The Year in 140 Characters (more or less)

Winners cheat.  Cheaters win.  Until they get caught.

Bounties had a place in the Old West, not in the modern-day NFL.

If you whine long enough about your sports franchise losing money and threaten to take your toys and play elsewhere, panicked government officials will give you a new stadium.

Jack Jablonski, what happened to you on the ice was not your fault.  But how can we miss you if the media won't leave you and your family alone?

NBC, we were not impressed with your London Olympics coverage.  But as long as the money and ratings poured in, you didn't care what we thought, so long as we watched.

We had to look up who won medals at the London Olympics.

Never sign two big-name free agents to your struggling hockey team with decade-long contracts when the NHL threatens to shut down its season due to a labor dispute.

Getting whacked on the head during a game is no longer a badge of honor.  It just makes you dizzy.

Replacement officials are no substitute for regular officials, whose livelihoods depend on making bad calls that can be corrected by instant replay.

The time that it took for Penn State to look the other way when one of its football coaches had his way with young boys, that will make it harder for the school to get their reputation back.

LeBron James took his talents to South Florida, and all that got him was an NBA championship.

In terms of Mannings winning Super Bowls, it is currently Eli 2, Peyton 1.

No one thought, with all their issues, the Minnesota Vikings would be relevant again after last season.  Then they started giving a miraculously-healed Adrian Peterson the ball . . .

Cold shooting at the wrong time during the WNBA finals proved fatal to the Minnesota Lynx' chances of winning a second title.

No one thought the Minnesota Twins would have a worse season than they did in 2011.  Until it happened again in 2012.

Rory McElroy may not be the next Tiger Woods, but he's getting there.  Meanwhile, Tiger himself has yet to restore the roar.

Where would women's tennis be without Venus and Serena Williams?

Will anyone outside Los Angeles still care about the Dodgers when Vin Scully finally hangs it up?

Olympic athlete by day.  High-priced call girl by night.  For Suzy Favor Hamilton, truth is stranger than fiction.

With Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, basketball fans no longer hold their noses when the Minnesota Timberwolves play.

Junior Seau, Alex Karras, Don Carter, Gary Carter, Ben Davidson, Art Modell, Joe Paterno and Steve Sabol all died this year.

John Gagliardi was not like other football coaches.  Until his retirement, his laid-back style won him 489 games and four national championships for St. John's of Minnesota over a 60 year period.  Like we said, he wasn't like any other football coach.

On to 2013.

NHL Lockout: Season On Ice

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Three months into what was supposed to be the National Hockey League's 2012-13 season, arenas are sitting empty except for the occasional basketball game or concert.  Players are either playing in Europe, the minor leagues, or just hanging out.  Fans are twiddling their thumbs watching old hockey games on You Tube.

That's how long the owners have been locking out the players over the new collective bargaining agreement.  The owners want a 50/50 split of the profits in a 10 year deal.  The players union want a little more than half, and for the agreement to run at least five years.  See the problem?

It's not as if the players and owners haven't been serious about negotiating.  Heck, they've tried everything, including arbitration through a federal mediator and a dramatic face-to-face meeting between players and owners--without their representatives in the room.  But the two sides haven't come close to anything resembling a deal.   Now they're trying the courts, in the hope that a friendly judge will see things their way.

The NHL has now canceled games through mid-January, which is over 50% of the regular season schedule..  That includes the Winter Classic, which was scheduled for the University of Michigan on New Year's Day, and the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio.

If the season ever does return, there's talk of a 48-game schedule with a one-time expanded Stanley Cup playoffs with more teams than the current top 16.  But that's not going to bring the fans back for a gimmick like that.  Anything less than a full season is unacceptable.

The NHL and the players union now have only a few weeks to save their season with a new labor agreement.  But the longer this goes, the more this is getting to be a waste of time.  Why doesn't the NHL just stop stringing people along and just cancel the season right now?  We can wait until next October.

Kevin's Not In Love With The Wolves

Wizards v/s Timberwolves 03/05/11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's not unusual for people to whine and gripe about their jobs, how management treats them, how underpaid they are, etc.  It's usually done over a few beers or cocktails with either your significant other, or your buddies down at the local watering hole.  Those who aren't currently employed would love to have those kinds of problems right now, instead of wondering where their next meal is coming from.

When someone like Kevin Love, who plays professional basketball for a living, wanted to whine and gripe about his job, he chose to do it with a reporter from Yahoo Sports.

In a lengthy interview released this week, Love ripped into Minnesota Timberwolves management for giving him a four-year contract (for which he can opt out of in 2015) instead of the five years he wanted, accusing them of saving it for teammate Ricky Rubio.  Love also wanted to know why the Wolves are dragging their feet when it comes to building a playoff-caliber team around him.

Love's just stating the obvious.  He was embarrassed to be the only member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team who has yet to play in the NBA playoffs.  And the Wolves have been surrounding Love with somebody else's castoffs and European imports, with mixed results.

Love's comments have been rubbing Wolves fans the wrong way, especially when they remember how Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury and Latrell Sprewell (among others) whined their way out of Minnesota.  And Kevin Garnett didn't exactly leave under the best circumstances, either.  It's also no secret that Love is angling to someday join a certain team in Los Angeles, and it's not the Clippers.

With all that going on, it might surprise you to learn that, in spite of injuries to nearly everyone on the roster including Love and Rubio, the Wolves have a record above .500 in the first few weeks of the 2012-13 NBA season.  Their record as of this post is 10-9 after defeating the Denver Nuggets at Target Center 108-105 on December 12.  Love, it should be noted, scored eight points that night.

Love's ready to make nice after the firestorm his comments created.  He still stands by what he said, but now believes the Wolves really are headed in the right direction.  And he's even talking about how much he likes playing with Rubio.

What must concern Kevin Love is that he has something in common with Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin of the Vikings, and Joe Mauer of the Twins (We'd count the Wild, but they're not playing right now.):  They're the best players whose talents are being wasted on Minnesota pro sports teams that are going nowhere fast.

The 2012 Owljock Bowl Guide

Publicity photo of musician Lawrence Welk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the third year in a row, we are somewhat pleased to present our list of the 35 college football bowl games scheduled to be played between December 15, 2012 and January 7, 2013.  If the Mayans are wrong about their calendar, we should get through this without too much problem.

What's different about this list is not so much about who's playing in these games, but who's sponsoring them.  How many times have you clicked on ESPN (or some other network) during a bowl game and asked yourself, "Gee, this is a great game between two teams I've never heard of.  But what's a Belk?  Isn't he that guy who used to be on TV Saturday nights when I was a kid, and it was my parents' favorite show, and I hated it?"  Uh, sir, the man's name was Lawrence Welk.  Not Belk. 

