NTSF 105: Diversifying your sports portfolio with the Vuelta finale, aging legends and more…
TOOLING AROUND THE NET…
So I finally got my ass down to the library… sad to think it had been over a month since I’d picked up a book, but I think I was rapidly approaching that magic number. I picked up a classic that I had yet to read, tennis legend Jack Kramer’s autobiography (with Frank Deford’s assistance) The Game. It was the other book that I snagged off the shelves, though, that really caught my attention. The title alone was worth taking it down and checking it out — The Death of Hockey. Profiling what Gary Bettman has allowed the NHL to become, it is an instructive tale that for all he’s done as the sport’s commissioner he has yet to meet his original mission. I certainly didn’t make a complete reversion back to paper, though… here are my favorite reads of the week online:
- A new appreciation for Jack Nicklaus (Jaime Diaz/Golf Digest/18 September 2010) – With Tiger Woods stalled at 14 majors and holding, the question is no longer when he’ll pass Nicklaus’ eighteen but whether the beleaguered linksman will ever pull off those last five to take the record. This look by Diaz at the golfing legend shows that human side that we all know and love in the Golden Bear but never have really seen in Woods, a degree of balance that is rare even among the greatest ever to play a given sport. Candid and poignant, this look at Jack’s life is full of the man’s insights about his own shortcomings in a glimpse of the self-reflection that plagues even the greatest of champions…
- Debt, Lies and Cowboys (Brian Phillips/Slate.com/20 September 2010) – The foreign money of wealthy oligarchs has been instrumental in keeping English Premier League teams armed with enough funds to do battle with one another — in the transfer market and at the turnstiles, in television appearances and spots in the league table. But some of this money has proven to be too good to be true. In the case of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and Liverpool, or the Glazer family and Manchester United, the clubs have been subjected to leveraged buyouts in which they borrowed money to purchase the club and then transferred that debt onto the club ledgers. It’s a tough way to keep up with the oil barons and sheikhs at other clubs that actually have the money to throw around at sports franchises, as Phillips shows…
- South Africa’s World Cup hangover (Dave Zirin/SI.com/18 September 2010) – The World Cup, hosted this year for the first time on African soil, was everything that was could possibly have been expected from the tournament. Other than referee questions — FIFA’s responsibility — the South Africans put on one of the most energetic and exciting tournaments in years. It showcased the proud nation on the Cape of Good Hope in a way that no other spectacle possibly could have. And we even were treated to the vuvuzela, that ubiquitous noisemaker that fans either love or hate. But not all is rosy in the country; the luster of a job well done is now giving way to the realities of the economy post-Cup…
- Delhi learning downside of hosting Games (David Bond/BBC Sport/22 September 2010) – The Commonwealth Games, a mini-Olympics pitting the nations of the British Commonwealth against one another, is finding itself imperiled this year. Athletes are pulling out of the Games in large numbers, citing security concerns and poor facilities for their decision to stay away from Delhi. Stadiums are being raced to completion, giving many people involved worries about the structural safety of the rushed construction jobs. Workers have died throughout the frantic building period. The implications, though, could be greater than merely the neutering of this year’s Games, as Bond shows in this BBC report…
- All Blacks Looking Good (and That’s a Problem) (Emma Stoney/NY Times/22 September 2010) – The Webb Ellis Cup for the winner of the Rugby World Cup has been awarded every year since 1987. New Zealand captured that first victory… and the All Blacks have done jack-all in the competition ever since. Stoney takes a look at how the Kiwis are performing at a high level currently… and how that might just cost the team come the next edition of the Rugby World Cup to be held in 2011. Are they peaking at the wrong time, yet again, leaving another generation of New Zealanders to lament their lost opportunity for a champion?
