The Ticket Chest

Danica Patrick — Ready for Nascar 2010

Saturday, January 30th, 2010 | NASCAR, Sports | 1 Comment

Danica Patrick and her JR Motorsports team have announced that she will run at least 12 Nascar races in 2010.  It is unclear if she will race in the Nationwide Series opening race at the Dayton International Speedway on Saturday February 13, 2010.  It will likely depend on how well she fares in her 1st stock race – scheduled for the week before in the ARCA race at Daytona.  Here’s what Patrick had to say about her upcoming 2010 schedule – “Like I’ve said before, we just want to be smart and calculative about this process.  The tracks we’ve selected not only complement the IndyCar schedule, but will give me quality seat time at a variety of facilities.”

If she decides to skip the February 13th race at Daytona, she will make her NASCAR debut the following week in Fontana, California.  Then she will race on February 20th in Las Vegas before taking time off to focus on the IndyCar Series.  Her next NASCAR race after that will be at the end of June in New Hampshire.  She will make appearances across the country though, so you should be able to catch her wherever you live – Chicago in July; Michigan in August; Dover, Delaware in September; California and Charlotte in October; and Texas, Phoenix and Florida in November.

With that schedule, she is going to need a long vacation in December to recuperate.  Based on the schedule, it doesn’t sound like she’ll have a huge impact on the NASCAR landscape, but if she does well and is welcomed by other drivers and fans alike, we could see her add some more races in 2011. Her sex appeal doesn’t hurt either.  Stay tuned NASCAR fans…

Tags: Danica Patrick, Daytona International Speedway, IndyCar Series

She & Him – Rocking Out to Sold Out Shows in L.A. & NYC

Friday, January 29th, 2010 | Concerts, She & Him | No Comments

She & Him is shaping up to be the show to go to in 2010.  She & Him – made up of actress Zooey Deschanel and singer-songwriter M. Ward – has garnered high praise from critics and fans alike.  The duo released their 1st album in 2008 – Volume One – and since then, they have continued to grow a large following of fans who love their music and live shows.  The duo is set to release their follow-up album – Volume Two – in March 2010.  She & Him is already set to play sold-out shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on March 25th and at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on March 29th and March 30th.  Better get your tickets soon – the way these shows sold out so quickly, supply for these shows is going to be limited.

Deschanel and Ward met on the set of the indie film “The Go-Getter”.  Director Martin Hynes asked the 2 to sing a duet for the credits at the end of the movie and the rest if history.  Deschanel had written plenty of sings in her past, she sent them to Ward for his input and they formed She & Him to bring the music to life.  Deschanel sings and plays the piano and banjo, while Ward plays the guitar and sings back-up.

Deschanel is an actress first – she had smaller roles in the following feature films: Mumford, Almost Famous, The Good Girl, Failure to Launch, Bridge to Terabithia and The Go-Getter.  Her career really took off with more prominent roles in The Happening, Gigantic and Yes Man in 2008 and (500) Days of Summer in 2009.  She is set to appear in Your Highness in 2010.

M. Ward is a popular singer-songwriter.  He has released 7 albums on his won, the latest of which – Hold Time – was released in 2009.  Ward also toured with Monsters of Folk in 2009 – an American “supergroup” that consists of Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and Jim James from My Morning Jacket.

She & Him will also be playing a few festivals during 2010 – so make sure you catch them before the end of the year.

Tags: M. Ward, Music Concert, Zooey Deschanel

Rose, Bulls Cruising Right Along…

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, Sports | 1 Comment

The Chicago Bulls are cruising right along after a 4th straight road win last night – 96-86 over the Oklahoma City Thunder.  It was the 4th straight game that the Bulls defeated a Western Conference with a winning record on the road. Coming into the current 7-game road trip, the Bulls had won a TOTAL of 4 road games all season long.  With last night’s win, the Bulls assured themselves of a winning record on the trip (5-2 or 4-3), even if they lose to the Hornets in New Orleans on Friday night.

Derrick Rose led the way with 26 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds.  Joakim Noah still recovering from a foot injury scored 13 points and grabbed 11 boards.  Loul Deng chipped in with 17 points, while rookie Taj Gibson set a personal career-high with 15 rebounds – nice balance yet again.

The Bulls are now 22-22 – at the .500 mark for the 1st time since November 21, 2009 when the Bulls were 6-6.  The Bulls are tied for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference with the Charlotte Bobcats and they trail the Toronto Raptors by just 1 game for the 5th seed in the East.  Crazy stuff.