So anyway, this is how the bowl guide works:  We list the name of the bowl game, when and where it's played, who's in it, who televises it, and what the title sponsor's business is.  The list comes from ESPN.com.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl:  Nevada vs. Arizona  (Albuquerque, NM  12/15)  ESPN
Clothing supplier.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl:  Toledo vs. Utah State  (Boise, ID  12/15)  ESPN

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl:  Brigham Young vs. San Diego State  (San Diego, CA  12/20)  ESPN

Beef O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl:  Central Florida vs. Ball State  (St. Petersburg, FL  12/21)  ESPN  
Restaurant chain.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl:  East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette  (New Orleans, LA  12/22)  ESPN
Shipping firm.

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl:  Washington vs. Boise State  (Las Vegas, NV  12/22)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl:  Fresno State vs. Southern Methodist  (Honolulu, HW  12/24)  ESPN
Hotel chain.

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl:  Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan  (Detroit, MI  12/26)  ESPN
Pizza delivery chain.

Military Bowl Presented By Northrup Grumman:  San Jose State vs. Bowling Green  (Washington, DC  12/27)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

Belk Bowl:  Cincinnati vs. Duke  (Charlotte, NC  12/27)  ESPN
Regional department store chain.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl:  Baylor vs. UCLA  (San Diego, CA  12/27)  ESPN
Online college.

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl:  Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe  (Shreveport, LA  12/28)  ESPN
Nutrition supplements.

Russell Athletic Bowl:  Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech  (Orlando, FL  12/28)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl:  Minnesota vs. Texas Tech  (Houston, TX  12/28)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl:  Rice vs. Air Force  (Fort Worth, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl:  West Virginia vs. Syracuse  (New York, NY  12/29)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl:  Navy vs. Arizona State  (San Francisco, CA  12/29)  ESPN2
Food giant collaborates with anti-hunger organization.

Valero Alamo Bowl:  Texas vs. Oregon State  (San Antonio, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Energy company.

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl:  Texas Christian vs. Michigan State  (Tempe, AZ  12/29)  ESPN
Sports-themed restaurant chain.

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl:  North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt  (Nashville, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Financial services.

Hyundai Sun Bowl:  Southern California vs. Georgia Tech  (El Paso, TX  12/31)  CBS
Automaker.

AutoZone Liberty Bowl:  Iowa State vs. Tulsa  (Memphis, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Auto parts chain.

Chick-fil-A Bowl:  Louisiana State vs. Clemson  (Atlanta, GA  12/31)  ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl:  Mississippi State vs. Northwestern  (Jacksonville, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN2
Tax preparation website.

Heart of Dallas Bowl:  Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  (Dallas, TX  1/1/13)  ESPNU
Non-profit for local charities.

Outback Bowl:  South Carolina vs. Michigan  (Tampa, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Restaurant chain.

Capital One Bowl:  Georgia vs. Nebraska  (Orlando, FL  1/1/13)  ABC
Financial services.

Rose Bowl Game Presented By Vizio:  Wisconsin vs. Stanford  (Pasadena, CA  1/1/13)  ESPN
Consumer electronics.

Discover Orange Bowl:  Northern Illinois vs. Florida State  (Miami, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Credit cards.

Allstate Sugar Bowl:  Louisville vs. Florida  (New Orleans, LA  1/2)  ESPN
Insurance.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:  Oregon vs. Kansas State  (Glendale, AZ  1/3)  ESPN
Snack food.

AT&T Cotton Bowl:  Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma  (Arlington, TX  1/4)  Fox
Communications giant.

BBVA Compass Bowl:  Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi  (Birmingham, AL  1/5)  ESPN
Financial services.

GoDaddy.com Bowl:  Kent State vs. Arkansas State  (Mobile, AL  1/6)  ESPN
Domain name registration.

Discover BCS National Championship Game:  Notre Dame vs. Alabama  (Miami, FL  1/7)  ESPN
Credit cards.   

Ski-U-Blah

English: Logo for the University of Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The University of Minnesota football team finished this season at .500.  That's six wins and six losses.  These days, that's good enough to go to a post-season bowl game, whether the Gophers deserve one or not.

Four of Minnesota's six wins came against non-conference opponents such as Nevada-Las Vegas and Syracuse.  All six losses came against Big Ten conference opponents such as Nebraska and Wisconsin.  For the umpteenth year, the Gophers were shut out of such trophies as Floyd of Rosedale by Iowa, Paul Bunyan's Axe by Wisconsin, and the Little Brown Jug by Michigan.  It's a sign that they simply cannot compete with the big boys of college football.  But then, we knew that.  It's been 50 years since the Gophers last went to a Rose Bowl.

In his second season, coach Jerry Kill deserves credit for doing the most with what he had.  Take the quarterback situation.  Star senior MarQueis Gray went down with an injury.  When backup QB Max Shortell also got injured, Kill took freshman Phillip Nelson off redshirt status and made him starter.  After Gray returned, he was relegated to the backfield where NFL scouts figured he might be more useful.

Off the field, it's been a different story.  At the strong urging of Kill, new athletic director Norwood Teague defined himself as a yes-man by agreeing to cancel a two-game, home-and-home series with North Carolina, because apparently the Tar Heels aren't the pushovers the coach would have liked.  Instead they signed New Mexico State.  The decision cost the University $800,000.  Gee, wouldn't it be weird if, for some reason, North Carolina were to join the Big Ten?

Then there's A.J. Barker, who was the Gophers' wide receiver before leaving the team in a huff.  He took to social media complaining about how Kill and his coaching staff were treating him, alleging that they were abusive and that one of the coaches yelled a gay slur at him.  Until further details emerge, it's just Barker's word against Kill's.

Finally, there's the elephant in the room concerning Kill's health.  He's epileptic and has been known to have had seizures, sometimes during games.  He had one of those episodes recently at halftime of the Michigan State game, and didn't come out for the second half in the game the Gophers ultimately lost to the Spartans. 

Like we said before, Kill deserves credit for bringing Gopher football to something resembling respectability.  The University is standing by him now in the wake of his latest epileptic episode.  But how long can they afford to keep Kill around when his health is a day-to-day issue, which becomes a big distraction when it comes to his players, his recruiting and the program's reputation?  Epilepsy may be a manageable physical condition, but perceptions speak louder than words.

The Minnesota Gophers have one more football game to play this season, and it will likely be in either Dallas or Houston.  Neither of them are Pasadena on New Year's Day.  But it's a start.

The Big 14 Conference

English: Big Ten Conference logo since 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's time once again for the major powers in college sports to do the conference shuffle.  This time, it's the Big Ten Conference. 

Having just added Nebraska in 2011 and splitting itself into "Leaders" and "Legends" divisions (because "East" and "West" are so 20th century), the conference decided it needed to become more relevant in a world where the best talent is staying in the south and west, and because they have a financially lucrative TV channel to program.

So the Big Ten is looking east, adding Maryland from the Atlantic Coast Conference and Rutgers from the Big East starting in 2014.  This means the conference will soon grow from 12 to 14 schools (the name "Big Ten" long ago lost its meaning when Penn State became the 11th member in the mid-1990s).

