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Fun & Games for Thursday, June 19, 2008 |
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June 19, 2008 |
≡ Fun & Games ≡
 Chick-fil-A: championing good spelling since 1995! |
= To Our Readers =
You can now find us in two different places on the Web: in addition to The Sports Examiner, we now write three times a week on Olympic sports for the World Championship Sports Network site, WCSN.com in a column called “Inside the Rings.”
Here at The Sports Examiner, we have changed our format to include a weekly intelligence briefing, with commentary, for the astute sports fan called “7 Days” on Mondays and a bonus posting called “Fun & Games” during the week. Thanks again for your continued support; please ask your friends to sign up for the Tip Sheet and the free newsletter.
= The Top Story =
>> Bristol, Ct.: You might as well give the national championship to North Carolina.
Pundits from coast to coast are tabbing the Tar Heels as no. 1 going into the 2008-09 basketball season after its stars decided to return to school instead of opt for the NBA. The rest of the top ten on Andy Katz’s list for ESPN includes Pitt at no. 2, followed by UCLA, Notre Dame, Louisville, Duke, Memphis, Miami, Gonzaga and Purdue.
Katz also noted that stability – for at least one season – is returning to Arizona, which gets coach Lute Olson back, has an incoming freshman star in Brandon Jennings at the point and now has wing Chase Budinger returning instead of heading for the NBA. With the improvement of Jordan Hill at center, it puts the Wildcats into the thick of the Pac-10 race with UCLA and Arizona State.
= The National Pastime =
>> New York, N.Y.: In the interim between whines by new Yankees leader Hank Steinbrenner, a sea change is taking place in New York as general manager Brian Cashman uses his authority to keep the team’s checkbook closed.
“Brian Cashman has dramatically changed the Yankees’ culture. No longer do they trade multiple prospects for 2 1/2 months of Denny Neagle, or commit four years to Carl Pavano,” writes Ken Davidoff of Newsday.
The issue in the Bronx is whether to make an enormous offer for Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia, but Davidoff thinks the burly pitcher will land elsewhere, perhaps with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers or the Red Sox, all of whom could provide young players to help the Indians’ future.
But the Yankees? No, even with Chien-Ming Wang expected to be out until September with a foot injury.
>> Atlanta, Ga.: In a move sure to offend dozens of organizations, Chick-fil-A will post a 40-foot tall, 15,000-pound replica of a cow above the left field bleachers at Turner Field that does the tomahawk chop and wears a Braves hat with a nearby sign that says “Du Tha Chop. Eat The Chikin.”
The Chick-fil-A chain is headquartered in Atlanta and has two restaurants inside Turner Field, and another 129 outlets in the Atlanta area. The cow, which was fabricated in Spain, is expected to arrive this weekend, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and will debut at the June 20 game against the Seattle Mariners.
The chicken chain has a five-year agreement for the cow to stay above Turner Field. No word on whether Chick-fil-A has a sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee coming soon.
>> McAllen, Tx.: It had to happen. A minor-league player was traded for ten bats. Really.
Pitcher John Odom was traded in late May from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League to the Laredo Broncos of the United League for 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, 34-inches long and double-dipped in black paint.
Seems Odom, a 26-year-old, right-handed pitcher, couldn’t get into Canada. He had what was termed a “minor” criminal charge on his record for a fight he was in about 10 years ago that caused Canadian officials to stop him at the border.
The bats are valued at $69 each or $65.50 for six or more. But Odom might not be worth that much. Almost a month later, according to the Laredo club Web site, he still hasn’t taken the field!
= College Football =
>> Minneapolis, Mn.: It’s no longer unusual for a quarterback to transfer from a school because of a lack of playing time. But what about if the quarterback is also the son of the head coach?
That’s the situation at Minnesota, where head coach Tim Brewster saw his son, redshirt freshman Clint Brewster, announce he was transferring elsewhere in search of playing time. “That wasn’t going to happen with starter Adam Weber returning, in addition to four other quarterbacks competing at the position,” wrote Marcus Fuller of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
“He’s not a kid who’s going to be happy standing on the sideline watching the game,” said the head coach. “He’s an extremely competitive kid.” The younger Brewster – a four-star prospect out of high school – hasn’t commented on where he might transfer, but since he’s already sat out a redshirt season, he might go to a I-AA school where he could play immediately.
>> Knoxville, Tn.: Looks like the folks at FulmersBelly.com won’t have to worry about their favorite coach going anywhere soon.
Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer told a crowd at the Best of Preps banquet in Chattanooga that he’d like to coach 8-10 more years at Tennessee. “It could be longer. But I don’t plan on being Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden, no.”
Fulmer is 58 and has 147 wins in his 16 seasons at Tennessee (average of 9.2 per year). He’s closing in on the school record of Gen. Robert Neyland, who won 173 games in 21 seasons (8.2 per year with much shorter schedules and less bowl games) and should pass him in the 2010 or 2011 season.
There are those who would like to see Fulmer replaced, but he says of his 2008 group, “We’ve got a really good, young team. I like my staff a lot. I’m here for the long haul.” But he also told the attendees a great story about why he’s not assuming anything about the future:
One morning after a loss, Fulmer picked up his coffee and newspaper at one of those full-service Maryville gas stations as a stranger pumped his gas. The man noticed Fulmer’s national championship ring.
“You follow the Vols?” he asked.
“Yes, sir, I follow them pretty closely, as a matter of fact,” Fulmer replied.
They briefly discussed the loss, the turnovers, the kicking game.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” the man said. “Until they get rid of that Fulmer guy, they’re never going to have a good football team.”
