NASCAR's so called "Car of Tomorrow" officially became the "Car of Today" at the beginning of the 2008 season, but for the first time, the new car will be raced at a 1 1/2 mile oval Sunday in Las Vegas. The Car received mix reviews during it's trial run in 2007 (run in about half the races) but those races were all at tracks less than 1 1/2 mile. NASCAR has seven tracks that are listed at 1 1/2 mile, and with around 40 percent of the races coming on these "cookie-cutter" tracks, NASCAR needs these cars to perform well at the intermediates.

A huge test was passed last weekend, as the race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California produced some of the best racing at a two-mile oval in some time. Carl Edwards edged Jimmie Johnson and won a rain-delayed but competitive race. A good show at Vegas will quiet alot of doubters, a bad contest will fuel those same critics.

In a sport that promotes parity, Hendrick Motorsports won exactly half (18 out of 36) of the races in 2007. A ton of those victories came in the COT, and it was refreshing to see a team that struggled a large part of 2007 with the new car, Roush Racing, win in the second race of 2008.

The success of the new car depends on three things

1. TV ratings-stunk last year, and need improvement.

2. Parity- If Hendrick or any other team dominates again, it will likely start effect variable #1

3. Quality of Racing- The most important variable.... a boring race effects TV ratings, which effects sponsors, which effects the sport....

 Time will tell on the "New NASCAR" but one thing is sure... if you lose your base fan, you lose your heart... if the base doesn't like the new car, it's unlikely any new fans will be able to replace the old fans passion and love for the sport.

If you managed to sit down and watch three games this weekend you witnessed Stupid basketball 101.

NC State apparently didn't read the scouting report on how to beat Duke.  Guard the 3-pointer and send them to the foul line.  The Wolfpack chose to do neither and blew an 11 point lead late in the game as Duke beat them by one.  Everyone knows that Duke can't beat you if you guard the three and NC State left the deep ball open to the point of embarrassment.

Marquette had Georgetown right where they wanted the, leading 63-60 with 7 seconds left in the game.  Say it with me boys and girls, what don't you do when leading by more than 2 points with less than 10 seconds left?  FOUL!!!  Let alone foul the shooter behind the 3-point line.  Dominic Jones from Marquette apparently didn't get the memo or wasn't paying attention the past 14 years on how to play basketball when leading with less than 10 to go.  Simply unacceptable.

Now I'm watching UNC come back and lead Boston College by 7 after trailing by 17 in the second half.  What happened?  Seems Boston College forgot they were actually allowed 35 seconds per trip to run an offense and time off the clock.  Instead it looked like a bunch of third graders jacked up on twinkies and juice boxes.

Thursday night UK fans were giddy with excitement that should UK pull off a major upset on Sunday that they would have the SEC title within their grasp with only South Carolina and Florida standing in their way.

Then like it has been all season long for coach Gillispie and the CATS another injury occured only this injury wasn't one that it appears they will be able to overcome.

Goodbye SEC title.  Goodbye SEC Tournament championship.  Goodbye NCAA Tournament bid.

UK managed to overcome Jared Carter's shoulder injury before the season every started.

They overcame the two games missed by Ramel Bradley due to a concussion and a third one due to a virus.

They overcame the two games Joe Crawford missed due to foot injury.

They have managed to play on despite missing Jodie Meeks almost the entire season due to a hip injury.

But they won't overcome the injury to Patrick Patterson.  They can't overcome the loss of more than likely the SEC Freshman of the Year.

Turn out the lights and lock up, this season is over.

Round 17 is complete and this is the point of the draft where owners start getting a little risky. A few of the players below will turn out to be some of the best value picks of the draft yet a few others will prove to be wasted picks. Which ones are which? Only time will tell. Let's take a look at how things shaped up:

ROUND  1| ROUND  2| ROUND   3 | ROUND  4  | ROUND  5  | ROUND  6 | ROUND 7
ROUND  8| ROUND  9| ROUND 10 | ROUND 11 | ROUND 12 | ROUND 13| ROUND 14
ROUND 15 | ROUND 16

193) CLASGENS - Stephen Drew, SS, ARI

194) SIMONS - Joakim Soria, RP, KC

195) MURDICO - Josh Fields, 3B/OF, TOR

196) HUMBERT #1 - Justin Upton, OF, ARI

197) FISCHER - Matt Capps, RP, PIT

198) MUEHLENKAMP - Brian Wilson, RP, SF

199) DINSMORE - Troy Glaus, 3B, STL

200) BARTEL -  Austin Kearns, OF, WAS

201) BOLTON - Brad Lidge, RP, PHI

202) WETZEL - Josh Willingham, OF, FLA

203) POLKING - Lastings Milledge, OF, WAS

204) HUMBERT #2 - Chris Duncan, OF, STL

Late Friday afternoon their was a buzz going through Bengals' nation as news came that the team had sent its third and fifth round picks in this year's draft to the Lions in exchange for two-time Pro Bowl DT Shaun Rogers. However, as Friday drew to an end the trade fell apart and Rogers wound up with the Bengals' AFC North foes, the Cleveland Browns.

The Associated Press and ESPN reported the Bengals acquired Detroit defensive tackle Rogers, but Mark Crunette of the Cincinnati Enquirer presented a few different theories of what happen to make the deal crumble.

"Theories ranged late tonight from the league stepping in because the trade violated a salary-cap rule to one that the trade was never reported to the NFL office, leaving the Lions free to negotiate another deal with another team," Crunette wrote on his blog.  "Another explanation was faulty language in the trade forced the NFL to void it."

The deal with the Browns returns a third-round pick and cornerback Leigh Bodden to Detroit, a much better package from the Lions' perspective.

Rogers has been highly touted at points during his career. He is on the verge of his 29th birthday and locked up for three more years ($4.25 million this season, $5.25 million in 2009 and $7 million in 2010).  He will come to Cincinnati with some baggage though.  He's listed at 340 pounds, but there is speculation that it is closer to 370 pounds and Rogers' conditioning and work ethic has been criticized by Lions' head coach Rod Marenelli. Still, he managed seven sacks in 2007.