Good News/Bad News?
There is a truism in journalism that 'Bad news sells.' And it is often used as an excuse in sports reporting to focus on the more salacious and 'newsworthy' stories of players who have gone off the rails, done something outrageous or otherwise fouled the pool of genuine sporting endeavour.
We hear it all the time. 'Oh, Plaxico Burress makes a better story because he shot himself in a nightclub. That's what people want to hear.'
But that is such a horrible, feeble, inexcusable cop-out in modern journalism. No , it isn't what people want to hear. They HATE to hear stories of self-obsessed stars trying to prove they don't have to follow society's values and laws. They ABHOR reports of the privileged few flouting their tendencies of excess and disdain in our faces. And they positive RECOIL against notions that the utterly irresponsible somehow deserve greater news coverage than the many (the majority) who do things the right way, and don't seek publicity to stroke their own egos.
Case in point - a story buried in the depths of the totally compelling Sports Illustrated this week featuring Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu and his (largely unreported) work to help kids with life-threatening illnesses in hospital. It's worth highlighting (and reading) in full just to counter-balance the sleazy side of sport (Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Donte Stallworth, Michael Vick and others).
Here is the full story by Sachin Shenolikar. My only complaint? It should have been given headline billing, not slipped among the 'sports shorts' of the magazine. We need MORE of this kind of story, not more of Burress and Co:
Heather Miller was being driven to the hospital for surgery on Jan. 26, but her thoughts were on a voice mail her mom, Wendy, had received three days earlier. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu said he had left something special at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for his 10-year-old fan from Bedford, Pa. "The whole 2½-hour ride, instead of Heather dreading what was to come," Wendy says, "she was anxious about Troy's surprise."
When the family arrived, they found the jersey Polamalu had worn in the AFC Championship Game, autographed.
Polamalu met Heather—who is the guest editor of the July issue of SI Kids—last October, shortly after she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a cancer of the bone. He stays in touch by texting, including one the day after the Steelers' Super Bowl win. "How about that, Heather? Hope we made you happy," it read.
Polamalu has developed similar relationships with half a dozen Children's Hospital patients and their families. He plays Rock Band or draws pictures with the kids and chats with their parents. "He spends hours here," says Mike Shulock, the child life specialist at the hospital. "I can't say enough about the impact he has."
You just KNOW there are plenty more stories like this. We just need - we WANT - to hear them.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Hindsight? Gotta love it
How I wish I could have a few columns back after writing them. This was my View from America piece for SkySports.com last week BEFORE the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond turned into the greatest borefest in the recent history of motor-sport, a 160mph circular procession of such high tedium that even second-placed Dario Franchitti was forced to apologize to fans for the "awful, awful racing." Here's the awful, awful lack of foresight (made only slightly more palatable - or less so, you could argue - by the 'average roundabout' reference). "Greatest dogfight potential?" I hardly think so:
View from America
US-based British sports-writer Simon Veness highlights the renewed focus on Dario Franchitti in the increasingly dramatic IndyCar series
Jenson Button may be motorsport’s flavour of the month in Europe, but there’s no doubting who is enjoying the lion’s share of the high-octane spotlight here in the US.
Dario Franchitti may have been an afterthought in 2008 following his disastrous dabble with the closed-cockpit world of NASCAR racing, but he has forced his way back into the media’s attention in no uncertain terms in recent weeks.
And, ahead of the weekend’s big showdown in the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway (live on SS1 at 12.30am on Sunday), the Flying Scot is front and center for this unique race, which takes place on a circuit only marginally bigger than the average roundabout.
First off, viewers will have to get used to the tight, constricting confines of the shortest course used by any of the big racing leagues. RIR is dubbed ‘America’s Premier Short Track’ and fully deserves that soubriquet. Short? How about three-quarters of a mile (1.2km) from start to finish. The 20 cars will lap at around 166mph, meaning they will cover the full circuit in roughly 20 seconds. At three laps per minute, they could cover the 300-lap distance in just an hour and 40 minutes. And get very, very dizzy in the process.
Indeed, one of Franchitti’s first comments last week after winning the Iowa Corn Indy 250 (on the Iowa Speedway, which is all of seven-eighths of a mile!) was: “I am completely dizzy right now.”
So he had better be ready for an even more extreme experience Saturday night, especially as all races at Richmond are run under lights (and draw huge crowds as a result). It makes for an amazing spectacle, even if all the drivers do need to lie down in a dark room for a while afterwards while the world stops spinning around them.
But it is not the unusual nature of the racing that is uppermost in the media’s minds ahead of round eight of 17 in this year’s IndyCar series so much as Franchitti’s big comeback from the rubble and ruin of his 2008 campaign.
This time last year, the Bathgate racer was still hobbling from the effects of an inadvertent high-speed encounter with Larry Gunselman in a Nationwide Series event at Talladega (Franchitti was T-boned on the driver’s side by Gunselman’s Chevy at roughly 150mph and was fortunate to escape with ‘only’ a broken ankle).
He was preparing for the NASCAR event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, having endured the kind of season normally suffered only by the most distant also-rans of motorsport (in F1, think Force India, only worse). He had started just 10 races, failed to qualify in two and missed five with his ankle injury. His best finish was a meager 22nd, while his average placing was a miserable 34th.
Just a few days after his forgettable 38th-place at Loudon, his Chip Ganassi Racing team folded through lack of sponsorship, an early victim of the recession that continues to take large bites out of both the NASCAR and IndyCar circuits. And there Dario sat for the rest of the season, a frustrated spectator as – irony of ironies – Chip Ganassi Racing dominated the 2008 Indy series, with Kiwi Scott Dixon claiming the crown he had vacated at the end of the previous year.
Now, however, it is a completely different story as Franchitti basks on the afterglow of his second win of the season (his 10th on the Indy circuit) and sits just three points behind current series leader Ryan Briscoe. In the seven events so far, he has been out of the top 10 only once and he and Dixon have four wins between them for the Target Chip Ganassi team.
The smaller oval circuits haven’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Scotsman in the past (his NASCAR experience was definitely the nadir for the left-turn, left-turn, left-turn mentality), but he proved without doubt at Iowa last week there are absolutely no hang-ups from last year, hence most of the pundits make him the favourite for win No.3 this term.
He is certainly a distinctly happier and more easy-going driver than the one who looked a haunted figure at times with the good ol’ boys of the stock car series last season, and it would be another supreme irony if he was to finish in Victory Lane in such a bastion of the NASCAR world.
Of course, the REAL story of this year’s IndyCar series to date is the fact just 57 points separate the top six in the standings, meaning the championship is boiling up nicely (each race winner earns 50 points, while there are 2 bonus points for the driver who leads most laps and an additional point for the pole-sitter, hence every race has a potential 53-point turnaround).
Briscoe and Franchitti (241 and 239 points respectively), sit just ahead of Dixon (226) and Brazilian Indy 500 star Helio Castroneves (212), while swimsuit pin-up Danica Patrick is still a healthy fifth (189) and 2005 champion Dan Wheldon, the other Brit in the championship shake-up is sixth (184).
The next four in the standings – Brazilian Tony Kanaan, American duo Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal, and Japan’s Hideki Mutoh – have also shown themselves to be pretty competitive in recent races, so there are no foregone conclusions for a race that often throws up more than its fair share of surprises.
Seasoned Richmond watchers are quick to point out this ‘bull-ring’ style of racing is not for the faint-hearted, and, of the past seven winners, only one of those, Sam Hornish Jr, is not in the current top seven (mainly because he is trying to ‘do a Dario’ and crack the NASCAR world).
Franchitti himself won here in his championship year of 2007, Castroneves in 2005, Wheldon in ’04 and Dixon the year before that, while Kanaan is the reigning Suntrust title-holder (Hornish Jr won in both 2002 and ’06).
It therefore has arguably the greatest dogfight potential of the season so far. Throw in Patrick, who is increasingly desperate to chalk up a second career win and advance her end-of-year contract potential when her current deal with Andretti Green Racing is up, and you have the formula for some riveting TV.
With the Formula 1 world on a two-week hiatus (if that’s the right word when threats and counter-threats of a breakaway circuit are being thrown around like confetti at the world’s most profligate wedding), it could be the ideal time to tune in to an IndyCar revolution – and see if Super Dario can truly reign supreme.
