The Yearly Right Wing Football Preview

Every year, I offer up some preseason thoughts on college and professional football. No, I’m not talking about that game they play everywhere else in the world where somehow you are off-sides if you beat the last defender. I’m talking about the American version, where if you beat the last defender you are considered an exceptionally skilled player.

American football is a billion-dollar industry, and I’m not just talking about how much some colleges pay their recruits. Las Vegas churns through a substantial amount of cash every year on prop bets. You can bet on what the coin toss will be at a particular game, or the over/under on holding penalties in a specific week, if you are so inclined.

Here on the Right Wing, football offers a boost in readership. At any given time during the season, literally tens of people will be reading my football opinions.

This year, I’m doing things a bit differently. In years past I’ve offered up the biggest games of the season for each college conference. This year, you’re getting a preview of each conference, but I’m going on and making some absurdly early predictions about who is going bowl-ing where.

But we start in the NFL.

American Football Conference

AFC East Preview: This division won’t even be close, according to my calculations. The Patriots will have the division crown sewn up by week 12. The Jets will be eliminated by week 7. Miami and Buffalo may provide a test or two along the way, but the only thing that can derail New England in the AFC East is their own divided attention thanks to Aaron Hernandez. Champion: New England Patriots

AFC North Preview: I’m apparently one of the few people expecting more from the Steelers. I look for Pittsburgh and Baltimore to trade blows until the final game of the year. Baltimore wins the division, but Pittsburgh will grab a wild card spot. Don’t hold your breath on Cincinnati or Cleveland doing anything spectacular. Champion: Baltimore Ravens

AFC South Preview: Like the AFC North, the South will be a battle of two teams and two also-rans. Houston and Indianapolis will separate themselves from the pack rather quickly. Houston takes the division, but Indy grabs the other wild card spot. Watch week two. Jacksonville plays at Oakland. The loser of that game (I’m predicting Jacksonville) will get the first pick in next year’s NFL Draft. Champion: Houston Texans

AFC West Preview: The AFC West is only about one thing: Peyton Manning. The Manning-led Broncos should pretty much run roughshod over this division. San Diego may offer a contest early, but look for Denver to pull away from the pack by season’s end. Champion: Denver Broncos

AFC Wild Cards: Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts

National Football Conference

NFC East Preview: The NFC East is the hardest division to predict. While doing the math and looking at the schedules, I figured that the top three teams in this division would have identical 9-7 records, and the other team would be 7-9. Out of that unholy scrum stumbles the Washington Redskins as NFC East champion under surgically-repaired QB Robert Griffin III. Champion: Washington Redskins

NFC North Preview: Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford are two primary reasons why the quarterback markets has gone absolutely nuts. In a division known for defense, it helps to have a stud franchise quarterback to guide your team to victory. Who is the best QB in the North? Aaron Rodgers. Who do I have tabbed to win the North? You guessed it... Champion: Green Bay Packers

NFC South Preview: Last year, the Falcons had this division locked up by the start of November. Don’t look for it to be so easy this year. The Saints will be back, if only because head coach Sean Payton is back, and that’ll get them to the postseason. Carolina will get better. Tampa Bay purchased a nice piece of real estate called Revis Island. The division has grown tougher around Matty Ice and the defending champions. It won’t be enough to dethrone them, but it will make life a bit harder.Champion: Atlanta Falcons

NFC West Preview: Last season, the San Francisco 49ers came on like gangbusters after naming Colin Kaepernick as their starting QB. This season, the arms race that was developing in the NFC West has turned into a triage unit. Every time you turn on Sportscenter, it seems like someone else from the West is hurt. I like San Francisco to grab a wild card spot this year, but Seattle will take a step forward, even if Russell Wilson regresses a bit. Champion: Seattle Seahawks

NFC Wild Cards: San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl Prediction

AFC Conference Championship Game: Denver Broncos vs New England Patriots

NFC Conference Championship Game: Atlanta Falcons vs Green Bay Packers

The conference championship games, which are typically better than the Super Bowl, feature four of the best quarterbacks playing the game right now. In the AFC, the Tom Brady / Peyton Manning rivalry is revisited, as Denver will visit New England to decide the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. The history between these two is intense.

