Two in a row, I must be on a roll.
On Wednesday December 16th I got a call from ESPN about the next step for employment in the stats and information group. I passed a phone test by a hair and then I was sent an e-mail assessment. I had 45 minutes to complete the test and send it back. I did not complete it and was disqualified for not sending it back in time. I was nervous; as this was the first time I took a test like this. It was a hard test and I realized that I’m not a numbers guy as it had a lot of difficult math in it. My roller coaster week continued the next day (Thursday December 17th). I e-mailed my contact at ESPN about what happen and asked him if he could provide me with the contact person from the on-air talent department that was at my presentation on December 7th. This person took my information to her bosses. In a return e-mail she said that she showed my DVD resume at a meeting and “although they don’t have a particular opportunity for me at this time, both of her bosses agreed there might be a role for me in the future”. Ladies and Gentlemen the dream lives on! This story is to be continued!
On to the sports, December is a time to reflect on the year that was. It is also the time between the end of the college football regular season and the 34 bowl games. I have talked about the BCS system and the need for a playoff in the top division of college football (Football Bowl subdivision) before. I do believe the BCS got it some what correct this year as the SEC (Southeastern Conference) title game between Florida and Alabama was kind of like a semifinal, where the winner (Alabama) gets a shot at the National Championship. The problem is when you have more than two teams that go undefeated in the regular season. This year 4 teams went undefeated Alabama, Texas, TCU and Boise State. The BCS was formed by the major conferences like the SEC and the Big 12 (Texas). TCU comes from the Mountain West Conference and Boise State is from the Western Athletic Conference. This needs to change; all teams should have a chance at the National Championship not just the ones that come from the power conferences. There two schools will be playing in the Fiesta Bowl January 4 and Texas and Alabama are playing for the National Championship January 7th. The winners of these two games should play each other to find out who the National Champion really is. I think the BCS needs to be flexible when there are more then two undefeated teams. I know it cost money for an extra game but the NCAA basketball tournament does it.
We are in the home stretch of the regular season in the NFL. With three games left before the playoffs, we have two teams undefeated the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. This week’s debate is should these teams rest their players for the playoffs or play them in hopes of an undefeated season. I have been surprised that some former players including Michael Irvin of the NFL Network said he would give up his Super Bowl rings for an undefeated season.
This Weekend
Saturday is a big day and night for sports. The Ironman Triathlon World Championship from Hawaii is on NBC at 4:30P.M. The production is always an award winner. The last 15 minutes always makes me cry. Watch and find out why. Saturday night is a good night to fight as both Versus and Showtime present Mixed Martial Arts action. Versus has the World Extreme Cagefighting at 10 P.M. There are no championship fights on this card but the WEC features the lower weight classes that always have exciting fights. Should be fun the best part is that it’s on free TV.
The next event is a Strikeforce event on Showtime. It does include a championship fight; it’s a unification bout for their Lightweight Championship between Josh Thormson and Gilbert Melendez. I don’t have Showtime, so I won’t see this one.
I’M very much looking forward to the next Strikeforce event in Miami on January 30th. This show will feature the MMA debut of 1982 Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker. Also on this card will be two sports star Bobby Lashley. Ok, pro wrestling is not a sport but, Bobby is attempting to do both pro wrestling and MMA at the same time. This is his first fight for a major MMA promotion. The last person I’m looking to fight on this card is one of the most exciting fighters right now, Nick Diaz. I hope to get Showtime by January 30th .
I hope each and ever one of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Will talk to you after the holidays.
