Derrick Rose quickly went from the NBA’s 2009 Rookie of the Year (and the Chicago Bulls’ savior) to the center of an NCAA investigation into allegations that he had someone take the SAT test for him so that he could play at Memphis.
According to the Chicago-Sun Times, his high school grades were even altered to help him stay academically eligible.
The investigation has once again brought attention to the NBA’s age regulation rule, in which players have to be at least 19 years old in order to play professional basketball.
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports, asks: “Why the heck did he have to …read more

I really admire Dara Torres, so I hate to see her in a dispute of any type, especially this one with Danica Patrick. Danica was interviewed by Dan Patrick and he asked her: “If you could take a performance-enhancing drug and not get caught, would you do it if it allowed you to win Indy?”
And she replied, “Well, then it’s not cheating, is it? If nobody finds out? Yeah, it would be like finding a gray area.”

Dara Torres sees the interview, and gets all bent out of shape, saying:
“As an athlete that has been tested a thousand times …read more

What would racing be without the occasional Danica Patrick temper tantrum? It looks like she had another one (albeit, a small one) when she crashed in the 31st lap of the Honda Grand Prix.

Apparently Danica was “running ninth in the 22-car field on Sunday when rookie Raphael Matos tried to pass as the two went into one of the tightest turns.” Danica patted Matos on the helmet as they walked away. A little condescending tap to let the world know the crash could not have possibly been her fault.
Image: splashnewsonline.com.

I would like to thank John Beamer, one of the writers for F1 Pitlane, for contacting me recently to do an interview over at the site … to which, of course, I happily obliged. John is a great guy and they do a fantastic job over there, so I encourage you all to go give it a look and while you’re there, take a look at the interview.
A Stateside Perspective – NASCAR and F1

Ryan Briscoe earned his second IndyCar Series victory of the season for Penske Racing on Sunday, but the real story of the weekend was the controversy between Danica Patrick and Milka Duno. The previous day during practice, Danica tried on several occassions to get past Milka, whom had fallen off the pace, but Milka was apparently putting a block on her. Though Danica was finally able to get around her, the altercation on the track spurred another altercation off-the track as Danica visited Milka’s pit area following the practice session. Here’s some video footage of what took place:

farkItButton(”Video: Danica Patrick’s …read more

Image details: 2007 ESPY Awards – Arrivals served by picapp.com
The annual 2008 ESPY Awards will air live on ESPN on Sunday, July 20th at 9 pm est / 8 pm cst, and keeping with their tradition of including outdoor sports and motorsports within their equation, NASCAR will be represented with nominees in three separate categories this year.
Every year, the ESPY’s select from a pool of nominees for their racing-specific athlete category for “Best Driver“. A NASCAR driver has won this award in 9 of the 15 years, and 4 of the last 5. The most recent winners of this award …read more

Image details: 92nd Indianapolis 500 served by picapp.com
Making her fourth Indianapolis 500 appearance this past Sunday, Danica Patrick started the race from the fifth position, but was taken out of contention on lap 171 of the 200 lap event when the no. 6 Team Penske car of Ryan Briscoe got into her as they attempted to exit pit road. The damage that the incident left on Danica’s car was too extensive for her to continue on, and she was left with a 22nd place finish after running up around the top-ten for most of the day.
Following the accident, Danica stormed …read more

Image details: Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com
The Sprint Cup Series was off this past week while the Nationwide Series took to the streets of Mexico City for the Corona Mexico 200 as Kyle Busch cruised to his third consecutive Nationwide Series victory. That, however, was not the headline that the sports world took away from auto racing on that day because while Kyle Busch was debating whether or not to dump Scott Pruett, Danica Patrick was out in Japan making history en route to winning the first IRL race of her career, as well as becoming the …read more

Racing in her 50th career start in the IndySeries this past Sunday, Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 for Andretti Green Racing, and in doing so, became the first female in IRL history to win a race. The race came down to a fuel strategy decision, and by staying out, she was able to move up to second place on lap 197 of the 200-lap race. On lap 198, she took the lead from polesitter Helio Castroneves and was on her way to a victory lap moments later.
Danica is certainly no stranger to the history books since the 26-year-old …read more

GoDaddy.com has been made famous in the racing world – or, perhaps notorious is the word best used to describe it – for their affiliation with Danica Patrick in the IndySeries. However, recent statements they’ve made concerning the fact that NASCAR dwarfs the IndySeries in viewership comparison, coupled with them signing a Nationwide sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports this year, could give Danica plenty of reason to feel unnerved. GoDaddy.com will be the primary sponsor on six Nationwide events for the #5 Junior Motorsports car, as well as an associate sponsor in 29 others, not to mention that they were …read more