Hot. Cold. Sochi. Week 1.

Sochi_Winter_Olympic_Opening_22 (Photo credit: KOREA.NET - Official page of the Republic of Korea)

So far, so good at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  Terrorists have yet to attack, and President Vladimir Putin has yet to take off his shirt.  Although it is warm enough there to do so.

What's not so good are reports of stray dogs being shot near the Olympic venues where their families used to be.  Unfinished buildings, unsanitary conditions and other rotten accommodations have also been reported, which is not a problem if you happen to work for NBC, its affiliates and sponsors.  Dissidents being carted off to prison for the crime of raining on Putin's parade.  And we haven't heard much "propaganda" from the gay and lesbian contingent.

The weather in Sochi has been much balmier than anyone anticipated, which makes certain portions of the United States envious.  Temperatures are way above freezing, which makes the snow on the mountains soft, creating hazardous conditions for some of the athletes. 

Through the first week of competition, the Americans are tied for second in the medal count with the Netherlands with 12 (four golds, three silver and five bronze).  Norway has the most with 13.  Host country Russia has 11.  Canada has ten.

You will notice that most of the American medals have so far been won by snowboarders and freestyle skiers.  The ones who were supposed to pose proudly with medals have not:  Bode Miller (men's downhill), Shani Davis (men's speed skating), Julie Mancuso (women's downhill) and Shaun White (snowboarding).  There is still another week to go, but this does not look like a good Olympics for the United States.

The unofficial Olympic sport of NBC-bashing has been toned down somewhat, with the network allowing live coverage of most events online and on its numerous cable channels.  But NBC still gets to save the best stuff for its prime time coverage, such as figure skating and any sport in which the U.S. medals.  It's as if people realized that NBC cares more about attracting female eyeballs than regular sports fans, and don't give two hoots about what you think of their coverage as long as you keep watching.

Bob Costas, who has anchored every Olympics NBC has had the rights to since 1992, has had to step aside for a few nights because of an eye infection.  Looking like Harry Potter after an all-nighter (or three) and drinking vodka on the air didn't help matters, either. 

When NBC could have chosen Al Michaels or Dan Patrick to fill in for Costas, they went with Matt Lauer instead.  Despite his news background, "Today" show baggage and viewer complaints about his beard, Lauer's not that bad, actually.  With the prime time emphasis on manipulative sports coverage and gauzy profiles, Lauer should feel right at home here.  Until Costas wants his job back when his eyes clear up.

As we enter Week 2 in Sochi, there is still a sense that something big is going to happen.  Whether that comes from an Olympic athlete or not, it had better happen soon before the snow melts.  Like 48 hours from now.

Thursday Night Football. Only CBS.

CBS Logo Light (Photo credit: watchwithkristin)

Over 111 million of you watched the Seattle Seahawks dismantle the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48, which made the Fox telecast the single most watched TV program in American history.  Now the National Football League wants to know if you're ready for more Thursday night football.

As part of its new TV deal with CBS, NBC, ESPN and Fox which goes into effect next season, the NFL wants to increase awareness of its league-owned cable channel by putting some of its Thursday night games on a broadcast network, which would be simulcast by that cable channel.  Not NBCSN or Fox Sports 1, which could use some awareness themselves as upstart cable networks.

After much spirited bidding, CBS emerged as the winner.  They and NFL Network will televise the first eight weeks of the regular season, then NFLN takes over the second half of the schedule, along with a couple of late-season Saturday games.  This is a one-year deal, with an option for a second.  The only exceptions are games on opening night and Thanksgiving night, which will be on NBC.

At first glance, you might think that the NFL gave away its prized package to the network that needed it the least.  As CBS likes to tell us, they have the top-rated prime time broadcast network with an already successful Thursday night sitcom lineup.  Of the other networks, NBC has Sunday nights, Fox has the World Series, and Disney has Monday nights on ESPN.  Had any of them won the Thursday night package, it would have boosted their otherwise pathetic prime time ratings considerably.

The announcing crew on CBS/NFLN will be Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.  This is going to be real strange, with a veteran broadcasting team that has called a few Super Bowls reduced to covering low-grade matchups--as opposed to the doubleheader games on Sundays-- for what might not be a long-term gig.

Thursday night games have always been a problem for teams in which the quality of the game suffers because they had three days off, and the risk of injury is high.  (The tradeoff, of course, is more time to heal before the next game.)  But people watch.  As long as they do, the NFL will be more than happy to provide as much football as they possibly can.  Even if it kills them.

Together we make football, indeed.

Seahawks Fly Off With The Super Bowl

Seattle Seahawks huddle (Photo credit: Mike Morbeck)

The Seattle Seahawks dominated the 48th Super Bowl in East Rutherford, New Jersey with a defense that rendered the Denver Broncos' vaunted offense useless.  The Seahawks' offense was pretty good, too, racking up 43 points to the Broncos' 8 for Seattle's first pro championship since the SuperSonics (now based in Oklahoma City) won the NBA title in 1979.