Jamie Lazaroff
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
A view through my eyes
Hi folks
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
A view through my eyes
Hi folks
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
A view through my eyes
Hi folks
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
Sorry I have not written in a while, I did a presentation for ESPN and getting ready for that took up a lot of my time. As most of you know, my life long dream is to be an on-air announcer for ESPN. After Monday it is closer than ever. I will keep you all posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
Last Friday December 4 was the Draw for next summer’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Here are my initial observations on each group and the two teams that will advance to the knockout rounds of the tournament. Group A includes the host country South Africa and 1998 champions and 2006 runner-up France. Also in this group are Mexico and the first host and champion of the World Cup back in 1930 Uruguay. This is a wide-open group; South Africa is not a good team and could be the first host country not to qualify for the knockout portion of the competition. I will say Mexico and France will move along from this group. Group B is the first “Group of Death” or tough pairing. Argentina is a two-time World Cup champion with South Korea being one of the best teams from Asia and Nigeria is the second best team in Africa. Greece is the wild card in this group; they won the European Championship in 2004, did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup and went out of the first round of the Euros in 2008. Which Greece will show up? I have to go with Argentina and South Korea to advance on to the knockout stage. I just have a feeling about South Korea; they do their best work on the grandest stage of then all. Group C is where we have the good old USA. We got a great draw as our first game is against the Brits! Of all the seeded teams, England and South Africa were the two we needed to draw. The other teams in this group are Algeria and Slovenia, two of the worst teams in the field of 32. If the US and England don’t advance I will eat my hat. Group D is the second “Group of Death”; it includes 3-time champions Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana. All four are very underrated. I like Germany and Australia in this group but Serbia could be a tough game. Group E has the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon. This is a very tough group because all of these teams are very good. I will go with the Netherlands and Cameroon to advance. Group F is a cakewalk for the defending Champions Italy, as New Zealand and Slovakia are not of the caliber as Italy. Paraguay should be the other team besides Italy to advance. Group G is the last “Group of Death” Brazil is the only 5-time champion of the tournament, Ivory Coast is the best team in Africa and Portugal is the best team never to win a major tournament. North Korea is the other team in this group and it is the worst team ever to qualify for a World Cup Final. The last is Group H with Spain who is the raining European Champions and one of the favorites to win the tournament. Switzerland, Honduras and Chile are the rest of the group. This is an under rated group, as it is the only one with all four teams ranked in the top 35. I will have go with Chile to advance with Spain to the knockout round. I will have more as we get closer to June 11.
The next thing I would like to talk about is the Tiger Woods story. As you may know Tiger crashed his car outside his home in Florida the day after Thanksgiving. For the last few weeks’ women have been coming out saying they are his mistresses. As of Friday December 11 eight women have been linked to Tiger. There are many sides to this story, first Tiger and his wife Elin need to make a joint statement saying how he planes to rehab his rep. The next part of this story is his sponsors and will they continue to support him. Only Gatorade has discontinued its Tiger line of products. But according to CNBC its was a business decision made months ago to streamline their offerings and had nothing to do with recent events. On Friday December 11, Tiger issues a statement via his website, that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf to focus on being a better husband, father, and person. This is the first statement by Tiger where he used the word infidelity. This is a personal problem and a family issue, yes his image is taking a big hit, but I believe, when he gets back on the golf course and wins again, most of this will be forgotten. I think Tiger needs to do a big interview to tell his side of the story. The American people are very forgiving when some one spills their guts. I will keep an eye on it.
The major story out of Bristol (ESPN) besides my visit is that Peter Gammons is leaving ESPN after 20 years with the worldwide leader. Peter is moving to the MLB network and MLB.com. He will also be working for the New England Sports Network (NESN). I believe this is a good move for Peter also the MLB network is 24/7 just about baseball so he will have more time for his stories. His home base is on Cape Cod so he is close to the Red Sox, therefore NESN is a natural fit for him. I have always liked Peter’s inside info and will miss him on Baseball Tonight, but look forward to him on NESN. He also will be getting back to his roots (worked at the Boston Goble before TV) by writing stories for MLB.com. Good luck Peter, I’ll be watching.
For this weekend my advice is to go Christmas shopping, as there are no major events on TV.
Talk to you again soon
Happy Holidays,
Jamie
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A view through my eyes
Hi Fans, sorry for no update last week. Been working hard to get back into the work force and other big projects in progress. Will share with you when I have more details. As they say in the business, “stay tuned”.
This has been a very sad week on the UCONN Campus. Last Sunday around 12:30 in the morning (October 18th) after the UCONN football team beat Louisville. Some of the players went to a school-supported dance at the Student Union. After a fire alarm was pulled that forced every one out of the building, a fight broke out between students and non-students. Football player Jasper Howard was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was stabbed to death. One of the many sad parts of this story is that “Jazz” was from a tough part of Miami and was the first person in his family to go to collage, he was also about to be a father for the first time and his girlfriend was on campus for the Homecoming festivities, she was not at the dance, she was back at the dorm. The other sad part of this story, to me is that about 200 people and the police were at this event and no one saw what happened? It came out Thursday October 22nd in the Hartford Courant that the witnesses to this crime are being threatened online with violence if they come forward with evidence in this case. According to the Hartford Courant, Maj. Ronald Blicher told the student newspaper, “The Daily Campus”, that police are looking into these threats. He said authorities are still urging people to submit videos, photos or other information. I hope they do so and we can find who killed this popular player. On Tuesday October 27th three young men were changed in connection with the murder of Jasper Howard. John William Lomax, 21, of Bloomfield, was charged with the murder. Hakeem Muhammed, 20, also of Bloomfield, was charged with conspiracy to commit assault and Jamaal Todd, 21, of West Hartford, is accused of pulling the fire alarm. This information is from NBC Connecticut News, Channel 30.
