Monday, February 20, 2006

Daytona, Winter Olympics and basketball, smells like hodge podge.

Kind of a big weekend in sports with lots of things to talk about. So it's time for some hodge podge. Let's Hunt.

The UK Wildcats win again, unfortunately it is against a team that is borderline NCAA tourney bound. The Cats did look good, especially considering Rajon Rondo's disappearing act. It seems that Rondo has lost confidence in his abilities. At least that is the only thing I can think of that is the problem. I think the whole getting benched for Brandon Stockton has demoralized him instead of challenged him to step up his game. On the other hand, Randolph Morris has seemed to be more than willing to step up his game after being benched for the Polish Assassin Lukasz Obrzut. UK will win their game against Ole Miss and I think they will have to win one of the three games of death that end the season. They then need to win a couple of games in the SEC tournament and I think that will get them into the NCAA tournament, although at the lowest seed UK fans have seen in a while.

U of L on the other hand is done, done, done. I do not, in any way, think that the Cardinals will make the Big Dance and they may not even make the Big East Tournament. They will have to work just to do that. The only way the Cardinals will make the NCCA tournament is to win the Big East tournament. I tell you I don't see it happening. Rick Pitino just got saddled with a very young team and the injury bug. I am still not hearing people call for his head like they do for Tubby and Tubby will more than likely make the NCAA tournament. Hmmm, kind of funny.

The Daytona 500 revved up the NASCAR season this past weekend and I watched about 50 laps of it. I watched the beginning, took a nap, and awoke just in time to see the last 25 laps, perfect timing. I thought that the ending was somewhat satisfying because in years past, the race would have ended under caution with no attempt to have a green, white, checkered shootout. I find the after race interviews more fun than the race itself. I love hearing Kyle Busch say, "I hate Daytona." I love watching a racer interviewed and during the interview he sees the car he thinks deliberately took him out crash and he exclaims, "That's a shame." All the bad blood and the grudges and the getting even make NASCAR one of the best sports to watch. At least in the post race interviews.

The NBA All-Star game was this weekend in Houston. All the big time players were there, I guess they were. I didn't watch it. Call me in April when the playoffs start.

The Winter Olympics are half way through and the TV ratings are low. Why is this? What else is there to watch? Are Americans too busy watching Two and a Half Men? I love the Winter Olympics and I have watched quite a bit of it. I don't know why, but I am enjoying this year's event. What other time do we as a country get to root for the same team in a sporting event. Most of the time we are at each other's throats be it during sporting events or whether we are a red state or a blue state.

I know a lot of these sports seem to be made up sports, but if you just sit down and give them a chance you will get something out of them. For instance, I am not a figure skating guy, but if you watch an hour of figure skating you will see about 3 crashes. That is better than a NASCAR race. If you watch snow-boarding, you will see some hot-dogs lose a race because they want to show off a little. Even though it may be your countryman, you still sit back and laugh and laugh.

One other reason to enjoy the games is because in most sporting events, the US athletes always seem to be the favorites or have an athlete in the top three favorites. With the Winter Olympics, the US is the under dog and it is truly surprising sometimes to see us win. That, in my opinion, makes the Winter Olympics both compelling and rich. So check it out this coming week otherwise you will have to wait four years to see a sport that involves skiing and rifle shooting. Sounds like a gold medal for Dick Cheney.

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