I’M back and better than every. I have a new computer and ready to go.
A story that caught my eye this week is a story out of St Joseph Missouri. At the end of a High School football game that was a shutout. Benton High School coach Dan McCarmy asked the opposing team to give up the shutout because he want to run a special play for an athlete with Down Syndrome.
I was out raged to see the coach say he do not what any physical contact. It’s football, that’s a physical game. I understand that Matt’s father is a high school athletic director and all his brothers and sisters play sports, but there are other sports that are not as physical. The different from this story and the Jason McElwain story,(the young basketball player with autism from NY state in 2006) the defense was called off but Jason had to shot the ball and did not have a guarantee that it would go in. This is a heart-warning story and it’s great to see the Maryville team and fans showed so much support and sportsmanship but I don’t like that the touchdown was not earned.
Last week I went to a Minor League Baseball game in Norwich CT. It was game one of the Easter League Championship series. I had a great time and Minor League Baseball is one of the most inexpensive experiences in all of sports. This week it was announced that the Defenders are officially moving to Richmond Virginia next season. Norwich has had a team for 15 years. From 1995 to 2002 the former Norwich Navigators was a double A affiliate of the New York Yankees. In 2003 the San Francisco Giants was the parent club. In 2006 there name was change to the Connecticut Defenders.
I think there are a lot of reasons for this move. When the team was with the Yankees, they did well because fans could follow the players to the Major Leagues. They can’t do that with the Giants because they’re a West Coast team and they’re in the National League. I also think that Northern Connecticut is a basketball area. I believe that attendant for baseball started to go down when the WNBA Sun came to team in 2003.
An update of a story I brought you last week. Plaxico Buress was sentenced to two years in prison for violating New York's stringent gun laws.
Media Watch
This week story is from Sports Business Journal. This years MLS Cup (Championship Game) will appear in prime time on ESPN.(Nov. 22 at 8:30 P.M.) It will be opposite “Sunday Night Football”. In previously years the game aired Sunday afternoon on ABC. The league and network decided to move the game because the game is being played on the West Coast. This is the problem with MLS; only fans of the two teams will watch the game. You are going up against the NFL. This past weekend “Sunday Night Football” beat the EMMY Awards (24.8 million vs. 12.5 million) in total viewership. MLS needs to shorten up its schedule and cut out meaningless tournaments like Superliga, so the season ends before football starts.
ESPN does do some soccer well. Like I said before there English Premier League coverage is very good. There also do International soccer well. Starting Saturday September 26, there will be again able to prove it. The ESPN family of networks will air all 52 matches of the 2009 FIFA under 20 World Cup. Most matches will be on ESPN360.com but all of the U.S. teams games will be on TV. Saturday’s game will be on ESPN Classic but the two other games in midweek will be on ESPN2. I will keep you updated on team USA. I will be watching!
This weekend
The Australian Football League’s Grand Finale (Championship Game) will be live on ESPN Classic on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 12:30 a.m. (Friday, Sept. 25 at 9:30 p.m. PT). A live simulcast will also be available on ESPN360.com, ESPN’s 24/7 online destination for live sports. I don’t get ESPN Classic or ESPN360.com. I’M bummed; I was so looking for to watching the match.
Until next time America
Jamie Lazaroff
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The view from jamie's eyes
Sorry I have not written in a while, I have had a few computer problems. I hope to be back on a regular schedule soon. I would like to update a few stories that are back in the news. “He’s back”, weeks after saying he would not come out of retirement Brett Favre decided to come back and signed with the Minnesota Vikings. Why Brett? You have every thing, a Super Bowl title and named league MVP 3 times. What do you need to accomplish next to leave the stage? The only reason I can see is he came back because he loves the spotlight. After last year with the Jets he wants the opportunity to go out on a winning note. Also, the Vikings are a divisional rival of Brett’s old team, the Green Bay Packers and I think he wants to stick it to them for forcing him to retire back in 2008.
