NTSF 102: Final majors of 2010 in cycling and tennis, soccer’s tournament cycle begins anew and more…

TOOLING AROUND THE NET…

It’s been a rough week for reading things. Between my BlackBerry being replaced with a pre-defective unit last week and the company that seems to be cycling through my domicile with alarming regularity, there’s been little time to sit down and really tuck into some in-depth articles around the net. What little time I have had has been spent writing (or, as this column’s tardiness can attest, drinking)… but between work and deep-cleaning the house, those times have been few and far between. I couldn’t be completely held back, though, so here are a few things I’ve definitely enjoyed the past week:

• What’s left for Michael Phelps to prove? (Wayne Drehs/ESPN.com/25 August 2010) – After a less-than-stellar showing at the Pan-Pacific Championships in Irvine last week, it’s a reasonable question to ask. Phelps has been the undisputed star of the swimming pool for the better part of the past decade, with his unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing only the culmination of the work he’d put in four years earlier in Athens (where he won six golds and two bronzes). So with London 2012 just a few summers away and the world championships looming next summer, and Phelps’ commitment to training seemingly waning, it is a fine time for Drehs to dig into this vexing question…
• Cricket cleans up … baseball could learn a lot from the sport (Jeff Pearlman/SI.com/01 September 2010) – Perhaps you didn’t hear about it, but Pakistan (one of the traditional powerhouse squads of international cricket) is now under investigation for the possibility that as many as eighty of its matches might have been fixed in the recent past. If the allegations prove true, it might just be one of the biggest scandals to ever hit international sport. But unlike Major League Baseball, which perpetuated another scandal throughout the 1990s and beyond, cricket has proven much more proactive in nipping corruption in the bud. Pearlman does a great job comparing and contrasting the approaches, and shows precisely why the national pastime of many a former British protectorate has gotten it so right when that national pastime of the most prosperous former British protectorate has gotten it so wrong…
• Roddick deserves to be called out for behavior (Jon Wertheim/SI.com/02 September 2010) – So I didn’t catch writing about this aspect of the Roddick ouster… but that’s fine, because senior SI tennis correspondent Jon Wertheim got it exactly right when he dropped the hammer on ol’ Andy. The American tennis star proved that there is no shortage of petulance in the professional game, berating a hapless official that is trained to turn a cheek no matter how blatant the attack coming their way. For a man who has long been the standard-bearer for American men’s tennis, it was the most shameful display possible…
• Bulgarians remain in shadow of class of ’94 (Jonathan Stevenson/BBC Sport/02 September 2010) – As England gears up to play Bulgaria in the first match of a long journey that has all of Europe’s teams hoping for a coveted spot in the sixteen-team Euro 2012 tournament coming up in Poland and Ukraine in two years, Stevenson remembers the benchmark by which all other Bulgarian squads are measured. Traditionally an afterthought in European play, that one glorious summer sixteen years ago yielded a Cinderella story for the ages. Reaching just their second World Cup in two decades, that 1994 squad came to America and promptly ran all the way to the semifinals of the tournament — knocking off defending champions Germany along the way. This is definitely a touching tale, and something for the current incarnation of Bulgaria’s national team to strive for…
• Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay: Arch-enemies? (Matt Stroup/Universal Sports/01 September 2010) — After the Jamaican world-record holder at 100m lost his first race at the distance in two years, he had some interesting words about his vanquisher in a recent interview. Stroup looks at the budding rivalry between Bolt and Tyson Gay, the American that pipped Bolt in Stockholm for the biggest win of his 2010 comeback campaign. We’ve got some fuel for the fire, as 2011 (a world-championship year) promises to yield plenty of fireworks on the track between these two men (as well as Bolt’s compatriot Asafa Powell, 2010 IAAF Diamond League 100m runner-up to Gay, and current European championship holder Christophe Lemaitre)…

