When it comes to 2007 in Sports and Entertainment, it was a banner year for fans, fans that saw numerous changes, whether it was in the television shows they enjoy or the regrouping of there favorite sports teams, not to mention records in automobiles and a outspoken driver in NASCAR.
Looking back here in New England, mainly Massachusetts, sports fans had a great year, records were broken and a championship was won, first came the Boston Red Sox going all the way and winning the 2007 World Series Championship and just this past Saturday night, all of America toned in to see the New England Patriots make history or what we call “Perfection” with going 16-0 in regular season. I watched that game and what a game it was with the Patriots having to take it down to the final minutes for the victory.
In NASCAR (considering that’s what I mainly cover here on Racedriven), fans mourned the loss of three of the greats, Benny Parson, Bobby Hamilton and Bill France Jr.
In a different way, NASCAR fans and drivers showed NASCAR what they were thinking and at least in one way was the wrong thing to do and no I am not talking about Tony Stewart calling NASCAR out on his radio with say words including NASCAR playing god, no, no, that was a good thing, no I’m talking about the Talladega race with throwing bottles and toilet paper on the racetrack, mainly at Jeff Gordon.
At the end of the season, it came down to a battle between teammates that had some fans cheering for none-other than Jeff Gordon over Jimmie Johnson, but in the end, it wouldn’t really matter because the championship for the second straight year in a row would belong to Jimmie Johnson, but the year would belong to NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the combination of his misfortune on-track with DEI using his engines as test-beds (in some cases) and his off-track announcements of him leaving DEI for happier places at non-other than Hendrick Motorsports and running the #88 AMP Energy/National Guard/Mountain Dew Chevrolet Impala SS, that’s going to be huge.
In the same category, the year was over shadowed by the announcement of Joe Gibbs Racing making the move from the championship winning Chevrolet manufacturer and going to the foreign teams of Toyota, the team includes 2-time champion Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and the man that if he could stop inserting his foot in his mouth, could became a good Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch. I still don’t understand this one.
And finally goodbye to Nextel and Busch, hello Sprint and Nationwide, the Driver of the Year award went to Jimmie Johnson, although Jeff Gordon was right there, basically it was a Hendrick Motorsports banner year and the award for the stupidest statement said was, drum roll please, winner, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France with this comment at the Awards banquet in November…
(From autoracingsport.com – Cup Scene…) “It would have helped if he would have been competitive,” said France. “He didn’t win an event and he certainly didn’t make our playoffs. And that’s unhelpful if you’re trying to build ratings.”
Going beyond NASCAR for a moment, in World Rally and beyond, (From the Cardomain blog… Colin McRae Dies. Everyone's favorite rally driver died in a helicopter crash in September. RIP Colin.
In Television, fans, can you say series finales and canceling your favorite shows, that 2007 for yeah. Fans saw the series finales of Gilmore Girls and The O.C., the canceling of so many including Veronica Mars and Jericho, which in the case of Jericho, made for a massive fan response that got CBS’s attention with Jericho returning in February. Fans also say there favorite show go to repeats, as the writers strike happened. Now one thing to consider, the writer’s just want to be paid fairly, but I just heard that Letterman struck a contract with the writers to bring back his show, but why can’t the networks do the same. In the same light, viewers found themselves watching pilots air in there favorite shows slots and one is successful, the Kristen Bell narrated Gossip Girl, damn, good combination.
With the writer’s strike, viewers are now enjoying more realty shows including a bonus season of Survivor 16 with fans vs. Favorites and a Big Brother 9 (The winter edition). Both should be good.
What about movie’s, one movie that was a must for me to see on DVD, The Simpsons Movie and wouldn’t you know it, it was less like a movie and more like two episodes glued together and I’m still on the fence about it, one of my family members said he didn’t like it.
Finally, in the wonderful world of automobiles, this year continued to mark the raising of gas prices and the even bigger demand of alternative fuel vehicles beyond just E85. In January was a banner month for car enthusiasts when the headline “2007 Barrett-Jackson including an all new record of 5 million dollar bid for a Shelby Cobra.” Which includes $600,000 for a 2007 Shelby GT, along with something about the Ramcharger, how did that end?
Fans also saw (From the CarDomain blog… The GT-R is born. The new supercar from Nissan is here, and it's coming to the US!) And with that a pony car war between Chevrolet’s new Camaro, Chrysler’s answers back with the new Dodge Challenger (after the sale of Chrysler), all up against the proven Ford Mustang.
Let's combine Automobiles, Motorsports and Movies, yes I am specking of my favorite movie Cars, so what about a Cars 2 Movie (sequel), come on Disney and Pixar, I really want a Cars 2 movie, it’s a must have, maybe something like Lightning McQueen finds love with Sally and wins the Piston Cup against a new comer.
So what headlines might 2008 brings…
Barrett-Jackson continues to set records with more million dollar plus cars; NASCAR finally wakes up and not only removes the top 35 rule, but fixes the COT (making it a stock appearing racecar) and listens to the fans in what they want; The writer’s strike finally ends? Big Brother becomes a twice a year show; Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins in the Sprint Cup Series; In world news, alternative fuels including hydrogen are finally being produced and The United States have a new president - the US troops are finally coming home safe.
In a couple of hours live from Time Square in New York City, 3-2-1, See Yeah in the new year...
- Racedriven
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