Hi everyone, sorry I have not written in a while, lots of projects in the works. I hope to have news on this front very soon. Just an update on the blog, as you can see I have added a Winter Olympics update bug, check it out for the latest news from Vancouver starting February 12th on the networks of NBC. I will have more on the Olympics as we get closer.
On to this week’s rant.
Monday January 11th baseballs superstar Mark McGwire finally admitted that he took steroid when he set the single season home run record back in 1998 (the record was eclipsed in 2001 by Barry Bonds). This was a well-orchestrated plan that started with a statement made to the AP (Associated Press) by McGwire at 3 P.M. That was followed by newspaper interviews and then McGwire did a live one-on-one interview on the MLB network with Bob Costas at 7 P.M. This was a full 60-minute interview with Costas, the best in the business. McGwire did admit to using steroids but said that they did not help him with his performance. THEIR CALLED PERFORMANCE ENHANCEING DRUGS FOR A RESON MARK! I believe that he came out now because his old team the St. Louis Cardinals hired him for the upcoming season, as the bating coach and he wanted to get it out before spring training. I truly believe with an admission like this he made more questions for himself, this story is not over. In his interview with Bob Costas, McGwire did shed light on the infamous 2005 congressional hearings where he coined the phase “I’M not here to talk about the past.” McGwire said that he was ready to talk but before the hearings he asked for immunity from prosecution if he talked about any other players he knew did steroids. He also did not want to bring his family and friends into this mess he caused for himself. He did not get the immunity from the congressman and so here we are almost 5 years later. I don’t know if I believe this story but I somewhat understand not wanting to bring your family into it if they had noting to do with it. I believe the truth will set you free and he should have told the truth back in 2005. But wait there’s more to this story, on Thursday January 21st, Curtis Wenzlaff a convicted drug dealer who says he used to supply steroids to McGwire told ESPN that McGwire's goal was to improve his performance on the field. This contradicts McGwire’s story that he took steroids for heath reasons. I guess we will never know the truth. If there’s more I will have it here.
The other major story that caught my attention this week was on January 8, 2010 there was an attack on the Togo National Football Team on their way to the African Nations Cup Tournament in Angola. The team was traveling from the Republic of the Congo to the Angolan Exclave of Cabinda, where they were to play their match’s. Cabinda is unique because it’s separated from the rest of Angola by a strip, some 60 kilometres (37 mi) wide, of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Togo team flew home after the attack by request of the Prime Minister. There were reports that the team wanted to play but they we disqualified from the tournament before they could return.
My first question is why didn’t the American networks cover this story? I heard it from the BBC. If I was not interested in soccer and do not have a world view I would not have known that this happened. My questions are why did the organizing committee decide to play matches in a disputed area? There is still a guerrilla and political movement fighting for the independence of the Angolan province of Cabinda. Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) who claimed responsibility for this attack had meant to attack Angolan security guards at the front of the convoy that passed through Cabinda and not the Togo team. In August 2006 a ceasefire was signed between the FLEC and Angola government, but the FLEC is still active. Why didn’t the Togo team fly into Cabinda as they we told? I think there is more blame to go around in this story. If there are any new delovpments in this story I will be on top of it.
On Tuesday news broke that UCONN’s men’s head basketball coach Jim Calhoun had taken a temporary medical leave of absence. In a statement from his primary care physician Peter Schulman, M.D of the UCONN Health Center he said that it is for some temporary medical issues. Rumors have been flying in the media that this leave of absence is stress related. Associate and now temporary head coach George Blaney squashed this rumor by saying before Wednesday’s game against St. John’s that Calhoun’s absence was not stress related. What is it? All any one is saying is that it is not related to previous medical conditions that he has dealt with, that include cancer three times. Get well coach looking forward to seeing you back on the sidelines soon.
The major story this week outside of sports has been the Earthquake in Haiti. My heart is aching for these people. They live in such poverty as it is and now this. Great job by all reporters on the scene, a sad story overall.
I hope to be back soon with more on the Winter Olympics and answer some viewer e-mail. If you have a question on an event you can e-mail me at jdlazaroff@yahoo.com.
Jamie Lazaroff
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baseball. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thursday, August 6, 2009
A view for the chair
Are you ready for some football! It is the end of July and football season is starting with the opening of training camp. There are two major football stories in the news this week. On Monday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally reinstates Michael Vick following the end of his prison sentence for running a dog fighting operation. Vick will be allowed to play in preseason games and practice, provided he can find a team that will sign him, and Goodell will decide on Vick's full reinstatement no later than Week 6 of the 2009 season. Vick did say this week that he is close to signing with a team. But of all the 32 teams in the NFL, only 6 teams have interest in the troubled QB. I hope he doesn’t sign with an NFL team but goes to the new UFL that starts play this fall. I think Vick needs a year or so to mature while playing in a minor league.
The other big football story this week is that Brett Favre, who was considering coming out of retirement for the second consecutive season and playing for the Minnesota Vikings, announces that he will remain retired, saying that he does not feel physically able to play for a full season. I’M glad Brett is not coming back this season because I want to remember him as a great QB and not the one that came back last year with the Jets. Unfortunately as Peter King of Sports Illustated said, “We will probably have to revist this after the season.” Please just leave the stage Brett.
The major baseball steroids story of the week is that in 2003 former Red Sox Manny Ramirez and team mate and current star, David Ortiz had tested positive for performance-enhancing drug. 2003 was the year to test to see if Major League Baseball had a steroid problem. The positive tests should have been private. There were supposedly about 100 ballplayers that tested positive that year and only about a quarter of the names have come out, so, why not publish the whole list so we can know and just end this drama. Some people think the Red Sox and any other team that won the World Series in the steroid era ( I would say 1995 to 2005) needs to give back their Championship. Let me know how you feel about it. In the record book I would just have a section called Steroid Era and have all records from that time peroid listed. As far as the Hall of Fame goes, no player from that era should be allowed in.
Media Watch
ESPN became the story last week on two occasions. Frist, Erin Andrews was the victim of a “peeping tom” who took a nude video of her in her hotel room. ESPN made the decision to ban all New York Post sportswriters from it’s shows because the paper printed photos of Erin from the video. This decision was reversed because the Editor of the Post decided not to print the photos. That was the good news for ESPN.
The bad news was the way they handled the Ben Roethlisberger civil lawsuit story. ESPN in the initial days of the story, issued a “Do not report” order to its jouranlist. Why? When a lawsuit is filed in a courtroom in the United States of America and the person being sued is the current Super Bowl winning QB it needs to be report. If it was any other football player in this situation, it would be reported and be the first thing on SportCenter. ESPN needs to look at their policies and procedures to make sure this does not happen again. Oh wait, ESPN doesn’t have any policies or procedures, only when it comes to social networking sites like twitter or myspace. Just last night (Tuesday August 4) ESPN sent a memo to all employees for using Twitter unless it was for ESPN purposes. This could be a good thing I guess. I will keep my eye on this story.
This just in to the laznet news room. Aussie Rules Football is back on ESPN. The network reached an agreement with the Australian Football League to cover up to three live games each weekend for the remainder of this season and the next two after that. Most of the games will be online at ESPN360.com but a select number of games will be televised on ESPN2. This includes this year’s championship game (the Grand Final) in September. I’M so exticed, I grew up watching Aussie Rules Football on ESPN back when we were both growing up and I have miss it since. Can’t wait for the fall!
This Weekend
Next week I will be on Cape Cod for our family vacation, Don’t worry I will have TV and will be bringing my laptop, so if there is any breaking news I will be on it.