If the rumors are true, there may be more members on the way.  Kansas, Georgia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina are being mentioned as possible additions.

Maryland and Rutgers aren't exactly on a par with Michigan and Ohio State as far as athletic prowess goes.  (More like Purdue and Northwestern)  Instead, those schools were chosen for their proximity to major TV markets such as New York, Washington and Baltimore.  Oh, and both Maryland and Rutgers' athletic programs were having financial problems before the Big Ten gravy train came around.

To be brutally honest, the Big Ten is compensating in numbers for what they could not have in prestige.  By that, we mean that they failed to get Notre Dame.  They recently signed on as a member of the ACC in  every sport except football and hockey.  It's the football part Notre Dame wants to keep independent, so they can keep playing what they consider to be "quality" institutions of learning such as the service academies and Southern California, as well as having NBC pay millions to televise the Irish's home games.  It must be working, because Notre Dame is apparently going to play for the BCS national championship in January.

The Big Ten ought to think more about the competitiveness in its own back yard when it comes to football.  It's not as balanced as, let's say, the Southeastern Conference.  Its best team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, just completed an undefeated season.  But they can't go to a bowl because some former players got caught exchanging uniforms for tattoos.

Neither can Penn State, which surprised everyone this season by playing as well as they did under the shadow of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.  They won't be bowl-eligible for five years.

Instead, in the conference championship game at Indianapolis Saturday, we have Legends division winner Nebraska battling for a spot in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, who finished behind Ohio State and Penn State in the Leaders division.

Most of all, the more schools the Big Ten keeps adding, the more ridiculous its name sounds.  They should just call themselves The BIG Conference, and be done with it.

License To Get Gouged

Minnesota Vikings logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Months after Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature worked out a deal for a new Minnesota Vikings football stadium in Minneapolis, and months before construction is scheduled to begin, storm clouds are gathering over the nearly billion dollar stadium.

The Governor is upset because the Vikings are considering charging thousands of dollars more for certain seats to help pay for the new stadium, undermining his vision of a "people's stadium".  He's threatening to undo the deal itself if nothing's done about it.

The plan is called Personal Seat Licenses (PSL), also known as a Stadium Builders' License.  It's a one-time fee that gives the holder the right to buy season passes for, let's say, seats around the 50-yard line before he even purchases the season passes.

PSLs are just standard operating procedure in the National Football League, with 17 of its franchises using it to help pay for their new or refurbished football palaces.  Some teams, such as the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys are charging up to five or six figures.

What's strange about this is that Dayton and the Vikings had already agreed to PSLs in the stadium bill, so he doesn't really have a leg to stand on..  The team hasn't even decided if they want to do this or not, because they're in the middle of a survey asking season ticket holders what they think of it.

Should the Vikings decide to issue PSLs, they would first have to get permission from the newly-created stadium bill (which is made up of political appointees chosen by Governor Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak).  If they get the go-ahead, the team likely won't charge as much as the Jets, 49ers and Cowboys.

Another issue the Governor has a bone to pick with the Vikings about is the team's apparent willingness to take its home games on the road, which takes money out of the state's pocket.  The Vikings are scheduled to play a regular season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London next year, part of the NFL's ongoing marketing of American football in Europe.  (The Buffalo Bills already play two games a year in nearby Toronto.)  The league would like to expand the number of games in London to two a year, so the Vikings may be asked back in 2014.

Zygi Wilf, who owns the Vikings, has every right to conduct his business as he sees fit.  But charging for an artificial concept and taking your act across the Atlantic Ocean doesn't endear you to the folks who already pay hefty fees for tickets, parking and refreshments while being forced to sit behind a drunken dolt in purple makeup who stands and yells the entire game.  Not to mention sitting on your hands during endless time outs for TV commercials and replay reviews.

That's why most of us who won't be able to afford to go to a game in the "people's stadium" are perfectly content to park ourselves in front of giant high-definition screens, even though we'll be paying for the stadium ourselves through taxes.  When you get right down to it, isn't this really what the NFL is all about?

Vikings 2012: Much to Ponder

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 23: Christian Ponder #7 of the Minnesota Vikings passes the ball against the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter on October 23, 2011 at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Packers defeated the Vikings 33-27. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

The Minnesota Vikings headed into their midseason bye week Sunday with a 34-24 win over the Detroit Lions at the soon-to-be-demolished Metrodome.  They have a 6-4 record in the NFC North, good for third place behind the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.  Not bad for a team that's supposed to be in a rebuilding year.

Coach Leslie Frazier's team has done some odd things on their way to their surprising record.  The Vikings could claim a "signature" victory over the San Francisco 49ers, yet flop against two of the NFL's leading rookie quarterbacks--Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts and Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins.  One game the defense comes up with big plays, the next they take too many stupid penalties that results in points for their opponents.

The biggest question mark the Vikings have is what to do with quarterback Christian Ponder, whose performance Sunday against the Lions should quiet the critics at least temporarily.  The team's coaching staff is committed to keeping Ponder as a starter for the remainder of the season, as this is the man they drafted to be their quarterback of the future.  This week notwithstanding, how much longer can the Vikings (or their fans) tolerate Ponder's uneven play when he (A) throws interceptions and (B) waits too long to throw the ball, enabling the other team's defense to knock him down?

No such problems with Adrian Peterson, who came back from a debilitating injury last season to lead the NFL in rushing this season.  Percy Harvin had been doing a good job on his own, until he suffered a sprained left ankle during a game at Seattle against the Seahawks.  But those two can't be the whole offense, and this is where Ponder is having problems.  Or maybe it's just the fault of the offensive coordinator?

After the bye week, the Vikings face a rough stretch down the rest of the schedule.  They're done with Detroit, so now they have to face the Packers and Bears twice.  Both of those teams have their vulnerabilities, but are still considered playoff material.  If the Vikings want to join them in the post season, they need to prove that they can stay on the same field with Chicago and Green Bay.  Let's see if Christian Ponder is up to the challenge.

NBA 2012-13: The More Things Change . . .

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 10: David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, arrives for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 10, 2012 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have been invited to attend the conference which begins Tuesday. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

The NBA opens its first full season in two years without the spectre of a lockout hanging over them.  That's the NHL's problem, as they have just canceled another month of games.  Nor are they using replacement officials, like the NFL did for a few weeks.

Commissioner David Stern is retiring in February of 2014, handing over the reins to his deputy commissioner Adam Silver.  In three decades, Stern has presided over what's become a successful global enterprise, taking the NBA and its players to places they've never been, including China, Europe and the Olympic games.  But we also mustn't forget (among other things) the league-owned New Orleans Hornets, Seattle losing the Sonics to Oklahoma, and Patrick Ewing just happened to be the first-round draft pick of the New York Knicks in 1985.

LeBron James just won a championship with the Miami Heat, and already they're talking about him taking his talents elsewhere when his contract is up?

