Tom Talks

Physics 101: Luge column sank fast

What I take away from the winter Olympics are a collection of e-mails from physics teachers who tell me my contention that a heavier rock gets to its destination faster than a small rock is wrong.

I evoked that theory in a column about the Olympics and luge. My thinking was that if you put a big guy on a sled he'll get to the bottom of the hill, and the finish line, faster than a small guy. And to prove my theory I added that if I drop a big rock off a roof and you drop a small one, my rock lands first.

The laws of science apparently disagree. I know we studied the phenomenon in school, and I know that at the time the big rock would land first. The laws of science apparently are as plyable as the laws of NASCAR. Maybe things have changed. If so, I blame global warming.

At Daytona International Speedway, I replicated the experiment. The speedway set up a buffet in the media center. Once the food was arranged, a voice came over the sound system notifying the media that lunch was served. Nobody had a head start. We all left at the same time.

And guess what? The big guys landed at the buffet line first. The small guys landed last. By the time I filled my plate, it was almost dark.

Different crowd on display at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. - Daytona International Speedway attracts a less conventional crowd than any other track. The crowd is younger, fans wear shirts that don’t bear a picture of a car and men are more likely to dye their hair blond.

A trip through the infield is telling. I walked past 250 motor homes and trailers but didn’t trust my math and walked back in the other direction and counted again. It came out to 255.

I also counted on those vehicles more than 600 flags or banners. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had by far the most, more than triple anybody else, and Dale Earnhardt, who died at this track five years ago, was second. The third most popular banner was, Feed Your Hungry Driver Ragu. Somebody went door to door in the infield Wednesday and handed out the yellow flags.

Another flag said Iowa, one said England, one said New England Patriots and a sign said St. Cloud, Minn. I got my first newspaper job there.

On a motor home with an LSU flag and an It’s All Good banner came Cajun music, soft and beautiful. About 100 yards away an older fellow stood by himself listening to Detroit R & B.

You know what was absent?

Confederate flags. How many do you think there were? Again, there were at least 600 flags or banners. Pick a number.

I saw four. Not 400, but four, and two were on one trailer. The times they are a changing, at least in Daytona.

Officials not reason for Steelers, Duke success

It ought to be an interesting few weeks, with the Daytona 500 and CIAA tournament coming up.

I used to go to the CIAA every year. Glad we finally get it in Charlotte. If you want to see folks who are true to their schools, spend some time in downtown -- I will never call it uptown -- Charlotte.

But before we move ahead, there is some unfinished business with which to contend.   

Officials did not cost Seattle Super Bowl XL. Pittsburgh did get almost every marginal call. But officials did not give Big Ben eight seconds to find a receiver on third-and-forever. Officials did not enable Fast Willie to run 75 yards for a touchdown. Officials did not call the play on which Randle El took the handoff and threw the perfect pass to Hines Ward.   

Officials are not the reason Duke rules ACC basketball. When the Tar Heels ruled, they got most of the calls. Officials are influenced by sustained success. At some level they think, would a Blue Devil commit a dumb foul such as that? Just as the champ usually wins the marginal rounds in boxing, the top teams usually get the marginal calls in basketball.   

The Florida Marlins are not coming to Charlotte. I wrote that in November. Only the name of the team changes. Some team gets desperate for a new stadium or love, they invoke Charlotte. How do you think a Major League Baseball team would draw here on a weeknight against a nondescript opponent? How do the Bobcats draw on weeknights? How do you think the Panthers would draw on Tuesday against San Francisco?    

Let's review. The officials didn't beat Seattle. Pittsburgh did. Duke gets calls, but that's the unofficial prerogative of the top teams. Major League Baseball is not coming to Charlotte, although if we're smart, we'll build a stadium downtown to accommodate a minor league (minor league is not a bad word) team. Daytona Beach and the CIAA await.

Detroit put on a fine Super Bowl

DETROIT - There’s a police boat on the Detroit River that appears to be armed with machine guns. At least, from a distance they look like machine guns. Let’s get a closer look, because I swear the police boats on Lake Norman don’t have machine guns. Yes, the boats on the Detroit River have machine guns.

"They’re telescopes," says the woman sitting next to me on the People Mover.

So the telescopes in Detroit come with triggers?

"I live here," she says. "And if you write that they’re machine guns, people will get the wrong idea about Detroit."

Here’s my idea about Detroit. The city did a beautiful job with Super Bowl XL. People are friendly, which in the Midwest never is a surprise. There are great places to eat and drink, ethnic neighborhoods, and old, ornate buildings that managed not to be torn down.

Jacksonville also was friendly last year. But the city was overwhelmed because there weren’t enough taxis, roads or restaurants. Detroit has not been overwhelmed.

Getting a taxi Saturday night, however, was an adventure. At least 75 people waited in front of the Marriott Hotel at the Renaissance Center, and with cabs having trouble getting around because of closed roads, the wait was as long as an hour.

My son was in a cab coming toward downtown Detroit, so I called the driver and asked if we could meet him downtown, since he didn’t want even try to maneuver through the closed roads to the Marriott. So three of us ran through the snow, slipping and sliding, trying to find the cab in the middle of a busy street.

"Do you see the white limo? We’re behind the white limo," my son said through a shaky cell phone connection. I think that’s what he said. We ran down the street, saw a white limo, but there was no cab behind it. Half a block later we found another white limo and this time there was a cab behind it and we jumped in.

Here’s friendly. There’s no way a cab was going to come to the little Italian restaurant to take us back to the hotel, so our waiter volunteered.

No cold will keep me from all this hard work

DETROIT - On the desk are the usual tools - laptop, micro-cassette recorder, cell phone, notebook with terrible handwriting and a pen. Today there is a bonus: a vial of pills prescribed by a friendly suburban Detroit doctor who was willing to see me on short notice.

I hate being sick. Some women do and all guys do. Because I’m not good at being sick I try to avoid it. I can’t remember the last time I called in sick, not because I’m stoic but because I had evolved beyond illness.

At least, that’s what I thought. But the cold I caught after Carolina’s playoff victory against New York, which is more than what New York’s receivers caught that day, will not go away. And every day this week it has become worse.

So I went to the folks that serve as an intermediary between the media and Detroit, and they found me the doctor, and after doing interviews in Seattle’s hotel, I took a taxi to the doctor, whose office is near 8-mile.

He says I have bronchitis and maybe a virus. Bronchitis is an ailment that means you go through a lot of tissue and make obnoxious noises.

The doc gave me a shot and a prescription for a bottle of Codeine-laced cough syrup, which means I can’t take it until I finish working, and pills the size of little loaves of bread.

What am I going to do, call in sick up in Detroit? Our columnist went to the Super Bowl and all he brought back was germs.

Detroit is a blue-collar town, although for a blue-collar town it sure is full of theaters and art and fashion. And I’m a blue-collar guy. I mean, I drink my latte with skim milk - keep your fancy flavor shots - and I drink my chardonnay straight from the glass. And I work when I have bronchitis.
Have to go. There’s some cough syrup calling my name.