One of the great things about this story is how people are coming together, even UCONN’s opponent on Saturday West Virginia honored “JAZZ” before and after the game. West Virginia students will sell arm bans with his number 6, and all money will go to Jasper’s family. His teammates from Miami, in schools around the country wore arm bans to honor “JAZZ”. Like I said just a sad story over all.
Sports Media Madness
A lot going on in Sports Media in the past few weeks, so lets get to it.
The only thing I will say about TBS coverage of baseball’s postseason is that Chip Caray is the worst play-by-play man in the business bar none. I don’t know what TBS sees in him? Just say I’M glad the Phillies are in the World Series and the National League Championship Series is over, he’s that bad. FOX is doing the World Series (staring Wednesday) with the crew of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, not great but better then Caray.
The story that did catch my eye this week coming out of Bristol Connecticut (ESPN) is that they have hired renowned soccer announcer Martin Tyler to call World Cup games next year in South Africa. Tyler is the best in the business. He has attended every world cup since 1978. I’m glad ESPN hired a real soccer announcer, four years ago, they assigned baseball announcer Dave O’Brien to call matches. He did a terrible job. Soccer is a difficult assignment for even a seasoned announcer, so this is a very good choice. I’M ready for South Africa, qualifying is almost over.
In Olympics news last week, Rugby 7’s and golf have been added to the 2016 Games in Rio. I’m a little split on the inclusion of these two sports into the Olympics. Rugby 7’s, I have no problem with, it’s an exciting sport and the fastest version of Rugby. It can be played in two days and is very TV friendly. On the other side is golf, don’t get me wrong, I love golf, but I just don’t think it’s an Olympic sport. First, the Olympics won’t be the pinnacle of the sport. The major championships will still be played and those tournaments are the ones the players want to win. The first Olympic event will have the worlds best like Tiger, Phil, Rory, Sergio and Y.E. just to name a few, but after the glow of the first events, than what? Take a look at Tennis in the Olympics; no one talks about it out side of the games because the Grand Slam tournaments are the be all and end all. Tennis includes the Olympic event in it’s ranking to attract the best players; hopefully golf will do the same. Golf is not a TV friendly sport compared to other Olympic sports. They are going to have a 74-hole (4 day) stroke-play tournament, and not a match play tournament that would be (I think) more TV friendly and existing to watch. We will see in 2016.
See you again soon.
Jamie Lazaroff
Friday, October 2, 2009
2016 Olympics host city is
Rio de Janerio Brazil will be the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics Game. Rio beat Madrid 66 to 32 in the final round of voteing after Chicago was knoted off the the frist round, Tokyo went out in the next round. I can't belive I pick Rio to win and it did. I will have a full report next week.
Have a great weekend
Jamie Lazaroff
Have a great weekend
Jamie Lazaroff
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The view from here
This week’s major news is the countdown to the announcement of the 2016 Summer Olympic host city on Friday. The four finalists are Madrid, Rio, Chicago and Tokyo. Here are my thoughts on how each city, I think, will do in the vote.
4. Madrid: Since 1952 the Summer Games have not been held on one continent back-to-back. The next Summer Olympics in 2012 will be held in London and the Winter Olympics in 2014 will be held in Sachi, Russia. The IOC is not going to change this just for King Juan Carlos. Sorry Madrid.
3. Chicago: You can call me un-American but I never thought Chicago was fit to host the Olympics. Chicago does not have a very good political history. That could hurt them here. Crime is also a big problem for the city. This Chicago organizing committee has it all wrong; its plan is to win the bid then start building stadiums and arenas for the games. I also think economics play a big role. Chicago and the US as a whole can’t afford the games. I think President Obama and First Lady Michelle’s presence in Copenhagen will help but the long-standing dispute the US Olympic Committee has with the IOC will hurt their chances. I hope Chicago doesn’t win and repeat what happen to Denver. In 1970 Denver was granted the 1976 Winter Games: The city had to give up the Games after Colorado voters rejected a $5 Million bond issue to finance the undertaking. Don’t let history repeat it’s self.
2. Tokyo: I think Tokyo has a good plan and would be a good host; they have not held the games since 1964. Tokyo could suffer from the fact that Beijing hosted the Games last year. It will not be the first time the games have been staged on the same continent within eight years. According to the BBC, of the 34 planned venues, 23 already exist with many venues used during the 1964 Games are set to be refurbished. As Japan is one of the first countries to come through the recession, the government has already put the budget for construction and infrastructure aside. The city has also successfully staged the 2002 World Cup Final and has a ton of experience hosting other worldwide championships, including the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
1. Rio: I would love to see the Olympics for the first time in South America. Can you imagine Beach Volleyball on Copacabana Beach? Rio hosted the 2007 Pan-American Games, which was called the “best in history” it will also host the World Cup in 2014. According to the bid website, they plan to stage all the competitions inside the city that will make it easy to get to for fans and media alike. I think it would be fun to go to Brazil.