Dwight Howard whined his way out of Orlando and into Los Angeles, where he joins Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.  Oh yes, Steve Nash is there too.

The Brooklyn Nets are finally a reality, having moved across the Hudson River from New Jersey, outfitted in gangsta black as befits part-owner Jay-Z's style.  The NHL New York Islanders will join the Nets at Barclays Center starting in 2015 (who knew Brooklyn was part of Long Island?).  Now all they need is a baseball team.

The Sacramento Kings may be on the move if the city doesn't fork over enough cash to satisfy the owners' demand for a new arena.  We hear Seattle might be available.

That's quite a team the Houston Rockets have assembled.  Jeremy Lin will find that being Yao Ming's replacement is much less stressful than getting away from New York--and all the Linsanity that came with it.  And Royce White has issues with going on planes, which will limit his effectiveness on road trips.

Having just traded James Hardin to the Rockets, is the Oklahoma City Thunder a one-season wonder?  Or do they have what it takes to win championships for the next few years?

The Minnesota Timberwolves just lost their best chance to make the playoffs when Kevin Love joined Ricky Rubio on the sidelines with injuries, taking them out of at least the first two months of the season.  Until then, Brandon Roy, Derrick Williams and Andrei Kirilenko will be asked to win enough games to keep the fans interested until Love and Rubio return.  Oh, and would it kill the Wolves to add talent  that happens to be African-American?  These aren't the 1953 Minneapolis Lakers, you know.

Here's our Top 8 playoff picks for each conference.

EAST;  Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers.

WEST:  Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs.

Giant Sweep In Detroit

'''Giants Logo 2000–present''' (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The San Francisco Giants are baseball's world champions for the second time in three years, defeating the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in 10 innings at Comerica Park to take the World Series in four games.  It was a single by Marco Scutaro in the tenth that brought Ryan Theriot across home plate for the winning run.

Pablo Sandoval of the Giants had set the tone in Game 1 by becoming the fourth man to hit three home runs in a World Series game (Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols were the others).  After that, the Giants' pitching of Ryan Vogelsong, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum shut down the Tigers' bats so effectively that they didn't score a run for two games.

For the Giants, they got here the hard way, trailing in their National League playoff series against Cincinnati and St. Louis before coming back to win.  For the Tigers, they had beaten Oakland in five games and swept the New York Yankees to win the American League pennant.

The Giants won the world championship without the help of Melky Cabrera, who was leading the National League in batting before being suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball for using banned substances.  The suspension has since been lifted, but the Giants wanted nothing to do with Cabrera as he is about to be a free agent.  Bet he's kicking himself now.

Once again, the City By The Bay has a world champion, and a rather unlikely one too.  The Giants don't get much notice beyond the West Coast, so most of its players are unknowns to the rest of the country.  But here they are, holding a World Series trophy and a spot in baseball history.

Indiana Leaves Lynx Out In The Cold

The Indiana Fever has won its first WNBA championship, defeating the Minnesota Lynx 87-78 to take the series three games to one.  Tamika Catchings was not only the leading scorer for the Fever with 25 points, but she was also named the league's Finals MVP.

For the Lynx, the 2011 champions had the best record in the WNBA this past season with a returning cast that included Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whelan, and Maya Moore.  Even the month-long Olympic break couldn't slow them down.

But as the weather turned cooler, so did their shooting.  This became painfully obvious in the playoffs, as the Lynx barely got past the Seattle Storm in the first round, and had a closer-than-it-looked two game sweep of the Los Angeles Sparks.

The Lynx came in as the heavy favorite against the Fever, but surprised everyone when they were outhustled, outplayed and outscored by a short-handed Indiana team which was missing their leading scorer in Katie Douglass.  Minnesota only won Game 2 after coach Cheryl Reeve's jacket-doffing tirade protesting a questionable call by the officials resulted in her and Whelan earning technical fouls, which ended up making the sports highlights shows that usually ignore the WNBA.

For Seimone Augustus, it could be that she was distracted by events off the court.  First, there was the incident where she was stopped by a traffic cop near a shopping mall for having an air freshener hanging off her car's rear-view mirror.  Of course, it could also be that Augustus got a DWB violation.  That's Driving While Black.

Next, she and her partner held a news conference to announce that they were supporting the efforts of those who want to defeat a Minnesota constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage, and that they would like to get hitched next year either in this state or Iowa.  Better plan on Iowa, ladies, because even if the measure is defeated, same-sex marriage would still be illegal in Minnesota.

Congratulations to the Indiana Fever.  If nothing else, they taught the Lynx a valuable lesson:  It's tough to win back-to-back championships, especially when the tank is running on empty after going at full speed all season.

Twins 2012: Another Lost Season

Gulf Coast League Twins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Target Field opened for business as the 2010 baseball season opened, it was expected by everyone involved with the Minnesota Twins--players, fans, the front office--that the outdoor atmosphere would produce as much success as they had at the Metrodome.  More wins, more division championships, more first-round playoff losses to the New York Yankees.

Three years later, the Twins are like an indoor plant that's been left out in the elements too long.  They have just concluded the 2012 schedule at 66-96, the worst record in the American League Central division, and the worst in the entire league.  Only the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros--both with more than 100 losses--are worse.

All the ingredients for a last-place team were there:  bad pitching, weak fielding, nonexistent offense, injuries, frequent callups from the minors, being out of the running by Mother's Day.

Don't blame Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham.  They all had better individual seasons at the plate, and were all healthy for a change.  Mauer, for one, was in the hunt for the A.L. batting title that ultimately went to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers (who also won the league home run and RBI titles, making him the first since Carl Yazstremski of the Boston Red Sox in 1967 to win the Triple Crown).

But they were offset by two Twins' decisions: (A) Giving Tsuyoshi Nishioka another chance at second base after a stint in the minors.  He performed so poorly that the team ate its expensive investment and let him go back to Japan.  (B) Trading mercurial pitching ace Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox for prospects.

With two consecutive 90-loss seasons under their belt, the Twins are in desperate need of a house cleaning.  That process began with the firing and/or reassigning of several coaches.  For some reason, manager Ron Gardenhire still has a job.

The Twins are going to have to do a lot better than that if they want to remain relevant to its fans.  That means being active in the free agent market.  That means trading popular players to get better pitching talent.  That means, Nishioka aside, signing more Asian players to a team that already resembles the United Nations.  And that means management getting off their duffs and stop pinching pennies.

One thing to look forward to:  Target Field was recently named host of the 2014 All Star Game.  That event has become the last refuge for struggling franchises with a new or refurbished ballpark to show off.  Whether the Twins will have any stars in that game besides Mauer by then will have a lot to do with what happens next season.  It won't be pretty.
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Major League Baseball has decided to stick with its present national TV partners (ESPN, Fox, TBS) through the 2021 season.  What's different is that Fox is getting more games on Saturdays and an increased presence in the playoffs, perhaps in anticipation of its yet-to-be-announced cable sports channel.  TBS is getting fewer games, which might be an acknowledgement by MLB that not every baseball fan can find the channel.  Unless you're a "Family Guy" fan.
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Thanks to the new playoff format, in which two wild card teams from each league goes into a one-game playoff just to get into the next round, picking the two teams we think will go into the World Series just got trickier.  But here goes:  Detroit Tigers vs. Washington Nationals.

