South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway is an egg shaped terror that has become known as the track too tough to tame. If thats true, David Pearson came pretty close–during his illustrious career, he posted 10 victories and 12 poles at Darlington. These are both records for one of NASCAR’s most unforgiving tracks. Pearson’s ability at Darlington bordered on the unreal, and he was able to follow the conventional wisdom about performing well there better than anyone. The old saying is that you need to race the track, not the other drivers, but that’s a lot easier said than done. Pearson, however, made it look easy.

David Pearson was born on December 22, 1934 in Whitney, SC–a textile town near Spartanburg. Like most of the locals, his parents worked in the local cotton mill and did their best to provide. David quit school after the 10th grade and went to work in the mill. It wasnt long, however, before his love of cars and racing made him leave the mill life behind. He bought a car and began racing at short tracks in the upstate. He ran his first race on 9/19/52 in Woodruff South Carolina. Within a few years, he won his first championship at the Greenville/Pickens Speedway in’59.

Pearson never really sought much more than this local fame and success, but a couple of his friends and some fans had loftier ambitions”they began raising money to buy a car to compete in the NASCAR Grand National series (which was the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup series). With the financial backing from friends and family, David began racing a limited schedule on the Grand National circuit and was named the’60 rookie of the year. In’61, he became the first driver to win on 3 of 4 superspeedways in the same year (Charlotte, Daytona, Atlanta). Success beget sponsors, whos dollars allowed him to afford better cars and crew. This brought about championships”he won three Grand National titles in’66,’68 and’69.

The’70s saw Pearson cut back his schedule somewhat, focusing on superspeedways. In’72, he started driving for the Wood Brothers in the #21 car that he was to make a legend. In’73, he won 11 races in’ starts”an incredible feat even by today’s standards. Through the end of the’70s, Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery of Darlingon, he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one of two men to have won more than 100 races, and his 105 is second only to The King Richard Petty’s 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head, however, he has a slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: in races where he and Petty finished 1-2, Pearson won 33 to Petty’s 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is a feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his’.29% winning percentage, as well as his record of starting from the pole in 20% of the races he ran.

In March, 2000, SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard in his honor. He lives in Spartanburg to this day. Pearson still takes to the track occasionally–he and current NASCAR driver Carl Edwards were the first to race on the newly repaved Darlington Raceway last Spring. We should all hope to be able to run with a 20 something NASCAR driver when we’re in our mid 70’s. Incidentally, he got the nickname Silver Fox due to his prematurely gray hair and cunning style behind the wheel.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Technorati Tags: auto racing, entertainment, hobbies, Marketing, NASCAR, Recreation, sports

Go to your favorite local video store and you will probably find that it has gone bankrupt and went out of business. The alternative is those movie box dollar rental machines sporadically located in grocery stores. One bad experience with those and a credit card can be charged unfairly. So really the only viable options are either pay cable movie channels, pay per view or wait for the mail to deliver a movie plan. There is also the option to go digital with movie download sites.

Many sites are now online that offer different ways to watch movies. Some of these sites even offer free movie viewing. Movie libraries that are online do not always have the latest movies. They are a good option to see an old favorite or one that was missed. Not every site has the same movie. If you can not find what you are looking for at one then go check out another one.

Watching movies on the computer is a great with the proper equipment. A high speed connection is required to get the most out of the service. Also a computer with a fast processor will make the movie experience enjoyable. Another important piece of equipment is a high definition monitor.

There are many different sound systems available for computers. Most are priced reasonably. For the top equipment expect to pay more. Look for a system that has a sub woofer to add some depth to the audio. If building a quality home theater experience then make sure to put some money into the audio system. Surround sound is and the placement of the speakers is important. Check online for tutorials regarding setting up a home theater.

Remember when CD burning became popular? That technology has also been added so that DVDs can be burned, as well as Blu-ray discs. DVD burning has been around for awhile so DVD burners are relatively inexpensive. With Blu-ray being the new best technology for movie viewing, those burners are still pretty expensive, but as time passes will begin to get cheaper. The quality on a Blu-ray is comparable to watching it in a theater, giving everything more depth and detail. Think of it as HD for DVDs.