Over in the NFC, Matt Ryan makes the case for his own status as an elite quarterback as he guides the Falcons into Lambeau Field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Green Bay dismantled Atlanta in the playoffs a few years ago. It was a lesson learned for Matt Ryan, who has since been one of the best regular season QBs in the game, and is now working on post-season success as well.

So who wins these games and who battles it out in February for the Lombardi Trophy?

Super Bowl XLVIII from MetLife Stadium:
Denver Broncos vs Atlanta Falcons

College Football

American Athletic Conference:

Preview: Once the Big East, the now-named American Athletic Conference begins its inaugural foray into college football. The Catholic 7 in basketball fled the conference, taking the Big East name with them. The remaining football schools elected to stay together and create a new conference. The PR departments at AAC schools will have a field day this year. Almost everything will be a “first.” Someone will score the “first” touchdown in AAC history. Someone will kick the “first” field goal.” At season’s end, though, Louisville will be the “first” American Athletic Conference champion.

Champion: Louisville

Atlantic Coast Conference:

Preview: The ACC has been a sort-of also-ran the last few seasons. Clemson comes into this season with very high expectations. The Tigers should cruise to the ACC Title game, but their opponent remains a mystery. Georgia Tech is always lurking in the shadows, waiting to upset someone’s apple cart. Miami could easily be a dangerous team if they could just keep themselves out of NCAA trouble. Still, look for the Hurricanes to make a push and take on Clemson for the conference title. The bigger story in this conference will be watching Duke to see if the Blue Devils can become bowl-eligible for back-to-back years.

Championship Game (winner in BOLD): CLEMSON vs Miami

Big 12

Preview: I still believe that eventually the Big 12 (with its ten teams…I prefer the nickname “Texas Ten”) will expand back to 12 teams, likely incorporating Louisville and Cincinnati, or Houston or Arkansas State. The league will grow to miss its yearly championship game, and West Virginia would possibly lobby for some shorter stepping stones between it and the heart of Texas Ten country. Look for Oklahoma to rise to the top of the conference this year, but don’t be surprised if TCU or Oklahoma State makes a run. Kansas State is coming back to Earth and Baylor will return to the Big 12 cellar.

Champion: Oklahoma

Big Ten

Preview: Last season, THE Ohio State University Buckeyes were undefeated. They did not play for a national championship. They did not play for the Big Ten championship. They did not even go to a bowl game. That’s what NCAA and self-imposed sanctions will do to you. But this year, Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes are cleared for takeoff. The team is a nearly unanimous pick to reach the BCS Championship Game. Then again, Ohio State has a history for reaching that game, facing an SEC team, and falling apart. Michigan will have a better overall record than Nebraska, but I look for Nebraska to win a tiebreaker to face Ohio State in Indianapolis in early December.

Championship Game (winner in BOLD): Ohio State vs Nebraska

PAC-12

Preview: The PAC-12, upon expanding to 12 teams and instituting a league championship game, set up a potential scenario in which two teams would play each other in the final week of the regular season, only to play each other again the next week. Last year, it happened. UCLA and Stanford matched up in the last week, and then played each other again, a week later, in the title game for the league. Another oddity of the PAC-12 is that there is no established site for the title game (even though LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, and Las Vegas are within their geographic footprint), but instead allow the team with the highest BCS ranking to “host” the championship game. Oregon figures to be one of the better teams in the league this season, but don’t discount the Bruins of UCLA from sneaking in and making some noise.

Championship Game (winner in BOLD): UCLA vs Oregon

Southeastern Conference

Preview: The conference where championships just keep coming. The SEC looks to continue its BCS-era dominance of college football. Last season, Georgia and Alabama matched up in one of the greatest conference championship games of all time. Georgia came up just a few yards short of being the team that got to whip Notre Dame in the National Championship Game. This season, look for a repeat of last season. Alabama figures to be the best team in all the land again and Georgia leads a three-team race atop the East. While this is the SEC, and anything can happen on any given Saturday, I figure Georgia and ‘Bama meet up once again in Atlanta. While the results will be the same as last year, at least Georgia will land a BCS bowl this time out.

Championship Game (winner in BOLD): Georgia vs Alabama

The Other Conferences:

Conference USA: Louisiana Tech vs East Carolina
LaTech enters a new conference and sets about winning immediately.

