From
where I sit it looks like this is shaping up to be a fantastic World Cup...
I'm
not even sure where to start. We are a week into the tournament and
several delightful things have been established. Don't count on the favorites. Spain is out, Brazil was held to a 0-0 draw by Mexico, Cameroon is imploding
and it looks like the Dutch can score at will. That being said,
Holland is also riding another trend from Brazil. Come backs. We
have seen seven games were the trailing team has fought back to win.
Add to that the number of late goals and it's a recipe for
excitement. Fully 25 goals have been scored in the last 30 minutes,
nine of which came in the last 10, four in stoppage time at the end
of the 90. All this has given fans every reason to stay tuned in.
We are only just starting the 2nd round of matches and
this excitement is already playing out. It's exactly what FIFA needs
to distract from the rest of the political and sociological issues
surrounding the tournament.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
For
starters I'll claim partial points on predictions. I got the winner
and overtime in the last game. I'm honestly pleasantly surprised going 10-for-15 in the post season. It really isn't much of a surprise
that the Kings managed to take the series in 5 games. In fact, what
was a bit of a shock was the Rangers were so competitive. New York
dominated long stretches of the series. Even at that the end result
was never really in question. The Kings are full value for their win
and managed to show how good the Western Conference is. Los Angeles
won the Cup and a good argument can be made that they aren't the best
team in the west. Chicago, Colorado, Anaheim, even the much maligned
Sharks are powerful teams. Boston is the only team from the East
that would present a real challenge to the top western teams. That
being said, it was still a thrilling final. Given the three overtime
wins, they played an equivalent of 6 games. It was eerily
reminiscent of the 1993 final between LA and Montreal. But this time
the Kings were ready and the Rangers just couldn't keep up.
Meanwhile,
the World Cup is off to an interesting start to say the least...
The
referees managed to overshadow everything for the first two and a
half games. That is until the Dutch decided to show Spain some
beautiful football. Dubious penalties and cards marred the first
couple of games, and even in the early stages of the
Netherlands-Spain match the decisions were questionable at best.
Then we saw a return to Total Football. The Orjane showed speed,
skill, tenacity and a healthy dose of magic in a second half that was
as stunning as it was fantastic. Thankfully, it seems the onslaught
of goals from Holland managed to settle everything down. Subsequent
matches have shown pace and style, but little in the way of
controversy. I know I'm a couple of days late, but here's my picks.
It will be a challenge to take Brazil off their perch as favourite,
but their road to the final will probably run through either Spain of
Holland. Germany and Argentina seem set for a smooth run through to
the semi finals. Naturally both England and Italy have their
supporters, but will be hard pressed to find themselves in the late
round matches. But who will win? Argentina feels like a safe pick.
But I'm a proud Dutchman. So, I'm following my heart and picking
Holland to finally remove their names from the list of also rans.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
I
can fully appreciate how Steve Coburn feels. It's frustrating to say
the least. I have never seen a Triple Crown winner. I wasn't born
when Affirmed won in 1978. Every year we all go in hoping to see
history, but once again we are greeted with disappointment. For the
majority of sports fans the only time they pay attention to horse
racing is the Triple Crown. There have been plenty of close calls in
the years since Affirmed. But this one seems particularly galling.
It was the glorious underdog, with the blue collar owners taking on
the establishment. In other words it had the making of a perfect
Hollywood script. And since we all grew up on the ideal of a perfect
ending, this felt like it should be preordained. Sorry gang, but
reality and the rules got in the way. To begin with there's the
basic principle of sport: For every winner there is a loser. I'm
sure the Miracle on Ice played out much differently in the USSR.
Bill Buckner, Steve Bartman and Ralph Branca all have their names
etched in history for their part in losing. That's the reality of
life. California Chrome will be remembered as a great horse, who
came up one race short. The other issue is the use of fresh horses.
And that just comes back to the whole idea of playing by the rules.
Any eligible horse can be entered in any or all of the races. It's
that simple. Coburn can stand screaming in self-righteous
indignation until he's blue in the face. But he's still the newcomer
taking on a couple centuries of horse racing. Nevermind the lack of a Triple Crown winner since 1978, there hasn't been an
English Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970 and he's the only
post World War 2 winner. The point is that it's hard to do. And
that's what keeps people tuning in. The chance, however remote it
might be, that some day we will see a horse beat all comers and write
his name in hsitory.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
From
where I sit it looks like the NHL will be pressured for more video reviews...