The major sports events this weekend is another round of the Red Sox against the Yankees. After a shakey month of July for Boston, the Yankees lead in the American League East is 2 and a half games (entering Thursday). It is a 4 game series that starts Thursday at Yankee stadium. It is always fun when these two teams get together.
There are two big MMA events this weekend. UFC 101 from Philadelphia Saturday on Pay-per-view. The main event of the night is a bout for the UFC Lightweight Championship, Champion B.J Penn will take on Kenny Florian. This should be a great fight as both guys have a ton of experience and are both Jiu-Jitsu specialist. I wish I could see it or better yet I wish I could be there live.
Sunday night in Las Vegas is WEC 42 live on Versus. The main event on this card is a fight for the WEC Bantamweight Championship. The champion Miguel Torres taking on Brian Bowles. The lighter weights are always exciting and this fight should be more of the same. One of the great things that makes MMA so exciting is that it is so unpredictable and anyone can win on any given day. I hope to catch this fight.
And that is the way it is.
Jamie Lazaroff
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The view from here
Good day folks,
The top story this week is the shocking death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. It turned out that he died in a murder-suicide by his 20-year-old girlfriend. Steve played a 13-year career, most with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Steve will be remembered for being one of the toughest QBs ever to play in the NFL. In the Super Bowl in 2000 Steve led Tennessee within a foot of a game-winning touchdown. I hope people remember Steve as a great QB and not the strange way he died. This is the same I hope for all celebrities, like Michael Jackson as well.
My comment this week is on Manny Ramirez. As you may know, Manny was suspended 50 games for using a women's fertility drug. My questions are, why was Manny allowed during his suspention to workout at the Dodgers' spring training facilities with Dodger coach Manny Mota? He was also allowed a short rehab stint in the minor leagues to get back into playing shape. He played two games with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. He also played several games with the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers. I don’t remember any player who was suspended getting this kind of preferincial treatment before! As of this week the Commissioner is looking this kind of treatment in the future. Manny came back during the July 4th holiday. During his suspension there was a movement by Dodgers’ fans to get him voted into the All-Star Game. I’m glad to report this was not allowed and he is not in St. Louis this week. During the Press Conference to anounce his suspension, Manny stated that he had seen a physician who unknowingly prescribed medication that is banned under the MLB drug policy. He is a professional athletle, he should know what the doctor is prescribeing him, its not the doctor’s fault that he gave him a banned drug. Since he came back Manny has been cheered every place he has been, WHY? He is a drug cheat and he should be treated as such. Barry Bonds was a drug cheat who was never caught, but was a hated figure. Manny should be in the same boat.
Media Notes
The big sports media story is that the US Olympics Committee is setting up it’s own TV network next year. I have three questions about this: How are they going to compete with NBC’s Universal Sports Network? How are they going to get live programming? Universal Sports has most of the Olympic sports rights to broadcast these events. How will this development affect Chicago’s hopes to get the 2016 Summer Games? The International Olympic Committee is objecting to the network and said that the USOC had not authorized the use of the Olympic name or television footage. I will monitor this developing story.
The week’s ESPN watch is that the “Worldwide Leader” is truly becoming the worldwide leader in sports after getting a piece of the English Premier League package of games and thus a foot hold in the UK. On this side of the pond we are getting converge of some soccer with Spain’s La Liga League this fall. This is good news; after ESPN lost the Champions League rights to FOX, I thought there would be no soccer on the ESPN family of networks.
Speaking of ESPN, I was glad to see they have coverage of Indoor Volleyball’s World League. I enjoy Indoor volleyball much more than beach volleyball, there is more action and the ball is in the air with six players each side to two per side for beach volleyball. I hope they do more volleyball in the future.
In other ESPN news, they have hired a new Ombudsman in legendary TV Exec Don Ohlmeyer. This is a controversial choice because the first two Ombudsmen for ESPN were newspaper people and respected journalist but Ohlmeyer is the best producer, not just in sports but also TV sitcoms. Don will start in August, we will see then.
What to watch for
Tuesday July 14th was the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on FOX. This will be the seventh year in which the All-Star Game determines home field advantage in the World Series. By the way the American League win 4 to 3 over the National League. It was the 12th straight win ( one tie) for the American League in the Mid Summer Classic. I enjoy the All-Star Game because it’s the best of the best in baseball. I think interleague play should determine the home field in the World Series. I think this is a great way to update the interleague play which is getting boring the way it is now.
This weekend is the third Major of the golf year, The Open Championship (British Open). The Open is played on links course that are right on the sea, so the wind will be a factor. It is also the oldest major championship which was started in 1860. All of these factors are why it’s my favorite golf major. TNT will have Thurday’s and Friday’s coverage for the last time, ESPN takes oover next year. Coverage is live starting at 7 A.M. each day. TNT has some weekend coverage before ABC takes over 7 to 9 A.M Saturday and 6 to 8 A.M. on Sunday. ABC takes over Saturday 9 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. and Championship Sunday 8 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Enjoy, I know I will.
Talk to you all soon
Jamie Lazaroff
The top story this week is the shocking death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. It turned out that he died in a murder-suicide by his 20-year-old girlfriend. Steve played a 13-year career, most with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Steve will be remembered for being one of the toughest QBs ever to play in the NFL. In the Super Bowl in 2000 Steve led Tennessee within a foot of a game-winning touchdown. I hope people remember Steve as a great QB and not the strange way he died. This is the same I hope for all celebrities, like Michael Jackson as well.
My comment this week is on Manny Ramirez. As you may know, Manny was suspended 50 games for using a women's fertility drug. My questions are, why was Manny allowed during his suspention to workout at the Dodgers' spring training facilities with Dodger coach Manny Mota? He was also allowed a short rehab stint in the minor leagues to get back into playing shape. He played two games with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. He also played several games with the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers. I don’t remember any player who was suspended getting this kind of preferincial treatment before! As of this week the Commissioner is looking this kind of treatment in the future. Manny came back during the July 4th holiday. During his suspension there was a movement by Dodgers’ fans to get him voted into the All-Star Game. I’m glad to report this was not allowed and he is not in St. Louis this week. During the Press Conference to anounce his suspension, Manny stated that he had seen a physician who unknowingly prescribed medication that is banned under the MLB drug policy. He is a professional athletle, he should know what the doctor is prescribeing him, its not the doctor’s fault that he gave him a banned drug. Since he came back Manny has been cheered every place he has been, WHY? He is a drug cheat and he should be treated as such. Barry Bonds was a drug cheat who was never caught, but was a hated figure. Manny should be in the same boat.
Media Notes
The big sports media story is that the US Olympics Committee is setting up it’s own TV network next year. I have three questions about this: How are they going to compete with NBC’s Universal Sports Network? How are they going to get live programming? Universal Sports has most of the Olympic sports rights to broadcast these events. How will this development affect Chicago’s hopes to get the 2016 Summer Games? The International Olympic Committee is objecting to the network and said that the USOC had not authorized the use of the Olympic name or television footage. I will monitor this developing story.
The week’s ESPN watch is that the “Worldwide Leader” is truly becoming the worldwide leader in sports after getting a piece of the English Premier League package of games and thus a foot hold in the UK. On this side of the pond we are getting converge of some soccer with Spain’s La Liga League this fall. This is good news; after ESPN lost the Champions League rights to FOX, I thought there would be no soccer on the ESPN family of networks.
Speaking of ESPN, I was glad to see they have coverage of Indoor Volleyball’s World League. I enjoy Indoor volleyball much more than beach volleyball, there is more action and the ball is in the air with six players each side to two per side for beach volleyball. I hope they do more volleyball in the future.