An update on the Michael Vick story, he did sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. After some thought I think this is a good move for Michael. The Eagles have a veteran quarterback in Donovan McNabb who will be able to help Michael get his life back in order. The Eagles have already talked about using both QBs at the same time. The team has already had meetings with animal rights groups about having Vick as a spokesman for their organization. Last week, Michael was fully reinstated to play in week 3 of the season by commissioner Roger Goodell.
I would like to comment about the Plaxico Burress story. On Tuesday August 25th, Plaxico gave his first interveiw since that night, and I have a few thoughts about the whole incident. Plaxico came off as the victim of the incident in the intervew. He said “I shot myself but now I’M the one going to jail” I think that before you decide to take a gun with you, you should know the laws of the state or city you are in. By the way because of the incident Plaxico was fired from the Giants and he is not playing this season for any club.
I have been watching ESPN’s coverage of the US Open Tennis Championship which started Monday Aug 31st. This is ESPN’s first year of covering the Open after it was on the USA network for many years. ESPN did there expected great job on tennis. I do like that they have added Mike Tirico to the teleacast. He was one of the hosts and has also called some of the matches. He is a much better than host Chris Fowler who also calls some of the matches. Chris should stick to hosting College Football Gameday. ESPN has also hired John and Patrick McEnroe along with Mary Carillo, this group gives them the best announcers in the business.
A few weeks back, I told you ESPN is bringing back Australian Rules Football. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Spike TV announced it is also bringing back the Australian Rugby League to US TV. Most games will be taped for air at 11 P.M., but the Grand Final (championship game) will be aired October 4th at 11 A.M. I will be watching. By the way I did watch a little of the frist week, I like that Spike used the Australian game announcers. ESPN does the same thing with the English Premier League, I like that as well. I also like that ESPN seems to have dropped the bottom line scoring/news scroll during the English Premier League games. I find the scroll distracting.
Until next time America.
Jamie Lazaroff
An update on the Michael Vick story, he did sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. After some thought I think this is a good move for Michael. The Eagles have a veteran quarterback in Donovan McNabb who will be able to help Michael get his life back in order. The Eagles have already talked about using both QBs at the same time. The team has already had meetings with animal rights groups about having Vick as a spokesman for their organization. Last week, Michael was fully reinstated to play in week 3 of the season by commissioner Roger Goodell.
I would like to comment about the Plaxico Burress story. On Tuesday August 25th, Plaxico gave his first interveiw since that night, and I have a few thoughts about the whole incident. Plaxico came off as the victim of the incident in the intervew. He said “I shot myself but now I’M the one going to jail” I think that before you decide to take a gun with you, you should know the laws of the state or city you are in. By the way because of the incident Plaxico was fired from the Giants and he is not playing this season for any club.
I have been watching ESPN’s coverage of the US Open Tennis Championship which started Monday Aug 31st. This is ESPN’s first year of covering the Open after it was on the USA network for many years. ESPN did there expected great job on tennis. I do like that they have added Mike Tirico to the teleacast. He was one of the hosts and has also called some of the matches. He is a much better than host Chris Fowler who also calls some of the matches. Chris should stick to hosting College Football Gameday. ESPN has also hired John and Patrick McEnroe along with Mary Carillo, this group gives them the best announcers in the business.
A few weeks back, I told you ESPN is bringing back Australian Rules Football. Well, a couple of weeks ago, Spike TV announced it is also bringing back the Australian Rugby League to US TV. Most games will be taped for air at 11 P.M., but the Grand Final (championship game) will be aired October 4th at 11 A.M. I will be watching. By the way I did watch a little of the frist week, I like that Spike used the Australian game announcers. ESPN does the same thing with the English Premier League, I like that as well. I also like that ESPN seems to have dropped the bottom line scoring/news scroll during the English Premier League games. I find the scroll distracting.
Until next time America.
Jamie Lazaroff
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