Upon Further Review . . .

The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The job of an official in the National Football League--or any other league, for that matter--is to go about your business in such an efficient manner that few notice how you did when the game ended.

Through seven weeks of the NFL schedule (four pre-season and three regular season games), that hasn't been the case.  That's how long the league has locked out its regular officials, with the two sides far apart in negotiating a new deal.  So the NFL brought in replacements from the high school and small college ranks (the major conferences declined to let their officials be used), hoping no one would notice the difference.

Unfortunately for them, a lot of people did.  The games have turned into theatre of the absurd.  Blown calls.  Extra timeouts and video challenges.  Numerous and questionable penalty flags.  Confusion over how a play should be ruled.  Players and coaches taking advantage of the inexperienced replacements.  But it all doesn't matter as long as your team wins.  And if they don't . . . well, look out.

The replacements are doing the best they can with what they have to work with.  It's just that they're in over their heads, and everyone knows it.  There's no easy way to decipher the NFL rulebook in just a few weeks.

All this has made NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Public Enemy Number One in the minds of many for letting this lockout go on as long as it has.  Surprising as it sounds, Goodell does not have the power to end the impasse ASAP.  The owners pay his salary, and they are behind him 100%.

It's not as if there's any incentive to end the lockout.  Players and coaches have been told to keep quiet about this, or they'll get fined.  TV ratings are soaring and stadiums are still filled.  People will watch football no matter how badly officiated it is, and the owners know it.

So don't be surprised if replacement officials are used for the rest of the season, and the NFL finds a way to get rid of the referees' union and starts over.  Also, don't be surprised if you're still going to games or watching them on TV.  Because it's football.

UPDATE:  Our long national nightmare is over.  The NFL and the referees' union have agreed to a new deal on Wednesday, and regular officials will be working this weekend's games.  All will be sweetness and light until the next time an official's mistake affects the outcome of a nationally-televised game.

NHL Lockout IV: The Sequel

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Don Fehr, executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association meets with the media at Marriott Marquis Times Square on September 13, 2012 in New York City. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

While you were watching football over the weekend, the National Hockey League has locked out its players for the fourth time in 20 years.  It's the third time under commissioner Gary Bettman.  Notice we didn't say anything about further negotiations.

Remember the last one?  Sure you do.  In that one, the NHL ended up canceling the entire 2004-05 season, then spent the next few years trying to win back fans.  The CBC showed "Movie Night In Canada" instead of "Hockey Night In Canada".

Almost no one thinks this season is a lost cause, but we've seen this movie before.  Owners and the NHLPA (now headed by Donald Fehr) are battling over how to divvy up $3.3 billion in revenues.  Both sides want to reduce the others' portion of the money.  In other words, it's just another labor dispute between millionaires and billionaires.

Players have decisions to make while the lockout is in progress.  They can either (A) go to Europe or the minor leagues if they want to get in any playing time, or (B) keep playing pickup games with whomever they can find at practice rinks.  Such is the price of staying united with the NHLPA.

The regular season is supposed to begin October 11, but don't count on it.  As long as the lockout lasts, teams will be forced to offer refunds for games the NHL cancels.  And some of those franchises that are on shaky ground to begin with (Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, etc.) simply can't afford that.

Thanks to the lockout, teams like the Minnesota Wild now look like idiots for signing free agents such as Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to expensive, long term contracts.  Which doesn't say much for the teams' ability to pay ordinary players, who make peanuts by comparison.

For you, the hockey fan, there are alternatives.  If you live in Minnesota, the "State of Hockey" boasts plenty of high school and college competition.  If you live elsewhere, please support your local college or minor league team.  If you lack either of those options, there's always You Tube.

Or you can forget hockey and see what's going on in the other sports:  The NFL with its replacement referees screwing up games.  College football, where only teams from the Deep South need apply for the national championship.  Major League Baseball, which threatens to extend its season into winter by adding two more teams to the playoffs.  And then there's the NBA, which just had its own work stoppage last season, and everyone's pretty much forgotten about it.

So who needs the NHL?

Kluwe Not Punting On Free Speech

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN- CIRCA 2011: In this handout image provided by the NFL, Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings poses for his NFL headshot circa 2011 in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Chris Kluwe's occupation is punter for the NFL Minnesota Vikings, sent in whenever his team's offense fails to make it past the 50-yard line.  His job is to kick the ball and land it as deep into the other team's territory as possible, without going into the end zone.  Punting is not the most glamorous role in football, unless your name is Ray Guy.

Right now, Kluwe is the most famous punter in America, and not for anything he's done on the field.  He's stepped into the gay marriage debate by writing a letter to a Maryland state legislator named Emmet C. Burns, Jr, a Democrat representing Baltimore County who also happens to be a minister, defending the right of Baltimore Ravens player Brendon Ayanbadejo to speak out in favor of it.  Burns, who doesn't support gay marriage, wanted the Ravens to request that the team find a way to silence Mr. Ayanbadejo.

The Deadspin web site published Kluwe's profanity-laced missive (read it at www.deadspin.com, or just scroll down to the bottom of this blog), and it got a lot of attention on social media.  Ellen DeGeneres, the noted talk-show host and sometime gay activist by virtue of her being lesbian, praised Kluwe's letter on her TV show.

If you're wondering why more athletes don't speak up about the issues, we have a couple of theories as to why they tend to check their First Amendment rights at the door:

(1) Hey, It Must Be The Money.  Team owners and corporations (most of whom tend to support Republicans) lavish millions of dollars in contracts and endorsements on players to give them the kind of lifestyle they otherwise wouldn't have had.  So why would they want to offend those who buy the tickets and the products they advertise on TV?

(2) Sports Leagues Have an Image to Protect.  They want to be seen as family-friendly entertainment, to be enjoyed by Mom, Dad, the kids and their grandparents.  That's why they spend so much time sucking up to The Troops, or splash pink on nearly everything to raise "awareness" about breast cancer.  That's why bad forms of sportsmanship such as steroid use, bounties on certain players and end zone touchdown dances aren't tolerated.  It's too bad the average family is usually priced out of these "family-friendly" events.

(3) "Out" Is Out of Bounds.  How many gay athletes there are, we don't know.  We've come to accept, however grudgingly, the fact that there are lesbians in women's sports.  We know about gay athletes who came out of the closet, but only after their playing days are done.  What's going to happen when a currently active player on a pro sports team makes his sexuality public?  Will he make his teammates nervous?  Will opposing fans shower him with various forms of verbal abuse, and (sometimes) death threats?  Or will there be (gulp) acceptance?