In other ESPN news, they have hired a new Ombudsman in legendary TV Exec Don Ohlmeyer. This is a controversial choice because the first two Ombudsmen for ESPN were newspaper people and respected journalist but Ohlmeyer is the best producer, not just in sports but also TV sitcoms. Don will start in August, we will see then.
What to watch for
Tuesday July 14th was the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on FOX. This will be the seventh year in which the All-Star Game determines home field advantage in the World Series. By the way the American League win 4 to 3 over the National League. It was the 12th straight win ( one tie) for the American League in the Mid Summer Classic. I enjoy the All-Star Game because it’s the best of the best in baseball. I think interleague play should determine the home field in the World Series. I think this is a great way to update the interleague play which is getting boring the way it is now.
This weekend is the third Major of the golf year, The Open Championship (British Open). The Open is played on links course that are right on the sea, so the wind will be a factor. It is also the oldest major championship which was started in 1860. All of these factors are why it’s my favorite golf major. TNT will have Thurday’s and Friday’s coverage for the last time, ESPN takes oover next year. Coverage is live starting at 7 A.M. each day. TNT has some weekend coverage before ABC takes over 7 to 9 A.M Saturday and 6 to 8 A.M. on Sunday. ABC takes over Saturday 9 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. and Championship Sunday 8 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Enjoy, I know I will.
Talk to you all soon
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The view form the Chair
The big news this week is the retirement of NFL broadcaster John Madden. After winning the Super Bowl in 1976 with the Oakland Raiders, John started a career in broadcasting and became the best color commentators of all time. John is the only broadcaster to announce for every NFL TV partner; NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. He stared his broadcasting career with CBS sports in 1979. In 1981 he was elevated to the network's top team with Pat Summerall, they went on to call footbal games for CBS until 1994 when CBS lost the NFL to FOX Sports, Madden and Summrerall went with them. Madden and Summrerall called eight Super Bowls together, (five for CBS and three for FOX). In 2002 John left FOX and joined Al Michaels at ABC’s Monday Night Football. After Monday Night Football was relegated to cable, John made his last jump to NBC’s Sunday Night Football. On February 1,2009 he became the only person to call the Super Bowl on the “Big Four” TV networks. By the way he did call 2 Super Bowls while at ABC. All this for a grand total of 11 Super Bowls. Madden's lively and flamboyant delivery has won him critical acclaim and fourteen Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Event Analyst. He was also the first broadcaster to use a telestrator to diagram and analyzel plays. Madden’s enthusiasm for the game of football is what made him great. What I also liked about him is that his did not talk over the audience by using big words. You knew it was a big game when John Madden was on the call. Before a one-week break last season he had a streak of 476 consecutive weekends calling football. So John, you deserve you retriment, enjoy the grandkids!
One story that caught my attention this last week, is out of Washington D.C. Wahington Nationals player Elijah Dukes was five minutes late to the stadium. He was fined $500 , suspended, and threaten with demotion to the minors if it happened again. The problem is, he was late because he was speaking at a Little Legue event. Fine a player for being late, but he was doeing something good for his community. The problem was the event was not sponsored by the Nationals so he got in trouble. The Little Legue program is paying Dukes fine. To quote Jim Mraz, President of the Freat Falls LL, “The point is, this guy gave back to our community, and now he's in a hard spot. We need to help him, It's not a question of whether this guy can afford the $500 bucks. We're just trying to send a message to our kids: He was here for us. Now we've got to be there for him." Good for them. The General Manager of The Nationals wants to change the culture of the team, this is not the way to do that.
This Weekend in Sports
The big event of the weekend is round one of the Red Sox versus the Yankees at Fenway. Series started on Friday at 7:10 on NESN in New England or the YES network in New York. By the way, Boston won the first game 5 to 4. Saturday’s game is on FOX at 4:10 and Sunday game is on ESPN 8:05. I know it’s early in the season, but it’s an early indication of where each team is. Should be fun.
The other big event this weekend is the NFL Draft. I will only watch because ESPN is putting Todd McShay up to challenge so called draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. For what I have seen on SportsCenter this week it should be fun. I wish McShay was in New York and not at ESPN studios in Bristol, but I do expect a lot of disagreements. Can you tell I don’t like Mel? Should be interesting.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
One story that caught my attention this last week, is out of Washington D.C. Wahington Nationals player Elijah Dukes was five minutes late to the stadium. He was fined $500 , suspended, and threaten with demotion to the minors if it happened again. The problem is, he was late because he was speaking at a Little Legue event. Fine a player for being late, but he was doeing something good for his community. The problem was the event was not sponsored by the Nationals so he got in trouble. The Little Legue program is paying Dukes fine. To quote Jim Mraz, President of the Freat Falls LL, “The point is, this guy gave back to our community, and now he's in a hard spot. We need to help him, It's not a question of whether this guy can afford the $500 bucks. We're just trying to send a message to our kids: He was here for us. Now we've got to be there for him." Good for them. The General Manager of The Nationals wants to change the culture of the team, this is not the way to do that.
This Weekend in Sports
The big event of the weekend is round one of the Red Sox versus the Yankees at Fenway. Series started on Friday at 7:10 on NESN in New England or the YES network in New York. By the way, Boston won the first game 5 to 4. Saturday’s game is on FOX at 4:10 and Sunday game is on ESPN 8:05. I know it’s early in the season, but it’s an early indication of where each team is. Should be fun.
The other big event this weekend is the NFL Draft. I will only watch because ESPN is putting Todd McShay up to challenge so called draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. For what I have seen on SportsCenter this week it should be fun. I wish McShay was in New York and not at ESPN studios in Bristol, but I do expect a lot of disagreements. Can you tell I don’t like Mel? Should be interesting.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The view from the chair
This year’s first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament was not the most exciting action, there were no major upsets and the games were pretty boring with just 2 overtime games and a few buzzer beaters. The only double-digit seed to advance to the sweet 16 is Arizona. The good part is that my bracket is holding up pretty well, most years it in the can by now. By the way, I am beating President Obama’s picks after the first weekend and the second weekend as well. The good thing about no upsets is that there were some very good matchups.
Update #1: We did get great games and a few surprises with Missouri over Memphis and Villanova over Duke. Villanova also beat Pittsburgh to advance to the Final Four. Update #2: Your Final Four was UCONN and Michigan State, Villanova and North Carolina, until UCONN lost to Michigan State this past weekend, and North Carolina beat Villanova. Tonight, Monday April 6th it is Michigan State and North Carolina. Update #3: North Carolina won the national title in a blow out. President Obama did pick the champ, and I lost.
It’s an interesting year when the Women’s Tournament catches my interest, there were some great games and a few buzzer beaters, and they even had some upsets. The problem I have with the Women’s Tournament is that the first two rounds are held at on campus sites so some teams have their home crowd on their side. Most of the time it’s the higher seeds home court but this year some of the double-digit seeds had the advantage. This caused two major upsets as Rutgers beat a second seed Auburn and Michigan State beat a # 1 seed Duke. The Men’s Tournaments are played on neutral sites all the way through. I would love to see the Women play their first rounds with the Men.
Let me talk about some of the announcers, UCONN had the team of Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas on Thursday, Jay is one of the best analyst in the business, Carter in the new kid on the block and may be good in the future but he had no enthusiasm for the game or the event. We had Jay with Dick Enberg for the other three games. Dick is a legend in the sports broadcasting business but this tournament he mispronounced names and called a
2-pointer a 3 pointer that clearly was not. At 74 years old he can still call Tennis better than any one but basketball is a young man’s game. I fell badly for him but when your time is up its up.