Some websites allow movie downloading for burning onto a DVD or Blu-ray. Some of these sites are pay services. Some will have a built in program for burning the movie to a DVD or Blu-ray disc. If this is no an option then burning software will be needed. Many programs are available that can be found across the internet.

Many mobile services also offer movies for download directly to the phone. This of course means you will have to have a phone that supports this type of media. It is a good idea to make sure you subscribe to a good data plan as well, as many providers charge per kilobyte downloaded, as well as using minutes for internet usage. This may be something you need to monitor closely on teens and kids phones. There are also movies available for download onto portable MP3 players as well. These movies are usually formatted specifically for mobile devices, and don’t have the detail that a Blu-ray or DVD does.

Movie download sites are the future of movie watching. With the right amount of money movie viewing at home can be just as good as going to a movie theater. Also make sure that the website is using legal methods to distribute movies.

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. Dvd Movie Rent Although they may be against your personal beliefs, it wouldnt hurt to at least listen to the lyrics of these vocals. It’s also hilarious when Navin gets “published” in the phone book only to have a killer randomly select him for death.

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Despite a subpar game from quarterback Tim Tebow and a determined effort from the host Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Florida Gators remained undefeated by scrapping out a 29-19 victory. Florida led by only 3 points at halftime before pulling away in the fourth quarter. The usually efficient and accurate Tebow had two touchdowns returned for interceptions and passed for only 127 yards with no touchdowns. The usually accommodating Tebow left the stadium without speaking to reporters, clearly upset with his performance. Florida improved to 7-0 while Mississippi State dropped to 3-5.

College football betting enthusiasts who took the +22′ with Mississippi State as a home underdog enjoyed an easy pointspread cover. The Bulldogs improved their ATS record to 4-3 with the cover, while Florida evened their college football pointspread record to 3-3. The 48 combined points scored just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 50. Florida has gone UNDER in five of six lined games this season while Mississippi State has gone UNDER in 4 of their seven games.

While Tebow wasn’t talking, head coach Urban Meyer accepted much of the blame for his team’s substandard performance:

“I did not coach well tonight. I put Tim in some tough situations. As an offense, we’re not well right now. Tim’s not trying to be a hero. But we might be asking him to do too much.”

The Gators’ are 76th in the nation in red zone efficiency, and Meyer took the blame for that fact as well:

“The problem is they’ve got a coach that wants to score so damn bad that he’s pressing them and some of those guys aren’t ready for that.”

Defensive end Pernell McPhee gave Tebow fits all night and talked about his team’s effort after the game:

“We knew they liked to get the ball to Tebow there. I felt like we frustrated them and made them do some new things they did not usually do tonight. They got in the I formation tonight and that is the first time I have ever seen them do that.”

Florida led by only 3 points heading into the final quarter but used a Chris Raney 8 yard rush and a Dustin Doe interception return for a touchdown to open up some breathing room. Jonathan Banks cut into the lead for Mississippi State late in the game with an interception return for touchdown of his own.

The Gators face a tough challenge next weekend as they enter into their matchup against University of Georgia-what used to be known as ‘The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party’ until officials of both schools thought that portrayed a negative (though largely accurate) image of the colleges. They’ll face Vanderbilt the next week before heading to Columbia, SC for a game against the University of South Carolina and their longtime coach Steve Spurrier. Mississippi State will play at Kentucky next weekend before a bye week. They’ll return to action on November–th at home against the University of Alabama.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and noted authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Technorati Tags: college football, entertainment, hobbies, Recreation, sports

Let’s say you weren’t interested in this show when it first aired… Well, now’s the time to give it a chance. Better late than never, right? Sopranos is definitely one of the top tv and movie downloads if you want to catch up on what’s been hot for the last ten or so years.

The show isn’t just about gangsters, it’s about human beings who happen to be gangsters. It’s about family, and it’s about the fact that life is very difficult, confusing and unpredictable. The title refers both to the Soprano crime family, and to Tony Soprano’s immediate family: His wife, his son, and his daughter.