How I wish I could have a few columns back after writing them. This was my View from America piece for SkySports.com last week BEFORE the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond turned into the greatest borefest in the recent history of motor-sport, a 160mph circular procession of such high tedium that even second-placed Dario Franchitti was forced to apologize to fans for the "awful, awful racing." Here's the awful, awful lack of foresight (made only slightly more palatable - or less so, you could argue - by the 'average roundabout' reference). "Greatest dogfight potential?" I hardly think so:
View from America
US-based British sports-writer Simon Veness highlights the renewed focus on Dario Franchitti in the increasingly dramatic IndyCar series
Jenson Button may be motorsport’s flavour of the month in Europe, but there’s no doubting who is enjoying the lion’s share of the high-octane spotlight here in the US.
Dario Franchitti may have been an afterthought in 2008 following his disastrous dabble with the closed-cockpit world of NASCAR racing, but he has forced his way back into the media’s attention in no uncertain terms in recent weeks.
And, ahead of the weekend’s big showdown in the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway (live on SS1 at 12.30am on Sunday), the Flying Scot is front and center for this unique race, which takes place on a circuit only marginally bigger than the average roundabout.
First off, viewers will have to get used to the tight, constricting confines of the shortest course used by any of the big racing leagues. RIR is dubbed ‘America’s Premier Short Track’ and fully deserves that soubriquet. Short? How about three-quarters of a mile (1.2km) from start to finish. The 20 cars will lap at around 166mph, meaning they will cover the full circuit in roughly 20 seconds. At three laps per minute, they could cover the 300-lap distance in just an hour and 40 minutes. And get very, very dizzy in the process.
Indeed, one of Franchitti’s first comments last week after winning the Iowa Corn Indy 250 (on the Iowa Speedway, which is all of seven-eighths of a mile!) was: “I am completely dizzy right now.”
So he had better be ready for an even more extreme experience Saturday night, especially as all races at Richmond are run under lights (and draw huge crowds as a result). It makes for an amazing spectacle, even if all the drivers do need to lie down in a dark room for a while afterwards while the world stops spinning around them.
But it is not the unusual nature of the racing that is uppermost in the media’s minds ahead of round eight of 17 in this year’s IndyCar series so much as Franchitti’s big comeback from the rubble and ruin of his 2008 campaign.
This time last year, the Bathgate racer was still hobbling from the effects of an inadvertent high-speed encounter with Larry Gunselman in a Nationwide Series event at Talladega (Franchitti was T-boned on the driver’s side by Gunselman’s Chevy at roughly 150mph and was fortunate to escape with ‘only’ a broken ankle).
He was preparing for the NASCAR event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, having endured the kind of season normally suffered only by the most distant also-rans of motorsport (in F1, think Force India, only worse). He had started just 10 races, failed to qualify in two and missed five with his ankle injury. His best finish was a meager 22nd, while his average placing was a miserable 34th.
Just a few days after his forgettable 38th-place at Loudon, his Chip Ganassi Racing team folded through lack of sponsorship, an early victim of the recession that continues to take large bites out of both the NASCAR and IndyCar circuits. And there Dario sat for the rest of the season, a frustrated spectator as – irony of ironies – Chip Ganassi Racing dominated the 2008 Indy series, with Kiwi Scott Dixon claiming the crown he had vacated at the end of the previous year.
Now, however, it is a completely different story as Franchitti basks on the afterglow of his second win of the season (his 10th on the Indy circuit) and sits just three points behind current series leader Ryan Briscoe. In the seven events so far, he has been out of the top 10 only once and he and Dixon have four wins between them for the Target Chip Ganassi team.
The smaller oval circuits haven’t been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Scotsman in the past (his NASCAR experience was definitely the nadir for the left-turn, left-turn, left-turn mentality), but he proved without doubt at Iowa last week there are absolutely no hang-ups from last year, hence most of the pundits make him the favourite for win No.3 this term.
He is certainly a distinctly happier and more easy-going driver than the one who looked a haunted figure at times with the good ol’ boys of the stock car series last season, and it would be another supreme irony if he was to finish in Victory Lane in such a bastion of the NASCAR world.
Of course, the REAL story of this year’s IndyCar series to date is the fact just 57 points separate the top six in the standings, meaning the championship is boiling up nicely (each race winner earns 50 points, while there are 2 bonus points for the driver who leads most laps and an additional point for the pole-sitter, hence every race has a potential 53-point turnaround).
Briscoe and Franchitti (241 and 239 points respectively), sit just ahead of Dixon (226) and Brazilian Indy 500 star Helio Castroneves (212), while swimsuit pin-up Danica Patrick is still a healthy fifth (189) and 2005 champion Dan Wheldon, the other Brit in the championship shake-up is sixth (184).
The next four in the standings – Brazilian Tony Kanaan, American duo Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal, and Japan’s Hideki Mutoh – have also shown themselves to be pretty competitive in recent races, so there are no foregone conclusions for a race that often throws up more than its fair share of surprises.
Seasoned Richmond watchers are quick to point out this ‘bull-ring’ style of racing is not for the faint-hearted, and, of the past seven winners, only one of those, Sam Hornish Jr, is not in the current top seven (mainly because he is trying to ‘do a Dario’ and crack the NASCAR world).
Franchitti himself won here in his championship year of 2007, Castroneves in 2005, Wheldon in ’04 and Dixon the year before that, while Kanaan is the reigning Suntrust title-holder (Hornish Jr won in both 2002 and ’06).
It therefore has arguably the greatest dogfight potential of the season so far. Throw in Patrick, who is increasingly desperate to chalk up a second career win and advance her end-of-year contract potential when her current deal with Andretti Green Racing is up, and you have the formula for some riveting TV.
With the Formula 1 world on a two-week hiatus (if that’s the right word when threats and counter-threats of a breakaway circuit are being thrown around like confetti at the world’s most profligate wedding), it could be the ideal time to tune in to an IndyCar revolution – and see if Super Dario can truly reign supreme.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Stanley Cup Switch-Off
Here’s a suggestion for all Detroit Red Wings fans ahead of Thursday’s Game Four in the Stanley Cup Finals: Don’t watch. At all.
Turn off the TV, do some housework, take the dog for a walk or chat to the neighbors. But leave the viewing to those in Pennsylvania and the suits of the NHL.
I’m serious. As much as it seems like fan lunacy (as in, real fans support their team, come what may), it makes perfect sense.
First, it will send a message to the blinkered buffoons at league HQ that you can’t put a marquee event on a cable station most people have never heard of and maintain any kind of credibility.
The playoffs on Versus is like putting the Super Bowl on Comedy Central. It’s a joke of the unfunniest kind, pure and simple.
If the (already paltry) viewing figures for Game Three are followed up with a near-zero rating for Game Four, the NHL just might realise its standing with the fans, with the people who truly care about the sport, is dropping like a stone.
Second, it will raise a measurable protest at the way these playoffs have been (mis)handled almost from start to finish. Putting out officials who miss call after call (go back and review the Anaheim and Chicago series if you have any doubts) and then scheduling the first three games of the Finals in four days is the kind of slap-in-the-face arrogance that only the immensely successful or terminally dumb can pull off.
And third and most important, it will prevent Wings fans from the kind of angst and anguish they had to suffer on Tuesday night witnessing yet another display of officiating incompetence that absolutely cost them the game (see also Game Two against the Ducks and Game Three against the Blackhawks).
It certainly raises the question of how desperate the NHL must be to ensure their precious series survives to Saturday night and a second chance to breathe the much-needed air of exposure into the Finals on NBC (even if the network still insist on covering the event as if the only two players involved are called Malkin and Crosby).
It’s hard to suggest there was anything deliberate about a schedule that clearly penalizes the defending champs; about a league disciplinary process that waives its own procedure when it might have to suspend a star player (who just happens to be called either Malkin or Crosby); and about officials who refuse to recognize when one team has an extra man on the ice for half a minute (perhaps they were waiting for a seven, or even eight-man front?).
But fans can certainly be excused for detecting the nasty odour of suspicion about the way events are unfolding, most especially about how the only four people in the Mellon Arena who didn’t notice the Penguins’ six-man assault were the ones with the whistles.
So, the only way for Wings fans to make their feelings known at 8pm on Thursday is to leave the TV set blank, switched off, somnolent. You know it makes sense.
Here’s a suggestion for all Detroit Red Wings fans ahead of Thursday’s Game Four in the Stanley Cup Finals: Don’t watch. At all.
