Stop-N-Go
Posted February 14, 2010, 9:03 PM ET

Welcome to the Pothole 500.

The Daytona 500 was one for the ages, as Jamie McMurray somehow found a way to survive a wild and wacky finish.

With 22 lead changes and a pair of lengthy delays due to a track malfunction, the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR season opened up in dramatic fashion.

Granted, the pothole issue is an embarrassment for the legendary track and the sport, but it added to the drama, along with an amazing series of moves by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the final two laps as he tried to chase down the eventual winner in McMurray.

Somehow, you knew this race was going to produce some crazy ending, and it didn't disappoint.

McMurray, as expected, was emotional in Victory Lane as he won the most important race of his career. But there are so many storylines from this race that it's hard to list them all.

Even Dale, Jr. and his legion of fans have to be excited with his thrilling moves and second-place finish. Maybe it is a precursor of what is a must-produce season which lies ahead. The sport desperately needs him, and he was solid down the stretch.

What was also a much-needed sign was the absence of Danica Patrick.

Her appearance and over-exposure was embarrassing...along with her nondescript 35th-place finish in the Nationwide race. That's all she deserves in this blog...so let's all move along to more important things.

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I kept flipping back and forth from the Daytona delays to both the Olympic coverage and the golf from Pebble Beach.

I was more interested in watching the amazing scenic shots from the Monterey Peninsula than the actual playing of the golf tournament. But Dustin Johnson won for the second year in a row, on the famed seaside links.

Johnson is from Columbia and attended Coastal Carolina.....he's also the only player to leave college and win on Tour in his first three years since some guy by the name of Tiger Woods.

Whatever happened to that "Tiger" guy, anyhow?

It was also strange to watch the action from gorgeous Vancouver/Whistler, without much snow. I had the chance to visit both locales last summer while on vacation, and the place is amazing.

Between the pounding surf at Pebble Beach and the picturesque Vancouver BC...it's hard to imagine there are two more beautiful places on the planet.

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So, Nate Robinson won another slam dunk contest.......big deal.

It's time for the dunk contest to go by the wayside, like the Skins Game in golf.

It's tired and has run its course.

I watched some of the NBA All-Star game, but after the thirty consecutive uncontested dunks/lay-ups, I lost interest.

The most important news story of the NBA All-Star weekend was the press conference conducted by NBA Commish, David Stern.

The commish mentioned that the league was in the process of losing roughly 400 million bucks this season.

The good news is that it appears that some of those financial losses won't be attributed to the Bobcats Bob Johnson in the near future. Stern mentioned that he expects the team to be sold in the next 60 days.

We can only be so lucky.

Whether or not Michael Jordan and his financial group will be involved is still not known. Personally, I hope Jordan is out of the mix. He has become a joke in the marketplace....which is too bad, since the team is playing its best basketball since becoming a franchise.

Here's hoping for a new ownership group and the Bobcats making the playoffs.

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Congrats, to N.C. State.

You are officially "DFL" in the ACC, after being swept by the struggling UNC Tar Heels.

In what has been a very strange ACC hoops season, one thing has remained the same and that's NC State's position in the standings, and UNC's position in the "Infamous ACC Index Card".

In what is always a fun and lively debate on my radio show.....there is always a claim that certain schools get all the calls....it just depends on who you ask.

Well, as of this posting, the UNC Tar Heels have shot more free throws on average than their ACC opponents. That's hard to comprehend on many fronts, since the 3-7 Heels are always behind and usually by double digits. It is impossible to explain how UNC has shot 42 more free throws than their opponents in ACC games. That margin is #1 in the ACC.

You can check out the numbers for yourself by clicking on the Infamous ACC Index Card.