via sports.yahoo.com
There
is no such thing as a perfect system for reviewing plays. Baseball
has it's new challenge system and is still seeing arguments over
calls. In the NBA the refs make the review themselves and can still
get it wrong. Instant replay has been in use in the NHL since the
mid-90s. It's undergone many changes, but is more needed? Possible
following the controversy in game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. Not
only should Dwight King's goal have not counted, but the Kings should
have been given a delay of game penalty just seconds before the
winning goal was scored. However, goaltender interference is a
judgement call and delay of game isn't reviewable. Let's face it,
the last thing we need is a return to the idiotic 'skate in the
crease' rule of the late 90s. The name Brett Hull should be enough
to put that to rest. So, what can be done? Give the goalie free
reign to defend his crease? Back to the days of Billy Smith copping players to the ground? It's hard enough already to score goals,
we really don't want them being taken off the board. Nor do we want
to see defender pushing players into the crease in a desperate
attempt to get a goal called back. As for flipping the puck over the
glass. Sure it could be reviewed, but how long could be wasted for
something that could often prove inconclusive? In the end for all the Rangers can comaplin about a couple calls being missed, they were the one's up 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 and couldn't hold the lead. They were also 0-for-2 on the power play in overtime. Yes, there will be a
demand for change, but don't expect to see any major updates.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
If
a league implodes and nobody cares, does it make a noise? For all
the gesturing through the media, there isn't a whole hell of a lot
being accomplished. That includes engaging the public. The biggest
hurdle at this point in time is that so far everything is normal.
Even in football crazy Saskatchewan the talk is more about punt
returning than strike votes. Outside of that, the bigger the centre
the less interest there is. As various strike/lockout situations
continue to float around, the Canadian public doesn't seem to
worried. And for both the CFL and CFLPA that should be a grave
concern. Canadians have been conditioned lately by 2 NHL lockouts to
find other forms of entertainment when the primary is unavailable.
However, the CFL is not a billion dollar industry like the NHL. The
league can't afford to lose too much in the way of money and still
have something worth saving. I do enjoy the CFL, it's a great game.
It's part of the heritage of Canada. But Sportcentre won't be
running endless clips of Mark Cohon riding an escalator. There are
plenty of stories for TSN to cover. The Blue Jays are red hot.
Genie Bouchard and Milos Raonic are moving up the ATP ranks. The
Stanley Cup and NBA final are both underway. And the World Cup
starts next week. The CFL is already facing an uphill battle for
attention, getting themselves buried in a work stoppage is only going
to make things worse. The feels like a tragic return to the CFL of
my youth: overflowing with mismanagement.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
From
where I sit it looks like the NHL should be excited for the Stanley Cup Final...
via nhl.com
And
no, it's not just for the obvious reasoning of two of the world's
biggest markets going head-to-head. It's that there's actually some
interesting story lines going into the final. Not the least of which
being the Kings seeming incapability to win a series in less than 7
games. However, it's not like the Rangers have been making quick
work of anyone either. Of a maximum of 21 games Los Angeles has
played 21, New York 20. The Kings have already faced elimination 7
times, the Rangers just 3. Although I don't have a cheering interest
in either team I'm quite looking forward to seeing what this series
can produce. Both goalies are world-class, finishing 2nd
(Lundqvist) and 4th (Quick) in Sochi. Both are quite
capable of putting in a stellar performance to hold their team in the
game. And both looked amazingly average in the last series. Quick
was shaky in games 5, 6 and 7 against Chicago; while Lundqvist was
pulled in game 6 against the Habs. Both defences can be solid and
porous in the same game. Both offences can be explosive and
non-existant. Honestly, this looks to be a series that's just as
likely to be a sweep as it is to go the distance. That being said,
and given my poor performance in the Conference finals, I'm taking
the Kings in 7. Maybe even in overtime. It's been 60 years since
the last one, I think we're due.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
North
Americans love a conspiracy. From JFK to 9/11 there always people
looking for answers to anything they can't understand or have trouble
accepting. Let's face it there are plenty of conspiracy theories
about sports. Does anyone think the NHL isn't thrilled the Rangers
are in the final? Against either LA or Chicago, both of those are
major US markets, it's perfect. Sadly, in the world of FIFA those
conspiracies are all too real. The outcome of games in any sport can
result in massive payouts for those placing wagers on the game. So,
it's hardly surprising when players or even officials fall to
temptation. The greater concern is obvious. For starters questions
are swirling around the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar in 2022.
Millions of dollars in payments for a country without the best human
rights record. Add to that the lack of proper climate it's easy to
question the legitimacy of the process. Now these latest allegations
of match fixing create a series of questions about the World Cup in a
couple of weeks. Managing an event of this size is difficult enough
without the added pressure of sniffing out corruption to the game
itself. In Sochi, the compromised building process was well
documented. However, once the games themselves got underway all of
that fell to the wayside. The picture in Brazil is, as amazing as
this sounds, bleaker. Not only was the building process
questionable, but it looks like the matches could be too.
At
least that's how I see it, and I sit in the cheap seats.