I’m sure the Bulls will do something really annoying in the next few weeks (maybe sooner) that will make me come back down to reality.  But right now, I’m going to savor this long stretch of consistent solid play from the Bulls…

Tags: Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah

Mets Ace Johan Santana Resumes Throwing Off Mound

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | MLB, New York Mets, Sports | No Comments

New York Mets ace Johan Santana threw 24 pitches off the mound in Port St. Lucie, Florida on Tuesday.  It was the first time that the lefty hand thrown off a mound since he underwent season-ending left elbow surgery in September 2009.  As for results – it could not have gone better.  Santana had this to say about his effort: “I feel pretty good.  The ball was coming out pretty good.  I feel like I am doing my mechanics without any problems, so that was big.  And I don’t feel anything in my arm, so I think everything should be all right.”  Santana was also thrilled with how well his changeup worked this early in the season: “It had that nice motion, so it’s good to see that this early because that tells me we are way ahead of the game.”

Good news Mets fans.  Any chance of competing in the tough NL East hinges on Santana having a productive season for the Mets in 2010.  Santana did make 25 starts for  the Mets in 2009 (going 13-9 with a 3.13 overall ERA), but down the stretch, you could tell that something was off.  Santana pitched poorly from June 1st on – going under .500 with a 6-7 record and posting a “hefty” 4.02 ERA.  In his 1st year after signing his big deal with the Mets, Santana started 34 games for the Mets in 2008.  He went 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.  He pitched 234 1/3 innings and struck out 206 batters with only 63 walks.  The Mets will need another effort like that out of Santana during the 2010 campaign to even think about competing for the playoffs…

Tags: Johan Santana

Bulls Continue to Frustrate Fans with Erratic Play

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Sports | No Comments

The Chicago Bulls are on a 3-game road winning streak, but they are still making life miserable for their fans in Chicago.  The Bulls embarked on a 7-game road trip last week with an 18-20 record.  They started off the trip with “winnable” games against the Warriors in Golden State and the Clippers in Los Angeles.  The team knew that they needed to get a win or 2 right away because the back end of the trip was much more difficult with games against 5 teams with winning records.

So – after dropping the 1st 2 games against the Warriors and Clippers with lackluster performances, it looked like the Bulls might go winless on the trip.  But then the improbable happened – the Bulls defeated the Suns in Phoenix, the Rockets in Houston and the Spurs in San Antonio.  If the Bulls can win one more game on the road trip, they will match the total number of wins that the Bulls had on the road in the first 3 1/2 months of the NBA season – 4.  Pretty incredible.

Now that they have Bulls fans believing again, I’m sure they’ll find a way to crap the bed against the Thunder in Oklahoma City and the Hornets in New Orleans to finish the road trip a “successful” 3-4.

The recent keys to success have been the dominating play of Derrick Rose and the consistent play of Luol Deng.  In the last game before the road trip, Rose scored 37 points to lead the Bulls to a double-overtime win against the lowly Wizards.  Since then, Rose has scored 19, 23, 32, 20 and 27 points respectively, and his average is now up to 19.6 points per game.  Throw in a 5.9 assist average and a 3.7 rebound average, and you can see that Rose is getting better with each game.  Rose has also limited himself to just a 2.6 turnover average on the current road trip, an excellent stat for a 2nd year player still learning the NBA game.

Luol Deng is the picture of consistency for the Bulls during the 2009-2010 NBA season.  Deng is averaging 17.5 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game.  Since a November 19th loss at the Lakers in which Deng scored just 6 points, he has scored in double-digits in every game save for 3.  Deng too has been limiting his turnovers and his renewed energy around the boards has Bulls fans salivating.

A final piece to the puzzle has been the consistent play of Joakim Noah.  Noah is averaging 12.1 rebounds per game – a fabulous stat in and of itself.  But the more telling stats are his minutes – 33:06 per game – and his scoring – 11.3 points per game.  Noah has fouled out of only 1 game all season long so he is contributing crunch time and giving his coaches the ability to use him during all parts of the game.

With these 3 players proving their worth over the long NBA season so far, if I were one of the big free agents looking to make a move following the 2010 season, I would seriously consider the Bulls.  Especially for a Chris Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire, being able to play next to Noah on a nightly basis would elevate each player’s games to no limit.  As long as President John Paxson and GM Gar Forman can get rid of Vinny Del Negro before the end of the season (or shortly thereafter) so that a free agent player will know that he has a legitimate NBA coach leading the way, I would think that the Bulls should be able to land one of the big free agents in the class of 2010…

Tags: Amar'e Stoudemire, Brad Miller, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Gar Forman, Joakim Noah, John Paxson, John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich, LeBron James, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Tyrus Thomas, Vinny Del Negro

Dave Matthews is back with a big summer tour

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | Concerts | No Comments

Dave Matthews is back with a full summer tour for 2010 and we have all the dates. Check them out below.

Tags: 2010 Tour, Dave Matthews Band

The National 2010 tour, not doing a lot of shows

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | Concerts | No Comments

The National has announced their 2010 US tour and they are online playing eight cities and nine shows as of right now. The band has blowing up in the last few years and their fan base has grown a lot. The biggest show of this tour being the June 16 NY Radio City Hall show will be a show that a true fan cannot miss, since the band is from Brooklyn. The National was formed in 1999 and its lead singer Matt Berninger has a distinctive deep voice. Its a band you must check out if you are not familiar with them and their sound. Check out the full world tour dates below.

