Thanks to the success of TV shows like Flip this House and Flip Men, people have been scooping up cheap properties for years in order to give them the ol’ quick fix and sell them for a profit. Take NASCAR star Jeff Gordon and his wife, model Ingrid Vandebosch, for example. In 2007, they purchased a three-bedroom apartment at Central Park West in New York City for $9.6 million and they are currently trying to sell it for the low-but-profitable price of… $30 million. Gee, for that much Ingrid better come with it. Just kidding, we don’t ever buy people.

According to the folks at Halstead Property, this place is worth every penny. All three billion of them. This 3,454-sq. ft. luxury apartment has been renovated top to bottom, as Gordon and his smokin’ wife installed all-new flooring throughout the home, as well as an enormous oak sushi bar in the living room.

Read the rest of this entry »

Danica Patrick was first woman to start on the pole at the Daytona 500, led a lap and finished in 8th place. That gave her the highest finish for a woman in the 500 and helped make that “Danica Patrick just immediately drives her car into everybody else’s cars because LOL” joke a little less accurate.

Here, she’s making a guest appearance in the “Shoot The Puck” contest during second intermission at Tuesday’s Chicago Blackhawks/Minnesota Wild playoff game, chatting loosely with Susannah Collins about how she’s only here to see the fights and then totally draining a shot from center-ice on her first try. It’s remarkable. It also reeks of beginners luck — her next three shots don’t come anywhere close to goal — but that complicates the narrative. Danica Patrick is SUDDENLY GREAT AT HOCKEY and we have to deal with that.

Video (with a nasty habit of autoplaying) is after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s very difficult to share a news story that starts with, “a man shot himself at the NRA 500,” and give it the proper gravity. A guy died, you know? That’s not funny.

At the same time, it’s so thematically notable that it makes sports bloggers feel like Oscar f**king Wilde, so we’ve got to talk about it. Here’s what happened at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night:

Fort Worth police have said a man who was camping in the infield died of a “self-inflicted injury” after getting into an argument with other campers. The incident happened late in the Sprint Cup race.

Police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight has said alcohol may have been a factor. Knight said several people witnessed the incident, but nobody was in danger.

Track spokesman Mike Zizzo say the death occurred “in or around a pickup truck” in part of the infield near the middle of the backstretch. (via AP)

I’ve read this a few times now, and aside from the obvious stuff (“guy shoots self at gun race”), the “in or around a pickup truck” part is hanging me up. My guess is that the track spokesman didn’t want somebody assuming the guy killed himself in a stock car or whatever, but at the risk of being assumptive and stereotypical, doesn’t EVERYTHING at a NASCAR race happen in or around a pickup truck? I say this as a proud, adoptive resident of Texas. “I bought some cotton candy in or around a pickup truck,” etc.

Predictably, not everyone believes a guy could shoot himself at an event sponsored by gun enthusiasts. Some folks are saying the story has been fabricated by the Elitist Liberal Media — Piers Morgan has already lost his shit about the NRA 500 a few times, and he pretty much does his show in a t-shirt reading “Elite Liberal Media” — so let’s jump over to YouTube and see what’s reasonable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, redemption is spelled P-A-I-G-E B-L-A-C-K, T-H-E F-O-R… sorry, I’m still stuck on Anchorman news. Paige Black is the former star of CMT’s “Sweet Home Alabama” – on which she was wooed by this hunk – but she was much more notably NASCAR’s Miss Sprint Cup who became momentarily famous in 2011 when her ex-boyfriend allegedly leaked nude pics of her online, because I’m told that there are some people who appreciate that kind of thing. Duke claimed at the time that she took the pictures six years earlier when she was a student at Clemson, and that they were meant to be a special, romantic thing between two young lovers.

The problem with that is college guys are a-holes and they’ll sell those pics the moment a girl breaks it off and especially if she becomes famous. I’m certainly not saying it’s right, it’s just a reality. But don’t worry about Duke, because two years later she has landed on her feet and she’s back in the good graces of NASCAR fans as the new Darlington Raceway “Lady in Black”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, rapper 50 Cent started our Monday off with a chuckle after video, GIFs, pictures, memes and whatever else hit these bloggywebbytubes, featuring the occasional rapper and hilariously awful actor trying to get some sugar with FOX reporter Erin Andrews. Of course, Mr. Curtis Jackson saw Andrews in the infield at Daytona 500 and he did what most frat boys have only dreamed of by trying to kiss her. Andrews dodged the kiss with her attractive, blonde, dancer ninja skills and the rest is GIFtory.

Obviously, Andrews has a well-documented history of problems with invasions of privacy, so while some of us laughed, others shook their fists in rage and said, “How dare you laugh, this poor woman is a victim.” But it turns out that Andrews wasn’t a victim and the whole thing was actually her fault. So I guess you all owe 50 Cent an apology now.

Read the rest of this entry »

Next Media Animation’s “Taiwan Animation” of the Daytona crash has all the absurdity and hyperbole you’d expect — fans being killed and turned into cheering ghosts, all the cars being Toyota Corollas because they don’t have a stock car stock animation, NASCAR literally erasing the video from YouTube — but the best part is easily the fact that nobody at NMA thought, “hey, it’s probably a bad idea to ask NASCAR fans what they think of this insulting, wacky parody video made by Asians.”

From the YouTube description:

As every NASCAR fan knows, you come for the crashes and stay for the races. But are NASCAR officials taking fan safety seriously enough?

NASCAR fans are stoic. Talk to any fan and they will admit to accepting some level of risk when watching the races live. Furthermore, the fine print on the back of admissions tickets would seem to absolve race officials of liability if fans are injured.

But despite the risks, are NASCAR officials doing enough to ensure no fan is ever hurt? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Predictably, NASCAR fans left their thoughts.

Read the rest of this entry »