You might say the Seahawks won this game almost from the very beginning, with the Broncos' Manny Ramirez sailing the football over Peyton Manning's head into the end zone twelve seconds into the game for a safety.  It was all downhill for Denver's offense from then on, turning over the ball four times including a misbegotten Manning pass picked off by Seattle's Malcolm Smith, who took it 69 yards for a touchdown.

The Broncos' defense wasn't that great either, giving up 206 passing yards and two touchdowns to Seahawk QB Russell Wilson, and an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to Percy Harvin.

If this is the way Manning may have wanted to end his illustrious NFL career, he and his teammates couldn't have picked a worse performance to go out on.  Especially after setting several records during the regular season.

It must irk Minnesota Vikings fans to see former players Harvin and Tavares Jackson wearing Super Bowl rings, while Adrian Peterson is in danger of never getting near the big game unless he bought a ticket.

Pete Carroll, who won a national college title at Southern California before the NCAA posse came for him, wins his first Super Bowl.  His coaching, cited by most as stereotypical laid-back New Age, belies a harmonic convergence between mind, body, soul, and a punishing style of play.  Whatever it was, it must have worked because the Seahawks are coming back to the Pacific Northwest with the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Other things you might have noticed during the Super Bowl telecast:

• Joe Namath in a fur coat doing the coin toss.  PETA must not like that.
• All the handwringing about the conditions for the first outdoor cold-weather Super Bowl were overblown.  The NFL really lucked out with temperatures in the 40s and rain, instead of snow on the frozen tundra of MetLife Stadium.
• Bruno Mars was this year's halftime entertainment.  He appears to be what the NFL wants--a safe, bland pop star who appeals to advertisers' target audience of young women.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers, on the other hand, gave the show some sorely needed energy with a higher nipple count than Janet Jackson's a decade ago.  OK, they were shirtless guys.  And this time it was intentional.
• The commercials for mostly cars, snack food and beer were so-so with recycled ideas.  But some of them were head-scratchers, such as the ones where you couldn't decide if they were selling a product or an idea.
• Bob Dylan does a Chrysler commercial.  Prince appeared in the sitcom "New Girl", a special episode which ran on Fox after the football game.  As Mr. Dylan would put it, things really have changed.

1500 ESPN: Getting Back In The Game

ESPN Radio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When KSTP (AM 1500) ditched its conservative talk format a few years ago and became 1500 ESPN,  they had a couple of things going for them:  Twins baseball, and an even playing field on the AM band with KFAN in the realm of sports talk radio in the Twin Cities.

Today the Twins and KFAN are both on FM signals, leaving KSTP in a cloud of static.  Sure, they have the University of Minnesota men's hockey and basketball broadcasts, along with the occasional women's game.  But that's pretty much it.

To fill the time between ESPN Radio programming, KSTP has local hosts on in the late mornings and all afternoon long.  In its latest makeover (due to take place February 3, the day after the Super Bowl), Phil Mackey is being moved from co-hosting afternoon drive with Patrick Reusse to late mornings to team with Judd Zulgad.  Reusse will now be handling his weekday show alone.

Mackey replaces Jeff Dubay, who was let go in what station officials would call an economy move, in so many words.  Dubay had only been on KSTP's payroll for a year after getting fired by KFAN for his well-documented drug and legal problems.  Judging from the reaction to Dubay's dismissal on social media, you'd have thought:  (A) He was an oasis in a sea of sports journalist navel gazing, or (B) He was a no-talent showoff who ran off at the mouth too much.  (Next stop 105 The Ticket, perhaps?)

One of the other problems KSTP faces is the continued presence of "Garage Logic", a holdover from the old talk format where for two hours each weekday, former sportswriter Joe Soucheray talks conservative politics, bringing the sports format to a screeching halt until he is paired for one hour  with Reusse in a revival of the old "Saturday Morning Sports Talk".  Is this KSTP's way of hedging its bets, of having something to fall back on if this ESPN thing doesn't work out?

It's hard to survive as a stand-alone AM radio station these days, even if KSTP has been an essential part of Minnesota broadcasting for nearly a century.  It's even harder when your station has an identity crisis, one that causes your listeners to look elsewhere.  Such is life at the Big AM 1500, where they're struggling to get back in the game.

Mike Zimmer: Lost In Transition

Mike Zimmer & Marvin Lewis (Photo credit: Navin75)

The ninth head football coach the Minnesota Vikings have employed since opening for business in 1961 is Mike Zimmer.  He has been the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals for the last few years, and has previously held the same position with the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons.  In keeping with Vikings' tradition, Zimmer has never had NFL head coaching experience.

Zimmer replaces Leslie Frazier, who was let go after the Vikings failed to make the playoffs.  He has since resurfaced as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under new coach Lovie Smith.

The Vikings hired Zimmer because the Bengals were one of the top defensive teams in the league this past season.  The Vikings were one of the worst, even though Frazier's specialty was defense prior to being promoted to head coach three seasons ago.