Speaking of enthusiasm, one man that had too much of it was Gus Johnson. One game I heard him scream the last name of the officials, I thought to myself, calm down, the game has not even begun. The main team this year is Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Clark took over for Billy Packer who has called the Final Four since 1974 until last year. Clark was CBS’s studio analyst from 1997 until this year. I think he is better in the studio because he has more time. He uses stats and that’s more useful in the studio, at the game just call what you see. I think he will get better the more he does it. One person I would love to call the Final Four is Bill Raftery. His enthusiasm for the game is infectious. He’s a lot of fun to listen to. By the way, Raf will be on the radio to call the title game tonight. Here is one of his gems from the first round of this year’s tourament with partner Verne Lundquist.
What to watch for this weekend
Easter weekend bring us the first major of the golf season, The Masters from Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. Converge begins Wednesday with the par-3 contest 3 to 5 P.M. on ESPN. The first two rounds will be on ESPN 4 to7:30 P.M. each day. CSB has the weekend converge on the weekend with the Third-Round on Saturday from 3:30 to 7 P.M. Easter Sunday is the Final Round from 2 to 7 P.M. For the 24th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 22nd year as host). This is CBS sport’s 54th consecutive year of converging the Masters. It is truly is a tradition unlike another and a sure sign of spring. Enjoy!!!!!
This week is the start of Baseball season. The Boston Red Sox have there home opener today at 3 P.M.
Jamie Lazaroff
Update #1: We did get great games and a few surprises with Missouri over Memphis and Villanova over Duke. Villanova also beat Pittsburgh to advance to the Final Four. Update #2: Your Final Four was UCONN and Michigan State, Villanova and North Carolina, until UCONN lost to Michigan State this past weekend, and North Carolina beat Villanova. Tonight, Monday April 6th it is Michigan State and North Carolina. Update #3: North Carolina won the national title in a blow out. President Obama did pick the champ, and I lost.
It’s an interesting year when the Women’s Tournament catches my interest, there were some great games and a few buzzer beaters, and they even had some upsets. The problem I have with the Women’s Tournament is that the first two rounds are held at on campus sites so some teams have their home crowd on their side. Most of the time it’s the higher seeds home court but this year some of the double-digit seeds had the advantage. This caused two major upsets as Rutgers beat a second seed Auburn and Michigan State beat a # 1 seed Duke. The Men’s Tournaments are played on neutral sites all the way through. I would love to see the Women play their first rounds with the Men.
Let me talk about some of the announcers, UCONN had the team of Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas on Thursday, Jay is one of the best analyst in the business, Carter in the new kid on the block and may be good in the future but he had no enthusiasm for the game or the event. We had Jay with Dick Enberg for the other three games. Dick is a legend in the sports broadcasting business but this tournament he mispronounced names and called a
2-pointer a 3 pointer that clearly was not. At 74 years old he can still call Tennis better than any one but basketball is a young man’s game. I fell badly for him but when your time is up its up.
Speaking of enthusiasm, one man that had too much of it was Gus Johnson. One game I heard him scream the last name of the officials, I thought to myself, calm down, the game has not even begun. The main team this year is Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Clark took over for Billy Packer who has called the Final Four since 1974 until last year. Clark was CBS’s studio analyst from 1997 until this year. I think he is better in the studio because he has more time. He uses stats and that’s more useful in the studio, at the game just call what you see. I think he will get better the more he does it. One person I would love to call the Final Four is Bill Raftery. His enthusiasm for the game is infectious. He’s a lot of fun to listen to. By the way, Raf will be on the radio to call the title game tonight. Here is one of his gems from the first round of this year’s tourament with partner Verne Lundquist.
What to watch for this weekend
Easter weekend bring us the first major of the golf season, The Masters from Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. Converge begins Wednesday with the par-3 contest 3 to 5 P.M. on ESPN. The first two rounds will be on ESPN 4 to7:30 P.M. each day. CSB has the weekend converge on the weekend with the Third-Round on Saturday from 3:30 to 7 P.M. Easter Sunday is the Final Round from 2 to 7 P.M. For the 24th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 22nd year as host). This is CBS sport’s 54th consecutive year of converging the Masters. It is truly is a tradition unlike another and a sure sign of spring. Enjoy!!!!!
This week is the start of Baseball season. The Boston Red Sox have there home opener today at 3 P.M.
Jamie Lazaroff
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
the week that was and the week to come
The big story last week was Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001 to 2003. This DOES not surprise me at all. Baseball and the fans are at fault for the steroid era. Baseball turned a blind eye to performing-enhancing drug users, because the Home Run became the attraction of the game. By 1998 ESPN had started live coverage of the Home Run Derby at the All-Star week. Also at this time there was a famous advertisement campaign with the slogan “Chicks Dig the Long Ball.” All this contributed to the pressure to perform. I think it’s better for A-Rod to admit to using steroids and finally come clean now than to continue denying it like others such as Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. History will look at A-Rod more kindly for admitting and I think he might still have a chance to get into the Hall of Fame.
Tuesday February 17, 2009 A-Rod held his first Press Conference since an interview he did with ESPN last week. He said a cousin injected him with an over-the-counter drug designed to give an "energy boost." He also said that it was a mistake that his cousin obtained these banned drugs from the Dominican Republic I understand this was before testing and the culture was different back in the early 90’s but if I were a pro baseball player I would look at what I was putting in my body before I used it.
A side story to this is that Miguel Tejeda was charged with lying to Congress about performance enhancing drug useage the same week. For lying, he faces up to one year in federal prison and deportation as he was born in the Domican Republic.
The other major story last week was the second retirement of Brett Favre. I say second because he retired last year but came back to play. We wll see if this retirement holds before I talk about it.
This Weekend
This weekend’s big event is the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour from Lake Tahoe, CA. Saturday is the Freesking Slopestyle final from 2:30 to 4 P.M. on NBC. Sunday is the Snowboarding Superpipe final from 3 to 6 P.M. again on NBC Sports. Like I said this is the final stop of the Tour, so the season-long champions will be crowned. Should be fun.
The next big event is an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on free TV; UFC 95 live from London, England at 9 P.M. on Spike TV.
The main event of the card is the first winner of the Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show, Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez who will move up from welterweight to lightweight to challenge former world title contender Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. UFC is always a good time.
In other news, the UFC is about to get some competition on National TV from Showtime and CBS. I think the frist Showtime live event will be April 11, no word on the first CBS show, I think it will be in May. When I know I will let you all know.
Also this weekend is the Oscars. Usually I don’t like or have an intrest in seeing any of the movies up for the awards, but this year I wil watch because of the two movies“The Wrestler” and “Frost/Nixon”. I hope Mickey Rourke wins for best actor. Yes I’M a wresting fan. I also would like to see “Frost/Nixon” win Best Picture. Frost/Nixon is a true story about a series of interviews by Robert Frost /Richard Nixon after Watergate. I think the BBC just released the real interviews. .
Enjoy the games.
Talk to you next week if not before.
Jamie Lazaroff
Tuesday February 17, 2009 A-Rod held his first Press Conference since an interview he did with ESPN last week. He said a cousin injected him with an over-the-counter drug designed to give an "energy boost." He also said that it was a mistake that his cousin obtained these banned drugs from the Dominican Republic I understand this was before testing and the culture was different back in the early 90’s but if I were a pro baseball player I would look at what I was putting in my body before I used it.
A side story to this is that Miguel Tejeda was charged with lying to Congress about performance enhancing drug useage the same week. For lying, he faces up to one year in federal prison and deportation as he was born in the Domican Republic.
The other major story last week was the second retirement of Brett Favre. I say second because he retired last year but came back to play. We wll see if this retirement holds before I talk about it.
