No Bright Shining Line
I listen to football players defending bounties and it reminds me of fraternity brothers defending hazing or hockey insiders defending fighting. As a football fan I expect my team to hurt “our” opponents, not injure them. Unfortunately, there is no bright shining line separating the two, only broad fuzzy ones.
The instant you start thinking that outsiders just don’t understand is the instant that you need to start looking for that broad fuzzy line. Because you have started to think that the mores of your group of insiders trump the mores of the world you live in.
And trust me, they don’t.
How the Mighty have Fallen
My Connecticut dead-tree edition of the New York Times has no mention of yesterday’s Stanford – Notre Dame football game. Not even a line listing the score in the Scoreboard.
I knew Notre Dame football was slipping off the radar, but I didn’t realize how far the process had progressed.
ZonalMarking
If you’re following the World Cup, then you need to follow ZonalMarking. I look forward to the match analysis after each game. The tactical analysis may appear a bit deep, but it is quite approachable.
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.