A NICKEL’S WORTH…

1. Congrats to all the champions of the inaugural IAAF Diamond League. On the strength of three victories in the final three meets with 100m races, Tyson Gay swept in to take that title over injured Jamaican Asafa Powell. Other American men’s titlists included Wallace Spearmon (200m), Jeremy Wariner (400m), David Oliver (110m hurdles), Bershawn Jackson (400m hurdles), Dwight Phillips (long jump) and Christian Cantwell (shot put). On the women’s side, Allyson Felix swept both the 200m and 400m titles, giving the United States the clean sweep in the sprints by both sexes after Carmelita Jeter sealed the deal for the women at 100m as well. Brittney Reese (long jump) rounds out a successful year for the American track-and-field contingent as they gear up for next year’s worlds…
2. The return of Formula 1 racing last weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix was not the prettiest of races, but ultimately Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) beat out Mark Webber (Red Bull) for the victory. In the process the British driver swapped spots with the Australian in the hunt for the driver’s championship, reclaiming the top spot by a mere three points on the strength of his win at Spa-Francorchamps. The series takes a break this weekend before heading to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. There the Ferrari contingent will be hoping Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa can enjoy a good showing on the team’s home soil, but the way McLaren and Red Bull are racing this might be a two-horse race to the end. (Special mention also goes to Adrian Sutil of the Force India team. After reaching the podium last year at this race, Sutil returned for another top-five finish. As a small upstart in the powerhouse-dominated sport, it was a fine result for the financially-beleaguered Force India crew.)
3. Tiger Woods might have just endured the worst year of his life, but things seem to be turning around for the troubled golf legend. His marriage may be officially over now, but there’s no reason why his golf career should be with it. Woods finally found his groove at the Barclays Championship at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey. Despite his middle-round slump, ol’ Eldrick shot a 65 on the opening Thursday and a closing 67 on Sunday to vault back up into the top 70 in FedEx Cup points and put himself in position after a feeble 2010 to at least redeem himself with a shot at the championship. While I’m still going to be pulling for the next generation to develop and emerge as champions, a field without Tiger is just a little less intriguing — after all, you have to beat the best to truly be the best…
4. How about a round of applause for Daiki Ito, who took the lead in the ski-jumping Summer Grand Prix series with his third victory of the summer in Hakuba? (Or, better yet, did you even realize that there was such a thing as ski jumping in the summer?!) On the heels of victory in Courcheval, Ito has been having a dominant summer on the ramp. He’s outshined Olympic medalists such as Poland’s Adam Malysz and Austria’s Thomas Morganstern so far this year, and despite not showing as strong as he would’ve liked in February’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver Ito is setting himself up for a strong 2010-11 winter World Cup campaign…
5. And Americans just keep winning at the FIBA World Basketball Championships. Wow… big deal. So a team stocked with nothing but NBA talent can beat countries like Croatia and Tunisia and Slovenia. I’m stunned. The biggest shocker is not that the Americans are winning, but that they nearly came close to losing their 5-0 record in group play. As my Sports Nickel colleague John Mitchell wrote, the Americans nearly lost to Brazil in a 70-68 thriller that finally provided some battle testing for a green American side. They haven’t had to be at their best in group play, but if the USA wants to win their first world championship since 1994 they’ll have to be a lot better once knockout play begins…

ON THE DOCKET…

Naturally the two biggest events on this Non-Traditional Sports Fan’s radar are the big tournaments already in action. The U.S. Open and the Vuelta a España dominate the calendar at the moment. And with the conclusion of the IAAF Diamond League season and no Formula 1 this weekend, the cupboards are looking a little bare in the non-traditional sense. But that doesn’t mean I’ll be discouraged… no, here’s my recommendations for the week to come:

• Vuelta a España (through Sunday/19 August 2010) — The last grand tour of 2010 has been a mountainous, question-filled race so far. With Andy Schleck looking to assist his brother Frank to a grand-tour victory, Saxo Bank has tipped its hand as to its intentions. Denis Menchov still looks plenty hungry for a third Vuelta, and a group of Spaniards (led by Igor Anton and Joaquin Rodriguez) is hoping to keep the red leader’s jersey on home soil this time around. Be sure to catch the live daily feeds at Steephill.TV, and I’ll be here throughout the next fortnight to bring you daily news and notes on the race as well…
• U.S. Open (through Sunday/12 August 2010) – The best men and women of the tennis world are congregated in Flushing Meadows for the final Grand Slam of the 2010 tennis season, and this is the best chance (for those of you who may not be as insomniac as I am) to catch a good chunk of a major tournament during the year. We’ve already witnessed some stark surprises on both sides of the singles draw, but don’t forget also about all the doubles action — men’s, women’s and mixed — to be found at the National Tennis Center in Queens. A full TV schedule promises lots of viewing opportunities for fans in the United States all through the tournament…
• College football begins! (beginning tonight and through the weekend) – Sure, it may be something that is wholly traditional for most sports fans in America, but the start of the college football season is certainly something that’ll be captivating this Non-Traditional Sports Fan as I try to follow the games on the radio and my phone at work. For those of you who don’t have to punch the timeclock this weekend, be sure to stock up on refreshments and prepare your favorite chair, because as the air takes on a slight chill it can mean only one thing: football season is here, back and as good as ever. Be sure to check out the Tailgater Week 1 breakdown tomorrow and keep an eye open for the wrap-up on Monday…
• UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers (Friday/03 September 2010 & Tuesday/07 September 2010) – Been missing the pageantry, the excitement (and the free labor) of soccer’s biggest stars as they ply their trade for national glory? You’ve got your chance to root once again for your favorite European side as qualification gears up for the European Championships still nearly two years down the road. This is the opportunity for Spain to maintain their dominance of the continent and global soccer; an opportunity for teams like England and Germany to pick themselves up after disappointing knockout eliminations; and a chance for France, Italy and others to try to rebound from disastrous campaigns in South Africa. Be sure to catch all the action tomorrow between England and Bulgaria on Fox Soccer Channel…

So I learned my lesson in the end: Refrain from any beers that have more than 7% alcohol by volume if you intend to get a column written within its deadline. But while it may be five or six hours late in coming, know that a Non-Traditional Sports Fan in America is always going to come through in the end. After all, it is far better to be tardy and on your game in life than absent altogether. Another week is behind us, another big one yet to come. And all along the way, tipsy or sober, we’ll be here every step of the way…

So gear up for a big weekend to come. It’s that time of year when we break out both hats, the traditional and the non-traditional, and prepare for a fun-filled fall and winter to come. Don’t let yourself get sucked solely into football, because there’s plenty of diversity to find on the smorgasbord of sports offerings in the week to come. We’ll be back again next week to cover it all — hopefully in a more timely fashion, and hopefully exercising a little more moderation…