This Weekend
This weekend’s big event is the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour from Lake Tahoe, CA. Saturday is the Freesking Slopestyle final from 2:30 to 4 P.M. on NBC. Sunday is the Snowboarding Superpipe final from 3 to 6 P.M. again on NBC Sports. Like I said this is the final stop of the Tour, so the season-long champions will be crowned. Should be fun.
The next big event is an Ultimate Fighting Championship card on free TV; UFC 95 live from London, England at 9 P.M. on Spike TV.
The main event of the card is the first winner of the Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show, Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez who will move up from welterweight to lightweight to challenge former world title contender Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. UFC is always a good time.
In other news, the UFC is about to get some competition on National TV from Showtime and CBS. I think the frist Showtime live event will be April 11, no word on the first CBS show, I think it will be in May. When I know I will let you all know.
Also this weekend is the Oscars. Usually I don’t like or have an intrest in seeing any of the movies up for the awards, but this year I wil watch because of the two movies“The Wrestler” and “Frost/Nixon”. I hope Mickey Rourke wins for best actor. Yes I’M a wresting fan. I also would like to see “Frost/Nixon” win Best Picture. Frost/Nixon is a true story about a series of interviews by Robert Frost /Richard Nixon after Watergate. I think the BBC just released the real interviews. .
Enjoy the games.
Talk to you next week if not before.
Jamie Lazaroff
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
This week in sports
Hello Friends
October is a transitional month for sports. This month is between Baseball regular season ending and Basketball season getting starting. Yes, you have Baseball’s postseason, but it is not every night like the regular season which is 162 games over 6 months.
Last time I talked about the postseason baseball announcers so I will not go there. However, Chip Caray still has a very annoying voice and is one of the worst announcers of all time. Good to hear the solid team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver calling the World Series.
Speaking of the World Series, I think it will get better ratings than most people predict. Tampa and Philadelphia are both young and have nothing to loose, in fact, four of the first starting five pitchers in this series are under the age of 30, and there are great storylines on both side. Tampa was the worst team in the America League for the first 9 years of the franchise and Philadelphia has not won the Fall Classic since 1980. My prediction (sure to go wrong) is Philadelphia in 6 Games; their big bats and the bullpen will be the edge.
Last week the Patriots were on Monday Night Football, this got me thinking about the series’ golden days. For 36 years Monday Night Football was a staple on the ABC Television network. In 2006 Monday Night Football moved to ESPN cable. Back in the 70’s and 80’s Monday Night was must see TV. People would tune in to hear what Howard Cosell would say. That would be “water cooler” talk at the office on Tuesday. This does not happen any more, Tony Kornheiser tries but he is no Howard Cosell. In 2006 the NFL moved it network prime-time weekly game to Sunday night and the package to NBC this means that the best game is not necessarily on Monday Night. ESPN just needs to let it go. It has worn out its welcome with Monday Night Football.
This weekend is the opening three rounds of the PBR bull riding world finals in Las Vegas. Bull riding is like a car crash, you watch with one eye open. It’s great when one of the cowboys ride a bull for the full 8 seconds.
The other big event is that ESPN is broadcasting a Cricket match for the first time. The match is the England National Team against a Stanford superstar team made up of some of the best players from the rest of the world. It is the shortest version of the game with about 120 balls in play and only runs count and not how many outs you may have. Should be fun, I hope to have a full report after the match on November 2 at 2p.m. on ESPN2.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck
Jamie Lazaroff
October is a transitional month for sports. This month is between Baseball regular season ending and Basketball season getting starting. Yes, you have Baseball’s postseason, but it is not every night like the regular season which is 162 games over 6 months.
Last time I talked about the postseason baseball announcers so I will not go there. However, Chip Caray still has a very annoying voice and is one of the worst announcers of all time. Good to hear the solid team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver calling the World Series.
Speaking of the World Series, I think it will get better ratings than most people predict. Tampa and Philadelphia are both young and have nothing to loose, in fact, four of the first starting five pitchers in this series are under the age of 30, and there are great storylines on both side. Tampa was the worst team in the America League for the first 9 years of the franchise and Philadelphia has not won the Fall Classic since 1980. My prediction (sure to go wrong) is Philadelphia in 6 Games; their big bats and the bullpen will be the edge.
Last week the Patriots were on Monday Night Football, this got me thinking about the series’ golden days. For 36 years Monday Night Football was a staple on the ABC Television network. In 2006 Monday Night Football moved to ESPN cable. Back in the 70’s and 80’s Monday Night was must see TV. People would tune in to hear what Howard Cosell would say. That would be “water cooler” talk at the office on Tuesday. This does not happen any more, Tony Kornheiser tries but he is no Howard Cosell. In 2006 the NFL moved it network prime-time weekly game to Sunday night and the package to NBC this means that the best game is not necessarily on Monday Night. ESPN just needs to let it go. It has worn out its welcome with Monday Night Football.
This weekend is the opening three rounds of the PBR bull riding world finals in Las Vegas. Bull riding is like a car crash, you watch with one eye open. It’s great when one of the cowboys ride a bull for the full 8 seconds.
The other big event is that ESPN is broadcasting a Cricket match for the first time. The match is the England National Team against a Stanford superstar team made up of some of the best players from the rest of the world. It is the shortest version of the game with about 120 balls in play and only runs count and not how many outs you may have. Should be fun, I hope to have a full report after the match on November 2 at 2p.m. on ESPN2.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck
Jamie Lazaroff
Friday, October 10, 2008
My Take
Hello Friends
This past Sunday ESPN’s Sports Reporters program marked its 20th Anniversary. Every Sunday since October 9, 1988, millions of viewers have tuned to the sports version of the Sunday morning political discussion programs. This is one of the best sports shows each week because there is no yelling and just intelligent sport talk. Three of the most prominent journalists from newspapers and other outlets across the country are regulars on the program. As long time executive producer Joe Valerio said, “the strength of the show is our unbiased view we don’t root for teams; we root for good stories”. One of the greatest experiences of my life was back in 1996 I was invited to a tapering of the Sports Reporters by my friend Mike Lupica. I got to talk to the late great Dick Schaap and sit next to him while he did the opening of the show. I have a great photo of Lupica, Schaap, Bob Ryan and Mitch Aborn pointing up at me while am behind them. The cool thing is that Lupica, Ryan and Aborn was on the 20th Anniversary this past Sunday. I hope one day I will have one of the best seats in sports. To think the Sports Reporters have been around for 20 years, boy, I feel old.
I have enjoyed the baseball postseason this year. This is TBS second year of coverage of the major league baseball playoffs. I have rediscovered Dick Stockton; he is a great announcer and can paint a picture with words. Ron Darling is a surprise and very good. Harold Reynolds is a great in-game analyst and has great enthusiasm for the game that really comes through. At first I was turn off by the sound of Chip Caray voice but he has grown on me and Buck Martinez is very good. I have watched the studio show only once and Cal Ripken Jr. is not good. He gets very worded and you can’t understand him. I think he has a lot of information in his head and can’t get it out.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck.
Jamie Lazaroff
This past Sunday ESPN’s Sports Reporters program marked its 20th Anniversary. Every Sunday since October 9, 1988, millions of viewers have tuned to the sports version of the Sunday morning political discussion programs. This is one of the best sports shows each week because there is no yelling and just intelligent sport talk. Three of the most prominent journalists from newspapers and other outlets across the country are regulars on the program. As long time executive producer Joe Valerio said, “the strength of the show is our unbiased view we don’t root for teams; we root for good stories”. One of the greatest experiences of my life was back in 1996 I was invited to a tapering of the Sports Reporters by my friend Mike Lupica. I got to talk to the late great Dick Schaap and sit next to him while he did the opening of the show. I have a great photo of Lupica, Schaap, Bob Ryan and Mitch Aborn pointing up at me while am behind them. The cool thing is that Lupica, Ryan and Aborn was on the 20th Anniversary this past Sunday. I hope one day I will have one of the best seats in sports. To think the Sports Reporters have been around for 20 years, boy, I feel old.
