Zoom Zoom: Play With Water, You Get Wet?

NASCAR fans who read this column will be forgiven for feeling smug this morning as I write of an F1 race that had to be stopped because of rain; only a month ago I took a shot at NASCAR for ending their crown jewel race due to a rainshower. What goes around...

The Malaysian GP was stopped with 32 of 56 scheduled laps to go. What made this particular red flag situation unacceptable is that F1's brain trust had decided to push the start time of the race an hour later to better accommodate European television viewership. This was done despite the objections of local officials, who argued that at this time of year, at that time of day, Kuala Lumpur almost always receives a torrential downpour. I guess we notch this up as another feather in Bernie Ecclestone's cap.

What we were left with was another win for Jenson Button, followed by Nick Heidfeld of BMW and Timo Glock of Toyota. If you don't follow F1 closely, those are not household names. Ferrari once again was left pointless, and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished 7th (I wonder what rule FIA will invoke to strip of his points this week?). Because the race was stopped with less than 3/4 of the race finished, only half the usual points were awarded.

The saddest part of the whole situation is we had a great race going. There was a number of exciting battles on the circuit, notably a fight between Lewis Hamilton and Mark Weber that saw them switch position four or five times within a few laps. The threat of rain was making some teams lose their minds, as when Ferrari sent Kimi Raikonnen out on the track on "extreme wet" tires, even though not a drop had yet fallen. Three laps later, when the rain finally started coming down, the tires were shredded and he had to pit again. Good times.

Two races down in the calendar, and trends are starting to develop:

- Brawn GP is for real. Button qualified on the pole again, and Barrichello was fourth. Two straight wins for the team means they are the ones to beat until other teams find a way to improve their front wing, which is generally being credited for their quick start.

- Ferrari are hurting. Yes, I know they generally get out to a slow start, but this is different. They look terrible out there. If things don't shape up soon, I predict heads are gonna roll.

- Williams-Toyota are fast (in practice). It looks like the car is quick, and Niko Rosberg is putting down some really fast times in practice and qualifying, but they don't see to have the car where it needs to be to compete for the Championship. Don't be surprised if they pull off a couple of wins, though.

- Lewis Hamilton is one of the best drivers in the world. That much is becoming clear this season. Sure he won a Championship last season, but this year he doesn't have a car. Kovalainen isn't even in the same galaxy when you look at what each driver is getting out of that "bagnole".

The next stop is the Chinese GP on the weekend of April 17-19. Judging by the first two races, you don't wat to miss it.

The Twit: Sick As A Dog Edition

Alright, considering it's been over a week since my last true post, I'll bring you up to date, Twitter style, on the subjects that caught my attention during that time, in 140 characters or less (I promise to break that last rule a few times).

• The viewing of the 12 Hours of Sebring was a success, even though the race was surprisingly boring. Too few battles, only 3 cautions (which allowed the field to get very spread out). Father-in-law said he loved it, though, so it was a success in that sense.
  
• Hats off to Curt Schilling, who retired after a remarkable career. I don't care whether or not the bloody sock was a put-on: it worked and added to a magical World Series run in 2004. Another favourite Schilling moment: draping a towel over his head every time Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams pitched in the 1993 World Series, unable to watch. His gut feeling was right, it turns out ("Touch 'em all, Joe!!").
• Lots of back and forth about Montreal Canadiens ownership issues. I'm not convinced Gillett is serious about selling his sports assets. Just a gut feeling, but I think he might be genuine when he says it's simply an evaluation of assets and has no intention selling his stakes in Canadiens, NASCAR and Liverpool FC.
• Great post over at Out of Left Field about the Rapidz suing the Can-Am league and the City of Ottawa. The only thing I'll say in defence of the Zipperheads is that they were hard done by the City for quadrupling stadium fees from $250,000 to $1,000,000 for the upcoming season, making the whole venture unsustainable. It's no secret as a baseball fan and player that the City of Ottawa is waging a war against the sport to squeeze it out of the landscape.
• WBC crown stays with Japan for another four years. For some reason the magic that surrounded the original WBC failed to materialize this time around. Haven't put my finger on the cause, but expect a full WBC post-mortem on these pages in the coming weeks.
  
• Toronto FC starts the season undefeated! Great win in Kansas City and a plucky effort for the draw in Columbus, where 1,500 TFC fans made the trip. When's the last time 1,500 fans of a Canadian professional sports team travelled to the rival city to cheer on their team? Probably last season, again when TFC played in Columbus. Come on soccer less-than-enthusiasts, GET ON THE BUS!
• Dale Mitchell was fired as Canadian Men's National team head coach. Another indicator of the Canadian Soccer Association's incompetence: the man had driven the team into the ground during World Cup qualification despite our most talented team ever taking the pitch. The last game of that effort was in November. The team hasn't played since. It took them four months to determine he hadn't done a good job? Pathetic. Shameful. Ladies and gentlemen, the Canadian Soccer Association.

And there you have it. Did I miss anything (keeping in mind that I will have a full post on both Tiger's comeback and the Austalian GP)?