A Snapshot of American Sports Priorities

This past weekend, the USA Women's National Team (USAWNT) secured a place for itself in the 2012 London Olympic Games. This was not a shock. They are currently the number one-ranked team in the world, and they breezed through the weekend's CONCACAF tournament while scoring over thirty goals and allowing NONE. Last night, they defeated Canada (in Vancouver) by a final of 4-0 in a game where the USA dominated in all facets of the game. Really good stuff.

So, this morning, I tune in to the mother ship (mother lode, or whatever), ESPN and what is the "big" lead story? "Where will Peyton Manning play next year," and "who think which team will win the Super Bowl." Look, I fully get that the SB is one of the year's biggest sporting events. And, as a Colts fan I care about the Manning deal. But to completely omit any reference to a national team qualifying for the olympics is a sign that there are some misplaced priorities. Would a ten second clip and a five sentence summary really been all that hard to offer?

Somehow, I suspect that if the ABC/Disney cabal would have obtained the broadcast rights to the upcoming Olympic Games, things might have been different. But then again, they don't have the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl either, so maybe it's just laziness in Bristol. It wouldn't be the first time.

Pimp THIS Ride! On Second Thought, Please DON'T

This little gem of a 1949 Tucker sedan just rolled off of the auction block at Barrett-Jackson this past weekend for a cool 2.65 million (yes, Virginia - MILLION) dollars. It comes as a bit of a surprise, only because the last time a Tucker was sold (about fifteen-ish years ago) it was a 300,000 dollar car.

So much for the declining American economy. Then again, if you have 2.65 m to drop on a collector car, you don't give much of a damn what the general economy is doing anyway. By the way, this is one of a handful of the surviving cars from Tucker's total production run of 51 cars. They are beyond rare.

Now Isn't THAT Special?

Why football teams call special teams "special" is of little interest, unless you like studying the origin of language -- which I admit, I do. Of greater interest to me yesterday though was how "special teams" could totally crap up some special NFL football games. Fumbled punts, missed field goals, and general crummy play was the order of the day.

There is a tendency to elevate one's opinion of a game's quality based mostly on its importance. The games yesterday were clearly important. Just as clearly, based on missed tackles, passes thrown into the ground, bone-headed penalties, and busted plays, the quality of play was generally lacking - no matter who you were rooting for, if anyone.

Down The Stretch They Come!

In 3 and a half months, I will conclude my career and hop along into retirement. I have decided to update this blog a little more often, but who knows what that means? It seems like I have averaged about a post per year. Perhaps this time I can keep it rolling a little more. Anyway, hello again!