Technology Washes Down devout Racing Fan, again...

As once again the World Wide Web Thingy' leaves me Fuming...

Ah, the Joys of being a Blind Vurd' Botcherer trying to follow multiple racing series thru Zed Internetz', which after spending over an hour's time trying to figure out another "Back Door" to listen to the HAPO Columbia Cup live, left me saying FU H1 Unlimited!

Low Vision Racer

As I'd planned on originally publishing the Tri Cities Water Follies HAPO Columbia Cup Wrap I'd spent copious hours upon all last week, but was so pissed off! Thinking I'll just let the floundering series wallow some more...

Woke up early to investigate when Sunday's Indy Lights race would be broadcasted via the IMS Radio Network, for which I hadn't tuned into any Lights action since watching; Err listening to the Iowa broadcast on Peacock-lite, nee NBCSN, with Jake "The Riddler" Queiry and Anders "the Viking!" Krohn in the Booth I believe, since it was so long ago.

Alas, I suppose in a sign of things to come for the day's participation upon Zed Internetz', while I was happy to hear Nicky Salt' Yeoman's voice, for some lame reason, thou Youtube channel's "Webcast" Dumped immediately during the command to fire engines; SIGH!

As this would be the first of four FREAKIN' occurrences of the Youtube channel player going "DARK" during the race; URGH!

Although I did chuckle to myself how the programme Dumped once whilst Michael "Hot Tamale" Young was SCREAMING profusely over a pass for the lead, BLOWING 'Dem Off Air; Hya!

As it was a pretty decent race, and I enjoyed hearing the unfamiliar voice of France's next IndyCar driver; Wee-Wee? Atop the podium, albeit I did listen to Nico Jamin's inaugural victory Wayback at thee Barber's, or was it the Indy GP instead?

As the finish was far more gripping since the Top-2 Drivers weren't impeded by any Silly Backmarkers! a la Esteban Gutierrez; Ariva-Ariva-Ariva! With Santi' (Urrutia) harrying Jamin all the way to the line, with the Uruguayan being disappointed, whilst Shelby Blackstock came home third, his first podium finish of the year.

And since I was having Mucho Grande fantastico with my wobbly Internetz' connections, albeit I'd already planned on watching; Err listening to the B-I-G BOYZ' Indy Cars race on Thy Telie', the live broadcast on CNBC, where Jay's Back, in case Y'all didn't know? "Get Yours!"

I found Kevin Lee much more palatable this weekend, albeit smiling the entire weekend over his major Gaff during the Qualie' broadcast regarding Will Power not making the Fast Six Shootout...

As I finally figured out who's SCREAMING Kevin reminded me of; OH NO! MR. BILL! Of Saturday Night Live Fame...

Yet I sat Thar  in my Easy Chair smilin' broadly, Oh-pinin' to Thyself over how do you follow-up 'Ol R's, aka Robin Miller's Zany Grid Shuffle  antics? As I'm still chucklin' over the Voo-Du Robin put upon the unsuspecting? Max Chilton, who tried coming back at Robin, but seemed to be playing along.

Although it's somewhat telling to me, that I found this to be one of the brighter parts of the race!

As Miller gave Chilton grief over his impending marriage by first giving him a Josef Newgarden Colouring Book for Kids! Followed by a Cooking for Dummies book, saying how he knew Max couldn't boil a cup 'O water; Hya!

followed by some more witty banter and then Somme-thun' about his future wife wanting a Dog. As I couldn't see what Miller handed him?

As in Kevin Lee's words, Josef  STUD! Newgarden put a Beat Down upon the IndyCar grid! Although the STUD! Moniker is my own, for which perhaps I understand the nausea caused by silly nicknames. As I  too find Paul Tracy's "slick Willy P" and "Joey New-Gibe" obnoxious...

Then I'd hoped to tune into the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane race from the Tri Cities around 4PM Pacific for the finale, yet I simply couldn't SEE how to make the multiple websites I visited FUCKING work!

Yeah, I'm gonna use the word FUCKING! Which I don't understand why it's gotta be Bleeped Out these days? Since I was able to discern that Daniel Ricky' Ricciardo's In-car transmission after the team confirmed Is that who I think it was? Snarled FUCKING Sore Loser! In regards to team-mate Max Verstappen clouting him on Lap-1!

As the H1 Unlimited Homepage directed me to some wackoid Yakima NBC website for which I could never SEE where the Listen Live link or Youtube channel windows were! And the secondary SX Somme-thun-rudder website wasn't any better; CRAP!