By the way, Fulmer is listed as one of 31 coaches on the “hot seat” (he ranks as the 25th most-likely coached to be fired) going into the season at CoachesHotSeat.com.
>> Gainesville, Fl.: The University of Florida athletic department will work on an $84 million budget for the coming academic year. Two of the expense items noted in the Orlando Sentinel were a $600,000 payment to Hawaii for the August 30 game in Gainesville and $450,000 to The Citadel for the game on November 22. The Gators got a bargain in Hawaii; there’s no way Hawaii is worth only 33% more!
>> New York, N.Y.: SI.com’s Stewart Mandel is one of many who noticed that Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen will retire in 2009. Acknowledging that Hansen is one of the nicest people around, he also noted:
The Pac-10, more than any other conference, would benefit immeasurably from the leadership of a more modern and visionary commissioner. The league perennially lags behind its peers in terms of television contracts, bowl partnerships and national perception despite stacking up favorably with any of them when it comes to actual competition.
. . .
The Pac-10 can do better than syndicated Fox Sports Net games, the Pac-10 can do better then sending its No. 3 team to the Sun Bowl and the Pac-10 can do far more to promote its product. (As an example, all the other major conferences have two-to-three day preseason media events with their coaches and star players; the Pac-10's version is a two-hour event at an airport hotel.) Hopefully, Hansen’s replacement will be someone who recognizes this and will take the appropriate steps to change the culture.
Mandel also wrote that he sees no changes coming to the BCS situation, at least for the foreseeable future.
>> Cyberspace: Bodog.com has posted odds to win the national championship in the upcoming season, with USC at 3-1, followed by Florida, Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma at 6-1 and then LSU at 12-1. First-year coach Bobby Petrino at Arkansas has his work cut out for him: the Razorbacks are 150-1!
= On Campus =
>> Columbus, Oh.: It’s hard to ignore your hometown team, but sometimes it’s required.
Victoria’s Secret is marketing a new line of sweats and underwear emblazoned with school logos from Harvard, Michigan and UCLA among other schools, but not Ohio State, even though the company is headquartered in Columbus.
It turns out that Leslie Wexner, the C.E.O. of Limited Brands, parent company of Victoria’s Secret, serves on the Ohio State Board of Trustees. The campus director of licensing said Ohio State was being cautious because of the perceived conflict of interest.
So, a Columbus-based business can make money for Michigan, but not for Ohio State? Amazing, but true . . . for now.
>> Stanford, Ca.: Regardless of its finish at the College World Series, Stanford has won the Director’s Cup as the top overall collegiate program for the 14th year in a row, with UCLA second for the third year in a row, followed by Michigan, Arizona State and Texas in the top five. It’s the second year in a row that the Pac-10 has had three in the top five.
Over the past six years, UCLA has won 17 NCAA team titles in 11 sports, the most of any school and has finished second 13 times, also tops.
= The NFL =
>> Cyberspace: Bodog.com has its updated Super Bowl XLIII odds out, with New England a solid 10-3 favorite, followed by Dallas at 7-1, Indianapolis at 15-2 and San Diego at 8-1. The defending champion Giants rate only 16-1 and the longest shot on the board is Atlanta at 150-1.
= Golf =
>> New York, N.Y.: Television executives who have PGA tournaments scheduled on their air the rest of the year are feeling worse after Tiger Woods’ decision to have surgery on his left knee and skip the rest of the 2008 season.
According to ratings statistics prepared by NBC, the average rating for a PGA tournament on CBS, NBC or ABC when Woods does not play is 1.7. When he does play, the rating doubles to 3.4 and if he’s first or second, the average rating jumps to 4.0!
With Woods now 32, the PGA might want to start thinking about what it’s going to do when Woods pares his schedule to the major championships and a few other tournaments. The 2008 PGA Tour schedule has 49 events on it.
= The Five-Ring Circus =
>> London, England: The cost of the main stadium for the 2012 Games is now estimated at more than $1 billion after a new report from Mayor Boris Johnson’s Olympic watchdog group was released. The new estimate is £525 million, which translates to $1.03 billion U.S.
Remember, this is for an 80,000-seat stadium which will be downsized to about 25,000 seats after the Games and be used for track & field and perhaps rugby or second-division soccer. The original cost of the facility as presented in London’s bid for the Games was £280 million ($549 million), so the cost has risen 88% in three years since the city was selected in 2005. And there’s still more than four years to go!
>> London, England: As the London organizers do not yet have a mascot for the 2012 Games, the BBC Magazine invited readers to send in their suggestions. David Oliver sent in “Ben," based on London’s iconic clock tower and wearing Union Jack-styled shorts. Some of the others were, um, less interesting, such as “Sock,” a puppet wearing a laurel wreath.
>> Athens, Greece: There will be a Greek weightlifting team in Beijing after all.
Despite having 11 of the country’s 14 lifters on its national team test positive for steroids in March, the International Weightlifting Federation ruled last Friday that the Greeks would be able to send three men and one woman lifter to the Games. The 11 who tested positive were all suspended for two years from international competition and the Greek federation was fined 250,000 Euro (about $388,000 U.S.).
= Potpourri =
>> Mattituck, N.Y.: In a high-calorie but messy competition, Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti defended his World Strawberry Shortcake-Eating Championship last Sunday despite a major challenge from Eater X.
Known to the Internal Revenue Service as Tim Janus, Eater X threw down 12 pounds, but fell short of Bertoletti’s intake of 14 1/2 points for the win. A close race for third saw Crazy Legs Conti down 9 1/2 pounds to Eric “Badlands” Booker’s 9 1/4 pounds. No word on whether any of the contestants received take-home packages of Cool Whip.
~ Rich Perelman
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