Close but no cigar

How close must one come to their dreams time and time again before fate finally turns in their direction? This is a good question, and one that was asked once again after Mark Martin came within a bumper of finally winning the Daytona 500 on Sunday. For those of you that don't know, Martin is the perennial bridesmaid. He has been at this whole NASCAR thing for a quarter of a century now, and although he has compiled a resume that would make many jealous, and has made him one of the best ever, he has never secured either of the two big Kahunas of the sport(The championship and the Daytona 500.) And boy has he been close. He has finished the season second in points a record 5 times, (including the closest point race ever in 1990 where a controversial penalty lost him the title by a razor thin 28 points) he also holds the record for most 2nd place race finishes, add the .02 of a second loss at Daytona on Sunday and it breaks your heart. He has been at this for so long and been so close so many times, that you wonder if it will ever happen for him. And it probably wont. You see Mark is only racing a partial schedule and can't win the championship, and Sunday may have been his best and last chance to win the big one. This is just another example of one of the good guys never getting the glory. If you watched a race and saw Mark's post race interview you saw one of he classiest men around, and you also saw a man that was torn up inside by the fact that he couldn't get it done on the track. I sure hope that Mark gets his day in the sun before it sets on him. But if you think about it, he has a healthy family (including a son that will be racing NASCAR soon) and he has a ton of respect from almost anyone that has ever had contact with him. So even though he lost on the track, he is a winner off of it.

Finally today I have to mention this whole Brittney Spears thing. Usually I'm not much for celebrity news, I don't really consider it news at all, but this Brittney thing is just too funny. She apparently had a nervous breakdown and went into a salon and shaved her own head. The really sad thing is that with everything going on in this world (Iraq, Iran, Health care etc...) This is the big story of the week. Oh and by the way you can find locks of Brittney's hair on ebay, I had to look for myself and sure enough it is there and for the low low price of $15o, what a steal. Wow what a world that we live in.