MAC: Northern Illinois vs Ohio
The Huskies once again win the MAC, but I can’t see them returning to a BCS game.

Mountain West: Boise State vs San Diego State
Boise State should win the Mountain West, but it won’t get them a BCS bowl berth.

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky
Don’t be surprised if Bobby Petrino doesn’t work his magical winning ways. Also, don’t be surprised if he gets into an affair with a female student and wrecks his motorcycles.

(Absurdly Early) Bowl Game Predictions:

BCS National Championship Game: Alabama vs Ohio State

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Michigan

Fiesta Bowl: Stanford vs Texas

Orange Bowl: Louisville vs Clemson

Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs Oklahoma

Capital One Bowl: Florida vs Nebraska

Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M vs Texas Christian (TCU)

Outback Bowl: LSU vs Wisconsin

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Miami vs South Carolina

ESPN, Yasiel Puig, and the All Star Game

Once again, ESPN is trying to ruin a professional sport. Like a drug addict, the biggest problem is that they don’t even realize that their actions are hurting not only them, but everyone around them as well. They did it with Bryce Harper. They did it with Mark Sanchez. They did it with Jeremy Lin. What am I talking about? Two words: Yasiel Puig.

To the uninitiated, those two words may sound like gibberish. Yasiel Puig is the baseball-playing phenom currently putting on a show for the Los Angeles Dodgers. As of this writing, he’s played in the majors for all of six weeks. So how is ESPN ruining this for everyone? Well, the folks at the acronym sports station have decided to throw the might of the sports empire behind putting Puig on the National League All Star Team.

Okay, let’s get some history out of the way before we go any further. Let’s go back eleven years…in 2002, the All Star Game was held in Milwaukee. As is baseball’s new tradition, the game was awarded to cities with new ball parks, and Milwaukee had just opened Miller Park in 2001. So the NL and AL All Stars met in Milwaukee to play an exhibition game featuring the most popular players in the league. At the start of the 11th inning, both teams were running out of pitchers, and the score was tied 7-7. The managers met with Bud Selig at the pitcher’s mound and decided that, if the NL did not score in the bottom of the inning, the game would be declared a tie.

The National League did not score. The game was declared a tie. Trash littered the field at Miller Park. Fans cried out for refunds and expressed their desire for Bud Selig to no longer be the commissioner of baseball. Afterwards, in what I recently called the sports version of the mother of all knee-jerk reactions, Major League Baseball decided that the All Star Game should mean something. To that end, they reached an agreement with the Players Union that the winning league of the All Star Game would gain home field advantage in that year’s World Series. This would be like saying the team with the best Spring Training record would be spotted a five-game lead in their division, because they played so well when it didn’t count. Back to the present…

The Dodgers brought up Yasiel Puig on June 2. He made his debut on June 3. I’ll not take anything away from Puig. He’s been the very definition of en fuego, to borrow an old ESPN cliché. But his call up was too late for his name to appear on an All Star ballot. He still received over 800,000 write-in votes. His name was added to the list of players for the All Star Final Vote, a player that is voted on to fill the final roster spot.

ESPN has seemingly picked up the Yasiel Puig banner, to the potential detriment of Ian Desmond, Freddie Freeman, Adrian Gonzalez, and Hunter Pence. Freddie Freeman, the first baseman for the Atlanta Braves, currently leads the Final Vote tally, but that is in spite of ESPN’s desire. Radio hosts are constantly pushing Puig. Jonathon Coachman, of Coach & Company, has completely denigrated Atlanta sports fans and lambasted the fact that Freeman holds the lead. If it were up to ESPN, no other player would even be considered.

Some people point to last season, when Bryce Harper won the All Star Final Vote. Harper, though, had played since April 27, nearly six weeks earlier than Puig's call up date. Harper, though, is another ESPN prodigy.

A similar thing happened in 2012 in the NBA. Jeremy Lin, point guard then of the New York Knicks, went on a tear. Prior to that time, he was little known in the American sports environment, but his actions during that stretch of February 2012 brought him to near-global fame, sparking the Linsanity movement…all because of ESPN. There was talk of Lin, who had played less than 50 career games at the time, being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Where? You guessed it…ESPN.