Most crime stories are just crime stories. The Sopranos is a very human show about very real human beings. The crime family thing is a big part of it, but it’s really only the backdrop, it’s what these guys do for a living, it’s not all there is to the show. We can relate to everything the characters on this show go through. We haven’t all been shot by our best friends, but we’ve all been betrayed.

As each season comes, some characters become more unstable and have more and more responsibilities and fears with each new episode. The show is really about the uncertainty and fear in every day life.

The ending is really incredible. Some fans felt ripped off, but those people are missing the point. The Sopranos is not about easy answers, it’s about the difficulty of life, how confusing and unpredictable it is. The ending actually doesn’t carry any secret meaning at all. That cut to black doesn’t mean Tony was whacked, it doesn’t mean anything except that the show is over. Life keeps going, even with all the fears and worries we have to deal with, there’s no finish line, no easy, climactic ending for anyone.

The show made some important innovations in televised storytelling, sort of as a reaction to reality TV. With fictional television becoming so predictable, people turned to reality TV, and so, to compete, David Chase decided to mix the unpredictability and realism of reality TV with the strong character and story development of fiction, resulting in a show that revolutionized TV and paved the way for shows like LOST and House M. D.

Just remember, as you watch the series, that there are a lot of unanswered questions. Don’t rack your brain trying to figure everything out, just accept that, like life, the show is confusing and you never really have all the answers.

If there’s a moral to the story that The Sopranos tells, it’s this: Life is hard to figure out, but tomorrow’s another day. It’s really interesting that, while the specifics may be different, you will see your own life reflected in Tony’s more so than you will in most movies or shows where the lead characters have more conventional jobs. That’s really the mark of incredible storytelling. If you liked The Cosby Show, The Sopranos deals with, essentially, the same sort of emotional territory.

If you have no questions, ask them a few things you know already, just to test their response. Movie Music You may get so confused that you forget why you liked that song in the first place. In fact, the hotter it is at night, the bigger the flowers will be.

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Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhomme struggled on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was fortunate that his running backs bailed him out. Delhomme threw for only 65 yards with two interceptions, but D’Angelo Williams (152 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (110 yards) kept the chains moving as the Panthers won their second straight game defeating the Bucs 28-21. Tampa Bay has now lost ten straight dating back to last season and are 0-6 for the first time since’85. The fact that they ended up starting that year 0-9 on their way to a 1-15 record doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season.

NFL sports bettors were faced with a choice between two teams with dismal ATS records in this game, and those who had the guts to take a 1-3 team as a -3 road favorite were rewarded with the cover. It was Carolina’s first NFL pointspread cover of the season and left them with a 1-4 record against the number. Tampa Bay has covered one of their six games this year. The 49 points scored went OVER the total of 40′.

Delhomme attempted only seven passes in the second half, but the way Williams and Stewart were running there was no reason to put the ball in the air. Williams said that even though Tampa Bay knew what was coming they couldn’t stop the Panthers’ running game:

“I’m sure everybody in the stadium knew what we were going to do. There were times they had nine in the box and we were still getting 7 or 8 yards.”

There’s been little impatience locally with Bucs’ rookie head coach Raheem Morris, but his weekly habit of explaining the obvious to rationalize yet another loss is starting to wear thin:

“We got overpowered at the end, and really throughout the game.”

Carolina safety Dante Wesley was ejected after clobbering Bucs’ return man Clifton Smith after a fair catch call. After the game, Wesley gave this defense for his actions:

“I was just trying to make a play. You can check my record. I’ve never really tried to hurt anybody. I’ve never tried to take a cheap shot on anybody.”

Wesley could face a possible fine or suspension from the NFL but, in all fairness, it did appear to be a momentary mental lapse as he was trying to make a big play.

Tampa’s schedule has the look of them going from ‘the frying pan into the fire’ as they host the New England Patriots next Sunday-fresh off of their 57 point drubbing of Tennessee. Carolina has an easier draw, hosting the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. The game is currently off the board pending the status of Bills’ QB Trent Edwards who suffered a concussion in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. The Panthers will then play on the road the following two Sundays, traveling to Arizona and New Orleans.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Technorati Tags: entertainment, football, gambling, hobbies, NFL, Recreation, sports