Blaine Train Hits Lots of Topics Preparing for Vegas

By Blaine Fentress

You know what the best thing about taking a vacation is? Just being able to hit “reset” on everything. Being able to take a step back, close your eyes, and just relax. Taking all those worries that build up inside your head and just throwing them away for a little while. That is why I love vacations.
 
As you can see, I have already started mine. But, the Train never has a vacation. It makes every Train Stop possible ( or at least until my boss on here goes on his DMB tour, then you probably won’t see the Train Stop for a couple of weeks here or there).
 
Want to say “thanks” to iJill, Greg S, Chris H, Jeff, and Derek M for their comments on my Top Ten Sports Movies. Yes, I know that my list was probably different from yours. Rudy…I like the movie but, it didn’t tug on my heart strings as much as it did yours. Plus, you know when you read those stories about star players getting hurt at practice because of someone on the practice squad…that is what I think about Rudy. He is that guy who might have the biggest heart but doesn’t know when the play is done and is spraining someone’s knee.
 
Slapshot? Believe it or not, I haven’t seen the movie all the way through. I am sure it is funny.
 
Longest Yard? I have seen it and thought it was good, but not good enough to be in my top ten. But, the original is MUCH BETTER than the remake. Man, the remake was just pure garbage.
 
All right, as you have already read, I am in vacation mode. I could spend time fully explaining how I feel about one topic but, in this day and age, we have to keep on moving. So, instead of one issue, I will use a couple of sentences expressing my feelings on many issues. That’s right, the Blaine-Train has transformed himself into…

THE BLAINE EXPRESS: VOLUME 1

Tiger Woods: Don’t come back at the Masters. In fact, don’t come back this year. Give it a year, answer some questions from the press, and let things cool down even further. Coming back at the Masters will only cast a large, large, large, large shadow over the major itself.
 
Bubble Teams: If you didn’t make it in, move on. I know there will be a couple of coaches that will go to the press and say that their teams were screwed. Newsflash: they should have won some more games then.
 
96 Teams: The NCAA wants to do this. Don’t mess with a good thing. Think of the mediocre teams that will be littered throughout the first round.
 
Conan O’Brien: I love the tour that is coming up. I would love it even more if the seating in Chicago wasn’t General Admission. If I go to a performance, I would like to know I will have a seat and not worry about stampeding for the door when it opens. But, get a TV show deal soon so we all can see you again.
 
Twitter and Facebook: Hello, my name is Blaine and I am an addict. I check those two things so much throughout a day.
 
L.T. : Shocked that he signed with the Jets and not the Vikings. Even if Brett hasn’t decided what he will do yet, Minnesota is in much better shape to get into the Super Bowl than New York. Remember, all AFC roads lead through Indy.
 
NIT: It is the only tournament that I might care about on the Wednesday night before the NCAA tourney. Then, I forget it is even happening. It will die if the field goes to 96 teams.
 
Madness: My favorite British band from the ’80s. Our House, One Step Beyond, House of Fun…good tunes.
 
Beckham: Tough break for him as he was getting ready to play in his fourth World Cup but, I don’t think England will be losing much. They are still pretty talented.
 
Baseball: I am ready for the season to get underway. I will be crushing my opponents in the News 25 Twitter League. Lance, you hear me, you will be going down.
 
World Series: Early prediction, Phillies over Yankees in 6 games. Halladay will be your MVP.
 
Oscars: Happy Hurt Locker won Best Picture. Very happy that Avatar didn’t win.
 
Brady Quinn: Off to Denver with you. Guess it will be a QB competition between you and Kyle Orton.
 
Cleveland Browns: I would feel happy for you guys that you won’t have a QB rotation anymore between Quinn and Derek Anderson. But, doesn’t it feel like you guys are setting another one up between Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace? Maybe Delhomme can make a comeback but, get someone you wouldn’t have a question mark about going into the season.
 
Mississippi St. : I feel a little sorry for you guys. You had the Kentucky game won but, a bounce here and a Cousins tip-in there, and now you guys are NIT bound. But, maybe you should have beaten Western Kentucky earlier in the season…and Rider too.
 
Kentucky: How depressing will it be for Big Blue Nation if they don’t get past Texas. I think they will win that game but, that is still a tough match-up for a team that just nearly lost to Mississippi St.
 
Louisville: Much props should be given to Kyle Kuric. If he didn’t go off against Syracuse like he did and this team still lost to Cincy in the second round of the Big East, I think you might have been NIT bound.
 
Battlefield Bad Company 2 on PS3: Another addiction of mine the past couple of weeks. Being able to take apart your online opponent with a knife is just too much fun. Is that wrong?
 
Tequila: Been drinking Sauza Blanca for the past week. I think it is pretty good for something that was cheap.
 
NFL: I know you don’t want to think about this too much but…PLEASE DO NOT LOCKOUT OR STRIKE. Remember what the strike did to Baseball and how long it took to recover from it. Yeah, I think this would be much worse since you are clearly the number one professional sport in the U.S.
 
NBA: You DO need a work stoppage of some sort. The amount of millions that you pay players that do nothing but sit on the bench is unbelievable. Teams and players are all overvalued and season ticket holders are starting to get fed up with it.
 
Favorite DMB song: Stay (Wasting Time)
 
Favorite Ben Folds song: Army
 
Carl Edwards: The slap on the wrist he got last week for his actions on the track doesn’t seem right. If it was just a season or two beforehand, he would have been suspended. But, NASCAR’s new policy of having things settled on the track might lead to a really serious injury in the near future.
 
New Evansville Arena: Drove by it the other day, it looks like they are starting to work on the foundations. I think this will be something great for the city, as long as it continues to get used and is able to help transform the downtown area into something more vibrant.
 
Evansville: I am just speaking for myself here but, when Whirlpool leaves, I hope there is a way we can entice someone to come in and take their space on 41. Those workers that know nothing more but what they do on that assembly line would appreciate it if they can find a job that pays just as well and not go through the education to learn something else. Yes, I believe education is the way to go. But, try telling a 50 or 60 year old who has done the same job for many years. They are scared and they don’t know if they can learn anything new at that age. It just made my heart sad to see some of their faces this past weekend at Ivy Tech, trying to figure out what they can do to continue to make ends meet.
 
Ky Derby: There will be a column or two down the road about this but, my early favorite right now is Looking At Lucky. Trainer is Bob Baffert and one of the owners is Mike Pegram…a great connection. I will also tell you the story of the time that I might have made Mr. Pegram unhappy at the Derby and how I ended up talking to Bo Derek without not even knowing.
 
Hockey: Hey NHL…get on a better national cable channel or make the NHL Network more available in the near future. It has only been a couple of weeks and I have started to forget about you guys.
 
Las Vegas: I AM ON MY WAY!!!! This week will be my first time there.
 
And with that, the Blaine Express winds down and the Train Stop heads out west to …. VIVA LAS VEGAS. Next week, I will give you all the fun details of the trip and maybe some photos to go along with it. Until then, the Train rolls on…