Mammoth Blog

On this day in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to conquer Mount Everest. "A symmetrical, beautiful, snow cone summit," Hillary said of the peak that is 29,028 feet above sea level. May 29, 1954 saw the first meeting of the annual Bilderberg group, a secretive, invitation-only gathering with the elite from such fileds as politics, commerce, and banking. source>>>

As Canadian NHL fans continue to digest a Phoenix judge's decision to move up a hearing to discuss the possible relocation of the bankrupt Coyotes, prospective buyer Jim Balsillie spent part of Friday outlining an arena plan.

The co-CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Balsillie has offered $212.5 million US to purchase the Coyotes on the condition he can move the franchise to southern Ontario, specifically Hamilton.

He unveiled plans for the new Copps Coliseum -- with a focus on fan-friendly cutting-edge designs -- that would include a soaring atrium-style entrance lobby, luxury boxes, new lounges and restaurants, food and bar amenities throughout and a seating capacity surpassing 18,000.

"A new team for the best new hockey market deserves spectacular new home ice, and that's exactly what the upgraded Copps Coliseum would offer," Balsillie said in a statement released by Toronto public relations firm Veritas Communications Inc.

The design for an upgraded Copps Coliseum, which is 24 years old, is aimed at improving fan experience -- bringing them closer to the players, while offering better sightlines and entertainment options.

BBB Architects and its subsidiary group, Stadium Consultants International (SCI), are leading the design. They are currently renovating Madison Square Garden and Nassau County Coliseum, the home of the New York Rangers and New York Islanders respectively.
Arena would be 'a jaw-dropper,' says mayor

The Copps Coliseum renovation cost was estimated at $150 million in 2007 -- the time of the last detailed construction estimate -- but it could vary based on timelines, approvals and access to the facility for construction purposes.

"When completed, the BBB renovation plan will transform Copps Coliseum into a first-class professional sports and entertainment facility," Chris O'Reilly, principal with BBB Architects, said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty left the door open to using public funds for the project but said he would have to wait and see if "we get a sensible proposal."

"It'd be premature at this point to talk about funding for Copps Coliseum," McGuinty's spokesperson Karman Wong said Friday. "However, the premier continues to be supportive of bringing a hockey team to southern Ontario.

"We'll take a careful look at infrastructure proposals that come to us from the city, keeping in mind that through the Pan Am bid, the government is already committed to making investments in Hamilton to support sports infrastructure."

The province already plans to spend infrastructure dollars in Hamilton to help support Ontario's bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games -- funds McGuinty has suggested could be used to fix up Copps Coliseum.

On May 13, Hamilton city council unanimously approved a deal giving Balsillie until October to bring a team to Copps.

In exchange, Balsillie has promised to sign a long-term lease up to 32 years if he secures the Coyotes.

The revamped Copps Coliseum would have 50 mid-level private suites and 20 Bunker Suites with prime seats in the first six rows between the blue-lines; new home and visitor dressing rooms, new ice surface, ice plant and climate control systems; and new upholstered seating throughout.

"This would be a jaw-dropper of an attraction for Hamilton," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger. "It would be a tremendous new asset for our city, and a major part of the revitalization of downtown Hamilton."

All that remains is securing an NHL team, which starts -- or could end -- with the June 9 relocation hearing. U.S. bankruptcy court Judge Redfield T. Baum has moved up the hearing from June 22, and promised on Wednesday to render a decision "as soon as I can."

The NHL is against the move and instead wants to find a buyer who will keep the team in Glendale, Ariz.

Legal arguments from the NHL and Coyotes majority owner Jerry Moyes can be filed until June 5.

Moyes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 5 and declared his intent to sell the team to Balsillie and PSE Sports and Entertainment.

Depending on the outcome, an auction of the club could be held June 22 or no earlier than late August. The latter scenario would result if Balsillie's bid were unsuccessful, with the league supporting the Coyotes financially until the auction.