In 2009, the NFL Draft rolled around and ESPN decided that Mark Sanchez was the heir-apparent to the throne of the NFL. Through their reporting, they bolstered Sanchez from a mid-1st Round pick to a top five pick. They praised the New York Jets for trading away three players, a 2nd Round pick and a 1st Round pick for Sanchez. The result: Sanchez may lose his starting job this season to a rookie. He had only started 16 games in the PAC-10, but that was enough for ESPN to label him the next big thing.

ESPN has a track record of choosing players to be their favorites. They settle on a player and then use the might of the ESPN Empire to create a scenario in which that player is protected from any criticism while simultaneously propping him up. They do it during the Draft. They do it during the season. Now, they're doing it for a game that shouldn't even matter.

I'll admit, my biggest gripe with this whole situation is the fact that a guy who has played six weeks for a last place team may end up deciding which league get home field advantage in the Fall classic.

Formula 1 Predictions Revisited

On March 20 of this year, I wrote a blog post making some prediction on this Formula 1 season. Let's Revisit those predictions and see where I stand now...

March 20:

Driver’s Championship: Fernando Alonso
As much as I don’t want Alonso or Vettel to walk away with the title, I think it will be between them, as the Ferrari looks strong, and Alonso particularly so.

Manufacturer’s Championship: Scuderia Ferrari
The red cars were impressive in Melbourne. It appears as though Felipe Massa is finally back on form after suffering some setbacks, particularly after that scary incident at the Hungaroring a few years back. He drove well in Australia and frankly I’d like to see him out-duel Alonso this season.

Rookie of the Year: Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
Gutierrez has the best chance at this mark, simply because he has the best car of the rookies. In terms of pure skill, there might be better drivers, but Gutierrez gets the best kit.

Will the Mercedes W04 find the top of the podium?
Yes, I think it will. Lewis Hamilton is too good to go an entire season without a win. He’s brilliant at several tracks, including Spa, and he took the inaugural win at Austin, TX last season. I look for the W04 to find victory lane, thought not until after the summer break.

Will any teams drop out during the season?
No. It looks like everyone is settled in for 2013…but the fun starts in 2014.

Fifth Beatle has mentioned that he wants more races in more places. Where do you (I) think F1 will race in the future?
There are plans for a street circuit in Sochi, Russia, to follow the Winter Olympics. There is also talk of a race in Cape Town, South Africa, though I’m not sure how much push is behind that. The Port Imperial Street Circuit in New Jersey remains a possibility. But note that all of those are street circuits. I would prefer F1 stay on road courses. I wouldn’t mind a return to Watkins Glen. There are several circuits in Europe that have fallen off the calendar, including my favorite Tilkedrome, Istanbul Park.

How many races before the end of the season will the Driver’s Title be decided?
Given the similarities in strength between the Red Bull and the Ferrari, I think this season goes down to the wire. I can actually see the possibility of upwards of five or six drivers in the mix for the title entering Sao Paolo. Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen, and Hamilton could all be in the mix. I would love to see Webber in the mix as well, but he suffers too many bad starts.

Short Answer Predictions:

Will Mark Webber win a grand prix this year? No.

Will anyone other than Red Bull start on the front row? Yes.

Will Lotus win more than one grand prix this year? Yes.

How many different winners will we see this year? Seven (Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Massa, Sutil)

You really think Adrian Sutil will win a grand prix? Yes, either India or Monza.

________________

The new predictions...

July 6, 2013:

Driver’s Championship: Kimi Raikkonen
Vettel has been shown to not be bulletproof. The Mercedes factory team is coming on, and the Lotus team is not going away. Alonso will be there, but I think Raikkonen is going to get better through the middle of this season.

Manufacturer’s Championship: Red Bull Renault
Okay, so Felipe Massa isn't back. In fact, he's the reason Ferrari is hurting. Alonso has held up his end of the bargain. Red Bull, on the other hand, is doing quite well. I don't see Romain Grosjean doing well enough to get Lotus the Constructor's Title.

Rookie of the Year: Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
Bottas had raced quite well, all things considered.

Will the Mercedes W04 find the top of the podium?
Yes, it already has. Merc found some pace (perhaps in that nigh-upon-illegal tyre test). Nico Rosberg has a couple of wins, and Lewis is primed for a win quite soon.

