The Paddock Pulse (December 1 Edition)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas? Where have you been? The radio stations around here started playing Christmas music a week before Thanksgiving. Hell, the stores have had their Christmas decorations up since LABOR DAY.

What I'm saying here is that if you haven't been watching Elf or A Christmas Story NON-FREAKING-STOP all day today... well, you've just missed the boat. SHAME ON YOU.

I would guess that most of my fellow word-butchers have been doing their Christmas-y duty in that regard because our list of links this week is sadly very short. The upshot is that those who DID do blog updates this week get all the more attention. But can attention truly replace the 1,000,000th viewing of The Major Award? (NODDAFINGAH!)

This week's links after the jump...

• Sarah Fisher Made The Right Call [Oilpressure]
  Great article again from George, except ED CARPENTER CALLED SARAH. Jeez, man. Don't you review the phone records, GP? C'mon, man, get with the progra-- what's that, officer? Of COURSE I have permission to read these phone records. I'M AN INDYCAR BLOGGER. *click* Really? Handcuffs? Is that necessary? No, I was only going to use this Taser to keep my cat off of the kitchen counter. I'M CALLING MY LAWYER.

• Opinion: A Quantum Leap Back Towards Legitimacy [Open Wheel America]
  How great was Quantum Leap? Scott Bakula jumping all over time and space righting wrongs and setting history on the proper course... HEY! That sounds like Randy Bernard! Does Randy have a palm computer named Ziggy? I thought that was his BlackBerry!! The real question is, is that really Randy Bernard in that body or is it Sam Beckett? And is Robin Miller really "Al"? Things that make you go, "That show was on TV before many of your readers were born."

• It's a Festival of Sarah Fisher Tributes [pressdog]
  I have to believe that the tears were somewhat less than manly when Bill discovered that Sarah was retiring as a driver. The clown music certainly was more like a dirge than anything. But things brightened considerably when he discovered that Ed Carpenter was the newest Woman of Pressdog^TM. (Wait. That doesn't sound right. Oh well, Ed will forgive me, right? *crickets*)

• MORE THAN A "SUITE" EXPERIENCE: Calendar contest gives fans a chance to win big at the Indy 500 [the_race_gIRL]
  Normally I don't shill for giveaways and contests unless I am the direct beneficiary, i.e. I AM THE WINNER. But Monica convinced me (totally indirectly) to post this even though I have zero shot at winning the big prize. How did she do it? I don't know. It's all fuzzy. I think it involved peppermint schnapps, a dress shoe, and three cheap picture frames. I also don't know where this platypus tattoo came from. It stings.

Final Thoughts

INDYCAR is not an acronym. So stop capitalizing it like one. /editor'd