I have enjoyed the baseball postseason this year. This is TBS second year of coverage of the major league baseball playoffs. I have rediscovered Dick Stockton; he is a great announcer and can paint a picture with words. Ron Darling is a surprise and very good. Harold Reynolds is a great in-game analyst and has great enthusiasm for the game that really comes through. At first I was turn off by the sound of Chip Caray voice but he has grown on me and Buck Martinez is very good. I have watched the studio show only once and Cal Ripken Jr. is not good. He gets very worded and you can’t understand him. I think he has a lot of information in his head and can’t get it out.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck.
Jamie Lazaroff
Thursday, September 25, 2008
My Take
Hello friends
This last weekend was one of the most exciting of the year. Golf’s Ryder Cup was the highlight; it is a match play event with 12 players from the United States versus 12 players from Europe. Going into the matches I was not that excited about this event because the Euros have won 5 of the last 6 matches and the USA was without Tiger Woods. I was glued to my TV all weekend. It was some of the finest golf I have ever watched. The matches were played in Kentucky and home state players Kenny Perry and J. B. Holmes played well and got the home fans into a frenzy. Boo Weekly was a welcomed surprise, he is a great golfer and can fire up the crowd like no other. The highlight was Weekly on the final day. He was filmed riding his driver "cowboy horse" style down the first fairway. I was really impressed with Anthony Kim; he is a great young player. His Sunday singles match against Sergio Garcia was the best performance for a young golfer in a long time. I see a major in this kid’s future.
The other big event this past weekend was the final game in the 85-year old “ Yankee Stadium.” As a Red Sox fan I have to say that I too felt a little nostalgic because, before every game was televised, only postseason baseball was shown and for most of the time the Yankees were playing in the Stadium. In fact according to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated 15% of all postseason and 21% of all World Series games were played at the Stadium. I also understand that Yankee Stadium hosted some of the most significant moments in America history beside baseball. Muhammad Ali fought there and Joe Louis beat Max Schmeling there in “38. The game that put the NFL on the map, the NFL Championship game in 1958, the first overtime game in NFL history was played there. Three Popes said mass there, Nelson Mandela gave his first speech, after being released form prison, there in 1990. So much history, I will miss Yankee Stadium for those moments. If those walls could talk, the stories it would tell.
This week’s event I’m looking forward to is the first Presidential debate on Friday or as CNN is calling it “debate night in America.” Should be fun.
Talk to you next time as baseballs postseason gets going.
Good night and good luck.
Jamie Lazaroff
This last weekend was one of the most exciting of the year. Golf’s Ryder Cup was the highlight; it is a match play event with 12 players from the United States versus 12 players from Europe. Going into the matches I was not that excited about this event because the Euros have won 5 of the last 6 matches and the USA was without Tiger Woods. I was glued to my TV all weekend. It was some of the finest golf I have ever watched. The matches were played in Kentucky and home state players Kenny Perry and J. B. Holmes played well and got the home fans into a frenzy. Boo Weekly was a welcomed surprise, he is a great golfer and can fire up the crowd like no other. The highlight was Weekly on the final day. He was filmed riding his driver "cowboy horse" style down the first fairway. I was really impressed with Anthony Kim; he is a great young player. His Sunday singles match against Sergio Garcia was the best performance for a young golfer in a long time. I see a major in this kid’s future.
The other big event this past weekend was the final game in the 85-year old “ Yankee Stadium.” As a Red Sox fan I have to say that I too felt a little nostalgic because, before every game was televised, only postseason baseball was shown and for most of the time the Yankees were playing in the Stadium. In fact according to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated 15% of all postseason and 21% of all World Series games were played at the Stadium. I also understand that Yankee Stadium hosted some of the most significant moments in America history beside baseball. Muhammad Ali fought there and Joe Louis beat Max Schmeling there in “38. The game that put the NFL on the map, the NFL Championship game in 1958, the first overtime game in NFL history was played there. Three Popes said mass there, Nelson Mandela gave his first speech, after being released form prison, there in 1990. So much history, I will miss Yankee Stadium for those moments. If those walls could talk, the stories it would tell.
This week’s event I’m looking forward to is the first Presidential debate on Friday or as CNN is calling it “debate night in America.” Should be fun.
Talk to you next time as baseballs postseason gets going.
Good night and good luck.
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday, September 13, 2008
This week in sports
MRHi folks, sorry I have not written in a while, I have been preoccupied with the political conventions. There are two things you should never talk about, religion and politics, so I will not tell you my persuasions.
The fall is the best time in sports, baseball is in the home stretch and getting ready for the post season, and football is starting up, also you know basketball season will be upon us soon.
I can’t believe I missed week one of the NFL season! I was on the golf course for my Special Olympics tournament. One of our playing partners got a text message about Tom Brady going down and leaving the game with a injured knee. When I don’t watch, something big always seems to happen. I feel bad for Brady and the Patriots; this season will be an up hill battle now without the league MVP and 3-time Super Bowl champion. My big question is Matt Cassel; Sunday’s game versus the Jets will be his first start since high school. In college he backed up two Heisman Trophy winners in Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at Southern California (USC) and spent the past three years as the back up for Brady in New England. I think they will be fine; they still have the best coach in the league in Bill Belichick. As wrestling announcer Jim Ross says, “Business is about to pick up.” Just made the NFL season a little more interesting.
One of the most awesome things I have ever experienced is going to Fenway Park to see a Red Sox game. I have been to a few games over the years but on Labor Day Monday I got two tickets from my cousin Carley, you remember, she is my triathlon cousin. The seats were two rows up from the field and just by the visitor’s dugout. I even caught a foul ball, just amazing. Thanks again Carley and thanks to her daughter Ella for wining the tickets.
Update from my last blog about the Paralympics. NBC will have a 90-minute special featuring athletes and highlights of the games at 2:30pm Eastern time on October 13th. NBC figures that what it does this year, both online and on television, can help them gauge the demand for more coverage in the 2010 Vancouver and 2012 London Paralympics games. “I don’t think it has yet been proven that there’s an audience that will support live television in this marketplace,” network Olympics president Gary Zenkel said. “That’s what we hope to assess over our multiplatform coverage this year.” Please watch the October 13th telecast and show NBC that there is an audience for the Paralympics in the USA.
This week in Sports
The big event this weekend is the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP for the MotoGP motorcycle series. The race will be on NBC Sports, Sunday, September 14th from 3 to 4 p.m. (ET). The broadcast team for the event will include veteran motorcycle racing play-by-play announcers Ralph Sheheen and Robbie Floyd, and color commentary by 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz.
The other big event this week is the Dew tour (action sports) in Salt Lake City for the Toyota Challenge. NBC has coverage Saturday September 13th from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and Sunday September 14th from 4 to 6 p.m. Freestyle motocross is back on tour and it should be as crazy as ever. One of the highlights of the Olympic games, BMX is an event this week in Utah.
The big college football game this weekend is Ohio St. at USC. This game maybe a preview of the National Championship game in January. It’s on at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
The fall is the best time in sports, baseball is in the home stretch and getting ready for the post season, and football is starting up, also you know basketball season will be upon us soon.
