The slippery slope of 'its overblown, its not that bad, its what the game needs' seems to have been crossed now that Alexander Ovechkin has found his dancing skates. Truth is his little show isn't good for hockey and it should be nipped in the bud before it gets legs-no pun intended. No excuses about penalizing one of the games bigger stars apply. No player is, or should be, bigger than the game. The game of hockey can and would sell itself with even half-decent leadership and marketing. That's just how it is. Instead of adding more and more modifications to the rulebook or mind numbing sideshow distractions how about scaling back? Hockey survived for a long time by allowing the players some leeway to police themselves. Dignity, honor, and humility shouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of the almighty TV contract. Hockey appears to be at a crossroads. Will the NHL take the high road and prove to the world what some of us already know-that the game of hockey holds to a higher standard? Or, will it pander to the high-maintenance short-term memory fan who needs a continuous diet of newer bigger shinier objects to hold their attention?
Then again, I could be wrong. Look how well selling out to the lowest common denominator has worked for the NFL and NBA.......
I don't watch much basketball anymore, but the college playoffs did grab some of my attention over the weekend. Can anyone explain to me why Tyler Hansbrough flops around so much, or if he's in pain from some sort of severe gas attack? It sure seems that way on every close-up of him whining to the officials. If the NBA doesn't pan out he'd fit in well playing for the Red Wings.
The World Baseball deal is over. About all I caught of it was Adam Dunn striking out. More will have to be done to attract the casual fan to this tournament, since we can see the same thing 200 or so times during the regular baseball season.
Minnesota Wild fans need to begin taking stock of themselves. The same folks who took a 'much bigger' Sheldon Souray to task for picking on poor Craig Weller awhile back displayed a disturbing glee recently in watching Avs forward Cody McCormick being ragdolled by 6-foot-8 John Scott (note to readers: few arguments are more effective than 'but, thats different'). Having it both ways doesn't work any better in a hockey arena than it does in the real world folks. Its almost embarrassing to watch a good hockey state being represented by a fan base steeped in ignorance and hypocrisy. Upgrading their broadcast team couldn't do anything but help. Two mimes would be a marked improvement over Greenlay and Gorg.
Why Duke won't go much further in the NCAA tournament in two words or less: Greg and Paulus.
There isn't much more to say about Donte Stallworth than has already been said. Its time for the NFL to officially give him the permanent boot so he can finally be adopted by the Kennedys.
Is Barack Obama running the country or working for ESPN? Or maybe the question is whether ESPN is still a (pseudo) sports network or have they tanked as much as the regular news media? The President does seem a bit more coherent than Dickie V or Woody Paige though. Somewhere in there is a compliment, albeit a backhanded one.
The Jets search for a starting QB for the 2009 season is finally over with the news that Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has announced his retirement from baseball. If he doesn't pan out tennis great Kim Clijsters is said to be considering a return. As long as that guy from down south stays away. Anything but that again.
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