize on that, Texas bats could be bombing away all series.

Both teams have solid pitching and the managers cancel each other out.  This should be a close series with the Rangers winning in 6.

Most Dangerous Sport: Women's Ice Hockey

What is the most dangerous sport?  Football,  boxing, wrestling, cheerleading?  None of those, according to a recent survey it's women's ice hockey.

Research from the University of North Carolina has found that female hockey players get concussions at a higher rate than athletes in any other sport, including NCAA football players.  These results were reported at the Mayo Clinic, which is holding a conference on concussions in hockey that has also produced the long overdue suggestion that the NHL ban headshots completely. 

The raw data is disturbing.  The concussion rate in N.C.A.A. women’s ice hockey is 2.72 per 1,000 player hours. For men’s ice hockey it’s 1.47 per 1,000. Even for N.C.A.A. football, the rate is 2.34 per 1,000 — lower than it is for the women on the ice.

Concussions comprised about 25 percent of the injuries in women’s ice hockey, the highest cause of injury in the sport. In men’s ice hockey concussions account for 9 percent of the injuries (No. 2 in the sport), and in football they account for 7 percent (No. 3 in the sport).

How does this happen?  It could be because women don't have enough experience playing ice hockey to anticipate the hit coming their way.  Other studies in men’s and boys’ hockey show that the greatest risk of concussion occurs in unanticipated hits — and in women’s hockey players may never anticipate a hit.

Doug Stacey, the chief physiotherapist for of Canada’s national women’s teams, including the 2010 gold medal-winning Olympic team, also theorizes that neck strength is the main determinant why women’s concussion rates are so much higher. (Women, he pointed out, have 43 percent less head/neck mass.)

Other theories say since women are new to contact sports they may not be able to identify or report head injuries.  I don't know about this theory.  With all the news about concussions recently, I think women are just as likey to report them as men. 

He cited the concussion stats for the Canadian women’s team in 2009-10: nine concussions among eight different players. In three, the symptoms lasted longer than 21 days.

In general, Stacey pointed out, women experience greater symptoms from concussions; greater cognitive impairments; and have greater mortality and morbidity rates associated with brain trauma.

Looks like concussions will remain a top story in the news, and now women are part of it.

Ole Miss Picks Rebel Black Bear...Not Admiral Ackbar

According to The Clarion-Ledger, the Rebel Mascot Selection Committee announced Thursday that the Rebel Black Bear will be the school's new mascot.

The Rebel Black Bear was selected after an online vote held over the past week between the bear, the Rebel Land Shark and the Rebel Hotty Toddy.  Others thought that Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar should be the mascot choice since he led the Rebel Alliance.

The bear will replace Colonel Reb, the goateed Southern gentleman banished from the sidelines nearly seven years ago as part of the school's effort to distance itself from symbols of the old South.

In 1997, Ole Miss ended the waving of Confederate flags at sporting events. Last year, the band stopped playing a fight song to discourage the fan chant, "The South will rise again."