I can’t believe I missed week one of the NFL season! I was on the golf course for my Special Olympics tournament. One of our playing partners got a text message about Tom Brady going down and leaving the game with a injured knee. When I don’t watch, something big always seems to happen. I feel bad for Brady and the Patriots; this season will be an up hill battle now without the league MVP and 3-time Super Bowl champion. My big question is Matt Cassel; Sunday’s game versus the Jets will be his first start since high school. In college he backed up two Heisman Trophy winners in Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at Southern California (USC) and spent the past three years as the back up for Brady in New England. I think they will be fine; they still have the best coach in the league in Bill Belichick. As wrestling announcer Jim Ross says, “Business is about to pick up.” Just made the NFL season a little more interesting.
One of the most awesome things I have ever experienced is going to Fenway Park to see a Red Sox game. I have been to a few games over the years but on Labor Day Monday I got two tickets from my cousin Carley, you remember, she is my triathlon cousin. The seats were two rows up from the field and just by the visitor’s dugout. I even caught a foul ball, just amazing. Thanks again Carley and thanks to her daughter Ella for wining the tickets.
Update from my last blog about the Paralympics. NBC will have a 90-minute special featuring athletes and highlights of the games at 2:30pm Eastern time on October 13th. NBC figures that what it does this year, both online and on television, can help them gauge the demand for more coverage in the 2010 Vancouver and 2012 London Paralympics games. “I don’t think it has yet been proven that there’s an audience that will support live television in this marketplace,” network Olympics president Gary Zenkel said. “That’s what we hope to assess over our multiplatform coverage this year.” Please watch the October 13th telecast and show NBC that there is an audience for the Paralympics in the USA.
This week in Sports
The big event this weekend is the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP for the MotoGP motorcycle series. The race will be on NBC Sports, Sunday, September 14th from 3 to 4 p.m. (ET). The broadcast team for the event will include veteran motorcycle racing play-by-play announcers Ralph Sheheen and Robbie Floyd, and color commentary by 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz.
The other big event this week is the Dew tour (action sports) in Salt Lake City for the Toyota Challenge. NBC has coverage Saturday September 13th from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and Sunday September 14th from 4 to 6 p.m. Freestyle motocross is back on tour and it should be as crazy as ever. One of the highlights of the Olympic games, BMX is an event this week in Utah.
The big college football game this weekend is Ohio St. at USC. This game maybe a preview of the National Championship game in January. It’s on at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
Thursday, July 24, 2008
This week in sports
This was a busy weekend in sports so lets get to it.
Padraig Harrington won the “Open Championship” for the second year in a row. The two big story’s this week at Royal Birkdale was the weather: the wind was up to 50 MPH and at some times it was raining and just really nasty. It was so nasty that 1985 champion Sandy Lyle quit after his first 10 holes on Thursday. As American Boo Weekley said, "If this is the summer, I couldn't live here." The other story this week was 53 year-old Greg Norman was on top of the leaderboard though three round. Norman was bidding to become the oldest major champion even though he not played in the previous 11 majors or even the last two “Open Championships”. Greg came to Royal Birkdale to practice for this week’s “Senior Open Championship.” He did not win but put on a get show and proved that with hard work you can do anything you put your mind to. Sunday’s final round was a great roller coaster ride with Padraig and Greg trading the lead through out the round while Norman had the lead after the front nine. The tournament was not decided until the 17th hole when Padraig eagled it to win by 2 over Ian Poulter of England.
The other big event Sunday was the Untied States round of the MotoGP season from Laguna Seca in California. Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner staged a fierce battle for the lead until Stoner was forced off the track with eight laps to go. It was the best side-by-side racing I have ever seen. The start of the race included a horrendous highside crash for Jorge Lorenzo. This was one of the most unbelievable one-person crash I have ever seen, just awesome! Lorenzo was ok after the crush. One of the best races ever. Can’t wait for the MotoGP tour to come back to the U.S. in September at Indy.
This Week in sports
This is another busy weekend for sports. A Red Sox - Yankees series at Fenway. It’s not for the American League East top position as both teams are behind Tampa Bay, who knew! It is still Yankee vs. Red Sox. Should be fun. Series starts on Friday.
Saturday night is the second Saturday night fights on CBS. The main event is a rematch between Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith whose match on the initial EliteXC Primetime show on CBS was stopped due to an unintentional eye poke. The other main event will be for the EliteXC Welterweight Championship between Jake Shields and Nick Thompson. The show will also feature up and coming Lightweight Nick Diaz. Should be a good time.
The last big event of the weekend is the “NASCAR Sprint Cup” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the “Allstate 400 at the Brickyard”. I can’t believe that this will be the 15th NASCAR race at the famous speedway. This race could be the pivotal point to the series championship.
Twice in the four-year era of the “Chase for the Cup”, the race winner at Indy has gone on to win the championship. Should be interesting.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck (stolen from Keith Olbermann who stole it from Edward
R. Murrow)
Jamie Lazaroff
Padraig Harrington won the “Open Championship” for the second year in a row. The two big story’s this week at Royal Birkdale was the weather: the wind was up to 50 MPH and at some times it was raining and just really nasty. It was so nasty that 1985 champion Sandy Lyle quit after his first 10 holes on Thursday. As American Boo Weekley said, "If this is the summer, I couldn't live here." The other story this week was 53 year-old Greg Norman was on top of the leaderboard though three round. Norman was bidding to become the oldest major champion even though he not played in the previous 11 majors or even the last two “Open Championships”. Greg came to Royal Birkdale to practice for this week’s “Senior Open Championship.” He did not win but put on a get show and proved that with hard work you can do anything you put your mind to. Sunday’s final round was a great roller coaster ride with Padraig and Greg trading the lead through out the round while Norman had the lead after the front nine. The tournament was not decided until the 17th hole when Padraig eagled it to win by 2 over Ian Poulter of England.
The other big event Sunday was the Untied States round of the MotoGP season from Laguna Seca in California. Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner staged a fierce battle for the lead until Stoner was forced off the track with eight laps to go. It was the best side-by-side racing I have ever seen. The start of the race included a horrendous highside crash for Jorge Lorenzo. This was one of the most unbelievable one-person crash I have ever seen, just awesome! Lorenzo was ok after the crush. One of the best races ever. Can’t wait for the MotoGP tour to come back to the U.S. in September at Indy.
This Week in sports
This is another busy weekend for sports. A Red Sox - Yankees series at Fenway. It’s not for the American League East top position as both teams are behind Tampa Bay, who knew! It is still Yankee vs. Red Sox. Should be fun. Series starts on Friday.
Saturday night is the second Saturday night fights on CBS. The main event is a rematch between Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith whose match on the initial EliteXC Primetime show on CBS was stopped due to an unintentional eye poke. The other main event will be for the EliteXC Welterweight Championship between Jake Shields and Nick Thompson. The show will also feature up and coming Lightweight Nick Diaz. Should be a good time.
The last big event of the weekend is the “NASCAR Sprint Cup” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the “Allstate 400 at the Brickyard”. I can’t believe that this will be the 15th NASCAR race at the famous speedway. This race could be the pivotal point to the series championship.
Twice in the four-year era of the “Chase for the Cup”, the race winner at Indy has gone on to win the championship. Should be interesting.
Talk to you next week.