Then I spent probably over a half hour trying to make the RETARDED KONA 610AM website come alive! As IT talked about leave Beta now, along with not letting me choose the FAO for Streaming NOT Working link et al; SHIT!

Even tried going to the Madison, Indiana WORX  96.7FM website, which MORONICALLY kicked Yuhs back to the P.O.S. KONA 610AM website, so I was extremely PEEVED!

Thus, after an entirety, having left the IndyCar Post-race banter early, apparently I spent; Err wasted some hour and a half's plus time  struggling mightily to make stupid, non-Screen Reader friendly websites "Play!"

Since finally at 4:35PM, the Tri Cities Herald posted the Breaking News story telling the winner of the Columbia Cup race.

Alas, I never got to listen to the live call of the HAPO Columbia Cup, for which Can You Hear Me Now Mark "I've Got A Plan" Miles! I do NOT wanna try listening to Indy Cars being live streamed on some Puka' Smartfone App!

As I settled back down into the Easy Chair in Thy living room for the F1 Replay at 6:30PM Pacific, I was quite pleased that I could simply pick up my TV Remote, turn it on and viola! Thars' Leigh Diffey squawking at me

No Fuss, No Muss! Which Ain't exactly what thee Iceman' Kimi Raikkonen was saying, since there's just something really WRONG that sticks in my Craw over the Formula 1 team's manipulating the winner's outcome of the race...

Although I'm still very surprised that Lewis Hamilton kept his word and let Valtteri Bottas back by for third place on the final lap of the race. Since it'll be funny if Hamilton loses the title to Vettel by three points, eh?

As The Blogger World Turns...

Isn't that the fearless Mr. Olson tirelessly poondin' away upon his trusty Smith Corolla typewriter in order to meet another Deadline? (Image source:  shutterstock.com)

Who was that Masked Man behind The Keyboard in his Mum's Basement?

Although I continuously mention how I'm Drowning in The Sea 'O Synchronicity, I find some strange bit of Serendipity in a fellow Card Carrying member of the IndyCar Blogger Brigade spouting off 'bout the Non deplume Blogger.

As ironically on the day I'd originally intended to publish my previous post about one certain IndyCar Announcer, or is that Sportscaster?

Instead, I sat upon posting my opinion on said Sportscaster a 'lil while longer, asking for somebody's opinion on whether or not I was too critical?

Meanwhile, someone else in thou Blogosphere was scribbling 'bout the term Bloggers in general, and the apparent ruckus one fine ex-ESPN Motorsports Journalist named John Oreovicz was stirring up in Toronto, by having the audacity to mock his apparent plight upon having been sacked by ESPN earlier this year.

Embracing the IndyCar Blogger Moniker

Yet this phenomenon, or topic isn't new, since it immediately made me Flashback to another Disjointed, put out-of-shape Journalist named Jeff Olson, then working for Racer Magazine, who took a meat cleaver to the then burgeoning ranks of us Vurd' Butchers Ja Volt! For which I penned my reply in the following No Fenders tome.

Beauty ‘N the Beast

Hence after initially reading of Messer Olson's attack upon us Bloggers festering on Zed Internetz' via Jeff Iannucci's first IndyCar Blog, the long ago, now defunct My Name Is IRL, (before his short lived "syndicated" Gig' at Versus...) along with becoming a Card Carrying member of the short-lived UOWWBA, aka United Open Wheel Word Butchers Association.

Alas, with my immersion into the world of blogging, and the countless hours I've devoted to this passion of melding my love of Open Wheel Racing and  Writing, albeit by NO stretch of Thy imagination do I perceive Thyself as a Professional Writer or Journalist! I found myself gravitating towards Trackside with Cavin & Kevin for the first time ever to tune-into  Blogger Night Wayback in Twenty-oh-Nine; CRIKEYS!

Night of the Living Bloggers

Whilst I subsequently reported on the following 3rd annual year's Blogger Night's escapades in;

Blogger Night – 2010 Edition

And then I actually participated on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Blogger Night on Trackside with Cavin & Kevin some five years ago; Aye Karumba!

Trackside shares the LUV' with Word Butcherers...

Then sometime over a year ago, or was it two? For reasons unknown, My Confuzer' would no longer let me listen to Trackside with Kevin and Cavin, for which I've gone without ever since Blindly trying once again this May and Shuhzamm! It suddenly worked again, although I've decided to stick to not listening anymore; but I digress...