It is Balsillie's third swing at owning an NHL club. He previously attempted to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators, but negotiations broke down.

The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday that Moyes would like to expedite the process, so the winning bidder could move the Coyotes by the start of the 2009-10 NHL season.

Moyes has claimed to have lost more than $200 million in equity and added more than $100 million in debt since purchasing the Coyotes with developer Steve Ellman for $90 million in 2001.

Earlier this week, Balsillie told the Toronto Sun he would be open to the idea of naming the team Ontario instead of Hamilton if such a change made the franchise stronger and more marketable. source>>>

There has been plenty of talk this spring about a widespread conspiracy in the NHL. Word in Philadelphia, Washington and Raleigh, N.C., is that the league wanted the Penguins to get to the Stanley Cup final and did everything it could to make it happen, going so far as to give beneficial calls by the referees to the sport's poster boy, Sidney Crosby. Well, I'm here this morning to dispute that vigorously. I don't think the NHL officials are nearly that smart.
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They're just lucky, that's all.

Lucky to have the incomparable Crosby and Evgeni Malkin under the bright spotlight on hockey's grandest stage for what figures to be a marvelous two-week run.

And lucky to have the defending champion Detroit Red Wings as the opponents in a blockbuster sequel to last year's entertaining Cup final.

"I guess the only way it could be better is if it was us and Washington," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik was saying after practice yesterday. "But it's pretty good, isn't it?"

Pretty great, actually.

The Penguins-Washington series in the second round of these playoffs was indeed spectacular. For seven sublime games, Crosby and Capitals star Alex Ovechkin tried to outdo each other with Crosby getting the final edge with two goals and an assist in the clinching, 6-2 win. If you listened closely, you almost could hear the squeals of joy coming from the NHL office. They couldn't have dreamed up anything better to sell their game to an international audience.

The Penguins-Carolina series was next in the Eastern Conference final. The competition wasn't much -- the Penguins won four games in a row, the final three by lopsided scores -- but Malkin's performance was extraordinary. If you only Tivoed one game during this playoff grind, here's hoping it was Game 2 when he torched the Hurricanes for a hat trick. His third goal that night -- the spinning backhander that beat goaltender Cam Ward high -- was nothing less than otherworldly, prompting more hoots from the NHL suits. source>>>

Former UFC champions Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans will coach heavyweight fighters in the 10th season of the mixed martial arts league's popular reality television show.

In a season dubbed The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, the show will follow two teams of the UFC's largest fighters for the first time since the show's second season. Jackson and Evans also will fight in December after the series concludes.

The show will be filmed this summer, premiering Sept. 16 on Spike TV.

Jackson and Evans both are former light heavyweight champions, with Evans losing the belt to Lyoto Machida last weekend. Jackson has recorded two impressive wins since losing the belt last year. He will be a coach on the show for the second time in four seasons. source>>>

The Portuguese website Super Lutas is reporting that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will be the first light heavyweight challenger to Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida's championship belt.

Using a language translation tool, the site claims:

The leader of the UDL Mauricio Shogun will be the first challenger to the heading of the half-heavy one of the Ultimate, in ownership of the also Brazilian one, Lyoto Machida. The confrontation was signed in this tuesday, Wools Vegas, when Shogun and its entrepreneur, Eduardo Alonso had waked up the renewal of the contract of the fighter and already they had made right accomplishment of the combat, foreseen for October. The news was confirmed by a on safe source the curitibano fighter. The first challenger to the heading of Lyoto Machida would be Quinton " Rampage" Jackson, but the fighter will assume the command of a teams in the tenth edition of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF-10), what he will postpone its possibility to dispute the cinturão. He is on in the SUPER site FIGHTS for bigger information on the dispute of cinturão between the two Brazilians.

Not the best translation, but you get the point.

According to Dana White's Twitter account, Dana and Shogun met earlier in the day.