Good night and good luck (stolen from Keith Olbermann who stole it from Edward
R. Murrow)
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The week that was
Did you see the Home Run Derby on Monday night? Josh Hamilton put on a show with 28 home runs in the opening round. It was the quality and not the quantity of his home runs. Of his 28 homers, at one point he hit 13 in a row. Three of them went further then 500 feet. His longest was 518 feet. What makes this story great is that in 2004 he was suspended for violating the MLB drug policy. Between 2002 and 2006 he did not play baseball at all. After getting sober he returned to baseball and made his Major League debut on April 2, 2007 with the Cincinnati Reds. This year in 93 games for the Texas Rangers he’s batting .310 with 21 home runs and 95 RBI. The story of Monday night got better when he selected 71-year-old Clay Caunsil to pitch to him for the derby. Caunsil was a volunteer who threw batting practice to Hamiltion as a kid in North Carolina. To top this all off, in 2006 when he was trying to get back into baseball, Josh had a dream where he participated in a home run derby at Yankee Stadium. Dreams do come true. Josh did not win but was the story of the night; Even the winner Justin Morneau said it was Josh’s night and his stage.
During Josh’s 28 home run show I did think this kid had to be on something. But now that I read his story and the fact that he has to provide urine samples for drug testing at least three times per week, per the MLB drug policy I know that this was real and he was not juiced up. I hope he can keeps this up and continue to do well. If this is the future of baseball, we are in great sharp.
I did not get a change to see the game it self. I was at a Connecticut Sun game. This begs the question of why the WNBA would schedule a national televised double-header versus the MLB All-Star game. The WNBA should have had the double-header today, Wednesday; the most boring day of the sports yea. The WNBA would have had the day to themselves. I could run the WNBA better than this.
This Week in sports
If last weekend was slow this week is very busy. Let’s start with the third major of the golf season, The British Open at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. The Open Championship as it is called in England, is the oldest championship and played in some of the hardest conditions in golf. The course is right on the sea with wind and somtines rain. This course is called links style which was played on back in the 18th century. Without Tiger Woods the field is wide open. My pick is Sergio Garcia, he was the runner-up last year in the Open Chanionship. Interesting fact, the last two times the Open has been at Royal Birkdale the Champion has been decided in a playoff. Will be interesting.
One other event this weekend is the first of two Motorcycle GP events in the US this year. This weekend the two-wheel tour comes to Laguna Seca in California. Casey Stoner is the defending race and season champion but 5 time champion Valentino Rossi is in the points lead. Should be interesting and a lot of fun.
The last event of the weekend is the ESPY Awards. This is a celebration of the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. Always a good time and it benefits the V Foundation for Cancer Research, established by ESPN with the late Jim Valvano and announced at the inaugural ESPYs in 1993.
Enjoy a great sports weekend. Talk to you again soon.
That’s my take I would like to hear yours,
Jamie Lazaroff
During Josh’s 28 home run show I did think this kid had to be on something. But now that I read his story and the fact that he has to provide urine samples for drug testing at least three times per week, per the MLB drug policy I know that this was real and he was not juiced up. I hope he can keeps this up and continue to do well. If this is the future of baseball, we are in great sharp.
I did not get a change to see the game it self. I was at a Connecticut Sun game. This begs the question of why the WNBA would schedule a national televised double-header versus the MLB All-Star game. The WNBA should have had the double-header today, Wednesday; the most boring day of the sports yea. The WNBA would have had the day to themselves. I could run the WNBA better than this.
This Week in sports
If last weekend was slow this week is very busy. Let’s start with the third major of the golf season, The British Open at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. The Open Championship as it is called in England, is the oldest championship and played in some of the hardest conditions in golf. The course is right on the sea with wind and somtines rain. This course is called links style which was played on back in the 18th century. Without Tiger Woods the field is wide open. My pick is Sergio Garcia, he was the runner-up last year in the Open Chanionship. Interesting fact, the last two times the Open has been at Royal Birkdale the Champion has been decided in a playoff. Will be interesting.
One other event this weekend is the first of two Motorcycle GP events in the US this year. This weekend the two-wheel tour comes to Laguna Seca in California. Casey Stoner is the defending race and season champion but 5 time champion Valentino Rossi is in the points lead. Should be interesting and a lot of fun.
The last event of the weekend is the ESPY Awards. This is a celebration of the past year in sports by recognizing major sports achievements, reliving unforgettable moments and saluting the leading performers and performances. Always a good time and it benefits the V Foundation for Cancer Research, established by ESPN with the late Jim Valvano and announced at the inaugural ESPYs in 1993.
Enjoy a great sports weekend. Talk to you again soon.
That’s my take I would like to hear yours,
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The week that was in sports
I can’t believe I missed the Men’s Final at Wimbledon last Sunday. I had a prior commitment with my dad at the Mohegan Sun. We left after Nadal won the first two sets with relative ease and I thought it was over. But the champion Federer battled back to force a five set, I remember looking at the TV in the casino and thinking I can’t believe this match is still going on. After three rain delays this was the longest Wimbledon men's singles final in history at four hours and 48 minutes. In my last post I predicted that Nadal would beat Federer; I just did not know it would be a classic. If John McEnroe said it is the best final ever than I have to say it was.
The other news last weekend was the US Olympic trials in Track and Field as well as Swimming. The main story at the swimming trials was 41 year-old mother of one Dara Torres making her fifth Olympic team. By the way, she set a new American record in the 50m freestyle to make the team in two events the other is the 100m freestyle that she will not swim in Beijing. To beat kids in their teens and early 20’s is just awesome. There is hope for us all. I hope I’M in that kind of shape at 41. The story at the Track and Field trials is that Tyson Gay’s dream of a 100m and 200m sprint double is over. Gay suffered what his manager called a severe cramp in his left hamstring. This brings up the point that Track and Field is the hardest team to make because the top three athletes in each sport go to the Olympics. If you have a bad day or you get hurt that’s it no second chances, no chance for recovery. I like the way Women’s Gymnastics does it. They name the top two and the rest are chosen at training camp. Diving does this as well. Better chance of making the team.
This weekend in sports
I have to say this is not the best weekend to be a sports fan. There is no big event this weekend. I’M looking forward to next week’s All-Star events in New York. Monday is the Home Run Derby that is always a great show. Tuesday is the All-Star Game. Baseball’s All-Star Game is the best because the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series. I believe this gives the players something to play for.
Have a great weekend. Talk to you soon, sports will heat up next week.
Good night and good luck, (stolen from Keith Olbermann who stole it from Edward
R. Murrow)
Jamie Lazaroff
The other news last weekend was the US Olympic trials in Track and Field as well as Swimming. The main story at the swimming trials was 41 year-old mother of one Dara Torres making her fifth Olympic team. By the way, she set a new American record in the 50m freestyle to make the team in two events the other is the 100m freestyle that she will not swim in Beijing. To beat kids in their teens and early 20’s is just awesome. There is hope for us all. I hope I’M in that kind of shape at 41. The story at the Track and Field trials is that Tyson Gay’s dream of a 100m and 200m sprint double is over. Gay suffered what his manager called a severe cramp in his left hamstring. This brings up the point that Track and Field is the hardest team to make because the top three athletes in each sport go to the Olympics. If you have a bad day or you get hurt that’s it no second chances, no chance for recovery. I like the way Women’s Gymnastics does it. They name the top two and the rest are chosen at training camp. Diving does this as well. Better chance of making the team.
This weekend in sports
I have to say this is not the best weekend to be a sports fan. There is no big event this weekend. I’M looking forward to next week’s All-Star events in New York. Monday is the Home Run Derby that is always a great show. Tuesday is the All-Star Game. Baseball’s All-Star Game is the best because the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series. I believe this gives the players something to play for.
Have a great weekend. Talk to you soon, sports will heat up next week.
Good night and good luck, (stolen from Keith Olbermann who stole it from Edward
R. Murrow)
Jamie Lazaroff
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