As I struggle somewhat internally to not take it personally that I've never garnered a Shout Out from some of the Bloggeratzi', who don't think I'm worthy, eh? Which I suppose is partly due to my virtual Cornucopia of subjects ranging from F1, Indy Cars to Sports Cars, Tintops and in-between, along with a healthy dose 'O non-related racing topics; Hya!

As the Blogging landscape's changed vastly over the nearly eleven FREAKIN' years I've poured my Heartz' out here in Nofendersville! As many good Blogs have sadly disappeared over the years.

As I especially miss the Brassiness 'O Meesh' at So Here's What I'm thinking! Along with Pressdog's Snarkiness... Whilst at least Jeff Iannucci's returned with his One Lap Down (O.L.D.) website...

 And whilst I still slightly bristle over Ralph Sheheen's tawdry jab of calling us Keyboard Warriors, and Jeff Olson's swipe at us Word Botcherers. Along with the apparent Blogger stigma good 'Ol Oreo's (John Oreovicz) reinvigorated.

Nonetheless, I still stick firmly to my longstanding belief I typed over nine bloody years ago. That seriously! IndyCar needs  every single bit of press coverage it can muster up, be that Journalists, Reporters or Egads! Us lowly Bloggers! At least the types that do NOT masquerade as anythingy' else!

While this phenomenon isn't exclusive to Indy Cars either, since my favourite journalist, thou Grizzled Journo' Joe Saward has lamented  plenty about the very same subject on his side of thee puddle, nee Formula 1, constantly lamenting over the cadre of Cut 'N Paste Reporters. 

Whilst that colossus Amazon has done the same thing to the world of writers and traditional publishing houses with the advent of "on Demand" Book publishing!

Thus, while I suppose I'm rambling once again, and definitely have exceeded the typical number 'O words, i.e.; word count Here! Whils  my sentence structure's probably not corect, not to mention my grammar et al; Hya!

My point is that surely Thars' room for A-L-L of us in Open Wheel Racing land and the World Wide Web thingy'.

As hopefully we'll all continue supporting the Blogosphere, along with checking out any of the new endeavours, as you can look for them at: The IndyCar Blogs

And lastly, don't know if it still exists? But as Jeffy' once wrote; Err posted, Uhm blogged: "Have You Hugged a Blogger Today?"

More from thee Tomaso Blotter - Have You hugged a Blogger recently?

Hearing the Voices that Call IndyCar races...

Quiet on the Set, the Show's about to Begin! (Image source: alamy.com)

What's that Scott Dixon adage? If Yuhs got nothin' good to say, then, Uhm, Decline the Interview...

As a fellow member of the fairly miniscule IndyCar Bloggeratzi say's, as a Blogger I'm allowed to rant 'n rave with my personal opinions instead of being all Squeaky Clean like the professional Journalists are supposed to be.

And in what's a bit of feeling like another  of this elder Blogger's vocabulary, i.e.; "Get Off My Lawn!" While we seem to typically be on the same wave lengths, I'm just overly tired of his raising the flag for our current IndyCar lead announcer, and Hence, if he's going to pummel us to death with advocating for someone, then I'm gonna finally break cover and weigh in with my two-cents worth, especially since I've been keeping mum on the topic for nearly a year...

Now Don't get me Wrong! I've got absolutely nothing personally against Kevin Lee, who's always answered my emails and even spoken to Mwah once on the Airwaves, when letting me participate on Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee' during a past Blogger Night edition. Along with seeming to be a very nice person.

It's just that I don't believe he's the caliber of a lead announcer, as his voice gives me the creeps! Like fingernails screeching on a Blackboard! Especially when he gets excited, or trying to pump us U-P during the lead-in's and exit's to the countless commercial breaks.

Alas, perhaps I'm being too Harsh? But my viewing of Open wheel Racing is from a very distinct angle, since I'm visually impaired, Uhm what's that Mary Ellen? Oh yeah, I'm Freakin' Blind!

Thus basically I listen to motor racing when watching events on the Telie', and therefore the various Talking Heads tonal qualities are far more important to me in describing the action vs. the colour of their hair and what ties they're wearing...

Kevin Lee Bio

Now am I a professional TV Personality? NO! Nor do I have a degree in Journalism, instead just having attended the School 'O Hard Knocks by having been an avid Open Wheel Racing Aficionado for the past three decades.

As a 'Wee lad, I was introduced to the Indianapolis 500 by the voices of ABC Wide World of Sports luminary Sportscasters Jim McKay and Chris Schenkel, having never heard the iconic Sid Collins.

