The view from my eyes

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