Sleeping in

It's a sleepy summer day here at Daytona International Speedway. Except it's not summer, and -- sports writers aside -- things aren't all that sleepy here, either.

There was a large military presence at the gate to the infield tunnel this morning. By large, of course, I mean a man who stood over 6 feet tall and looked like he worked out a little here and there. And by military presence, I mean that he was on the grounds wearing aviator sunglasses, a black T-shirt and olive drab cargo pants tucked into his calf-length boots.

You know it's going to be a "big" news day when you see Bobby Hamilton Jr. walking out of the infield media center here at the race track -- well, I mean, I almost saw him. Actually, all I saw was some short-cropped blonde hair bouncing along about chest high on a group of people of average height. I'm assuming it was Hamilton. They followed that up with a press conference from ESPN on-air personalities talking about NASCAR-related programming on the network in 2008.

Call me crazy, but I have a hard time figuring out why one media outlet is allowed to preach about how wonderful it is to a bunch of other media outlets who are trying dilligently to pour coffee and Diet Coke down their caffeine-deprived gullets while aimlessly checking e-mails and lunch schedules.

If ESPN can do it, why can't I?

"Mr. Barrett, we've scheduled your presser for 11:45 p.m. this evening. Please be on time..."

Hard to complain about the weather, but heavy rains throughout the night combined with that early-arriving central Florida sunshine to turn this flatland into an aquarium. I waited for my wife to ask how the weather was before I told her it was terrible -- almost 80 degrees before 10:30 a.m. and high humidity. How much humidity? I carried a 2 sheets of paper with me out to the garage area this morning, stood out there for less than an hour and came back with them soggier than a dollar bill that just went through a dunk tank.

And then she laughed at me, reminding me that it was still snowing -- again -- another typically unpleasant central Maine winter day.

What can I really say? I'm perpetually grumpy -- but, then again, regular visitors here figured that out by, like, my 3rd post last June.