Sunday was week 3 of the NFL season and was one of two weeks that the NFC played teams in the AFC teams stadiums, because of this the Patriots played on the FOX network. Usually they are televised on CBS. FOX usually shows the New York Giants. This week the Pats and Giants played at the same time and according to Doug Stewart of FOX61 in CT the network in New York decided that the station got the Giants. This meant I don’t see the Pats beat the Atlanta Falcons. As you can expect, I was furious. Doug did say that they made every attempt to satisfy the wishes of their viewers and sometimes they have been successful, but, not this time. I should have caught that FOX61 was going with the Giants game earlier in the week, the schedule come out on Wednesday, I should have made alternate plans, like going to Massachusetts to my cousin’s house. This is the only time this situation will happen this season. Thank god.
This Weekend
This weekend the event I am looking forward to is the National Rugby League Grand Final from Australia @11 A.M. Sunday October 4 on Spike. I have watched a little of the first few weeks of the playoffs and I’ve got to tell you it put football to shame. Rugby League is one of the toughest sports in the world, the players don’t wear any protection. I don’t understand all the rules yet but it is a very exciting sport. Check it out, I know I will.
See you next week, if not before
Jamie Lazaroff
4. Madrid: Since 1952 the Summer Games have not been held on one continent back-to-back. The next Summer Olympics in 2012 will be held in London and the Winter Olympics in 2014 will be held in Sachi, Russia. The IOC is not going to change this just for King Juan Carlos. Sorry Madrid.
3. Chicago: You can call me un-American but I never thought Chicago was fit to host the Olympics. Chicago does not have a very good political history. That could hurt them here. Crime is also a big problem for the city. This Chicago organizing committee has it all wrong; its plan is to win the bid then start building stadiums and arenas for the games. I also think economics play a big role. Chicago and the US as a whole can’t afford the games. I think President Obama and First Lady Michelle’s presence in Copenhagen will help but the long-standing dispute the US Olympic Committee has with the IOC will hurt their chances. I hope Chicago doesn’t win and repeat what happen to Denver. In 1970 Denver was granted the 1976 Winter Games: The city had to give up the Games after Colorado voters rejected a $5 Million bond issue to finance the undertaking. Don’t let history repeat it’s self.
2. Tokyo: I think Tokyo has a good plan and would be a good host; they have not held the games since 1964. Tokyo could suffer from the fact that Beijing hosted the Games last year. It will not be the first time the games have been staged on the same continent within eight years. According to the BBC, of the 34 planned venues, 23 already exist with many venues used during the 1964 Games are set to be refurbished. As Japan is one of the first countries to come through the recession, the government has already put the budget for construction and infrastructure aside. The city has also successfully staged the 2002 World Cup Final and has a ton of experience hosting other worldwide championships, including the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
1. Rio: I would love to see the Olympics for the first time in South America. Can you imagine Beach Volleyball on Copacabana Beach? Rio hosted the 2007 Pan-American Games, which was called the “best in history” it will also host the World Cup in 2014. According to the bid website, they plan to stage all the competitions inside the city that will make it easy to get to for fans and media alike. I think it would be fun to go to Brazil.
Sunday was week 3 of the NFL season and was one of two weeks that the NFC played teams in the AFC teams stadiums, because of this the Patriots played on the FOX network. Usually they are televised on CBS. FOX usually shows the New York Giants. This week the Pats and Giants played at the same time and according to Doug Stewart of FOX61 in CT the network in New York decided that the station got the Giants. This meant I don’t see the Pats beat the Atlanta Falcons. As you can expect, I was furious. Doug did say that they made every attempt to satisfy the wishes of their viewers and sometimes they have been successful, but, not this time. I should have caught that FOX61 was going with the Giants game earlier in the week, the schedule come out on Wednesday, I should have made alternate plans, like going to Massachusetts to my cousin’s house. This is the only time this situation will happen this season. Thank god.
This Weekend
This weekend the event I am looking forward to is the National Rugby League Grand Final from Australia @11 A.M. Sunday October 4 on Spike. I have watched a little of the first few weeks of the playoffs and I’ve got to tell you it put football to shame. Rugby League is one of the toughest sports in the world, the players don’t wear any protection. I don’t understand all the rules yet but it is a very exciting sport. Check it out, I know I will.
See you next week, if not before
Jamie Lazaroff
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