The bout will probably take place at UFC 104, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles California. source>>>

Charles Barkley has straightened out his swing, and the Tahoe oddsmakers have noticed. In previous years, he has been a 500-1 shot to win the American Century Championship. He is invariably the most popular and worst golfer in the field.

But now he has all those lessons from Hank Haney, Tiger Woods' swing coach, on the Golf Channel series "The Haney Project." All those days of hitting more than 1,000 balls. As a result, Harrah's has improved its outlook on Barkley.

He's listed at 499-1.

"I honestly have an idea of what I'm trying to do," Barkley said Thursday on a conference call. "Can I do it? No. But at least I have an idea of what I'm trying to do."

The three-round event runs July 17-19 at Edgewood Tahoe, with July 14-16 reserved for practice rounds and even more relaxed events. (Not that they're exactly putting on their Tiger faces for the tournament, but once the real competition starts, the celebs compete for $600,000, including a $125,000 top prize.)

Barkley knows he can't win -- it's always a quarterback or a hockey player, he notes -- but he has a goal in mind.

"The black guys, we joke around, we call it the Black Masters," he said. "One of these days I'd like to win the Black Masters. That's my lifetime goal as far as golf goes."

# Barkley is fast approaching cult status in Tahoe, largely because of his ambassadorship after the wildfires in 2007. He took a tour of the damage with NBC
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cameras, he hosted a party for the firefighters, and he has donated $100,000 each of the past two years.

"There's never been a player we've had in the 20-year history of the event who has given as much back to the community," NBC Sports V.P. Jon Miller said.

# Barkley has been in a few unfavorable headlines in the past year, first with the threat of felony charges for bad Vegas debts and then with his legendary New Year's Eve DUI arrest in Arizona. So what, we asked, does a guy do in Tahoe in the summer when he can't drink and he can't gamble?

"I like to drink. I have a fine time drinking," he said, and our apologies for the misunderstanding. "I haven't missed the gambling, to be honest with you. I needed to take a break from gambling because I was losing."

He later amended his statement to say he does miss calling his bookie on football weekends. But "as far as the casino goes, I haven't missed it. And I'm going to start gambling again whenever I get ready."

# Trent Dilfer has five top-10 finishes, including a runner-up in 2005, and is considered one of the favorites now that he is retired and plays more golf. He also has a new piece of hardware that hits closer to home. Dilfer is this year's winner of the Brodie Award, an especially fitting tribute since he and John Brodie are longtime friends and he persuaded the 49ers to take No. 12 out of retirement for him as a tribute to Brodie.

Dilfer recalled a golf tournament early in his career with Tampa Bay. "Everybody else goes up to the lounge to have drinks and hors d'oeuvres. And J.B. has me with my golf spikes taking drops and throwing the football because he wants to fix something in my football game," Dilfer said. "He's just invested so much into me personally over the years."

# The Lance Armstrong Foundation remains the event's official charity.

# Tickets are $15 per day for the pre-tournament rounds and $25 a day for the tournament. Visit www.tahoecelebritygolf.com for more information. source>>>

From its Ben Hogan trophy room to its status as the longest-running event at its original site, the Colonial Country Club is among the most venerable stops on the PGA Tour.

This week, it's playing like a pitch-and-putt.

With the wind hardly blowing and greens pillow-soft, Steve Stricker followed an opening-round 63 with another Friday morning, giving him the 36-hole record and a comfortable lead at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Stricker's 14-under 126 total broke the previous mark by two strokes.

"I'd rather have the trophy," he said. "We're only halfway through. I'd like to keep making putts. That solves a lot of problems."

Kenny Perry set the midway record in 2005, on his way to a 72-hole record of 261. That, too, might fall unless the wind picks up or the sun starts baking the greens.

"I kind of like what's going on now," Stricker said, smiling.

Woody Austin and Tim Clark also shot 63s on Thursday, but only Stricker played in the afternoon. That meant he was among the morning groups Friday, and picked up where he left off with an opening birdie.

His first bogey of the tournament came at No. 15, but he closed with two more birdies and a score for all the afternoon starters to envy.

