America's Cup Returns
All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, …
John Masefield
I am not a sailor. But I have always found the time to follow the America’s Cup Defense. It was a lot more difficult this time. No trials to select a challenger. No coverage on ESPN. I ended up following the Cup via the New York Times.
And now I’m watching a rerun of the deciding race via the 33rd America’s Cup web site.
Colts 34 - Saints 24
The good thing about this game is that I don’t have strong ties to either team, so I can just enjoy the game.
The bad thing is that I’m torn about who to root for. On the one hand, I think that Peyton is the best QB in the game and I’d like for him to get his second ring so that we can just put that argument to rest. And on the other hand, I’d like to see the Saints bring the Vince Lombardi trophy back to New Orleans.
This is a tough game to pick. The Colts are favored to win, but my brain trust feels that it will be close. I’d feel much better about the Saints if they had been here before. But I have a feeling that the Saints will suffer from the first time blues. So I’m going to break with the brain trust and pick the Colts to win by 10.
What American Sports could learn from Soccer
It’s the final day of the season. I need a flow chart to track the Bronco’s playoff hopes. The critical Bengals-Jets game doesn’t kick off until 8:30pm. And I wish that the NFL would pay a little more attention to the rest of the sports world.
- Relegation
- Promotion and Relegation relegates the worst teams in a division down to a lower division and promotes the best teams in that lower division up. Unfortunately, the US doesn’t have the minor leagues to make it work.
- Simultaneous Games
- In the 1982 World Cup, staggered starting times for the final day of group play meant that Germany and Austria started their match knowing a German victory by two goals or less would send both teams through. It wasn’t much of a surprise when the Germans went up 1-0 after 10 minutes and nothing much happened in the remaining 80 minutes of play. As a result, the final games in group play are now played simultaneously.
I’m sure that it would cost a pretty penny for the NFL to give up the final Sunday night game of the season. But wouldn’t it be something if all the AFC games were played at the same time? Everyone would need to assume the worst and no one would be allowed to knowingly back into the playoffs.
You Gotta Believe
I didn’t think that the Penguins had it in them. The Red Wings were clearly superior in their first three home games. And I didn’t think the Penguins would be able to change things in game 7. But that’s why they play the game.
Hero of the Stanley Cup Final: Evgeni Malkin. He came up big after a virtual disappearance in last year’s Final.
Goat of the Stanley Cup Final: Marian Hossa. He walked away from a big contract offer from the Penguins for what he thought would be a better chance to hoist the cup. Instead he finds himself watching the team he spurned hoist the Stanley Cup.
Tierney goes to DU
This is a surprise:
I started following NCAA lacrosse in the early 90’s by sheer happenstance – I would return from my early morning Memorial Weekend tennis, turn on ESPN and find the semi-finals on Saturday and the finals on Monday. This was right around the time that Princeton started their run of 5 championships in 7 years and I became a casual fan of lacrosse in general and Princeton lacrosse in specific.
It would be great for lacrosse to expand out of its north-eastern roots to the rest of the country and I wish DU and Tierney good luck.
If I were a better man
If I were a better man, then I wouldn’t begrudge UConn its basketball success.
I’ll be rooting for Stanford tonight, because they’re my team. And they’re a big underdog to the top ranked, undefeated juggernaut from UConn.
But it isn’t UConn’s fault that the NCAA ignored Stanford’s #2 ranking in the polls and judged them only the 5th best team in the women’s tournament.
And it isn’t UConn’s fault that Stanford has regressed from a perennial favorite to a team that is underrated by the selection committee.
So I really don’t know why I was rooting for Michigan State over UConn last night.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out
Maybe it is karmic payback for Elway forcing a trade from Baltimore to Denver back in 1983.
Maybe Josh McDaniels was just too green and too insecure to handle this first crisis as a NFL head coach.
Maybe agent Bus Cook saw an opportunity to rewrite a cap-friendly rookie contract to favor his player [and himself].
Maybe Jay Cutler needs to grow up and realize that this was business not personal.
But one thing is for sure – Jay Cutler is now a Bear not a Bronco. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.