How many races before the end of the season will the Driver’s Title be decided?

I still think this one goes down to the end, thought it might not be as close as you'd think...it might be closer.

Short Answer Predictions:

Will Mark Webber win a grand prix this year? Still No.

Will anyone other than Red Bull start on the front row? Yes, they already have.

Will Lotus win more than one grand prix this year? Yes, I still think they will.

How many different winners will we see this year? Six (Raikkonen, Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton, Sutil)

You really think Adrian Sutil will win a grand prix? Yes, either India or Monza. I still think this will happen.

What this? A Basketball post? Really?!?

I'm not a basketball fan. I'm a Football fan, a Formula 1 fan, and a hockey fan...

I can't explain the rules of basketball. When I watch the game, I might see something that I think is a foul and nothing happens. Then a foul is called and there was nothing at all that looked bad.

That said, I feel pretty confident in making the following statement concerning basketball:

Professional Basketball has no business being a team sport. It is an ego-driven, "superstar"-driven league that cares more about the name on the back of the jersey than the name on the front. It cares more about its big-market teams than it does about its small-market teams.

Want proof of all this? I present to you Dwight Howard, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers, now of the Houston Rockets...we think. Dwight, or "D12, as he is somewhat affectionately referred to in some circles, was a free agent. He narrowed down his selection to Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and LA. Houston won out by having the best young core and having no state income tax in Texas. Even though LA could offer Howard $30 million more over the life of the contract than Houston could, Howard would net $3 million more over the life of the deal because of taxes.

Atlanta is Dwight Howard's hometown...and yet it was basically understood as fact about halfway through the D12 Sweepstakes that Atlanta stood no chance of landing Howard. Atlanta also lost out on Chris Paul. See, the Hawks had dreams of becoming an elite team by landing those two. But Atlanta has to own up to something: No one wants to play in Atlanta.

For years now, Atlanta has been mired in the drudgery of a really horrible ownership group. They've seemingly decided that reaching the second round of the playoffs was enough. Because of that complacency, that apparent apathy toward drawing in new fans by putting a winning team on the court, the Atlanta fanbase has grown tired. The fall began when the Thrashers were still here.

The Atlanta Spirit Group never really cared about that hockey team. They would not spend to bring in high-profile players. Every time a player began to get really good, the team would panic at the thought of having to actually pay someone, and then trade that player for as many low-level prospects as possible. There were time when it seemed like positives strides were being made. Bob Hartley was hired as head coach. The Dany Heatley fiasco was turned into something positive by trading for Marian Hossa. But then the ownership would just give up. They traded Hossa. Traded Kovachuk. And finally sold the team for only a few million dollars more than the value of the contract they gave to Joe Johnson, a single basketball player. Then, when the team moved, the owners actually had the cojones to blame the fans for not supporting the team, even though they did all they could to destroy the team.

And now...Joe Johnson is gone, though that was a good thing. The Hawks brought in Danny Ferry to be the General Manager; a move that was praised in sports-media nationwide. Then they hired Mike Budenholzer to be the head coach. Budenholzer was the heir-apparent to Greg Popovich in San Antonio, so he has a great basketball pedigree. So what is his reward for finally getting a head coaching job? No Dwight Howard, no Chris Paul, and now Josh Smith, a staple of the Hawks franchise for the last few years, has left for Detroit, signing a 4-year deal worth $56 million.

If Atlanta actually wants to win, they're going to have to build through the draft and trades. No free agent is going to come here. The ownership group has burned every bridge to their fanbase. Atlanta has a history of being a bad sports town. To be fair, we are in the heart of college football country. But that doesn't mean the NBA can't make progress here. But it's going to be slow. This Hawks team won't win overnight. In fact, look for them to take a step or two back as a result of this off-season.

Meanwhile, the NBA is loving the fact that their big-market teams continue to get stronger. Miami, New York, Chicago, and now, Houston, are distancing themselves from the pack. You have some smaller markets doing okay (Oklahoma City, Indiana), but by and large the big-markets are the winners. Even when a move is made that will benefit a big market and a small market, the NBA steps in to ensure that the small market team doesn't win. Example? The NBA shut down a trade that would've sent Chris Paul from New Orleans to the Lakers. New Orleans ended up sending Paul to the Clippers, getting lesser return than they would've received from the Lakers.