In Minnesota, where Kluwe plies his trade, voters will soon decide whether the state constitution should include an amendment banning same sex marriage.  Never mind that there already is a law prohibiting two men or two women from getting hitched.  That's not likely to change no matter how the vote comes out.

Chris Kluwe, an employee of the National Football League, has yet to be reprimanded by commissioner Roger Goodell for not toeing the company line when it comes to social causes that don't involve their favorite charities.  If that's so, then it's a positive sign that not all athletes are willing to trade their brains in for money.  If it's not, then Goodell has just signaled that in the NFL, at least, tolerance is a one-way street.

Related articles

• "They Won't Magically Turn You Into A Lustful Cockmonster": Chris Kluwe Explains Gay Marriage To The Politician Who Is Offended By An NFL Player Supporting It [Nfl]

NFL 2012: Questionable Calls

Peyton Manning (Photo credit: Jeffrey Beall)

The National Football League is the most popular and most powerful in pro sports.  That much is obvious.  But as the 2012 season opens, some cracks are growing in the facade of Commissioner Roger Goodell's lucrative fortress.

(1) The league has been locking out its onfield officials due to a contract dispute, and it looks like that will continue into the regular season.  Replacement referees, cobbled together from various college and semi-pro leagues, have been universally criticized during the pre-season for their sloppy performance.  The last time this happened was in 2001, but back then nobody was concerned about the safety of the players due to concussions as they are now.

(2)"Bountygate", in which some New Orleans Saints players and personnel have been fined and suspended by the NFL for allegedly targeting certain opposing players with deliberate injury for a fee, has been losing steam.  Some of the Saints players have been appealing their suspensions with some success.  And the team doesn't appear to have been too damaged on the field, despite the loss of coach Sean Payton.

(3) Follow the bouncing ball:  Number one draft pick Andrew Luck replaces Peyton Manning at quarterback with the Indianapolis Colts.  Manning goes to the Denver Broncos and replaces Tim Tebow, who takes his "Tebow-mania" act to New York playing backup for the Jets.  Robert Griffin III becomes the Washington Redskins' latest quarterback savior.  Donovan McNabb, Chad (Ochocinco) Johnson and Terrell Owens are all out of football.

(4) Two changes to your TV schedule:  Sunday doubleheader games will now kick off at 4:25 in the East (3:25 in the Midwest), ten minutes later than usual.  Which guarantees that the entire CBS prime time lineup will be delayed by at least 45 minutes, because games almost never end on time.  Also, "Thursday Night Football" on NFL Network will now be on every week, with the exception of Thanksgiving night.  That one goes to NBC.

As for the Minnesota Vikings, it shouldn't stretch the imagination too much that they have replaced the Detroit Lions as the worst team in the NFC North.  Christian Ponder is still a question mark at quarterback.  Adrian Peterson is recovering from his injury, and one wonders if he'll ever be the same player again.  The defense, outside of Jared Allen, leaves a lot to be desired.  Put that together, and you have the Vikings finishing with a 4-12 record.  Well, at least they're not going to Los Angeles.

Finally, our division and wild card picks:

NFC EAST  New York Giants
        WEST  San Francisco 49ers
         SOUTH  New Orleans Saints
         NORTH  Green Bay Packers
         WILD CARD  Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions

AFC EAST  New England Patriots
         WEST  Denver Broncos
         SOUTH  Houston Texans
         NORTH  Baltimore Ravens
         WILD CARD  Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs

Lance Armstrong: The All-American Fraud?

Lance Armstrong at the team presentation of the 2010 Tour de France in Rotterdam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Up to now, Lance Armstrong's career has consisted of seven Tour de France cycling titles, dating singer Sheryl Crow and actress Kate Hudson, and setting up an organization dedicated to his fight against testicular cancer.  Armstrong's spent almost as much time fending off allegations that he took illegal substances to enhance his cycling performance.

That all came to an end Thursday when Armstrong he would no longer fight charges made by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency about his alleged use of those substances, while once again declaring his innocence.  In turn, the USADA took away 14 years of Armstrong's accomplishments, including those Tour de France victories from 1999 to 2005 and the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

This continues sports' new policy of "you didn't really see that", video evidence to the contrary.  As in, because of recruiting violations and sex and drug scandals, Marion Jones and Ben Johnson didn't really win all those Olympic medals.  Joe Paterno is no longer the winningest coach in college football history.  Reggie Bush didn't really win the Heisman Trophy.  And Hank Aaron, not Barry Bonds, is Major League Baseball's all-time home run king.

While Armstrong was being set up as this hero who beat the odds in a sport few Americans cared about, there have always been hints and allegations (as Paul Simon once put it) in the drug-riddled cycling community about his supposed blood doping activities.  And always, Armstrong would come back with his claims that he's been tested and re-tested, and came up clean every time.  Until his former competitors and teammates started ratting him out, most people took Armstrong at his word.

Because of Armstrong's now-tainted accomplishments with a bicycle and the well-known fact that he's a cancer "survivor", he was also able to sell millions of those "Livestrong" wrist bracelets as a way to raise "awareness" for research.  According to the Associated Press, the Lance Armstrong Foundation has raked in half a billion dollars since it started.

With the prospect of future sanctions to come from various governing bodies, Lance Armstrong's legacy is now that of a man who manipulated his way into the record books with a little help from performance enhancing drugs.  Just like all those other athletes who thought the same thing, and tried to get away with it..  To paraphrase the title of a book Armstrong wrote, it never was about the bike.

UPDATE:  It gets worse for Lance Armstrong.  Days after the USADA reported evidence that he had been at the center of a conspiracy to use PED's and come out with negative drug tests, as well as to intimidate anyone who got in his way, seven of Armstrong's sponsors--including Nike, Anheuser-Busch and Radio Shack--have dropped him.

Armstrong has chosen to resign from his position as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation, but will remain on its board.  Maybe Livestrong needs to go away because, whether Armstrong is still involved with the organization or not, he's casting a huge shadow over it.

This may not be the end of the investigation.  We have yet to hear from the international bodies that govern cycling and drug testing about Armstrong's fate.  Most of all, Armstrong has yet to admit to any wrongdoing..

The Twins on KTWN: Keeping It In The Family

Gulf Coast League Twins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To absolutely no one's surprise, KTWN-FM (96.3) will become the new radio home of the Minnesota Twins starting in 2013.  They join the Vikings, Gopher football and the Wild in moving from the AM dial to FM (on KFXN 100.3).  Which leaves the Timberwolves stuck on WCCO-AM.

The Pohlad family, which owns both the Twins and K-TWIN, have long wanted to get their games on static-free FM as well as to keep whatever revenues there are to themselves.  KSTP-AM (also known as 1500 ESPN), which has been running Twins games for six seasons, has long been ripped by critics and fans alike for its static and for its lack of signal strength, despite having 50,000 watts of power.