Zimmer was also hired for his apparent ability to light a fire under the players' butts.  To those of you who are familiar with the HBO series "Hard Knocks", which is an uncensored behind-the-scenes look at an NFL team during training camp, you have no doubt heard Zimmer make liberal use of the words not heard in normal conversation beyond rap lyrics.  He reminds us of Jerry Burns, a former Vikings coach for whom you also needed a seven-second delay.  By contrast. Frazier could have passed for Clark Kent.  Or NBA star Chris Paul's insurance agent twin brother in those State Farm TV commercials.

Though the Vikings need defensive help in the worst way, it was the quarterback situation that got the most attention this past season.  None of the starters they used--Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman--seemed to have been the answer.  The new offensive coordinator--reportedly, it's going to be Norv Turner, who until recently had the same job with the Cleveland Browns--will most likely have his hands full with whatever hotshot QB the Vikings end up drafting.  Or maybe he should just give the ball to Adrian Peterson.

Despite all the accolades and glowing reviews about Zimmer's past job performance, he should be considered a transitional coach.  The Vikings are going to play their home games outdoors for the next couple of years at the University of Minnesota, then move back indoors at their new downtown Minneapolis stadium.  They do not do well outdoors, and it could be rough going no matter who is coaching this team.  The best Mike Zimmer can hope for is to keep the ship on a steady course until they've reached their new port.

The Metrodome (1982-2014)

English: The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Weeks after the last Minnesota Vikings football game was played, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis is coming down piece by piece.  First they came for the seats and the artificial turf.  Next the fabric roof will be deflated for the final time.  Then comes the wrecking ball, only Miley Cyrus won't be on it.  All to make way for the new Vikings stadium.

Gone is a not-quite-beloved piece of late 20th-century architecture that cost around $55 million to build, which replaced the tiny ballpark in Bloomington where the Mall of America now sits.  The Dome was originally built because the Vikings and Twins threatened to leave Minnesota unless they got a state-of-the-art facility, to match all those other state-of-the-art facilities.  What we got was a football stadium that doubled as a baseball park.  Charming.

Now, over 30 years later, the main tenants have abandoned the Dome (also known in recent years as Mall of America Field) as they got their own facilities.  The University of Minnesota football team moved to an on-campus stadium.  The Twins went to Target Field.  The Timberwolves, who played their first NBA season in the Dome, split for Target Center.  And the Vikings will move into their new football palace in 2016, which will cost several times more than the Metrodome did.

Some of the memories that came with the Metrodome are pretty obvious:  Two World Series championships for the Twins (1987 and 1991).  Hosts to the Super Bowl, the MLB All-Star Game, two NCAA men's basketball Final Fours (both won by Duke), rock concerts, Billy Graham crusades, monster truck rallies, high school and college games, and many others.  One thing the Dome never hosted was a hockey game.

Here's some not-so-obvious memories:  Special ground rules for Twins games, such as awarding ground rule doubles for balls hitting the ceiling or the speakers.  The Baggie in right field.  The "We Like It Here" sign.  Ear-splitting crowd noise.  The wind-tunnel doors.  Homer Hankies.  The 1998 NFC Championship Game.

Great and not-so-great athletes have passed through the Metrodome:  Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, Randy Moss, Daunte Culpepper, Christian Laettner, Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau, Jack Morris, and so many others.  As for coaches and managers:  Bud Grant, Tom Kelly, Jerry Burns, Ron Gardenhire, Mike Krzyzewski, Dennis Green, Bill Musselman, Mike Tice and Leslie Frazier.

The Metrodome may have resembled a giant souffle on the skyline of downtown Minneapolis, but it brought so much attention to the world beyond Minnesota.  No other stadium, indoor or outdoor, could claim to host as many major events as the Metrodome did.  Relatively cheap as it was to build, it did what it was supposed to do, and then some.

Now it's time to move on.

BCS: Save The Best for Last

Florida State University logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The much-maligned Bowl Championship Series crowned its last winner Monday night at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, with Florida State coming from behind to defeat Auburn 34-31.

After trailing for much of the game, the Seminoles scored the game winner with thirteen seconds remaining on a two-yard pass from quarterback Jameis Winston to Kelvin Benjamin.  That was just over a minute after the Tigers scored on a 37-yard run by Tre Mason.  In the second half alone, Florida State had outscored Auburn 24-10.

Winston, the Heisman Trophy winner who happens to be a freshman, completed 20 passes out of 35 for 237 yards and two touchdowns.  Auburn's quarterback Nick Marshall completed 14 out of 27 for 230 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

This is Florida State's first national college football title since 1999, and third overall.  Besides an undefeated season, the Seminoles of the Atlantic Coast Conference also accomplished the feat of defeating a school from the Southeastern Conference, which had won the last seven BCS national championships.  Nonetheless, the balance of power in college football continues to center on the southeastern United States.

Whether you detest the Tomahawk Chop, the SEC's dominance or the BCS itself, you had to admit that the game Florida State and Auburn played was the best way to close out an era that benefited no one but the football powers and its sponsors.  Starting next season, the BCS will be replaced by a four-team tournament to be known as the College Football Playoff.  Which will only create more arguments.