Luck and Preparation

Not that Chad will ever see this, but just in case, I'd like to say, duuuude, you are so right!  You know how he's always saying you make your own luck?  I just had that illustrated to me in blindingly bright colors over the last three Red Wings games.  Yes, I'm talking about hockey again.  Sorry, it's taken over my brain.  So they're playing a best-of-seven game series against the San Jose Sharks, and there has been some epically bad officiating, and some epically bad luck for the Wings (Lidstrom's stick breaks, which leads to a Sharks breakaway, which leads to the game-winning goal for them...that kind of stuff).  They've lost all 3 games they've played so far.  Now, this hasn't been their best year ever, but I KNOW they can play better than they have been.  I do blame the reffing in part, but ya know what?  They needed to be prepared for that kind of stuff.  They needed to give themselves enough insurance so if they got a lame ref, or if their goalie had a bad night, or if Eaves got hurt and they had to put that #$% Williams in, it wouldn't cause them to fall to pieces.

THAT is why Jimmie and Chad are the masters of the universe.  Things go to hell in a handbasket at Texas?  No problem.  They've already won 3 Chase races and finished in the top 5 or 10 (probably the top 5...too lazy to look up the stats) in the others.  That allows them to concentrate on getting the car back out their as quickly and efficiently as possible and logging as many laps as possible, and then they can go on to the next race and kick some butt.  Which, of course, they did.

And I'm not trying to get down on the Red Wings here because I know playing to the level where you can have a little padding and leeway for errors is easier said than done.  For instance, you think you're doing pretty good going into the 3rd period with a 3-1 lead, and then all of a sudden the other team is tied up and you blow it in overtime.  You're never that far from trouble, whether it's an odd-man rush in hockey or The Big One at Talladega, and that just goes to show you just how very special the 48 team is.  They are prepared for everything, and when disaster strikes, they are composed enough to be able to take it in stride and go on to the next race knowing that everything is in place and ready for success.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the 48 team is lucky: because they put themselves in a position to be so.  And that is a really rare thing that I don't think enough race fans appreciate (including myself sometimes), even though Chad says it over and over.