New Year's Eve Daredevil

Only my son & I made it to midnight last night to see in the new year. Daughter was put to bed early in anticipation of a long night tonight at the Nashville Predators hockey game. Wife fell asleep on the couch around 10 PM never to return.

I've never enjoyed the NYE network shows - Dick Clark or anyone else who has taken his place. Bunches of people standing around in the cold in New York does not make for interesting television - nor do those terrible, awful, trendy musical "artist" they trot out annually. I always feel obligated; however, to watch the ball drop in Times Square because...well, just because. But again, its somewhat of a joke because the ball drops midnight eastern time, and we're in central time.

So for a change, I kept my eye on ESPN's much-hyped Robbie Madison motorcycle jump in Las Vegas. He raced up a long ramp, soared to the top of the 100 foot high replica Arc de Triomphe, landed perfectly, wheeled around, and then drove off the friggin' edge to free fall the 100 feet down to a landing ramp. Unbelievable.

I grew up as a big Evel Knievel fan. I got sucked in with the whole Snake River Canyon stunt, and I had my heart in my throat during some of those mega-crashes Evel had - especially at Wembley Stadium.



But this guy Robbie Madison - holy moley. It was much-hyped, but it was much-cool. I've been to Vegas and to the Paris casino resort. I've seen how high the Arc is, and to launch a bike to the top it and then drop back off of it is stunning.



TMC