Then when I began following formula 1 and IndyCar, nee CART intensely, the two mainstay lead announcers were Bob Varsha and Paul Page, as Varsha will always be my Numero Uno lead announcer! While I've also become quite fond of Indy Cars last dedicated Fulltime lead announcer Bob Jenkins, who understandably retired from TV Broadcasting, but is still a joy to hear on the PA System at Mother Speedway during the Month of May.

So, what about Bob?

Thus, like my fellow Blogger, who's name I'm intentionally not mentioning here, I too believe that IndyCar needs a Fulltime, single dedicated lead announcer instead of the current revolving door policy, which seems partially intended to utilize contracted staff. But I just Don't think Kevin Lee's the right man for the job.

And while my first choice of the potential pool available would be Brian Till, this appears to not be an option, leading me to nominate Allen Best wick instead, who I believe is available now that ESPN let him go after Belle Isle's Double Header.

For years I've been purposely not tuning into the ABC portion of IndyCar races because I could NOT stand Eddie Cheever's Building block mentality with Scotty Somonex' Goodyear making me sleepy! Electing to listen to Mike "Yippee-Kai-Eh!" King and Davey Stud! Hamilton radio broadcasts instead.

And while I'm a big fan of Leigh Diffey's, this year's propensity of Formula 1 races occurring on IndyCar weekends has caused a scheduling nightmare for NBCSN, seeing Kevin filling-in for Diffey, causing me to revert back to listening to Mark Graveley' James & Davey Hamilton instead, when I'm able to spot the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny barely discernible Play triangle button on Indycar.com's Race Control webpage; but I digress...

As my main problem with Lee's voice is his feigned exuberance which comes off sounding overly Fake to me, spending countless hours mocking Kevin in a Bob Dylan Sing-song voice!

while my other critique is his dabbling into Formula 1, which he really comes across to me as just reading someone's script, as his gaff's seem overly large to Mwah, the last being completely missing Michael Schumacher's amazing 91 Grands Prix victory tally when gushing over Fernando Alonso at  Indianapolis - during his initial test outing.

Now do I want Kevin fired? Absolutely Not! As I find him to be a very competent Pitlane Reporter, who doesn't seem to scream as loudly as Michael Young does! But then again NOBODY DOES!

As I thought Kevin Lee may have settled down with his screechy exuberance when watching the 48min delayed airing of the tape-Delayed Toronto qualifying show on Peacock-lite Saturday.

Yet for reasons unknown, Kevin started shouting profusely over Simon Pagenaud being on Pole! Only Problema was it was the Fast-12 round preceding the Fast Six Shootout for Pole, which fortunately Pagenaud won.

As I'm resigned to the fact that apparently Kevin will become NBCSN's lead announcer for Indy Cars, especially since there will be 21 Grands Prix next year. For which I'd just like to say, why are you SCREAMING over Castroneves pass for the lead on Lap-1! As it was a great pass, but the race cannot be won on Lap-1, last time I watched a race.

As it's a weird struggle for Mwah, since my two favourite IndyCar voices are "Professor B," aka Jon Beekhuis who always does a stellar job on Pitlane. Along with PT', nee Paul Tracy in the booth, who I don't think ever screams!

But I really struggle listening to Kevin Lee, and have typically been defaulting to the IMS Radio Network's Internetz' coverage instead, since I can stomach Mark James far better, along with really enjoying Nicky Salt' Yeoman's reporting...

Yet by doing this, when I can SEE where the Bloody yellow-orangish on white background Play button is; Oh Never Mind! Is that I'm forced to forgo listening to Jon Beekhuis & Paul Tracy.

Along with the new Pitlane boy, "The Viking," aka Anders Krohn, who I'm very Hip upon! Not to mention the TV broadcast being interspersed with 'Ol 'R's, nee Robin Miller's wit and his Pit-walk shuffles.

As I understand the need to tune into the television broadcast, in order to pump up Indy Cars anemic TV Ratings, albeit my Mute Button sure gets a work out from the Bombardment of Commercials!

Yet I do appreciate how Kevin lay's out for long stretches a la Bob Jenkins to let the two drivers 'PT (Paul Tracy) and (Townsend) 'T-Bell "Jaw" profusely!

And I didn't find Kevin so disparaging during the second half of the broadcast once he seemingly relaxed. And I know he's a hard worker, who strives to improve, along with trying to fill "The big chair" of some pretty stellar past Sportscasters, so may be it's just my hearing, Eh? Since after all, Blind people have Super Powers; Hya!

As I'll leave Y'all with another of my long winded rants regarding various TV Sportscasters voices I penned awhile ago...

Hearing A Cavalcade 'O Voices over a Double Header weekend...