And another thing...

One team down

The newly unified IndyCar world has already lost a team.

Gerald Forsythe, longtime CART and Champ Car owner, has announced he's shutting down his two-car team, because -- and here's an ominous note -- he can't secure proper sponsorship. Not sure what sort of omen this is, if any, but it does mean one thing: One of Champ Car's few name drivers, Paul Tracy, is out of a ride.

Luckily for Tracy, the merger will no doubt enable him to get work elsewhere in a hurry, the first clear benefit of the reunited open-wheel community. One series means more rides and more opportunity, theoretically -- though not if others are forced to follow Forsythe onto the sidelines.

Conclusion: The future of open-wheel, while brighter now, is still very much up in the air.

-- Ben Smith      

A giant passes

Forgive me a brief foray into inside baseball. But as I continually remind you folks, this Blob is my Blob.

And so a brief moment of silence, please, to mark the passing of sportswriting (I would simply say "writing") legend W.C. Heinz.

Heinz died in Montpelier, Vt., on Wednesday at 93, and if you never heard of him that's understandable, because he never wrote for the bulwark publications. He always seemed to have either the gift or curse for doing his best work for publications that were either obscure, failing or both.

That didn't mean he was any less a giant, however. Even in his own time, he was recognized by his peers as the best of a legendary lot. Lyric and exquisitely cadenced, what Heinz wrote was less sportswriting than literature-on-the-run.

Space and my own aversion to going on and on until I bore you all to death prohibits me from adding much more. But just as an example of Heinz's work, check out his feature on the death of hard-luck boxer Al "Bummy" Davis, "Brownsville Bum," anthologized in the 1999 release Best American Sportswriting of the 20th Century. It's widely regarded as perhaps the best sports feature ever written.

-- Ben Smith   

Hoopsland security

I guess you can file this one under "Welcome to The World, 2008."

According to the Associated Press, Indiana University has added extra security details around president Michael McRobbie's office and on-campus residence, though McRobbie doesn't live there. This is in response to the resignation of basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

No specific threats have come down on McRobbie, campus police officials say. And no one really expects any.

But we do live in a world where wackos with guns periodically burst into college classrooms and start pulling the trigger, so it's hard to see the extra security as an overreaction. Especially on a campus where, when Bob Knight was fired as basketball coach, they had to break out the riot gear when thousands of students stormed the residence of then-president Myles Brand.

Ain't perspective great?

-- Ben Smith

Oden for Barack

This just in: Greg Oden of the Portland Trail Blazers has publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president.

I don't know about you, but I think this pretty much sews up the White House for Obama.

-- Ben Smith

Apocalypse now

OK, it's official now. The end times are upon us.

The chief executive officer of the Tribune Company, Sam Zell, said today he wouldn't blink twice over selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field.

The man should be shot.

Then he should be flogged.

(OK, so not LITERALLY. Geez, people, don't you recognize hyperbole when you see it?).

But, still. Imagine, someday soon, going to a Cubs game at Geico Park at Wrigley Field.

Yuck.

-- Ben Smith

Freak show

BLOOMINGTON -- And while I'm waiting ... I see where uber-boxer Floyd Mayweather is scheduled to take on some 7-foot freakazoid called "Big Show" in the next WWE Wrestlemania, reportedly for a cool $20 million.

Couple of thoughts about that.

1. Considering this is professional boxing we're talking about, I don't really think Mayweather is demeaning himself for a cheap sideshow. I mean, it's boxing vs. wrestling. That's pretty much a tie in the sideshow department.

2. If you think Mayweather's really gonna get $20 mill for this gig, I've got some nice oceanfront property in Nebraska you might want to look at. Lovely Pacific views, dirt cheap. Really.

-- Ben Smith

Warning sign?

BLOOMINGTON -- Down here for IU-Ohio State, and I just saw something in USA Today that, from Indiana's standpoint, ought to be accompanied  by the "Jaws" soundtrack.

Apparently the NCAA is re-considering how it metes out punishment. As in, there's a body of thought within the organization that it's not being tough enough on major trangressors.

Nothing's decided yet, obviously -- knowing how the NCAA moves on policy, the deciding will no doubt take awhile -- but if the organization has entered into some sort of swagger mode, it couldn't come at a worse time for Indiana. Being under the microscope for alleged violations that may or may not be major is not where you want to be when the NCAA decides it needs a hit or two of testosterone.

Here's hoping the Hoosiers dust Ohio State tonight. God knows they need a break or two.

-- Ben Smith

Late for the party

NASCAR Post Ahead ...

Remember yesterday, when I said it was a tossup whether the NASCAR Auto Club 500 would finish before the Oscars did?

Oscar won by a mile.

Sixteen or so hours after the Coen brothers and "No Country For Old Men" cleaned up in Hollywood, Carl Edwards finally brought an end to a NASCAR event that lasted so long Fox was threatening to make a miniseries out of it. Rained out Sunday -- NASCAR finally gave up at 11 p.m. PST after a five-hour rain delay, which was five hours and change after they should have given up on it -- the race resumed at 1 p.m. EST Monday.

And by the time Edwards took the checkers under caution, the post-Oscar parties were long over and Daniel Day-Lewis was still trying to figure out where he left his Oscar for best actor.

(OK, so not really. But wouldn't it be great if Oscar were like the Stanley Cup, and people were forever leaving it somewhere?).

-- Ben Smith

Waiting game

NASCAR/Oscars Post Ahead:

(And how many times are you gonna see THAT combination?).

Flipping back and forth between the Academy Awards and the NASCAR race, and I see the NASCAR race has been delayed by rain yet again, 86 laps into the 250-lap event. At this rate it's a tossup as to which we'll find out first -- who wins the race or whether "Juno" will win best picture.

An Oscar update: Javier Bardem just won best supporting actor for "No Country for Old Men."

In a merely coincidentally related development, NASCAR has officially changed the name of the Auto Club 500 to "No Way We're Gonna Get This Sucker In Until We're All Old Men."

-- Ben Smith

Bass master

And now, because this is a full-service Blob, today's Rugged Outdoors Guy Moment:

Congrats to veteran angler Alton Jones, who won the most prestigious tournament in bass fishing today, the Bassmaster's Classic. Read about it here.

Or not.

-- Ben Smith