"It was a lot of fun - again," Stricker said.

Ryan Palmer also shot a second-round 63, putting him at 8-under 132. He's one stroke ahead of Luke Donald (65) and Paul Casey (67), who is in his first tournament since vaulting to No. 3 in the world rankings. source>>>

Tiger Woods is returning to the Memorial, where he is a three-time winner. He has skipped the tournament two of the last three years because of family matters and knee surgery.

Woods has not won at Muirfield Village, where Jack Nicklaus is the tournament host, since winning his third in a row at 2001.

He did not play in 2006 because of his father's death. Last year, he was recovering from the first of two knee operations that ultimately caused him to miss the second half of the season.

The Memorial will be played June 4-7, with Kenny Perry the defending champion.

source>>>

The NFL has always been conspicuous in its silence over gambling. Even though the practice is popular both legally and illegally and points spreads are openly discussed everywhere, any talk of betting by the league or its network partners is taboo. So, it makes sense that the NFL would come out against a bill in Delaware that will legalize sports gambling this fall (a bill that was upheld by the state's Supreme Court today).

What doesn't make sense is that this opposition would come two weeks after the league allowed its teams to sign licensing deals with the most prevalant form of gambling in this country, state lotteries. (The rationale is that teams can make more money in the sinking economy.)

It's the essence of hypocrisy. Allowing teams to put their names on lottery tickets is a promotion of gambling. Why is it alright to spend $25 on scratch tickets but not to spend $25 wagering on the Patriots? (And to all those doubters out there, yes, lotteries are gambling. People in Gambler's Anonymous are not supposed to buy lottery tickets for a reason.) As Frank Deford points out today, one of those things is completely mindless, while the other at least "requires a smidgen of intelligence."

It's often assumed that the NFL is merely posturing in its anti-gambling stance. The belief is that the league thinks it has to oppose gaming on some moral grounds, but secretly feels beholden to the interest in the game that gambling creates. If that's the case though, why would the NFL sue Delaware? There's no ambiguity in paying a high-powered law firm to go to court over the new law. If that happens, it would sure seem that the NFL is actually against betting on games and not just "pretend" against it.

Either way, the league's ever-shifting stance on gambling is confusing and hypocritical. There should be no distinction between lotteries and wagering on games. I don't make any, but that's mainly because I never win either. source>>>

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell welcomed a ruling by the state's Supreme Court that left intact a new sports gambling law expected to generate millions in revenue for the fiscally strapped state.

"This decision resolves the legal issues ... and provides a solid legal framework for our sports lottery," Markell said in a statement.

But the five justices' unanimous ruling probably won't be the end of legal action before Delaware can offer a form of legal sports betting that comes close to what is available only in Nevada casinos.

The NFL -- possibly joining forces with other pro leagues -- could try to compel the state's highest court to rule again on the issue via a lawsuit. The league sued 32 years ago after the state's first attempt at a sports lottery but lost when the court ruled "chance was the dominant, determining factor" in that betting system.

At the time the sports lottery required wagers that forced players to bet on multiple games to win.

As its lawyers did in front of the state Supreme Court this month, the NFL will probably argue that single-game betting against the line is more of a skill than multiple-game wagering.

"We will review the Delaware Supreme Court's advisory opinion on this matter," NFL spokesman Jeff Miller said in a statement. "We do not believe that promoting additional betting on college and professional athletes and games is healthy for sports."

Kenneth J. Nachbar, one of the lawyers who argued the NFL's position in front of the court, said all options are being considered.

Any kind of legal action could delay the start of the sports lottery, which Markell has said he'd like to have in place by the start of the 2009 NFL season.

While Markell hasn't openly said he'd prefer single-game betting, his spokesman, Joseph Rogalsky, said Thursday that the state was working with vendors to create "the most lucrative option." source>>>

Charles Barkley says he's still not gambling but might again someday.

The NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst also said he's still drinking, but not drinking and driving, since a DUI arrest on New Year's Eve. Barkley says he can't wait to get to Lake Tahoe in July to show off his newly retooled golf game.

In a conference call to promote his appearance at the 20th annual American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, Barkley said his DUI arrest after leaving a nightclub near Scottsdale, Ariz., turned out to be a "good thing."

He pleaded guilty, served three days in jail, paid US$2,000 in fines and attended an alcohol treatment program.

Barkley said it taught him it is "stupid of you to drink and drive." He told himself: "You can't do that again, that's unacceptable."

"You think about it and I've been in the NBA since 1984. ... 25 years. So let's say just going out to dinner or going out with your friends probably 100 times, 200 times a year, I've had something to drink and driven. So to never hurt myself or anybody and never get a DUI, I was very lucky," he said.

Barkley said he continues to drink, but not before he drives.

He said he hasn't gambled.

"I like to drink. ... I haven't missed the gambling to be honest with you. I needed to take a break from gambling because I was losing," he said.

"Nobody ever complains about gambling when you're winning. I've never heard a guy say, 'Hey, I'm winning too much money, I'm going to quit gambling.' But my gambling had gotten to be a problem.

"I said I was going to take some time off," he said.

Barkley said on the air during the NBA playoffs last June he wasn't going to gamble for "the next year or two" after he was sued by a Las Vegas Strip casino for failing to pay US$400,000 in gambling markers, or loans.

He repaid his debt to the Wynn Las Vegas casino along with a US$40,000 district attorney's fee.

Barkley said he has missed making bets during football season and likely would gamble again someday.

"I'm going to start gambling again whenever I get ready, to be honest with you. ... I like to gamble," he said.

If he does gamble, he might want to place a bet on himself to win the celebrity golf tournament July 17-19 at Edgewood-Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe.

Harrah's race and sports book has him at a 499-1 underdog, though he won't pay off as much as he has in the past. Barkley was a 500-1 longshot to win the 2008 tournament and routinely finishes last.

"You know what, I'm going down," Barkley said about the odds.

Barkley said his golf game has improved under the tutelage of his pal Hank Haney, who is Tiger Woods' swing coach.

Barkley said he has been hitting at least 1,000 balls two days a week while taping the Golf Channel's "Hank Haney Project/Charles Barkley."

"I don't think there is any other sport where you can do something that much and not get better quicker," said Barkley, an 11-time NBA all-star and MVP whose hitching, halting golf swing has his fans and friends alternately howling and shaking their heads.

"I think if you went out and shot 1,000 jump shots a day you would see more improvement at a quicker pace," he said.

He said the TV exposure with Haney helped bring him more golf tips from strangers "than any person in the world."

"When I go to the dry cleaners, those guys are trying to help me. When I'm walking through the supermarket, they wish me luck," he said.

"Everybody wants me to try something. Little old ladies walking the street want to give me advice. It's hilarious," he said. source>>>

This is a name to watch: Sugarland. It's not every day you see a fully-formed country band pop up in Nashville and play a debut showcase with power, authority and flair and with fully realized original songs.

But that's just what happened Wednesday evening (July 23) at the Nashville club 12th & Porter. The seven-piece band (four of whom sing) played a 6 p.m. midweek showcase that attracted a horde of fans and curious people from the country music industry.

In the crowd, I spied Universal Music Nashville head Luke Lewis and his A&R chief David Conrad, Lyric Street Records' vice president Doug Howard, the Recording Academy's Garth Fundis and numerous representatives from the worlds of publishing, performing rights and songwriting.

Sugarland are from Atlanta, where the core members have labored alone and with other groups and have been writing for years. They've been together as a group less than a year. How interesting to see a group with a woman as drummer, a drummer who also sings. She's Simone Simonton, who had her own group, Lift, and played with the Indigo Girls. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Kristen Hall is well known in Atlanta clubs and has recorded a series of solo CDs. Singer-songwriter-mandolin player Kristian Bush was half of the folk-rock duo Billy Pilgrim. Electric guitarist Bret Hartley performed with Billy Pilgrim. Bassist Clay Cook co-wrote songs on John Mayer's album Room for Squares. (Cook and Mayer once made up the acoustic duo Lo-Fi Masters). Steel player Mark Van Allen rounds out the group's sound -- churning, driving roadhouse, slightly pop-ish country.

Their secret weapon is lead singer Jennifer Nettles, who has presence and attitude to spare and a set of pipes that can knock you down at 20 paces. And a vivacious sense of humor. How could she be otherwise, for someone who once fronted a group named Soul Miner's Daughter? She knows how to control a stage and has a sly, bluesy vocal delivery that floats seemingly effortlessly above the music. Her big voice alternately caresses words languorously and then kicks them out with a fury. In a word -- three words actually -- she kicks ass.

I cannot tell you the last time that I saw a new group or new artist with such stage confidence and such a sure grasp of their capabilities, their range and their music. It's obvious, of course, that their confidence and poise comes from the experience of playing in clubs. And that's something you don't often see in recent crops of aspiring young wannabe Kenny Chesneys and Shania Twains that Nashville has been trying to foist on the public. Being a singer and writer does not automatically equate to being a performer and an entertainer. Part of the problem country music faces is a shrinking supply of clubs from which performers like Sugarland can emerge.

At the showcase, some of the magic came from supportive, hard-core fans, some of whom had come up on a chartered, 50-seat bus from Atlanta -- the fans paying $50 apiece for the trip. That kind of loyalty is also rare these days and obviously this group has earned it.

Atlanta is not that far geographically from Nashville -- 248 miles -- but artistically it is so distant that groups there now feel the need to travel on their own to Nashville to present themselves to the country music industry. I mean, I was chastising myself: why haven't I heard of people this good just 248 miles away? They've been playing together for almost a year. Why don't I hear about what's happening in Atlanta? And -- it follows -- why doesn't anybody in Nashville keep up with musical developments in Atlanta sufficiently so that everybody in town isn't astonished at this sudden invasion of talent? I guess it's because that in Nashville we are pretty certain that we're at the center of the musical universe.

I mean, Sugarland may not be the salvation of country music, but the group is so good that it shouldn't be ignored. Don't trust just me. Check out their music. It's available, unfortunately, only in MP3 samples on their Web site, Sugarlandmusic.com. Or I guess you could order their little homemade CD, Premium Quality Tunes there. It's a damned good little CD. I'm holding on to my copy. source>>>

Big Kenny of Big & Rich and Big Machine Records president and CEO Scott Borchettawill join Naomi Judd as judges on the second season of CMT's Can You Duet, it was announced Thursday (May 28). Hosted by CMT's Lance Smith, the weekly music competition series from FremantleMedia North America, the producers of American Idol, seeks to find country music's next great duo and award them a record deal with Big Machine, label home to Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood and Jack Ingram, among others. The new season of Can You Duet begins June 20. source>>>

Jack Ingram, Joe Nichols and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi are among the singers, songwriters and musicians scheduled to appear at the Songwriters Hall of Fame's 40th anniversary gala taking place June 18 at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel. This year's Hall of Fame inductees include Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati of the Rascals, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Galt MacDermot, Stephen Schwartz and James Rado and the late Gerome Ragni. Also being inducted is the songwriting duo of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. Cook, already a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, is the father of CMT host Katie Cook. His songwriting credits Don Williams' "I Believe in You" and Crystal Gayle's "Talking in Your Sleep." Others performing or presenting awards at the gala include Daughtry, Berry Gordy, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., John Ondrasik, James Taylor, Ryan Tedder, Rob Thomas and Paul Williams. source>>>

When it comes to the sport's declining TV ratings, Fox Sports chairman David Hill thinks some NASCAR executives are trying to make a mountain of a molehill.

Or, in this case, a gopher hole.

With NASCAR having solicited opinions from drivers and team owners in a "town hall"-style meeting Tuesday about reasons for this season's dip in Sprint Cup ratings (down 13%) and attendance, Hill says he received a recent e-mail from a high-ranking NASCAR official Hill declined to identify blaming "Digger," the animated gopher that has become a staple of Fox's coverage.

"It was because of Digger that people were turning off in droves because they couldn't stand it," Hill said. "I said, 'I'm so sorry. If I'd known, I never would have created him. I didn't realize how insidious he was.'

"It's the biggest crock of (stuff) I've ever heard."
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Digger was conceived during a rain delay last year as the mascot for Fox's camera embedded in the racetrack. He has appeared in a series of cartoon vignettes, and Hill says $500,000 of Digger-emblazoned items have been sold (the character has a 53-foot merchandise trailer at races and would rank among the top 15 in driver sales).

"People have described him as the Mickey Mouse of NASCAR, and that's flattering to have a brand as strong," Hill said. "To blame the downturn on Digger is a little head in the sand-ish."

Hill said NASCAR is going through a ratings correction that every sport endures and could be attributed to myriad reasons such as a wave of younger drivers, a new car and a lackluster season for Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver.

He said NASCAR could shore up audiences with a consistent start time. Hill has lobbied for every Cup race to begin at 1 p.m. ET, "but they won't because that means starting West Coast races at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning. But that's the logical way. Moving start times confuses people."

NASCAR declined to address Digger's ratings impact, but spokesman Ramsey Poston says the sanctioning body is "interested in a closer look at consistent start times."

Earnhardt Jr. will strap into his No. 88 Chevrolet Friday at Dover International Speedway with a new crew chief, but the immense expectations will remain the same. The sway of NASCAR's six-time most popular driver is so critical to drawing viewers to broadcasts or fans to racetracks, his success (or lack thereof this season) could be having an effect on the sport that's akin to Tiger Woods' impact on golf.

"I'm told by our research guys that if Dale won, more people would watch," Hill says. "I guess in a way because he hasn't, Elvis has left the building. I would love to see him win at Dover."

Fox will wrap up its 13-race section of the 36-race season with Sunday's Autism Speaks 400, and its NASCAR coverage could use a jolt. The first 11 races registered an average rating of 5.2, which is a 13% decline from '08.

It's prompted NASCAR to research the trend and solicit industry opinions about the quality of its competition. In the town hall meeting at its Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., NASCAR Chairman Brian France and President Mike Helton led drivers and owners through a discussion of everything from the setup of its next-generation car to how drivers are marketed.

"There were no solutions but lots of great ideas," says veteran Mark Martin, 50, the oldest full-time driver. "The biggest thing we have to realize is we have the greatest thing going in sports. It may feel we've got a lid on us, but we're stronger than most."

Hill says Fox isn't panicking near the end of its ninth season with NASCAR, either.

"Nothing goes up forever," he says. "Every sport has a correction. We've had the most unbelievable run with NASCAR. Because of that, and maybe quite rightly, people think it'll keep going. If it had gone down 50 to 60%, there's something wrong. But 13% is no time (for) alarm."

Fox officials note Cup races still have averaged 8.7 million viewers a week, outranking the average network audience (5.3 million) for the NBA postseason. Fox's prerace shows have matched the rating (3.4) for NBA playoff games on ABC.

Hill says though Earnhardt's slump (he is winless in 33 races and ranked 19th in points) might have an impact, analyzing sports ratings "is like working out where a school of fish is. Every year is not a heady climb. You always factor in the rough with the smooth. If it goes on three years, then I'll start to squawk."

NASCAR is trying to anticipate discontent by garnering feedback through open-ended questions posed to a 12,000-member "fan council" on the Internet that is designed to be a scientific model of its fan base. France also has promised more open forums with drivers and owners, and Martin hopes NASCAR will form task forces to address issues.

"Everybody pulling together will make it better, but it takes time to implement those ideas," Martin says. "Sometimes you have to bring people together. source>>>