If there’s a worse weekend for sports, I’d like to know what it is.
Yesterday we were treated to two of the biggest farces in sports. Those would be the NFL’s Pro Bowl, and the NHL’s All-Star Game.
Both suffer from the same problem. They bring together the best players from two very physical - you could say violent, - games, and then they spend several hours trying desperately not to collide with one another.
No one wants to get hurt in one of these affairs, and the results show it. Hitting is at a minimum, and that is a huge part of the basic appeal of both games.
So both leagues have turned to gimmicks in an attempt to spark interest.
The NFL has moved their all-star game, which used to occur after the Super Bowl, to the week in the interim. I suppose you could make the argument that it gives us our football fix for this dead weekend before the Super Bowl hype machines revs up. But that would assume that you could call what happens in the game football. I’m not so sure that’s the case. And, of course, in moving the game you automatically remove from contention any players on the two best teams who are busy preparing for their date next Sunday in the Super Bowl.
The NHL has another problem. Its farce of a game manages to take any notion of defense out of the equation altogether. What looks like fun for a lot of offensive players must be a nightmare if you happen to be one of the players who has to stand in those goal in what is little more than a shooting gallery.
Maybe it’s time for both these games to go by the boards. These innovations haven’t worked.
Hell, even Tiger Woods couldn’t save the weekend. Tied for the lead going into the final round of a tournament in Abuu Dhabi, Tiger failed to deliver the goods as well. He finished third.
Now we have to sit through a week of superfluous Super Bowl interviews before getting another dose of real sports.
Maybe it's time to start paying attention to the Sixers.
Then again, how many days until pitchers and catchers report?
Yesterday we were treated to two of the biggest farces in sports. Those would be the NFL’s Pro Bowl, and the NHL’s All-Star Game.
Both suffer from the same problem. They bring together the best players from two very physical - you could say violent, - games, and then they spend several hours trying desperately not to collide with one another.
No one wants to get hurt in one of these affairs, and the results show it. Hitting is at a minimum, and that is a huge part of the basic appeal of both games.
So both leagues have turned to gimmicks in an attempt to spark interest.
The NFL has moved their all-star game, which used to occur after the Super Bowl, to the week in the interim. I suppose you could make the argument that it gives us our football fix for this dead weekend before the Super Bowl hype machines revs up. But that would assume that you could call what happens in the game football. I’m not so sure that’s the case. And, of course, in moving the game you automatically remove from contention any players on the two best teams who are busy preparing for their date next Sunday in the Super Bowl.
The NHL has another problem. Its farce of a game manages to take any notion of defense out of the equation altogether. What looks like fun for a lot of offensive players must be a nightmare if you happen to be one of the players who has to stand in those goal in what is little more than a shooting gallery.
Maybe it’s time for both these games to go by the boards. These innovations haven’t worked.
Hell, even Tiger Woods couldn’t save the weekend. Tied for the lead going into the final round of a tournament in Abuu Dhabi, Tiger failed to deliver the goods as well. He finished third.
Now we have to sit through a week of superfluous Super Bowl interviews before getting another dose of real sports.
Maybe it's time to start paying attention to the Sixers.
Then again, how many days until pitchers and catchers report?
Comments