Yes, FM will do wonders for the sound quality of Twins games.  But K-TWIN's signal isn't as powerful as 100.3 The Fan, which has the maximum-allowed 100,000-watts.  Maybe the Twins need to add more stations to its radio network, just to cover the Twin Cites metro area.

What's surprising about the switch is that K-TWIN is keeping its low-rated (and critically-reviled) adult contemporary music format, instead of changing it to talk or sports.  Since the Pohlads' Northern Lights Broadcasting bought the station, they've gone from hip hop (as B96) to contemporary hits (as 96.3 Now) to today.  They're also looking for a new morning host, having let go of Tony Fly.  And there have also been questions as to whether the Pohlads really want to be in the radio business, surrounded by giant chains such as Clear Channel, Cumulus and CBS who own stations in this market.

There's a reason why most flagship stations of pro sports teams (AM or FM) tend to be either news/talk or sports.  Its typical audience is usually older, male and politically conservative.  Music stations generally have audiences that are more younger and female.  Do you really expect them to sit through a baseball game when they could be listening to Adele?  On the other hand, guys would rather listen to post-mortems of the game they just heard (or watched) instead of another rendition of "Call Me Maybe".

KSTP, which won't have games to carry next season, gets to keep such lovely parting gifts from the Twins as "The Ron Gardenhire Show" on Sunday mornings.  And they'll still have Gophers men's hockey and basketball, along with national coverage of the NBA Finals and the World Series.  But what is 1500 ESPN's future?  People there say the format is going to continue, but how?  Their ratings have taken a hit since The Fan moved to FM.  Why is Joe Soucheray still allowed to do a political talk show in afternoon drive?  Is it time to go back to news/talk, or should the Hubbards sell AM 1500 to some religious or Spanish outfit?

So the Pohlad family has two struggling properties under one roof:  KTWN, a radio station trying to get its act together, and the Minnesota Twins, a baseball team trying to stay out of last place.  Whatever happens next season, at least baseball will sound better.

The 2012 Games: Women Rule

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 11: Sanya Richards-Ross of the United States celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win gold in the Women's 4 x 400m Relay Final on Day 15 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 11, 2012 in London, England. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

As the 2012 Summer Olympics draw to a close in London, more women athletes have competed here than at any other time in history.  They even came from countries that have previously banned women from participating.

Forty years after Title IX was passed into law, creating gender equity in sports, American women have dominated the podium at the Olympics.  They have helped win the medal count for the United States with a total of 104, 46 of them gold.

NBC must love this because it plays right into their demographic wheelhouse for the Olympics (and for network TV in general), which happen to be women.  That's why they can charge top dollar to advertisers for tape-delaying footage in prime time of marquee sports that women just happen to compete in.

Everywhere you looked, there were American women winning medals:  Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross on the track, Misti May-Treanor and Kerri Ross in beach volleyball, Missy Franklin in the pool, Alexander Raisman and Gabby Douglas in gymnastics, the water polo team and the women's basketball team were just some of those who took home the gold.

This isn't to say American women were perfect in London.  Some examples:

• After Lolo Jones finished fourth in the women's 100-meter hurdles, she appeared on that national soft shoulder called the "Today" show and tearfully blamed the media for slamming her for her looks instead of her performance.  Excuse moi?  Posing nude in magazines?  Bragging about being a 30-year old virgin?  Wow, talk about style over substance, woman.
• Morgan Uceny stumbled and fell on the track during the finals of the women's 1500-meters, resulting in a DNF (did not finish).
• McKayla Maroney put on quite a display during the gymnastics competition, revealing to the world that she has but one facial expression.  Or did NBC edit her that way?
• The women's soccer team won the gold medal once again, but only after benefitting from a couple of questionable calls in the semifinal against Canada.  Then after defeating Japan in the finals, the team appeared at the medal ceremony in "Find Your Greatness" T-shirts.  We thought we were watching Team USA, but what we really got was Team Nike.
• The heavily-favored volleyball team ended up with silver, losing to Brazil in the finals.

We should mention that the men won a few medals of their own.

• Usian Bolt strutted and preened his way to world records for Jamaica in the men's 200-meter and the 4x100-meter team relay.  Bolt may be the greatest active sprinter there is, but his attitute is more reminiscent of Terrell Owens than Jesse Owens.
• The U.S. men's basketball team won its 14th gold medal in a (relatively) close 107-100 win over Spain.  With all that NBA talent at the Americans' disposal and a competition that hardly challenged them, commissioner David Stern is lobbying for an age limit in future Olympics.

The next Summer Games are in Rio de Janiero in 2016.  By that time, it should become clear that women have earned their place at the athletic table, if they haven't already.  But we shouldn't forget that women compete in almost every sport imaginable year-round, not just every four years.  It shouldn't take an Olympic gold medal to acknowledge that.

The Games 2012: Week One

London Olympics 2012 (Photo credit: Andrea Vascellari)

It's been a quiet week at the London Olympic Games.  No mass shootings.  No drug doping scandal.  The only reported security breach was when some guy threw a bottle onto the track just before the start of the men's 100-meter finals.

The complaints about NBC's tape-delayed coverage have slowed down, which might mean American viewers have been worn down enough to stop bellyaching and start watching.

What they're seeing is that the United States and China have been racking up most of the medals so far.  True, it's not nearly as important as it was during the Cold War days, but it is indicative of how each nation prepares its athletes.  Among the highlights and lowlights:

• After a slow start, Michael Phelps ended his Olympic swimming career with more medals than anyone else in the span of eight years and three Games.  New stars like Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin and Rebecca Sari won their own medals as the Americans again dominated the pool.
• Gabby Douglas may have won the gold for all-around gymnast, and for helping the United States win the team competition.  But all anyone wants to talk about is the way she wears her hair.  Are we missing something here?
• The U.S. women's soccer team, having come from behind to defeat Canada in the final seconds of extra time, is in the gold medal finals against Japan.  Christine Sinclair's hat trick for the Canadians was wasted because they got hosed by the officials twice with questionable calls, which the U.S. took advantage of as part of their comeback.  Soccer's ruling body FIFA is looking into it.
• Serena Williams and Andy Murray easily defeated their opponents to win gold at the tennis competition, which was held at Wimbledon.  It was strange to see the drab green of Centre Court decked out in colors, and the players weren't wearing various shades of white.  Since the players who competed were the same ones we usually see on the pro tour year-round, it's fair to ask if winning the gold medal at Wimbledon has the same meaning as winning a Grand Slam title there.
• Jamaica still claims the fastest humans in the world.  Usian Bolt repeated his triumph at the 2008 Beijing Games, bolting (if you will) to a new world record in the men's 100-meters in London.  Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won her gold in the women's 100-meters for the second time as well.
• Host country Great Britain currently ranks third in the medal count.  Its best known athlete, Jessica Ennis, won gold in the women's heptathlon.
• Oscar Pistorius of South Africa finished eighth in the men's 400-meter semifinals.  The only reason anyone cares about this result is that he ran the race with two blades substituting for feet, as if he's some cyber athlete from the future.  As it was, Pistorius is a feel-good novelty act who should never have been allowed to race in the first place, much less make a name for himself.
• Five Asian teams have been removed from the Olympic badminton tournament for allegedly tanking their matches.  That's right, folks.  We said badminton.
• Lolo Jones, an American hurdler who has yet to win a medal, is being accused by--of all people--the New York Times of getting by on her looks instead of her talent.  It doesn't help that Jones has been bragging about being a virgin and saving herself for marriage, which is fine as long as she kept it to herself.  Well, she still hasn't won a medal.  Jones placed fourth in the women's 100-meter hurdles behind winner Sally Pearson of Australia, with fellow Americans Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells getting silver and bronze, respectively.
• In this age of economic insecurity, it's best to be careful what you wish for when it comes to winning an Olympic medal--particularly if you are an American athlete.  According to reports, a gold medal can be worth at least $25,000, and the IRS wants its share of the profits.  It has also been noted that Gabby Douglass' mother filed for bankruptcy a few months ago.  Oh, the sacrifices we make so that your kid could have his/her moment of Olympic glory.