A NICKEL’S WORTH…
- The beauty of knockout competitions in sports is their absolute potential to spring that upset upon an unsuspecting populace that looks at a schedule and checks off an easy victory for the powerhouse against a minnow. We saw the situation play out to varying degrees yesterday in the Carling Cup. Comprised of the 92 teams of the Football League in England, it doesn’t quite have the scrubs-as-Cinderellas feel that the FA Cup carries. But with Premier League teams getting a bye to the second round automatically and UEFA competitors excused until the third, there is a definite division between presumed haves and have-nots in this competition. But we saw a monumental upset when Liverpool tumbled to League Two side Northampton at Anfield on penalty kicks. Big-money clubs Chelsea and Manchester City likewise found themselves out of luck at the first hurdle, falling to Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion respectively — not quite as embarassing as Liverpool’s defeat, but with both Newcastle and West Brom only just having been promoted back to the Premiership this year it isn’t as though they should have reasonably been expected to steal their advancement…
- Doping? MMA? It hardly seems shocking, but the way in which the sport has repeatedly given short shrift to the subject is foolhardy and irresponsible. As the preeminent fighting sport in large swaths of the country and an industry that is growing leaps and bounds in international stature at the expense of more traditional pastimes like boxing, MMA promoters have long sat back and ignored the wider clamor in sports for drug testing and harsh penalties for those that test positive. They’ve followed through on the former, but as the Chael Sonnen case shows us they are still without a cognizant plan for dealing with dopers in their sport. My colleague R.K. Menn here at Sports Nickel has done a great job so far keeping us up to date on the most recent news in the Sonnen saga, but here is my thought. Sonnen apparently revealed to the California State Athletic Commission that he was going to test positive. He then was allowed to fight, tested positive and is now appealing a test he himself announced would fail. If this were baseball, we’d be seeing senators up in arms on our morning news. Despite the increased danger of steroid use in an octagon, there seems to be little publc outrage over their use by MMA fighters…
- 2009 U.S. Open winner Juan Martin Del Potro, the Argentine who has been sidelined most of this season after having wrist surgery and was unable to defend his Grand Slam title in Flushing Meadows, is finally mended and ready to return to the sport. He will make his first appearance since January in Bangkok, traveling to the tournament on his 22nd birthday today and hoping to get back into the swing of things with a long run of pain-free tennis. While we’ve seen Rafael Nadal assert his dominance on this season, tennis needs one strong hegemonic powerhouse in its sport about as much as golf needed Tiger Woods to win tournaments with double-digit leads week after week — which is to say not at all. Nadal has seen his run of glory tempered by Roger Federer; as the Swissman starts to show his age in the Slams and other ATP tournaments, it is imperative that a new crop rise up to consistently keep Nadal at bay. Novak Djokovic is the enigma, Andy Murray the unrealized potential… and Del Potro is perhaps the most dangerous youngster of the bunch, as long as he returns healthy and able to play at the same high level that took him to last year’s title in Queens. I wish Del Potro the best of luck on his road back to the top ten (he’s currently 35th in the ATP rankings after his setback) and a happy birthday to get it started…
- The Ryder Cup is just around the corner, Celtic Manor in Wales preparing for the duel between the best Americans and the best Europeans in golf. European captain Colin Montgomerie has been stoked to get things started, naming his squad and pairings and full plan of attack to his athletes ahead of the clash. The Americans have been more low-key in their approach, focusing more on the FedEx Cup and the end of the PGA Tour season. It is the truest contrast in styles possible, U.S. captain Corey Pavin performing few of the theatrics his European counterpart has put into the run-up to the action. Will the Americans, bringing a talented, ambitious young roster of players to Wales, be able to finally break their streak of futility on European soil and win as the visitors for the first time since 1993? Or will the home side keep up their run of good form, with an equally strong cast of majors winners and contenders, and win back the Cup for the fourth time in five years? Which style of management will motivate more? Will Montgomerie’s bravado lead to motivation, or the lack thereof? We’ll find out soon enough…
- So it wasn’t the Togolese national team that played in Bahrain a couple weeks ago; apparently a team of imposters suited up in the national kit of the African country and were led by rogue assistant coach Tchanile Bana against the Bahraini squad. This isn’t the first stunt Bana has pulled, being censured earlier this summer for a similar ruse perpetrated in Egypt. While much of the world community has taken to laughing this off as mere folly, the fact is that Togo has had a rough year. Remember, it was their team that was attacked by separatist-leaning terrorists in Angola this January as they traveled to their group-stage site in Angola. The nation is only just recovering from the attack on its team… and now apparently one of their own has taken it upon himself to potentially put his countrymen in danger yet again by taking unsanctioned teams abroad to play. Hopefully the beleaguered country can find some semblance of normality for its soccer team sometime soon…
ON THE DOCKET…
We’ve hit a lull, honestly… this is the time of the year when even the most ardent non-traditional sports fan settles down to watch some quintessentially American sports. Hockey has begun its preseason, and football (on both sides of the Atlantic and of all types) is getting warmed up in the first months of their wintry seasons. But as the theme has been so much this week, what is there to fill those gaps in the programming? What might allow you to witness some history being made? And who might be the old guy in the bunch springing a surprise bid for victory on a new generation of athletes?