Turn off the TV, do some housework, take the dog for a walk or chat to the neighbors. But leave the viewing to those in Pennsylvania and the suits of the NHL.
I’m serious. As much as it seems like fan lunacy (as in, real fans support their team, come what may), it makes perfect sense.
First, it will send a message to the blinkered buffoons at league HQ that you can’t put a marquee event on a cable station most people have never heard of and maintain any kind of credibility.
The playoffs on Versus is like putting the Super Bowl on Comedy Central. It’s a joke of the unfunniest kind, pure and simple.
If the (already paltry) viewing figures for Game Three are followed up with a near-zero rating for Game Four, the NHL just might realise its standing with the fans, with the people who truly care about the sport, is dropping like a stone.
Second, it will raise a measurable protest at the way these playoffs have been (mis)handled almost from start to finish. Putting out officials who miss call after call (go back and review the Anaheim and Chicago series if you have any doubts) and then scheduling the first three games of the Finals in four days is the kind of slap-in-the-face arrogance that only the immensely successful or terminally dumb can pull off.
And third and most important, it will prevent Wings fans from the kind of angst and anguish they had to suffer on Tuesday night witnessing yet another display of officiating incompetence that absolutely cost them the game (see also Game Two against the Ducks and Game Three against the Blackhawks).
It certainly raises the question of how desperate the NHL must be to ensure their precious series survives to Saturday night and a second chance to breathe the much-needed air of exposure into the Finals on NBC (even if the network still insist on covering the event as if the only two players involved are called Malkin and Crosby).
It’s hard to suggest there was anything deliberate about a schedule that clearly penalizes the defending champs; about a league disciplinary process that waives its own procedure when it might have to suspend a star player (who just happens to be called either Malkin or Crosby); and about officials who refuse to recognize when one team has an extra man on the ice for half a minute (perhaps they were waiting for a seven, or even eight-man front?).
But fans can certainly be excused for detecting the nasty odour of suspicion about the way events are unfolding, most especially about how the only four people in the Mellon Arena who didn’t notice the Penguins’ six-man assault were the ones with the whistles.
So, the only way for Wings fans to make their feelings known at 8pm on Thursday is to leave the TV set blank, switched off, somnolent. You know it makes sense.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Land of Hype and Glory
OK, what am I missing here? It is the Stanley Cup finals again, and it is Pittsburgh v Detroit, again. And the league and their TV cohorts are hyping up the presence of Sid Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Again.
And the Red Wings are simply going out there, ignoring the hoopla, and winning, again.
Is it just me or is there something desperate and hollow about all the claims being made for the Penguins' not-so-dynamic duo? Last year they were flat out embarrassed. Sid 'The Kid' was made to look like a petulant teenager and the vaunted Russian might just as well have been back in his homeland for all the use he was.
But this time would be different, we were told. This time the undoubted skills of Crosby and the goal-scoring prowess of Malkin would really come to the fore and sweep all before them. The mighty Wings were there for the taking and the Penguins just had to show up for Crosby to claim his rightful crown and save the NHL's little self-defeating world (Finals coverage on Versus? Are you kidding me? Is this a real league or Mickey Mouseville?).
The league kept saying it and much of the media kept saying it (albeit not the handul of Detroit outlets, who have largely side-stepped the Pittsburgh fawn-fest). And, at times during the opening game, NBC would have had you convinced Crosby and Malkin were the only players involved, as virtually every bit of their coverage revolved around either 'Crosby-cam' or features with Malkin's parents.
What we actually saw last night was was that The Kid is still subject to fits of unseemly petulance (his swipe at a Wings player at the end of regulation was the stuff of pure teenage tantrums) and Malkin again disappears when the chips are down .
So, if there is no shift in momentum in tonight's Game Two, how much longer will we have to put up with NBC's love-in over these pesky Penguins? Or will they *gasp!* have to change tack and actually mention one or two Detroit players?
The league have already made themselves a laughing stock over their ridiculous scheduling (three games in four days - is this Little League?) and farming out coverage to cable stations most of the country have never heard of, let alone can see. Perhaps they should nudge their media 'partners' and let them know the Finals are actually a two-team event.
OK, what am I missing here? It is the Stanley Cup finals again, and it is Pittsburgh v Detroit, again. And the league and their TV cohorts are hyping up the presence of Sid Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Again.
And the Red Wings are simply going out there, ignoring the hoopla, and winning, again.
Is it just me or is there something desperate and hollow about all the claims being made for the Penguins' not-so-dynamic duo? Last year they were flat out embarrassed. Sid 'The Kid' was made to look like a petulant teenager and the vaunted Russian might just as well have been back in his homeland for all the use he was.
But this time would be different, we were told. This time the undoubted skills of Crosby and the goal-scoring prowess of Malkin would really come to the fore and sweep all before them. The mighty Wings were there for the taking and the Penguins just had to show up for Crosby to claim his rightful crown and save the NHL's little self-defeating world (Finals coverage on Versus? Are you kidding me? Is this a real league or Mickey Mouseville?).
The league kept saying it and much of the media kept saying it (albeit not the handul of Detroit outlets, who have largely side-stepped the Pittsburgh fawn-fest). And, at times during the opening game, NBC would have had you convinced Crosby and Malkin were the only players involved, as virtually every bit of their coverage revolved around either 'Crosby-cam' or features with Malkin's parents.
What we actually saw last night was was that The Kid is still subject to fits of unseemly petulance (his swipe at a Wings player at the end of regulation was the stuff of pure teenage tantrums) and Malkin again disappears when the chips are down .
So, if there is no shift in momentum in tonight's Game Two, how much longer will we have to put up with NBC's love-in over these pesky Penguins? Or will they *gasp!* have to change tack and actually mention one or two Detroit players?
The league have already made themselves a laughing stock over their ridiculous scheduling (three games in four days - is this Little League?) and farming out coverage to cable stations most of the country have never heard of, let alone can see. Perhaps they should nudge their media 'partners' and let them know the Finals are actually a two-team event.
What's Up, Junior? (Unedited version of SkySports.com View from America column May 27)
You’ll have to excuse me if I seem a bit distracted this week. It’s nothing to do with the let-down from Monday’s disappointing end to the Coca-Cola 600 or, really, anything wrong with NASCAR in general.
But, in the best traditions of View from America, my attention is being pulled in multiple directions at once, with some huge battles currently raging around the sports venues of the US.
Additionally, my sporting loyalties are also being tested to the full (yes, I know; journalists are supposed to maintain a professionally neutral position at all times and not profess to rooting for anyone in particular. It’s a good theory, but is also utterly impossible in practice as we all grow up supporting one team or another and develop additional allegiances along the way – me more than most!).
Consider this – with homes in both south-east Michigan and Orlando, it is impossible to ignore the march of the Detroit Red Wings (in the NHL) and Orlando Magic (the NBA) in compelling semi-final playoff series with Chicago and Cleveland respectively.
Ice hockey is the all-consuming passion in Detroit at this time of year (imagine the fervour of Welsh rugby combined with the unwavering zeal of Liverpool fans, then double it; not for nothing is the city dubbed Hockeytown) while the Magic are enjoying their best season for 14 years and a real renaissance in Central Florida. Both series have the air of do-or-die about them, hence they are commanding an almost nightly homage from Yours Truly.
Having spent time in both just recently, it is probably no great surprise that my focus for other sports is just a touch erratic and sidetracked.
Which is probably pretty much how Dale Earnhardt Jr must be feeling about now as he ponders a NASCAR season that is threatening to unravel fast and take America’s most popular stock car driver right out of the picture in a hurry.
This week’s rain-delayed event at the mammoth Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina (an amazing hotbed of motor-sports fanaticism, by the way), saw a distinctly disgruntled Junior trailing in 40th, a full two laps down on the leaders when the race was called off after 227 of the scheduled 400, to the benefit of first-time winner David Reutimann.
Now, for Sunday’s Dover 400 (live on SS1 at 7pm), the spotlight is firmly on Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr as they try to shake off a run of three successive finishes outside the top 25 and no better than 20th in five out of the last six Sprint Cup outings.
There is not too much wrong with the Hendrick Motorsports team itself; Jeff Gordon leads the current Cup standings with 1722 points, Jimmie Johnson is poised in fourth just 128 points behind, and evergreen veteran Mark Martin is handily placed in 12th. Junior? Try looking down in an unlikely 19th spot, still 200 points off the all-important top 12.
No wonder team boss Rick Hendrick was in pensive mood on Tuesday at the sport’s latest ‘town hall’ meeting when the general public get the chance to quiz their heroes. “I can’t explain it,” he mused. “Basically, we’re the same, all four cars.”
And therein lies the rub for Earnhardt and Eury. One of them isn’t doing the job they are fairly well paid to do and Hendrick expects to find out who it is – and sort things out, sharpish.
The relationship between a driver and crew chief in NASCAR is a vital and almost umbilical one; the whole set-up of the car depends on the crew chief’s nous and know-how, their gut feeling for how a track is running and the stop-by-stop tinkering necessary to keep a car running at the head of the pack.
Each crew chief makes many of the all-important set-up calls and acts as the calming foil to the driver’s high-octane impulses. They are at once a nanny and an engineer. At the moment, Hendrick suspects he needs either a new nanny or a new driver. And he is utterly bemused as to which.
The two Juniors – Earnhardt and Eury – have a long-standing relationship going back almost 20 years to their previous ‘employment’ with the Dale Earnhardt Inc team. Eury is also Dale Junior’s cousin, and the driver has steadfastly defended his crew chief both last season, when they finished miserably, and this season, when they are increasingly in danger of needing a telescope to see their team-mates’ exhaust smoke.
For Hendrick, a change of some kind seems inevitable. Dale Junior was the free agent signing of the century when he jumped ship from DEI for the start of the 2008 season, bringing with him the biggest fan base in American sport.
Together with Johnson and Co, it seemed Hendrick Motorsports would sweep all before them in an unprecedented wave of NASCAR adulation and dominance. But, apart from Johnson winning his second successive crown, it simply hasn’t happened like that, and it has certainly been well short of the mark for Junior (and Junior).
Now, with their most high-profile driver acting like a literal fourth wheel in bringing up the rear of their all-conquering pack time and again, it is time for the boss-man to decide how he sorts out this conundrum.
No-one expects Hendrick to point the finger squarely at Junior and challenge him to raise his game. But, if he doesn’t change the crew chief, you can be sure he has figured the technical aspect of No 88’s continued struggles is NOT because of the supporting cast.
And, if he does demote Eury Jr, it puts the laserbeam focus of expectation on Earnhardt like never before. Because Hendrick Motorsports just isn’t a team that allows failure to last very long.
Hence Dover and the ‘Monster Mile’ take on a fairly monstrous significance for both Juniors this weekend. And we can all pull up the chair closer to the TV in anticipation of a great spectacle, whether it’s on the track or off it!
You’ll have to excuse me if I seem a bit distracted this week. It’s nothing to do with the let-down from Monday’s disappointing end to the Coca-Cola 600 or, really, anything wrong with NASCAR in general.
But, in the best traditions of View from America, my attention is being pulled in multiple directions at once, with some huge battles currently raging around the sports venues of the US.
Additionally, my sporting loyalties are also being tested to the full (yes, I know; journalists are supposed to maintain a professionally neutral position at all times and not profess to rooting for anyone in particular. It’s a good theory, but is also utterly impossible in practice as we all grow up supporting one team or another and develop additional allegiances along the way – me more than most!).
Consider this – with homes in both south-east Michigan and Orlando, it is impossible to ignore the march of the Detroit Red Wings (in the NHL) and Orlando Magic (the NBA) in compelling semi-final playoff series with Chicago and Cleveland respectively.
Ice hockey is the all-consuming passion in Detroit at this time of year (imagine the fervour of Welsh rugby combined with the unwavering zeal of Liverpool fans, then double it; not for nothing is the city dubbed Hockeytown) while the Magic are enjoying their best season for 14 years and a real renaissance in Central Florida. Both series have the air of do-or-die about them, hence they are commanding an almost nightly homage from Yours Truly.
Having spent time in both just recently, it is probably no great surprise that my focus for other sports is just a touch erratic and sidetracked.
Which is probably pretty much how Dale Earnhardt Jr must be feeling about now as he ponders a NASCAR season that is threatening to unravel fast and take America’s most popular stock car driver right out of the picture in a hurry.
This week’s rain-delayed event at the mammoth Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina (an amazing hotbed of motor-sports fanaticism, by the way), saw a distinctly disgruntled Junior trailing in 40th, a full two laps down on the leaders when the race was called off after 227 of the scheduled 400, to the benefit of first-time winner David Reutimann.
Now, for Sunday’s Dover 400 (live on SS1 at 7pm), the spotlight is firmly on Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr as they try to shake off a run of three successive finishes outside the top 25 and no better than 20th in five out of the last six Sprint Cup outings.
There is not too much wrong with the Hendrick Motorsports team itself; Jeff Gordon leads the current Cup standings with 1722 points, Jimmie Johnson is poised in fourth just 128 points behind, and evergreen veteran Mark Martin is handily placed in 12th. Junior? Try looking down in an unlikely 19th spot, still 200 points off the all-important top 12.
No wonder team boss Rick Hendrick was in pensive mood on Tuesday at the sport’s latest ‘town hall’ meeting when the general public get the chance to quiz their heroes. “I can’t explain it,” he mused. “Basically, we’re the same, all four cars.”
And therein lies the rub for Earnhardt and Eury. One of them isn’t doing the job they are fairly well paid to do and Hendrick expects to find out who it is – and sort things out, sharpish.
The relationship between a driver and crew chief in NASCAR is a vital and almost umbilical one; the whole set-up of the car depends on the crew chief’s nous and know-how, their gut feeling for how a track is running and the stop-by-stop tinkering necessary to keep a car running at the head of the pack.
Each crew chief makes many of the all-important set-up calls and acts as the calming foil to the driver’s high-octane impulses. They are at once a nanny and an engineer. At the moment, Hendrick suspects he needs either a new nanny or a new driver. And he is utterly bemused as to which.
The two Juniors – Earnhardt and Eury – have a long-standing relationship going back almost 20 years to their previous ‘employment’ with the Dale Earnhardt Inc team. Eury is also Dale Junior’s cousin, and the driver has steadfastly defended his crew chief both last season, when they finished miserably, and this season, when they are increasingly in danger of needing a telescope to see their team-mates’ exhaust smoke.
For Hendrick, a change of some kind seems inevitable. Dale Junior was the free agent signing of the century when he jumped ship from DEI for the start of the 2008 season, bringing with him the biggest fan base in American sport.
Together with Johnson and Co, it seemed Hendrick Motorsports would sweep all before them in an unprecedented wave of NASCAR adulation and dominance. But, apart from Johnson winning his second successive crown, it simply hasn’t happened like that, and it has certainly been well short of the mark for Junior (and Junior).
Now, with their most high-profile driver acting like a literal fourth wheel in bringing up the rear of their all-conquering pack time and again, it is time for the boss-man to decide how he sorts out this conundrum.
No-one expects Hendrick to point the finger squarely at Junior and challenge him to raise his game. But, if he doesn’t change the crew chief, you can be sure he has figured the technical aspect of No 88’s continued struggles is NOT because of the supporting cast.
And, if he does demote Eury Jr, it puts the laserbeam focus of expectation on Earnhardt like never before. Because Hendrick Motorsports just isn’t a team that allows failure to last very long.
Hence Dover and the ‘Monster Mile’ take on a fairly monstrous significance for both Juniors this weekend. And we can all pull up the chair closer to the TV in anticipation of a great spectacle, whether it’s on the track or off it!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
View From America (edited version also on Sky Sports week of May 21)
You could be forgiven for being exhausted even before the famous phrase of "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" is uttered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The amount of hype, hoopla and attention given to this annual rev-fest is almost as astonishing as the lead-up time - all 23 days of it - taken to go through the painfully long practice and qualifying procedure.
From the Rookie Orientation Program to the 10 days of official practice, four days of qualifying and another week of pre-race speculation and discussion, it is a mind-boggling array of different ways to look at 33 cars in Speedway, Indiana (and yes, that is, really, the genuine location name of the famous track - Speedway being a suburb of Indianapolis).
We had Pole Day and Bump Day (the first Saturday of qualifying, when pole position is decided, and the second Sunday, when the final gaggle of Indy hopefuls battle to bump each other out of the last few starting spots); we had drivers "on the bubble" and "under the gun" (final qualifier Alex Tagliani was sitting in his car ready for one last lap when the gun went off to end the second Sunday's time trials); and we had more pictures of Danica Patrick in a bikini and Helio Castroneves in court.
But then this is the largest single-day sporting event in the world, when the monstrous collection of 257,000 seats is supplemented by at least another 100,000 or so who pack into the infield.
Marathon build-up
Thankfully, the US media doesn't allow us to forget these kinds of details, hence the marathon build-up just to get to start line of The Brickyard for the 93rd running of the Indy 500, live on Sky Sports 3 from 6pm.
The massive spread of coverage has also given rise to almost as many different headline stories this week, once Tagliani was confirmed as the 33rd and final entry for this year's race (being given the drive ahead of team-mate Bruno Junqueira in a frantic finish to Sunday's qualifying).
Sports Illustrated pin-up girl Patrick is predictably top of the poppets with many outlets, on the equal basis that she looks much better in a swimsuit than any other driver and is also overdue to do something special this year, having burst on to the scene with a fourth place finish in her rookie year in 2005.
Brazilian star Castroneves is equally headline material following his recent run-in with the Florida courts that ended with him firmly in Victory Lane after allegations of tax evasion were met with a 'Not Guilty' verdict from the jury.
Ever since, the Penske Racing ace has driven like a man possessed (or, at least, a man dispossessed of the notion of a spell inside), finishing seventh with virtually no practice at Long Beach, second at Kansas and then snagging pole position for Sunday's outing.
He has two previous Indy wins, during his first two years in 2001 and 2002 but, while several pundits fancy him to improve on his Kansas showing, both his previous two outings as pole-sitter ended no higher than second.
Some focus has also fallen on Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho (otherwise known as Tony Kanaan - you gotta love those Brazilian monikers; not quite Edson Arantes do Nascimento - that's Pele to you and me - but a real contender).
The current IndyCar Series leader has yet to finish higher than third so far this season but his consistency deserves the respect he is re-earning after several years in the comparative doldrums following his title-winning effort of 2004.
There are no less than five Brazilians in the line-up this time, which means there is a high possibility the race announcer will tie his tongue in knots before the finish. But the presence in Sunday's outing of a British quintet has also garnered some coverage, too.
Dario Franchitti, the Flying Scot, has already put one Indy 500 trophy on his mantelpiece (in 2007), as has Dan Wheldon (2005).
Both are genuine contenders again this year, but Alex Lloyd (starting 11th), Justin Wilson (15th) and rookie Conway (27th) will all have hopes of giving the Union Jack a bit of a flutter (Wheldon started 16th the year he went onto win, so the front six rows can all harbour realistic hopes).
In fact, Lloyd is on red alert for both the race itself and the imminent arrival of his second child, as wife Samantha is almost nine months pregnant and they have contingency plans to visit the infield medical centre if necessary - although not during the 500-mile event.
As if to prove the media here really don't know which way to turn for the main story, you have to dig hard to find much about the defending champ, Australian Scott Dixon, and even then it is only to discover he considers himself the "underdog" in the face of the kaleidoscopic focus on Danica, Helio, Tony, Dario and even Alex Tagliani.
Poor Scott made a less-than stellar start to the season before bursting back into dramatic life at Kansas, where the win was enough to lift him up to fourth place in the standings.
The real 'forgotten man' in all the welter of Indy 500 coverage, though, is Ryan Briscoe, the 'other' Aussie in the line-up and the current second-placed driver in the standings.
The modest 27-year-old is currently in the shadows cast by team-mate Castroneves but has been arguably the most consistent racer in the past 12 months with three wins, including at Kansas last time out.
He also qualified just fractions of a second behind his fellow Penske driver, so no-one should be under any illusions Briscoe is perfectly capable of improving on his previous IMS best of fifth and even of taking the chequered flag.
In many ways, though, the 'story' of the Indy 500 is also one of the coverage itself. The near-month-long build-up will finally give way to a five-hour extravaganza on ABC TV, starting at midday US time, providing the 45th successive year of ABC's relationship with the epic race (the second-longest in American TV history).
They will utilise a staggering 59 cameras, including multiple, rotating 360-degree mini-cams on many of the cars themselves. High tech at high speed - and then some!
ESPN Classic will also air a stunning 10-hour grand medley of previous Indy highlights on the Saturday, just to get viewers "in the mood".
So you'll have to forgive us if we all seem a bit jaded on this side of the pond next Monday morning. It will be nothing to so with the six billion hot-dogs and two gazillion tons of chips that will be consumed during the race.
No, we will simply be all screened out after our Indy TV-athon. And probably still trying to work out if Danica is a swimsuit model who can drive or just a model driver.
You could be forgiven for being exhausted even before the famous phrase of "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" is uttered at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The amount of hype, hoopla and attention given to this annual rev-fest is almost as astonishing as the lead-up time - all 23 days of it - taken to go through the painfully long practice and qualifying procedure.
From the Rookie Orientation Program to the 10 days of official practice, four days of qualifying and another week of pre-race speculation and discussion, it is a mind-boggling array of different ways to look at 33 cars in Speedway, Indiana (and yes, that is, really, the genuine location name of the famous track - Speedway being a suburb of Indianapolis).
We had Pole Day and Bump Day (the first Saturday of qualifying, when pole position is decided, and the second Sunday, when the final gaggle of Indy hopefuls battle to bump each other out of the last few starting spots); we had drivers "on the bubble" and "under the gun" (final qualifier Alex Tagliani was sitting in his car ready for one last lap when the gun went off to end the second Sunday's time trials); and we had more pictures of Danica Patrick in a bikini and Helio Castroneves in court.
But then this is the largest single-day sporting event in the world, when the monstrous collection of 257,000 seats is supplemented by at least another 100,000 or so who pack into the infield.
Marathon build-up
Thankfully, the US media doesn't allow us to forget these kinds of details, hence the marathon build-up just to get to start line of The Brickyard for the 93rd running of the Indy 500, live on Sky Sports 3 from 6pm.
The massive spread of coverage has also given rise to almost as many different headline stories this week, once Tagliani was confirmed as the 33rd and final entry for this year's race (being given the drive ahead of team-mate Bruno Junqueira in a frantic finish to Sunday's qualifying).
Sports Illustrated pin-up girl Patrick is predictably top of the poppets with many outlets, on the equal basis that she looks much better in a swimsuit than any other driver and is also overdue to do something special this year, having burst on to the scene with a fourth place finish in her rookie year in 2005.
Brazilian star Castroneves is equally headline material following his recent run-in with the Florida courts that ended with him firmly in Victory Lane after allegations of tax evasion were met with a 'Not Guilty' verdict from the jury.
Ever since, the Penske Racing ace has driven like a man possessed (or, at least, a man dispossessed of the notion of a spell inside), finishing seventh with virtually no practice at Long Beach, second at Kansas and then snagging pole position for Sunday's outing.
He has two previous Indy wins, during his first two years in 2001 and 2002 but, while several pundits fancy him to improve on his Kansas showing, both his previous two outings as pole-sitter ended no higher than second.
Some focus has also fallen on Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho (otherwise known as Tony Kanaan - you gotta love those Brazilian monikers; not quite Edson Arantes do Nascimento - that's Pele to you and me - but a real contender).
The current IndyCar Series leader has yet to finish higher than third so far this season but his consistency deserves the respect he is re-earning after several years in the comparative doldrums following his title-winning effort of 2004.
There are no less than five Brazilians in the line-up this time, which means there is a high possibility the race announcer will tie his tongue in knots before the finish. But the presence in Sunday's outing of a British quintet has also garnered some coverage, too.
Dario Franchitti, the Flying Scot, has already put one Indy 500 trophy on his mantelpiece (in 2007), as has Dan Wheldon (2005).
Both are genuine contenders again this year, but Alex Lloyd (starting 11th), Justin Wilson (15th) and rookie Conway (27th) will all have hopes of giving the Union Jack a bit of a flutter (Wheldon started 16th the year he went onto win, so the front six rows can all harbour realistic hopes).
In fact, Lloyd is on red alert for both the race itself and the imminent arrival of his second child, as wife Samantha is almost nine months pregnant and they have contingency plans to visit the infield medical centre if necessary - although not during the 500-mile event.
As if to prove the media here really don't know which way to turn for the main story, you have to dig hard to find much about the defending champ, Australian Scott Dixon, and even then it is only to discover he considers himself the "underdog" in the face of the kaleidoscopic focus on Danica, Helio, Tony, Dario and even Alex Tagliani.
Poor Scott made a less-than stellar start to the season before bursting back into dramatic life at Kansas, where the win was enough to lift him up to fourth place in the standings.
The real 'forgotten man' in all the welter of Indy 500 coverage, though, is Ryan Briscoe, the 'other' Aussie in the line-up and the current second-placed driver in the standings.
The modest 27-year-old is currently in the shadows cast by team-mate Castroneves but has been arguably the most consistent racer in the past 12 months with three wins, including at Kansas last time out.
He also qualified just fractions of a second behind his fellow Penske driver, so no-one should be under any illusions Briscoe is perfectly capable of improving on his previous IMS best of fifth and even of taking the chequered flag.
In many ways, though, the 'story' of the Indy 500 is also one of the coverage itself. The near-month-long build-up will finally give way to a five-hour extravaganza on ABC TV, starting at midday US time, providing the 45th successive year of ABC's relationship with the epic race (the second-longest in American TV history).
They will utilise a staggering 59 cameras, including multiple, rotating 360-degree mini-cams on many of the cars themselves. High tech at high speed - and then some!
ESPN Classic will also air a stunning 10-hour grand medley of previous Indy highlights on the Saturday, just to get viewers "in the mood".
So you'll have to forgive us if we all seem a bit jaded on this side of the pond next Monday morning. It will be nothing to so with the six billion hot-dogs and two gazillion tons of chips that will be consumed during the race.
No, we will simply be all screened out after our Indy TV-athon. And probably still trying to work out if Danica is a swimsuit model who can drive or just a model driver.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Edited version on SkySports.com's View From America May 13
Wembley is suddenly all the rage. For one regular season game; possibly two in 2010 and then the Super Bowl in 2014 (or maybe 2015, or….).
If you read some of the reports being generated over here recently (and which, by all accounts, have also echoed mightily in Her Majesty’s Press, too), you’d think there was a little-known NFC East of East division centred on North-West London; one that out-sells every existing NFL franchise and which has more fans than New York and Dallas put together.
The appetite for gridiron in Great Britain is off the charts. And that’s just according to the US media. Even usually sane and sober journalists have been moved to concede that “London does a heck of a job in promoting the NFL.”
Well, yes, it can stage the occasional game at the country’s showpiece stadium without falling flat on its face and embarrassing the three million or so people who live in the general area.
And, yes, there is a distinct appetite for the game that the NFL has tried hard to export since the first American Bowl showed up at the original Wembley Stadium back in 1986.
But hold on, folks, before anyone gets carried away with the idea that the Jubilee Line could be the route to a Super Bowl extravaganza the likes of which is usually only seen in Florida, California and, occasionally, more esoteric locations like Detroit, let’s consider the facts.
The latest pronouncement of Commissioner Roger Goodell makes it seem almost like a foregone conclusion.
"The fan reaction we've had in London has been extraordinary. We would like to feed that passion," he insisted this week. "We have a great fan base in the UK. There have been discussions of taking the second game and playing it in another market in the UK. That's something that we'll evaluate."
Really? TWO games a season in the UK? And then they HAVE to give London a Super Bowl, don’t they?
Bad News
First of all, this would be seriously bad news to Germany, Canada and Mexico, all of whom have been led to believe they are next in line once the NFL does decide to take a second regular season home game away from its normal venue.
Secondly, where else in the UK can hold 80,000 fans and the kind of infrastructure to deal with two football teams that demand the highest level of practice and support facilities? Manchester and Cardiff spring to mind (both could take 70,000 for gridiron) in stadium terms, but how would the Welsh city provide the kind of training back-up for two 53-player teams?
And can you imagine Alex Ferguson allowing the pads-and-helmet brigade to trundle up and down his sacred turf? In the middle of the season? You just can’t see it, can you (actually, you’d love to be in the room when the idea was even raised within Fergie’s earshot. Hair-dryer? More like a bloomin’ flame-thrower!).
Perhaps mindful of this limitation, the Commish went on to suggest a second game could also be played in London, making it a more solid outpost of the league’s globalisation bid. Why not, when the capital already does a good job with one fixture? Logical move, you would think (and another significant stepping stone towards Wembley having its own full-time franchise, perhaps?).
Except that, despite the headline success of the two games in London so far (2007 and 208), there is a groundswell of opposition that doesn’t get much attention – at the moment. Dig through the quotes, back-stories and ‘unofficial’ comments of the teams last year, and you quickly find a measure of displeasure with the whole idea, players and coaches slamming the travel arrangements, the Wembley turf and the whole idea of losing a precious home game.
With one game a year, it is easy to keep the negatives to a minimum and gloss over the murmurs of discontent. Give them two games to grouse about it, and you will definitely hear the chorus of disapproval at a whole new level.
The other factor to bear in mind is that the Commish is NOT the final arbiter of these things. He can propose all the ideas and schemes that he wants but they all, ultimately, have to go to a vote of the owners, and it is that fairly conservative bunch who will decide if these initiatives have any legs at all.
Then of course, there is the suggestion (not, in this instance, from Goodell himself) that London could even stage the Super Bowl, perhaps as early as 2014, but certainly by 2020.
The genuinely astonishing thing is how many pundits over here have pronounced it a “bloody good idea” (a direct quote from the San Diego Union Tribune).
Plain Stupid
No it isn’t. It’s a bloody STUPID idea. London, in early February? When it’s barely 6°C? When a single snowflake can bring the whole rail system to a halt and freeze sports field for hundreds of miles? Where there are no major indoor training venues? And where it would cost fans an arm and several other limbs for a hotel for a few nights (always assuming the football followers of, say, Pittsburgh and Chicago could afford the flight over)?
And, in the absence of the 70,000 or so that Wembley would need to provide the necessary partisan atmosphere (as opposed to 70,000 fans just keen to enjoy a real NFL game), how will it play when thousands turn up in Miami Dolphins jerseys?
Add in the fact that a Super Bowl is actually as much about the week-long hype and hoopla prior as the game itself, then try to imagine a congested, February-time London staging the kind of smoothly-organised fan-friendly activities that attract thousands of fans irrespective of whether they have a ticket or not. It isn’t a pleasant picture to run through your mind’s eye.
That’s not to say London isn’t worthy of its annual NFL ‘prize’ or that it doesn’t do a great job of that one-off event. But the teams are there for only a few days; there is no week-long media frenzy; and the participants can grudgingly see the benefit of taking one game a year abroad. Take the game’s Crown Jewel out of America and it’s a whole new ball game, quite literally.
But then none of these US sources currently insisting it is somehow in the NFL’s best interests have ever been to London in the winter, when public transport can be reduced to Stone Age efficiency, the average shower lasts 6 days and the sun doesn’t shine for a month. Let them spend a week in Wembley in February and we might hear a VERY different tune from these ill-guided sports-writing minstrels!
Wembley is suddenly all the rage. For one regular season game; possibly two in 2010 and then the Super Bowl in 2014 (or maybe 2015, or….).
If you read some of the reports being generated over here recently (and which, by all accounts, have also echoed mightily in Her Majesty’s Press, too), you’d think there was a little-known NFC East of East division centred on North-West London; one that out-sells every existing NFL franchise and which has more fans than New York and Dallas put together.
The appetite for gridiron in Great Britain is off the charts. And that’s just according to the US media. Even usually sane and sober journalists have been moved to concede that “London does a heck of a job in promoting the NFL.”
Well, yes, it can stage the occasional game at the country’s showpiece stadium without falling flat on its face and embarrassing the three million or so people who live in the general area.
And, yes, there is a distinct appetite for the game that the NFL has tried hard to export since the first American Bowl showed up at the original Wembley Stadium back in 1986.
But hold on, folks, before anyone gets carried away with the idea that the Jubilee Line could be the route to a Super Bowl extravaganza the likes of which is usually only seen in Florida, California and, occasionally, more esoteric locations like Detroit, let’s consider the facts.
The latest pronouncement of Commissioner Roger Goodell makes it seem almost like a foregone conclusion.
"The fan reaction we've had in London has been extraordinary. We would like to feed that passion," he insisted this week. "We have a great fan base in the UK. There have been discussions of taking the second game and playing it in another market in the UK. That's something that we'll evaluate."
Really? TWO games a season in the UK? And then they HAVE to give London a Super Bowl, don’t they?
Bad News
First of all, this would be seriously bad news to Germany, Canada and Mexico, all of whom have been led to believe they are next in line once the NFL does decide to take a second regular season home game away from its normal venue.
Secondly, where else in the UK can hold 80,000 fans and the kind of infrastructure to deal with two football teams that demand the highest level of practice and support facilities? Manchester and Cardiff spring to mind (both could take 70,000 for gridiron) in stadium terms, but how would the Welsh city provide the kind of training back-up for two 53-player teams?
And can you imagine Alex Ferguson allowing the pads-and-helmet brigade to trundle up and down his sacred turf? In the middle of the season? You just can’t see it, can you (actually, you’d love to be in the room when the idea was even raised within Fergie’s earshot. Hair-dryer? More like a bloomin’ flame-thrower!).
Perhaps mindful of this limitation, the Commish went on to suggest a second game could also be played in London, making it a more solid outpost of the league’s globalisation bid. Why not, when the capital already does a good job with one fixture? Logical move, you would think (and another significant stepping stone towards Wembley having its own full-time franchise, perhaps?).
Except that, despite the headline success of the two games in London so far (2007 and 208), there is a groundswell of opposition that doesn’t get much attention – at the moment. Dig through the quotes, back-stories and ‘unofficial’ comments of the teams last year, and you quickly find a measure of displeasure with the whole idea, players and coaches slamming the travel arrangements, the Wembley turf and the whole idea of losing a precious home game.
With one game a year, it is easy to keep the negatives to a minimum and gloss over the murmurs of discontent. Give them two games to grouse about it, and you will definitely hear the chorus of disapproval at a whole new level.
The other factor to bear in mind is that the Commish is NOT the final arbiter of these things. He can propose all the ideas and schemes that he wants but they all, ultimately, have to go to a vote of the owners, and it is that fairly conservative bunch who will decide if these initiatives have any legs at all.
Then of course, there is the suggestion (not, in this instance, from Goodell himself) that London could even stage the Super Bowl, perhaps as early as 2014, but certainly by 2020.
The genuinely astonishing thing is how many pundits over here have pronounced it a “bloody good idea” (a direct quote from the San Diego Union Tribune).
Plain Stupid
No it isn’t. It’s a bloody STUPID idea. London, in early February? When it’s barely 6°C? When a single snowflake can bring the whole rail system to a halt and freeze sports field for hundreds of miles? Where there are no major indoor training venues? And where it would cost fans an arm and several other limbs for a hotel for a few nights (always assuming the football followers of, say, Pittsburgh and Chicago could afford the flight over)?
And, in the absence of the 70,000 or so that Wembley would need to provide the necessary partisan atmosphere (as opposed to 70,000 fans just keen to enjoy a real NFL game), how will it play when thousands turn up in Miami Dolphins jerseys?
Add in the fact that a Super Bowl is actually as much about the week-long hype and hoopla prior as the game itself, then try to imagine a congested, February-time London staging the kind of smoothly-organised fan-friendly activities that attract thousands of fans irrespective of whether they have a ticket or not. It isn’t a pleasant picture to run through your mind’s eye.
That’s not to say London isn’t worthy of its annual NFL ‘prize’ or that it doesn’t do a great job of that one-off event. But the teams are there for only a few days; there is no week-long media frenzy; and the participants can grudgingly see the benefit of taking one game a year abroad. Take the game’s Crown Jewel out of America and it’s a whole new ball game, quite literally.
But then none of these US sources currently insisting it is somehow in the NFL’s best interests have ever been to London in the winter, when public transport can be reduced to Stone Age efficiency, the average shower lasts 6 days and the sun doesn’t shine for a month. Let them spend a week in Wembley in February and we might hear a VERY different tune from these ill-guided sports-writing minstrels!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
March of the Meatheads
It's April, so that must mean the hockey thugs are out in force once more; namely the meatheads masquerading as the Anaheim Ducks.
For the last two years, the same team have bullied and battered their way into the playoffs and then left a nasty odour over the Stanley Cup playoffs with their brand of 'hockey.' In 2007 it worked all the way to a Finals victory; last year Dallas managed to trip them up early.
Now they are on the march again after a fight-fuelled series 'victory' over San Jose that leaves hockey proponents struggling to defend their sport as anything other than an excuse for a jolly good punch-up.
If the NHL is ever to dig itself out from the bottom of the major sporting heap (and fight off the potential challenge of MLS and other 'minor' sports), they simply cannot allow these stick-carrying storm-troopers to dominate another Cup series.
Hockey will simply be derided by most commentators and left to wallow in its own goon-infested waters with an ever-decreasing audience.
It's April, so that must mean the hockey thugs are out in force once more; namely the meatheads masquerading as the Anaheim Ducks.
For the last two years, the same team have bullied and battered their way into the playoffs and then left a nasty odour over the Stanley Cup playoffs with their brand of 'hockey.' In 2007 it worked all the way to a Finals victory; last year Dallas managed to trip them up early.
Now they are on the march again after a fight-fuelled series 'victory' over San Jose that leaves hockey proponents struggling to defend their sport as anything other than an excuse for a jolly good punch-up.
If the NHL is ever to dig itself out from the bottom of the major sporting heap (and fight off the potential challenge of MLS and other 'minor' sports), they simply cannot allow these stick-carrying storm-troopers to dominate another Cup series.
Hockey will simply be derided by most commentators and left to wallow in its own goon-infested waters with an ever-decreasing audience.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
View From America (edited version also posted on SkySports.com 04/22/09)
“It's an intense poker game, and no one's showing their hand.”
Those are the words of University of Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez, and he’s not talking about a game of cards. He’s referring to the amazingly tight-lipped advance period to this year’s NFL Draft, which will finally reveal all its secrets this weekend.
Normally, you can count on several teams tipping their hand in some way to indicate which way they will go once they are officially ‘on the clock’ for their pick in the annual selection of the cream of the college football talent (a situation so alien to British sport it would positively boggle the mind of the average soccer manager).
And, once it is known who some of the early choices will be, and where they will go, much of the Draft falls into place like a row of toppling dominoes.
But not this year. And there are two (at least) reasons for that.
Firstly, there is no clear, consensus No 1 pick. Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford is top (Bull)dog for some, but others do not rate him even the best QB available this year, leaning towards USC’s Sanchez or even Josh Freeman of Kansas State.
For others, it is a question of the ‘safe’ choice, like Baylor offensive lineman Jason Smith or even Wake Forest’s superb standout linebacker Aaron Curry.
(In this instance, ‘safe’ merely means backing the horse with the less likelihood of being a $70million bust, which leads on to Point Two……)
Secondly, there is now SO much money tied up in the top picks, some teams consider it a bit of an albatross, something to be avoided lest they end up forking out a king’s ransom (plus a prince’s wages and queen’s allowance) for a player like Ryan Leaf, who famously bombed at San Diego after the 1998 Draft, or the anonymous Heath Shuler, a No 3 selection by Washington who failed with both the Redskins and New Orleans and was out of the league within five years.
The bottom line is, for every Peyton Manning or Troy Aikman there are five Tim Couches or David Carrs, players who are destined to be career bench-warmers rather than guaranteed starters – franchise killers, if you like.
When you consider Miami signed last year’s No 1, lineman Jake Long, to a five-year, $57.5million contract, it is the stuff of a general manager’s nightmares to plough that much guaranteed money into ANY college draftee, no matter how star-studded he may appear prior to joining the pro ranks.
Basically, you are asking the team with the top pick to splash out at least $11million a year on someone who just might end up being a washed out drug addict.
(OK, that may be a touch extreme; it’s been a while – some 18 years, in fact – since Todd Marinovich proved to be almost the ultimate bust with the Raiders, but the specter of that kind of horrendous mistake, or that of the steroid-fuelled Tony Mandarich at Green Bay in 1989, still lingers in the NFL air like the whiff of another bad government bailout)
The other ‘wild card’ in this year’s game of bluff and counter-bluff (and the Draft has very much become a game of steely-eyed subterfuge as the leading teams try to mask their intentions in order to position themselves to snap up a ‘bargain’) is that hapless Detroit have the weighty responsibility for that opening gambit.
As a result of not winning a game since December 23, 2007 (actually, the toothless Lions have won only ONE of their last 24 outings), the 0-16 record-breakers get to go first on Saturday. And, depending on who you listen to, they may be the most reluctant suitors since someone announced Lucrezia Borgia was looking for a new husband.
Just to start with, Detroit have a truly terrible recent history in the Draft. The likes of Joey Harrington (picked No 3 in 2002, and now a distant No 3 on the depth chart at New Orleans), Mike Williams (a No 10 in 2005, now absolutely nowhere) and the epically-named Ikaika Alma-Francis (a defensive end from the 2007 second round who has managed precisely two starts) have all helped heap embarrassment after embarrassment on the Lions.
Happily, at least, the man most responsible for their recent history of Draft futility (88 picks since 2000, barely 20 still on the roster; four first-round wide receivers, of whom only Calvin Johnson remains; 12 defensive linemen, and only four survivors, none of whom are considered starters), ex-general manager Matt Millen, is now out of the game.
But the thorny problem of how you rebuild a team as bad as this, even with two first-round choices and two third-rounders, remains another millstone around their collective necks.
The fans have already stated their preference for Curry (at a fan event to unveil the team’s new uniforms on Monday, they chanted the name of the Demon Deacons outside linebacker, along with cries of ‘Don’t draft Stafford!’ – talk about getting your boos in early!) and he would certainly come with a (slightly) smaller price-tag than the Georgia quarterback.
Many pundits still believe the Lions would be only too happy to trade the top pick for something more manageable and less high-risk (like, presumably, buying some of the government’s toxic bank debts), so don’t rule out some serious Draft-day machinations behind the scenes.
The rest of the Day One process at New York’s Radio City Music Hall should fall into place depending on what happens with that fateful No 1, so viewers should pay special attention to the first half-hour or so (each team has 10 minutes for their choice in Round One, remember).
Curry, Texas Tech wideout Michael Crabtree, Baylor’s Smith, Texas D-lineman Brian Orakpo and Virginia’s standout O-lineman Eugene Monroe are the Fancied Five on ESPN’s Scout’s Inc (one of the most accurate pre-Draft predictors in recent years), so Stafford may well be one of the biggest losers when push comes to shove.
But it is a brave (or truly poker-faced) man who goes out on a limb just at the moment. I do know it will be riveting TV as the teams try to fathom the labyrinthine options that unfold on the day while the players in the spotlight sweat over their future prospects.
Expect New England to pull the trigger on various trades and switches (the Patriots have no less than 11 selections this weekend, including four in the first 58) and Pat White to be one of the most intriguing possibilities, as the Virginia quarterback is also fancied as a receiver/runner in a Wildcat-type option scheme which many see as the next big ‘wave of the future.’
Just don’t expect much to happen according to a set scheme, as this year’s Draft truly has the scope to be one of the wildest in recent years.
“It's an intense poker game, and no one's showing their hand.”
Those are the words of University of Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez, and he’s not talking about a game of cards. He’s referring to the amazingly tight-lipped advance period to this year’s NFL Draft, which will finally reveal all its secrets this weekend.
Normally, you can count on several teams tipping their hand in some way to indicate which way they will go once they are officially ‘on the clock’ for their pick in the annual selection of the cream of the college football talent (a situation so alien to British sport it would positively boggle the mind of the average soccer manager).
And, once it is known who some of the early choices will be, and where they will go, much of the Draft falls into place like a row of toppling dominoes.
But not this year. And there are two (at least) reasons for that.
Firstly, there is no clear, consensus No 1 pick. Georgia quarterback Matt Stafford is top (Bull)dog for some, but others do not rate him even the best QB available this year, leaning towards USC’s Sanchez or even Josh Freeman of Kansas State.
For others, it is a question of the ‘safe’ choice, like Baylor offensive lineman Jason Smith or even Wake Forest’s superb standout linebacker Aaron Curry.
(In this instance, ‘safe’ merely means backing the horse with the less likelihood of being a $70million bust, which leads on to Point Two……)
Secondly, there is now SO much money tied up in the top picks, some teams consider it a bit of an albatross, something to be avoided lest they end up forking out a king’s ransom (plus a prince’s wages and queen’s allowance) for a player like Ryan Leaf, who famously bombed at San Diego after the 1998 Draft, or the anonymous Heath Shuler, a No 3 selection by Washington who failed with both the Redskins and New Orleans and was out of the league within five years.
The bottom line is, for every Peyton Manning or Troy Aikman there are five Tim Couches or David Carrs, players who are destined to be career bench-warmers rather than guaranteed starters – franchise killers, if you like.
When you consider Miami signed last year’s No 1, lineman Jake Long, to a five-year, $57.5million contract, it is the stuff of a general manager’s nightmares to plough that much guaranteed money into ANY college draftee, no matter how star-studded he may appear prior to joining the pro ranks.
Basically, you are asking the team with the top pick to splash out at least $11million a year on someone who just might end up being a washed out drug addict.
(OK, that may be a touch extreme; it’s been a while – some 18 years, in fact – since Todd Marinovich proved to be almost the ultimate bust with the Raiders, but the specter of that kind of horrendous mistake, or that of the steroid-fuelled Tony Mandarich at Green Bay in 1989, still lingers in the NFL air like the whiff of another bad government bailout)
The other ‘wild card’ in this year’s game of bluff and counter-bluff (and the Draft has very much become a game of steely-eyed subterfuge as the leading teams try to mask their intentions in order to position themselves to snap up a ‘bargain’) is that hapless Detroit have the weighty responsibility for that opening gambit.
As a result of not winning a game since December 23, 2007 (actually, the toothless Lions have won only ONE of their last 24 outings), the 0-16 record-breakers get to go first on Saturday. And, depending on who you listen to, they may be the most reluctant suitors since someone announced Lucrezia Borgia was looking for a new husband.
Just to start with, Detroit have a truly terrible recent history in the Draft. The likes of Joey Harrington (picked No 3 in 2002, and now a distant No 3 on the depth chart at New Orleans), Mike Williams (a No 10 in 2005, now absolutely nowhere) and the epically-named Ikaika Alma-Francis (a defensive end from the 2007 second round who has managed precisely two starts) have all helped heap embarrassment after embarrassment on the Lions.
Happily, at least, the man most responsible for their recent history of Draft futility (88 picks since 2000, barely 20 still on the roster; four first-round wide receivers, of whom only Calvin Johnson remains; 12 defensive linemen, and only four survivors, none of whom are considered starters), ex-general manager Matt Millen, is now out of the game.
But the thorny problem of how you rebuild a team as bad as this, even with two first-round choices and two third-rounders, remains another millstone around their collective necks.
The fans have already stated their preference for Curry (at a fan event to unveil the team’s new uniforms on Monday, they chanted the name of the Demon Deacons outside linebacker, along with cries of ‘Don’t draft Stafford!’ – talk about getting your boos in early!) and he would certainly come with a (slightly) smaller price-tag than the Georgia quarterback.
Many pundits still believe the Lions would be only too happy to trade the top pick for something more manageable and less high-risk (like, presumably, buying some of the government’s toxic bank debts), so don’t rule out some serious Draft-day machinations behind the scenes.
The rest of the Day One process at New York’s Radio City Music Hall should fall into place depending on what happens with that fateful No 1, so viewers should pay special attention to the first half-hour or so (each team has 10 minutes for their choice in Round One, remember).
Curry, Texas Tech wideout Michael Crabtree, Baylor’s Smith, Texas D-lineman Brian Orakpo and Virginia’s standout O-lineman Eugene Monroe are the Fancied Five on ESPN’s Scout’s Inc (one of the most accurate pre-Draft predictors in recent years), so Stafford may well be one of the biggest losers when push comes to shove.
But it is a brave (or truly poker-faced) man who goes out on a limb just at the moment. I do know it will be riveting TV as the teams try to fathom the labyrinthine options that unfold on the day while the players in the spotlight sweat over their future prospects.
Expect New England to pull the trigger on various trades and switches (the Patriots have no less than 11 selections this weekend, including four in the first 58) and Pat White to be one of the most intriguing possibilities, as the Virginia quarterback is also fancied as a receiver/runner in a Wildcat-type option scheme which many see as the next big ‘wave of the future.’
Just don’t expect much to happen according to a set scheme, as this year’s Draft truly has the scope to be one of the wildest in recent years.
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