And that's how it is in Londontown as the second week of the Olympics commences.  We'll let you know what happens as soon as NBC does.

The Games 2012: NBC-U-Later

Olympics on NBC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The biggest story of the London Olympic Games thus far hasn't been the United States women's gymnastics team winning a gold medal, Michael Phelps setting a record for most individual medals, Hope Solo's tweets criticizing Brandi Chastain's criticism, soldiers and schoolchildren filling empty seats at the venues, or even the emergence of Queen Elizabeth, Action Hero at the opening ceremonies.

No, it's the unofficial Olympic sport of NBC-bashing that's taking center stage.  In spite of all the technological advances and the addition of cable networks through mergers and acquisitions, it's still all about money and the highest ratings possible for the Peacock Network when it comes to Olympics coverage.

The howling from social media began Friday when NBC decided to tape-delay the opening ceremonies, which the rest of the world had already watched live.  Apparently, advertisers don't pay top dollar for a glorified prime time highlights show (especially if the Olympics are held outside North America) unless there's exclusive content that hasn't previously been shown.

When NBC did roll the tape, it was like an extended version of the "Today" show in prime time.  Following a brief discussion between Bob Costas and Tom Brokaw about security preparedness to open the broadcast (an important topic, to be sure.  But it could have been handled better.), the parade of athletes and nations  was punctuated by snarky comments from Costas, Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera, plus commercials every couple of minutes--which made the ceremonies seem longer than they really were.

But what really set people off was when NBC chose to substitute a musical tribute to the victims of the terrorist bombings in London on July 7, 2005.  Instead, we got Ryan Seacrest interviewing Phelps (which begs the question:  What's Seacrest doing here?).  NBC's explanation was that they were trying to "Americanize" the coverage, so they didn't think anyone would be interested in the tribute.  Care to explain that one to the victims' families?

It gets worse.  You can watch soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball and water polo live on the channels NBC is employing for the Games.  You can't watch track, swimming, gymnastics and the closing ceremonies live, not even on your computer or mobile device.  That's what the prime time show is for, even though the results have been known for hours.

Ratingswise, NBC couldn't be happier with the results.  Its coverage of the opening ceremonies was the top-rated show of the summer, and the subsequent prime time shows racked up good numbers.

Viewers complaining that any other network could have done a better job on the Olympics is like complaining about negative political advertising.  It has been 14 years since anyone other than NBC has covered the Games, and it'll be eight more (at least) before anyone else will.  NBC has the American TV rights through 2020.

It's not as if any other network would have deviated from NBC's tape-delayed, hearts-and-flowers approach.  Les Moonves, the head of CBS, has said as much.  Since American TV coverage of the Olympics began in 1960, viewers usually saw an hour or two of highlights in prime time, and more extensively on weekend afternoons.   The Games didn't start commanding massive amounts of network time until the 1980s.

So keep those e-mails and tweets coming, folks.  NBC doesn't seem to care what people think of how they're covering the Olympics, so long as the ratings and the money roll in.  Is this a great country, or what?

The Games 2012: This . . . Is London

Cropped transparent version of Image:Olympic flag.svg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The British are used to celebrations by now.  First there was the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, followed by the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.  You might have heard about those.

Now London is hosting the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1948, with all the pomposity and circumstance and track and field they can handle.

Security has been Topic A in the run-up to the Games.  It's been that way since June 2005, when three subway trains and a bus exploded during rush hour, killing 56 people.  That was one day after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Games.

So the British go overboard in protecting the people from terrorists, using missiles on rooftops and a huge military presence compensating for the security company they hired that came up short.  You'd think this was London during World War II, and the enemy was Nazi Germany and not al-Qaeda..

Where's Edward R. Murrow when you really need him?  Unfortunately for American TV viewers, we're stuck with Bob Costas.  NBC is showing at least 5000 hours of Olympics coverage across several of the networks parent company Comcast owns.  As usual, they'll save the best events for its prime time coverage, hours after everybody's heard the results.  After the hearts-and-flowers profiles, commercials for official Olympic sponsors and plugs for NBC's stellar fall line-up, maybe then you'll see some actual competition.

As for the athletes, well, whoever makes the biggest splash in the next couple of weeks will get their share of glory.  Then there is the unwanted glory.  Take Usian Bolt, reputed to be the fastest human in the world.  So why is actor Mickey Rourke claiming he beat Bolt in a middle-of-the-night race?  And then there's the Greek female track star who was booted from the Games because of a racist tweet she made.

The biggest controversy the United States team has had, besides Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney slamming London's preparation for the Games, has to do with the wardrobe for the Opening Ceremonies.  It seems that those Ralph Lauren-branded clothes were actually made in China, and members of both political parties--in a rare show of bipartisanship-- hollered that it was just plain unpatriotic.  Since so many of our products are now made in China, it's not as big a deal as it used to be.

Here's what we think will happen during the Olympics:

• Somebody other than the U.S. will win the gold medal in men's basketball.  After a compressed NBA schedule caused by last year's lockout, the current squad has too many injuries to key players, and too much competitive balance among the rest of the field to make them a favorite.
• The U.S. women's soccer and basketball teams will cruise to gold medals.  Unless they don't.
• Michael Phelps will put down his Subway sandwiches long enough to win a few medals in swimming.  Just not as many as there were in 2008.
• At least one athlete will lose his/her medal because that person didn't do a good job of hiding the illegal substance they used to win that event.

One more thing:  The 40th anniversary of the night in Munich when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were massacred by Arab terrorists is coming up.  Like they did in 1972, the International Olympic Committee has decided to bury its head in the sand by not acknowledging the tragedy at these Games.  They'd better hope nothing goes wrong here, or it really will be like London during wartime.  Didn't Winston Churchill say something once about blood, sweat and tears?