JUNE

02 JUNE: BOSTON, MA – HOUSE OF BLUES
05 JUNE: PHILADELPHIA, PA – ELECTRIC FACTORY
06 JUNE: WASHINGTON, DC – DAR CONSTITUTION HALL
08 JUNE: TORONTO, CANADA – MASSEY HALL
16 JUNE: NEW YORK, NY – RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

Tags: 2010 Tour, The national

Brett Favre is done with football again

Monday, January 25th, 2010 | General, NFL | No Comments

Brett Favre said today that his return for another season is “highly unlikely” ESPN reported today. “but it has been an awesome  year,” the Vikings quarterback told ESPN. Favre didn’t say he was 100% that he was making the decision to retire once again, but he did say it wouldn’t take long for him to make up his mind. Favre said after throwing for 310 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. “Physically and mentally. That was pretty draining. I am gong to go home, a couple of days and just talk it over with the family.”

Favre took a pretty big beating in last nights game as he walked up to the podium, he had an abrasion between his eyes and welts on his forehead.  He also had to get pulled out of the game after a hit by Bobby McCray that left Favre thinking his ankle was broken, but he walked it off to finish the game.  Now we have the Colts and Saints going to the Super Bowl which should make for  great game.

Tags: Brett Favre

Indianapolis Colts v. New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV

Monday, January 25th, 2010 | Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Sports | No Comments

The Indianapolis Colts will play the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on Sunday, February 7th.  It will be a showdown between arguably the best Quarterback of All-Time – 4-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning – and Drew Brees the leader of the NFL’s top offense during the 2009-2010 NFL season.  With both defenses being good and underrated, it shapes up to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls in recent years.

The Colts dismantled the New York Jets 30-17 in the AFC Championship Game yesterday in Indianapolis.  Although the Jets jumped out to a 17-6 2nd quarter lead behind the arm of Mark Sanchez, you just knew that the Colts would come back to win after Manning hit Austin Collie for a touchdown pass with less than 2 minutes to go before the 1st half ended.  The 2nd half wasn’t even close as the Colts strolled to an easy victory.

The Saints outlasted the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in Overtime in the NFC Championship Game yesterday in New Orleans.  As much as you’d like to say that the Saints “earned” the victory, you can’t help but wonder how the game would have turned out IF the Vikings didn’t commit 5 turnovers and IF any of the 3 questionable on field calls that were reviewed in the overtime period went against the Saints instead of for the Saints.  My guess is that we’d be seeing Brett Favre battling Manning for the Super Bowl title in 2 weeks.

We’ll have more on each Conference Championship Games in the coming days.  There were so much to digest and analyze there and we don’t want to burn out too soon with overblown Super Bowl coverage…

Tags: Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Mark Sanchez, Peyton Manning

Vikings, Saints to Battle in NFC Championship Game on Sunday

Sunday, January 24th, 2010 | Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments

The Minnesota Vikings will battle the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game at 7PM EST on Sunday, January 24th.

The Minnesota Vikings will try to establish a running game early with Adrian Peterson.  Peterson has not rushed for over 100 yards since Week 10 against the Detroit Lions when he rushed for 133 yards.  It has been a “down” year for Peterson (1,383 yards rushing compared to 1,760 yards rushing a year ago), but his ability to score in the red zone (18 TD’s this year compared to just 10 a year ago), that makes him so deadly.  Brett Favre has also performed at an optimum level all season long – 107.2 QB Rating, 68.4% completion percentage; 4,202 yards passing, 33 TD’s and just 7 interceptions (his lowest total ever as a full-time starter).  With a consistent 2-headed attack from Favre and Peterson, the Vikings will always be able to stay in games.  The one negative is a .500 record on the road this season.  There only 4 wins on the road were against the Browns, Lions, Rams and Packers.  Not a good sign going into the a tough place to play like the SuperDome.

The Saints are primed and ready to advance to the Super Bowl.  Drew Brees has been firing on all cylinders all season long – 109.6 QB Rating; 70.6% completion percentage; 4,388 yards passing, 34 TD’s and just 11 interceptions.  He has multiple weapons – Jeremy Shockey, Marques Colston and Reggie Bush out of the backfield – so they are tough to defend. Reggie Bush really re-invented himself last week against the Arizona Cardinals – 43-yard rushing touchdown, 83-yard punt return for a TD, 84 rushing yards and 24 receiving yards.  If Bush can play at that same level against the Vikings this week, the Saints are going to light up the scoreboard much to the delight of their home town New Orleans fans.

Although I think Brett Favre will give it all he has in the NFC Championship Game, I think the Saints will have a little too much fire power on their own home turf for the Vikings to overcome.  With the resurgence of Reggie Bush to complement Pierre Thomas, it’s just another weapon on offense that teams have to scheme for.  I’m going with a Saints Colts Super Bowl in Miami in 2 weeks…

Tags: Adrian Peterson, Bernard Berrian, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush