Category — The Sporting Life

Living in a Canadian/American household, the tension is pretty high right now as Canada leads 2-1 in the third period of the last match of the Olympics. No matter who wins, however, this has been a pretty great game to watch, and I’m not usually a hockey fan. Update: Overtime! 2-2! Update 2: Sudden victory! Canada wins 3-2!

The real difference between the Summer and Winter Olympics is that I can imagine running really fast, or throwing a javelin really far, or even playing basketball really well. I can’t imagine being really good at bobsledding, curling, or even speed skating.

As The League of Ordinary Gentlemen’s 2010 Winter Olympics Special Correspondent, some early observations:

1. It’s pretty surreal to live in a city that is hosting the “Winter” Olympics when I was outside for a run yesterday in shorts and T-shirt.  Yesterday’s high was 11 (51 Fahrenheit).

2. I need to get me a pair of the Norwegian Men’s Curling Team pants.  They’re supa dupa fly.  (Photo after the break)

2.5 I have a potentially unhealthy fascination (addiction?) for the sport of curling.

3. The traffic getting to and from downtown Vancouver (where I work) has not been what I originally feared.  I was skeptical that this city could pull it off and worried we were about to enter the Traffic-pocalypse, but so far, all signs suggest that people understand they shouldn’t  be driving downtown.  Crowds have been large-ish but not overwhelming, which is also nice.

4. I think a bronze medal would be solid for the US Men’s Hockey Team and a silver would be a real accomplishment, but man the Canadians are stacked.  If they win the gold here, this place is going to explode.  [Though it might explode anyway if the Canucks don't win].

5. An interesting, counter-intuitive take on the tale of Lindsey Jacobellis.

6. The women’s moguls was possibly the best event so far.  [And I don't say that just because as a future "Camerican," the gold went to the US and the silver to Canada].

7. Americans getting their NBC feed on opening night missed out on the half ludicrous/100% awesome ride of The Great One in the back of a sport utility vehicle getting mildly drenched by the Vancouver rain as he rode down to ignite the alternate torch by the water.  As he was riding, it was quite amazing to see people just running alongside the car.  It was somewhat nerve wracking actually, reminiscent of Ali’s torch-lighting.

8. Video after the break of the “violent” protests that “rocked” our fair city on Saturday morning.  I was at work (a church in the middle of downtown) but was downstairs at the time – apparently, a couple of the black-clad protesters entered the church and changed and then ran back outside.  I later found some black clothes in the garden the next morning.  To steal a line from Br. Dave:  ”F@#!’in Nihilists!!!”  Although watching the video I have to say these are some really p—y nihilists, if I’ve ever seen any.  Those newspaper boxes you see them throwing in the street are mostly from free daily papers.  You know, the same elitist “free” papers oppressing the masses.  WTF???  They did do some window damage at The Bay and one moron shoved a cop from behind who was arresting his “comrade” and was immediately smacked with a baton for his troubles.  They freaked some civilians, but beyond that there wasn’t too much physical excitement.

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…the Saints did play like champions.  And it was a pretty damn good game right up until the end. After that interception, though, you could tell the Colts were rattled.  Peyton Manning especially.  That was the nail in the coffin right there, except it was the Colts and they’ve pulled back from worse brinks before.

I enjoyed the game.  I don’t watch much in the way of sports, but I do love a good football game.  On that note – anyone here read any good sports-bloggers?

Oh, and I knew this ad would get some blog-traction today.

For a slightly more dystopian take, read this.  Given the state of affairs we’re in over the growing and consumption of certain illicit plants this is not so far-fetched.  And if it is far-fetched, then so is the war on drugs.  So is the light-bulb ban.

My favorite ad – probably the stuff from Doritos.  I laughed the hardest when that kid slapped the guy for taking his chip.

And I’m pretty excited about the new Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie, which I hadn’t heard anything about until last night.  I was a big fan of Gladiator and I’ve always been big on Robin Hood stories.  I remember seeing Kevin Costner’s version when I was ten, in a movie theater in Florida.  The audience cheered after Morgan Freeman’s speech.  Yes, those were simpler times.  I still have a soft-spot for that movie, warts and all.  I mean, who cares about the accent?  If anything, Costner’s performance led directly to some really good lines in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

You can have an open-thread here if y’all would like….

P.S. – I’m with Sonny Bunch (in the comments) on this one – to some degree.  I think the ad was a parody of enviro-extremism, but I also think it didn’t take seriously the question of the security state.  In other words, while it parodied the green movement, it laughed off the very real threat of the creeping security state, which can use green policies as easily as it can use marijuana or terrorism to grow and further intrude upon our privacy.

In lieu of discussing more serious matters (Citizens United, health care, “Jersey Shore”), I’d like to direct your attention to the pressing issue of NBA All Star voting. After Tracy McGrady’s hobbled corpse nearly made the West’s starting line-up and serial retiree Allen Iverson was voted in as an Eastern Conference starter,  diehard fans and some media commentators have vigorously complained about the NBA’s selection guidelines. As things stand, fans pick the starters and coaches select substitutes, but critics charge that fan voting privileges celebrity over on-court accomplishment (witness AI beating out more deserving guards like Rajon Rondo or Joe Johnson).

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So, I was looking forward to joining the rest of the country in rooting for the Saints in two weeks.  Really, I was.  Then this &#$#(@!$)% had to open his mouth and remind me why I can never, ever root for a team with him involved in any way.  Stay classy, Gregg.

If you aren’t watching the Cardinals-Packers, you are missing one of the greatest playoff football games in history.  The Packers have just tied the game at 45-45 (yes 45-45), after being, at one point, down 21 points. 2 minutes left for Kurt Warner (who has as of writing this 5, yes 5 touchdown passes). [Read more →]

Today is the 10th anniversary of the forward lateral that changed history.  The once-great Buffalo Bills, and their still astoundingly loyal and rabid fan base (who were just a few months removed from the infamous “No Goal” incident), have never fully recovered.  Indeed, the Bills ended the next decade as arguably the single-worst franchise in that period – not once making the playoffs - after spending the ’90s as one of the very best franchises of that period.  Of course, the man who made the asinine play call of a pop-fly kickoff which allowed Frank Wychek to throw the Forward Pass of Infamy managed to do just fine, spending the last few years as the head coach of America’s so-called team.   Mr. Phillips, I spit in your general di-rection.

YES!!!!  Buckeyes played their greatest game since they won the National Championship in 2003 (maybe even better).  Coach Tressel has finally learned and evolved about to take it to the next level.  There is gonna be a big push for OSU to head back to the Nat’l Championship next year. Now The Cincinnati Bearcats are up in the Sugar.  I’ll still be tweeting.  I want to see a 2-2 Ohio BCS Bowl night.

I’m live-tweeting OSU-Oregon on my twitter account.  twitter.com/cdierkes

After a decade of success relying on Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, and for awhile Tony Dungy, the Indianapolis Colts are sitting undefeated through 14 games.  Manning is still there, but Dungy and Harrison are not.  With Manning still having several good years left in him, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark in the prime of their careers, and high quality young players like Pierre Garcon and Anthony Gonzalez, they look set for years to come as a continuing powerhouse of the AFC. 

Their President of course is Bill Polian, who has held that position since 1998 and as far as I know remains the primary decisionmaker when it comes to the team’s personnel.  Prior to Polian joining the team, the Colts were basically awful.  Since he joined the team, they have made the playoffs every year except for his first.  Yes, obviously Peyton Manning has had quite a bit to do with that, but football is too much of a team sport for one player to be enough to get you to the playoffs year in and year out.  And, of course, Polian drafted Manning when he could have just as easily drafted Ryan Leaf, probably the biggest bust in NFL history. 

This says nothing about Polian’s track record prior to joining the Colts, when he was the General Manager for the then-expansion Carolina Panthers, and made the personnel decisions that allowed them to become the fastest-ever team to reach a Conference championship game.   He left the Panthers after just two seasons when the Colts made him an offer he could not refuse. 

Of course, before Polian was with the Panthers, he was the architect of my Buffalo Bills’ four consecutive conference championships (sadly, the Super Bowl was not held between 1991 and 1994, so no greater success was available to the team than a conference championship).  Polian had taken the helm of the Bills as general manager after the 1985 season, when the Bills had developed a reputation as a truly abysmal franchise.  Which is pretty much what they are now, come to think of it.   By 1988, he was the NFL’s Executive of the Year, an award he would again win four times in the ensuing 10 years. 

At the end of the 1992 season, with the Bills 3/4 of the way through their run of conference championships (thanks to St. Frank Reich’s performance in the Greatest Comeback of All Time), Polian was mysteriously and bizarrely fired by owner Ralph Wilson.  Why?  Because he didn’t get along with the team’s Treasurer.  Yes, the bleeping Treasurer.  Not Marv Levy.  Not His Holiness Jim Kelly or Bruce the Magnificent.  Not even Ralph Wilson himself.  No, the Treasurer.  While I understand that ultimately, pro sports are a for-profit enterprise, the ability of a franchise to turn a profit would seem to hinge far more on its ability to consistently win games by attracting quality personnel at a reasonable price than on anything over which a team’s Treasurer may have control.  I am also quite certain that one can find many adequately competent Treasurers; one cannot, however, find many adequately competent evaluators of talent. 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but since 1988, Bill Polian has been the GM or President of a playoff team in all but five seasons, two of which he was not overseeing a team in the league, and two of which were his first seasons overseeing his respective team’s football operations.   In the overwhelming majority of those seasons, his team also won its division.  Only once since 1988 has a Bill Polian administered team failed to make the playoffs after his first year (2001, when the Colts went 6-10). 

Even more remarkably, he has done this while at the helm of small market franchises.  Despite their small market, the Colts are now in the top half of NFL teams in terms of their value according to Forbes.

Ralph Wilson (for whom I have actually quite a bit of respect) has spent the last several years complaining about how it is impossible to be competitive and to run a profitable franchise in a small market like Buffalo.  Unfortunately, it seems that the single biggest reason the Bills have been uncompetitive and only marginally profitable in the last decade plus has been Wilson’s decision to fire the single greatest personnel man in NFL history over what was apparently little more than a personality conflict with a non-football employee. 

One can only speculate as to what the NFL landscape would look like in 2009 had Wilson not made such a mystifying decision in 1993.  Perhaps Polian would have left for the Panthers in any event, lured by the promise of greater pay and greater control.  Or perhaps he would have remained in Buffalo.   One thing is for certain, though – the Bills’ unbelievably persistent futility over the last decade would not have been nearly as terrible had they had the type of consistent quality in personnel decisionmaking that Polian offered.  What is also certain is that the Colts’ unbelievably persistent success over the last decade would not have been nearly as remarkable had they not had the type of consistent quality in personnel decisionmaking that Polian offers.

On the cusp of bowl season, Trumwill explains why college football’s BCS system is better, warts and all, than any hypothetical playoff.

In 2007, the New York Giants had a decent regular season, but not a particularly good one. At 10-6, they barely finished in the top quartile of teams and failed to even achieve a winning record within their four-team division. But this was not a mediocre team. After all, they have the Super Bowl rings to prove it. But one would be hard pressed to say they were the best team in the league that year. Or even the second best. Instead, they were just the team that happened to slide into the playoffs and won the last four games of the season (three of which by less than a touchdown). The next year, the Arizona Cardinals came within a touchdown of being the champs despite a 9-7 regular season. If you ask me, that is no way to select a champion.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that post-season tournaments are the only way to crown a champion. Granted, when you have a bunch of teams that can’t play one another, it makes a certain amount of sense. How else are you going to sort it out? But we’ve become so attached to the notion of post-season tournaments that we are increasingly willing to relegate the regular season to near-scrimmages and “playoff tryouts.” Didn’t have a spectacular record? No problem! Didn’t win your division? Don’t worry about it! Barely ended up with a record above .500? Take a shot at the national title!

There is, of course, one major exception to this rule. Rather than being celebrated, however, the exceptionalism of college football drives people bonkers.

I’m not going to argue that the current BCS system is perfect. It’s frustrating that a good portion of the teams that play in the league have little chance to win a national championship even if they go undefeated. And who hasn’t endured at least one season where a favorite team had a record just as good as the team that made the national championship? I know I have.

The former complaint resonates with me. That a 12-0 Utah Utes team or Boise State team has no chance at a national title no matter how well they play strikes me as wrong. The fact that in any given year, a 1-loss USC, Texas, or SEC team would go to a national championship game before an undefeated Big East or ACC champion indicates that the situation is getting worse.

My first counterargument is that a 1 or 2-loss SEC team is usually going to be better than a Big East or Mountain West champion. The current system also allows Boise State’s awesome victory over Oklahoma to stand on its own terms rather than as a prelude to the inevitable loss in the next round of a playoff.

