The State of Sports Address (714 hits)
Category: SportsRating: 0.33 on 12 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Espo (View user info) at 2005-09-14 11:58:41 EDT
This time of the year, many people begin to focus in on one sport - the baseball post season or the start of the football season - so it is not difficult to see how the recent sports revival has been overlooked amid all the hype. We are in the midst of a multi-faceted sports revival that this nation has not seen since Cal Ripken and the bats of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa sparked interested in a disillusioned nation after the 1994 MLB strike.
Both the AL and NL are in the throws of 3-team wild card chases that look like they will go down to the very last game of the 162 game season.
The Yankees are 2. 5 games back and are turning on the heat in the AL East, making their 3 game stint in Boston to end the season that much more exciting.
The once untouchable Chicago White Sox have been floundering in first place in the AL Central and have managed to let the Cleveland Indians, who have been playing like every game is their last, back into the Wild Card and Al West Pennant hunt.
The AL West is even closer than the AL East, with lead changes happening as often as a Celtics/Lakers Championship game - the Angles and Athletics have been going back and forth for the AL West lead for the past few weeks, and neither team wants to run the risk of coming in 2nd place and not only missing the pennant, but also missing out on the wild card.
The National League holds just as much excitement, with Dontrell Willis doing everything in his power, both on the mound and in the batter's box, to earn his Marlins a spot in the post season and himself a Cy Young award.
In the NL Central, the Astros have provided a modern day Greek tragedy in Roger Clemens - he has pitched almost 200 innings worth of 1.78 ERA baseball, the best performance for a 40+ year old pitcher in baseball history, but only has an 11-7 record due to the lackluster Astros offense refusing to give him any semblance of run support. And even so, the Astros are still vying with the Marlins for the NL Wild Card.
The Braves, a team that often gets forgotten, are on their way to an unprecedented 14th straight NL East pennant, sparked by the bat and the glove of 21 year-old phenom Jeff Francoeur, a homegrown Georgian who grew up idolizing the likes of John Smoltz and Julio Franco and now finds himself batting ahead of them in the lineup.
As the baseball season rolls through September and into the October twilight, football fans across the country have donned Cheeseheads and Dog Masks, doused the charcoal on countless parking lot grills, and have begun to revel in their post Week One ecstasy that can only mean the beginning of another NFL season.
Week One has seen the 2-time defending champion New England Patriots kick off the season with a convincing win against the now Jerry Rice-less Raiders, has seen the Giants score more points than any other team in the league, and has had players ejected from games before they even started.
And let's not forget about college football.
The USC Trojans have set themselves up for an unheard of 3 straight National Championships, but the likes of Texas and Heisman Trophy hopeful Vince Young have already played the toughest game of their schedule and are looking at this season as if it is their championship to lose.
Charlie Weis, the brainchild behind the Patriots back-to-back Championships, has gotten off to a 2-0 start against ranked opponents at Notre Dame, and will continue to be challenged all season long by playing possibly the toughest schedule in the country.
Boston College has jumped up in the rankings as if Doug Flutie has come back to player quarterback, and perennial powerhouses Florida State, Oklahoma, and Auburn have all already been upset by underdog opponents.
As if the collision of the juggernaught baseball and football seasons wasn't enough, rabid hockey fans are practically jumping out of their skates in anticipation of the start of the 2005-2006 NHL season.
Yes, sadly for all of you avid World's Strongest Man and X-Game fans in the lower half of the country, NHL hockey will be returning to ESPN2 this November.
In fact, I thought I could hear New Englanders and Minnesotans breathing a collective sigh of relief as the retiring of the great Mark Messier gave SportsCenter a reason to show 3 minutes of hockey clips for the first time in almost a year.
But in my estimation, all of this hullabaloo has overshadowed possibly the greatest story in American sports this year: Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach just recently won the United States first world badminton title ever.
The pair of birdie-bashers beat the No. 2 Indonesian team in a three set match in a magnificent display of the fastest raquet sport in the world.
Do not be surprised if this recent victory sparks interest in backyard BBQ's across the country and has WalMart distributors on the phone crying for more shuttlecocks.
User Reviews
Submitted by ecks (user info) at 2005-09-21 10:16:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
fool. hockey fans across the county can enjoy their hockey on the Outdoor Life Network.
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/articles/2005/08/19/nhl_switches_channel_to_oln/
Submitted by a_reader (user info) at 2005-09-15 01:08:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Are you one of these morons who not only have horrible English, which isn't a big deal, but gets mad at people who have good English and calls them stupid?
I can't say that I've ever seen the LA Angles before. Do they feature all types of angles, or do they specialize in obtuse angles?
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-09-15 00:50:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
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Submitted by Wallstreet (user info) at 2005-09-14 19:18:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Go Sox!!
Not a bad post......
The Tribe in the west though??
Give what you write a once over before submitting
Submitted by peckerhead (user info) at 2005-09-14 13:30:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Badminton was about the only sport I did NOT play during high school and college. However, I had friends who played and played well -- so I turned into an avid spectator. It really is an amazing game/sport reqiring excellent reflexes, hand-eye coordination, speed, instinct and strength.
Good to see you, espo; thanks for this :-)
Submitted by Thanatos (user info) at 2005-09-14 13:07:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
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Submitted by TheSunGod (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:36:16 (#)
Ranking: 0
of course organized sport is making a revival. we're the same country that loves george w, jessica and ashlee simpson, michael jackson, and walmart.
why wouldn't we love felonious, steroid-using mongoloids who go on strike becuase they don't think they're making quite enough millions of dollars to play a game with no actual societal value?
Oh no, College-Know-It-All Hippy! Take cover, a hippy music festival might break out!
Submitted by Thanatos (user info) at 2005-09-14 13:07:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
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Submitted by TheSunGod (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:36:16 (#)
Ranking: 0
of course organized sport is making a revival. we're the same country that loves george w, jessica and ashlee simpson, michael jackson, and walmart.
why wouldn't we love felonious, steroid-using mongoloids who go on strike becuase they don't think they're making quite enough millions of dollars to play a game with no actual societal value?
Oh no, College-Know-It-All Hippy! Take cover, a hippy music festival might break out!
Submitted by Orgasmatron (user info) at 2005-09-14 13:01:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Don't forget the Arm Wrestling Championships that ESPN shows everyone now and then. I'm sure there's got to be a tournament of some sort coming up.
Submitted by TheSunGod (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:36:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
of course organized sport is making a revival. we're the same country that loves george w, jessica and ashlee simpson, michael jackson, and walmart.
why wouldn't we love felonious, steroid-using mongoloids who go on strike becuase they don't think they're making quite enough millions of dollars to play a game with no actual societal value?
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:05:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
you just put that pic in for the MJ vote
Submitted by espo (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:04:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
my bad...should be AL Central.
Submitted by Herpes (user info) at 2005-09-14 12:00:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Cleveland isn't in the AL West...
I'll finish readin now.