- F1 Singapore Grand Prix (Sunday/26 September) – The F1 season shifts back to Asia and the Americas for the final five races of 2010. It’s still anybody’s series to conquer, with a mere 24 points separating the top five drivers spread amongst the three top teams. Three measly points separate the McLaren and Red Bull teams dueling for both the driver’s and constructor’s championships. Reborn from the old Singapore Grand Prix, the race has existed in its current incarnation for just the past two years — but those two winners, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, are amongst the five battling at the top of the standings. It should be one hell of a race; be sure to tune into SPEED TV or online early Sunday morning if you’re awake to see who is going to climb out of their car still in the hunt…
- UCI Road World Championshiops (starting Wednesday/29 September) – The grand tours are over and riders now either retreat to a premature offseason or reprogram their minds and bodies once again for one-day classics racing. The final phase of the cycling season begins in Australia this year, as Melbourne and Geelong host the UCI World Championships. Wednesday we’ll see the U-23 and women’s time trials; Thursday will be the men’s turn to take to the aerodynamic bicycles and try to unseat Fabian Cancellara as world champion. And then Friday through Sunday present road racing for each category in order, culminating in the men’s race on Sunday that will determine who wears the rainbow stripes that have been on Cadel Evans’ back the past season into 2011. Steephill.TV has all the coverage and live feeds you could possibly want…
- ATP & WTA Tours (throughout the week/multiple locations) – It’s that time of year once again where the women and the men of tennis split their tours and head to various low-profile locales week after week. As we near October, the men will finish up their European events in Metz and Bucharest this weekend before Asian tournaments begin in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The women are already in Asia, competing in Tashkent and Seoul right now ahead of next week’s battle in Tokyo. The Tennis Channel carries a fair amount of live and tape-delay coverage from these tournaments, well worth a watch to see stars and journeymen alike in strange and foreign settings…
FOLLOW NON-TRADITIONAL SPORTS FAN
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So remember, there’s no excuse not to diversify your range of understanding about sports abroad. In fact, the incentives far outweigh the setbacks that come from learning something new and potentially confusing. But hell, I’m preaching to the choir at this point — if you’ve made it to this point in the column, you’ve obviously already come to understand the value of an expansive sports-spectator portfolio for preventing lapses in excitement to emerge.
We’ll hopefully see you all right back here again next week. I’ll certainly be here, with the column as usual looking for that story the big boys might’ve missed in their narrow-minded range of focus. Follow along with the rest of my writing over the week through either service to the left… the more the merrier! And remember, I love hearing from all of you as well. When was the first time you deigned to diversify into sports outside the traditional American realm? What sports grab you the most? Comments, questions, suggestions, anecdotes… they’re all welcome down below in the comments. Just as a diversity of sports is a great thing to enjoy, so too is a diversity of opinion…
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