Unfortunately, neither of these arguments are incredibly convincing. Utah (an undefeated MWC team) beat Alabama (a 1-loss SEC team) just last season and the more often teams from non-BCS conferences win these games (non-BCS teams are 3-1 in BCS bowls), the more they are going to want the opportunity for something more.

A few weeks ago, I tried to figure out if this dilemma could be resolved without a comprehensive, 16-team playoff that would allow a team that got third place in its division a chance at the national title (as happened with the Richmond Spiders in I-AA football last year). Surprisingly enough, I actually came up with one.* The qualification rules were strict enough that either 8 or fewer teams would be allowed in each year (dating back to 2005). It gave every team, regardless of conference, a chance at winning the title. The regular season would be slightly devalued, but nothing I couldn’t live with.

Just as with many similar proposals, the general response would undoubtedly be “It’s not enough.” Half of the playoff proponents would say “If it doesn’t let a 13-0 MAC team in, there’s no point in having a playoff” while the other half would say “If it doesn’t let this 10-2 SEC team in – which happens to be better than that undefeated MAC team – it’s not a real playoff” or “The only reason to have a playoff is to have the best teams plays, even if some conferences get left out.” My plan satisfies the first group but not the second. Unfortunately, plenty of people simply aren’t interested in everyone having a shot at the title, which is really the only reason I’d care to see a playoff.

To satisfy both camps, you need a 16-team tournament. A lot of playoff proponents swear that we won’t revisit the same arguments for team 15 vs 16 vs 17, but I find that unlikely so long as there is any room for debate. Of course, just as we now argue over who gets to play in a BCS Bowl, we’d always argue over playoff qualifications. Last year, teams ranked 13-19 (except #17, a 10-2 BYU) had 9-3 records going into the bowl season. A hypothetical playoff could use BCS calculations or rankings to determine eligibility, but those are the very things that people object to now. With playoff eligibility at stake, the debate will only become more intense. Eventually we may see a 32-team playoff.

But even if we stick to 16 teams, once you’re letting 9-3 teams in, you’re excusing three losses. Right now, no losses are excused. With a playoff system, almost everything teams fight for now (National Championship Game, conference championship, BCS Bowl, any old bowl) becomes a sideshow. Nobody cares who wins the NFL’s NFC East Division because it doesn’t really matter when it comes to brass ring. The entire season revolves around making the playoffs (and to a much lesser extent, determining playoff seeding). And making the playoffs allows teams to lose games in ways that they cannot afford to now. Under the current system, however, games outside your favorite conference take on greater importance because they have a huge impact on your team’s championship hopes.

A prime example of this is USC’s 2009 season. USC’s first loss was devastating for its fans because it meant the Trojans were unlikely to get a shot at the national championship. Meanwhile, Washington’s victory was celebrated in Texas, Alabama, and Florida because it enhanced their national championship hopes. USC’s second loss was equally devastating because it eliminated what was left of USC’s national championship aspirations. USC’s third loss was perhaps less devastating, but it was still significant because it meant that they would not win the conference title or play in a BCS bowl for the first time in seven years.

Add a playoff system and only the third loss really matters and it still isn’t a season-ender because it’s possible (albeit unlikely) that USC would retain a shot at the national title. And only the third loss would really matter outside of the West Coast.

A smaller playoff system mitigates this somewhat, but leagues don’t generally limit playoff participation. Instead, professional sports have drifted towards increasing the number of divisions and wild card slots to let in as many teams as possible. In other words, I can’t even support my own limited playoff system because I have absolutely no reason to believe that it would stop there, particularly because people will always argue that a team left out deserves a shot to have things settled “on the field.”

Alas, 70% of the country rejects my profound wisdom. The good news, though, is that public opinion doesn’t matter. The only way a playoff system will be instituted is if fans start boycotting. But college football has never been more popular despite its chaotic champion-crowning methodology — or perhaps because of it.

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* My hypothetical playoff system basically lets in any conference champion (or independent) that won 10 or more games against FBS opponents. The playoff consists of eight teams, but there is an “elimination week” that narrows the field to four contenders. In the event that fewer than 8 teams are eligible, the teams with the best strength-of-schedule (SOS) do not have to participate in elimination week. In the event that there are more than eight eligible teams, priority is given to undefeated teams, but after that participation is determined purely by SOS, regardless of record.