The superstars of the league care more about banding together for championships than winning on their own. LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh came together in such a way, limiting Miami's options for other players, but getting them titles. Boston started the craze, bringing together Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. The Lakers last year had Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Steve Nash. They nearly had Chris Paul.

All because the NBA prefers the name on the back of the jersey to the name on the front. They saw an opportunity to empower both Los Angeles teams, while limiting the return to a small market franchise. At the rate these "super-teams" are forming, we could theoretically cut the NBA down to six or eight franchises and the league would not lose any coverage.

Then again, I don't know much about the NBA. After all, I'm not a basketball fan...

Formula 1: Eight races In and the Tyres Are Going Crazy

For the first time in a long time, I’m back with a Formula 1 post…

This previous weekend saw the British Grand prix play out from scenic Silverstone. I’ve always liked the Silverstone circuit, and the changes made to it a few years back have not changed my opinion. But this weekend saw some very controversial moments, and it leaves us wondering if we should blame the drivers, the track, or the tyre manufacturer.

See, four different drivers had tyres blow out this weekend. For two drivers in particular, Lewis Hamilton and Jean-Eric Vergne, these blowouts were quite spectacular. Lewis’s left rear tyre just seemed to explode. Of course, this happened while he was leading the race and of course this happened just after he had passed pit-in. He made a painful lap of the circuit, losing position after position, before being able to pit and return to actual racing.

Vergne’s incident was similar. Sergio Perez lost a tyre during Practice, and then again during the race. More on the tyre situation in a bit.

The race itself was great. Lots of action all over the circuit. Lewis had the pole and Nico Rosberg had locked out the front row during qualifying. Unfortunately, Nico was unable to hold P2, and Sebastian Vettel stormed by. Mark Webber, in the other Red Bull Renault, has a typical Webber start and bunched up the rest of the field, allowing the top three to open a bit of a gap.

Lewis was actually using Vettel’s standard practice against him, opening up a 1+ second gap before the DRS was enabled. Then disaster struck in the form of the aforementioned tyre explosion. Lewis could do nothing but watch as the field drove by his now injured Silver Arrow.

Vettel gained the lead and looked unlikely to relinquish it. Rosberg tried, but could not catch him up. But the day was far from spent. One of the most uncommon scenes in F1 played out for the world to see. The normally bulletproof Red Bull Renault of Sebastian Vettel suddenly slowed. On-board telemetry showed he had full power to the accelerator, but the car refused to cooperate. Over team radio, Vettel could be heard lamenting the fact that he’d lost the gearbox.

Rosberg returned to the lead and never lost it. Back in the field, his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was putting on a driving clinic. In a car that is normally very hard on tyres, Lewis was passing with ease, and by the time his teammate claimed his second win in the last three races, Lewis was back up to a very respectable fourth place. If he’d been given a few more laps, Lewis likely would’ve attained a podium spot.

After the race (and here’s where we get back to the tyre situation), Lewis was very critical of the Pirelli-supplied rubber. McLaren-Mercedes team boss Martin Whitmarsh stated that we may see a boycott of the German Grand Prix unless the tyre situation is resolved. FIA race director Charlie Whiting has admitted that he considered stopping the grand prix. However, a technical expert for the BBC was granted access to the track and immediately went to examine the kerbing at Turn 4. He found a jagged edge to the inside kerbing. If drivers were taking an aggressive line through the turn, they could cause their own demise.

So is it Pirelli’s fault? A case could be made. The tyres have been nothing short of controversial this season. It was known going in to the season that the Pirelli rubber was meant to degrade faster, resulting in more strategic planning on the teams’ behalf. But a situation like Silverstone had yet to play out, with so many tyres exploding in such exciting fashion.

So is it the drivers’ fault? Again, a case could be made. Some drivers are naturally more aggressive than others. Lewis Hamilton is a prime example, though he has somewhat mellowed with age. I’ve been a fan of Lewis since the first time I saw F1 back in 2008. He had a take-no-prisoners style that drew me to McLaren. But his driving style often left him in a place where it was all or nothing. He was either winning or not even finishing. Other drivers exhibit the same aggressiveness that made me like Lewis. Sergio Perez is one of those drivers. Perez had two tyre explosions. Jean-Eric Vergne is sort of the exception to this rule, as he’s not exactly the most ruthless driver out there.

So is it Silverstone’s fault? Once more, you could make that case. During the grand prix, drivers were warned away from the kerbing. The BBC technical expert mentioned earlier went to The Loop and Aintree Corners and found a jagged edge to the kerbing that could’ve very easily contributed to tyre punctures. The British Racing Drivers’ Club, though, has dismissed this report, saying that the kerbs have been in place since 2009 and never had a problem before. If that is indeed the case, then why warn the drivers away from that particular section of kerbing?

Random Thoughts from the Weekend:

1. McLaren-Mercedes has fallen on very hard time. After having a 64-race points streak snapped last race at Montreal, the team failed to score points once again, as Sergio Perez suffered tyre problems (who didn’t?) and Jenson Button just doesn’t seem to have a strong enough car to score even low points.

2. Next race the boys with the fast cars roll into the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix. I’m not particularly fond of either German racing circuit, but I suppose I like the Nurburgring better than the Hockenheimring. At least Hermann Tilke hasn’t yet completely destroyed the Nurburgring.

3. The BRDC, in their condemnation of the report of bad kerbing at Silverstone, attempted to focus the blame on Pirelli, but also on the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone. So yeah, more bad publicity for Fifth Beatle.

Driver Standings (a new look at points)

Here in the states, we have a popular form of motorsport called NASCAR. In the last few years, NASCAR revised their points structure to make it simpler. The current NASCAR points system awards 43 point to the winner, and one less point per position down to last place. The winner also gets 3 bonus points and everyone who leads a lap gets an additional bonus point. The last bonus point goes to the driver who leads the most laps. Thus, a race winner who leads the most laps receives 48 points for that race, while second place gets 42. This system replaced what was called the Latford System, which awarded 185 points to the winner, 170 to second, and then decreased, by five points per position through sixth place. Then it just got confusing. So the new NASCAR system simplifies things, but it doesn’t seem to put enough emphasis on winning.

Take, for example, the current F1 points system. The race winner gets 25 points, second place gets 18, third gets 15. Only the top ten get points, and the structure looks like this: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1. In Formula 1, second place gets about 72% of first place’s points. In NASCAR, second place gets nearly 86% of first place’s points. I would like to see NASCAR take on the F1 system. But since that’s not happening, I wondered what would happen if F1 took on a system similar to NASCAR’s.

So I started charting it out. I decided to adopt a similar system in which first place gets 22 point, second gets 21, third gets 20 and so on, but the winner also gets the 3-point bonus, so winning is actually worth 25 points. No bonuses for leading a lap or leading the most laps. In this system, second place receives a point total equal to about 84% of first place’s total.

Here’s the current Top Ten in the Formula 1 Driver’s Championship Standings:

Sebastian Vettel                132
Fernando Alonso               111
Kimi Raikkonen                 98
Lewis Hamilton                  89
Mark Webber                    87
Nico Rosberg                    82
Felipe Massa                    57
Paul di Resta                    36
Romain Grosjean               26
Jenson Button                   25

Under my revised points system, here’s the Top Ten Driver’s Championship Standings:

Sebastian Vettel                156
Kimi Raikkonen                 149
Lewis Hamilton                  145
Fernando Alonso               144
Mark Webber                    135
Nico Rosberg                    125
Felipe Massa                    116
Paul di Resta                    111
Jenson Button                   104
Sergio Perez                     91

You can see that the points are much closer in the revised system. While only one driver is within a single-race striking distance of Vettel in the real points, as many as four other drivers have opportunity to catch him in a single race in the revised points.

The Constructor’s Championship is different, as well. Here’s the Top Five in the current ‘actual’ Constructor’s Championship Standings:

Red Bull              219
Mercedes            171
Ferrari                 168
Lotus                  124
Force India          59

In the revised standings, the Constructor’s Championship looks like this:

Red Bull            291
Mercedes          270
Ferrari               260
Lotus                234
Force India        199

The order is the same, but the point spread is a lot closer.

I’ll be updating this little experiment as the season wears on. Enjoy.