I have commented more than a few times on the over-exposure of college basketball on television and I do not intend to walk those remarks back even a little bit. Nonetheless, last night Duke and UNC presented everyone who tuned in with a magnificent display of basketball. If you did not happen to watch last night, keep an eye out for replays because you may be sure that ESPN will show it again as an “Instant Classic”. It deserves that label.
Duke led early; Carolina rallied and led by 9 with about 3 minutes to play; Duke rallied to tie the game; Carolina had a chance for the final shot but solid defense forced them to take a bad shot – and we were treated to overtime. It was a game of hustle and total effort; the only time you saw players just “standing around watching” was on the foul lanes as the foul shooter prepared to launch the ball. It was one of those games where you knew that one team had to win and the other had to lose but neither team “deserved” to lose the game – except for the fact that Carolina shot only 12-20 from the foul line in the game.
It was a GREAT game and I am glad to have been able to see it on TV…
Switching gears from basketball to football and from game action to the intersection of business and politics, the San Diego Chargers have resumed negotiations with the folks in charge in San Diego regarding a new stadium for the Chargers. These “negotiations” have been ongoing for so long that my first reaction to reading about new happenings there was along the lines of:
Here we go again…
However, maybe this time it is a bit different because the Chargers assert that 25% of the tickets that they sell are to fans who live in the Los Angeles area. I have no idea if that is true, but surely the Chargers do draw some fans from “up north” and in 2015 the dynamic surrounding an NFL stadium going into the LA area is different than it has been in the past. Granted, not even a teaspoon of dirt has been moved to construct a stadium that would house an NFL team – or maybe two – in Los Angeles, but somehow the current push to put a stadium there seems to have more substance to it than did previous ones. The Chargers’ position is that they cannot stand by and allow teams to come into LA and to “gut the Chargers’ revenue streams” while the Chargers continue to play in Qualcomm Stadium.
I have never been to Qualcomm Stadium; I have driven by it and seen it from the road; that is the extent of my personal interaction with it. By reputation, Qualcomm Stadium is outdated and with inadequate parking. The Chargers have been complaining about this for years but everyone has managed to kick the can down the road for all of those years. Now, the Chargers’ position seems to be something along these lines:
We want a downtown stadium in San Diego. If we cannot have that and if it looks as if there is serious movement towards an NFL stadium in LA, the Chargers may just have to be one of the tenants in that new NFL stadium in LA.
The Rams and the Raiders – both of which used to play in LA as did the Chargers back in the 1960s – are reportedly interested in a possible move to LA in large part because their stadiums in St Louis and in Oakland are “not so good”. With the Chargers rattling sabers about the insufficiency of their quarters, that puts at least 3 NFL teams “in play” for the sports business/politics dance. Strike up the band…
There is nine-member stadium advisory group in San Diego that was established by the mayor. It is the entity that interacts with the Chargers and nominally comes up with a proposal for the mayor and the other city leaders to consider – including a financing plan to pay for whatever they propose. According to an ESPN report, here is part of what the Chargers’ representative told that advisory group about a week ago:
“[The Chargers] have no intention of quietly participating in any effort to provide political cover for elected officials. … Simply put, we have no intention of allowing the Chargers franchise to be manipulated for political cover and we will call out any elected official who tries to do so.”
“The Chargers do not intend to waste years of time and millions of dollars on a proposal that city leaders simply do not have the capacity to actually implement. … In short, a proposal that looks good on paper should not be sufficient. What we all need is a proposal that our city government has the capacity to actually implement.”
I do not pretend to be fluent in the language used in negotiations or diplomatic exchanges, but those words seem to me to be a tad more blunt that what I would expect. Granted they are not as direct as my translation would be:
“This is not a game and the Chargers are not going to be yanked around by the crank. You got political problems; we got economic problems. You are not going to hide behind us. And, do not think that we will go along with some lame brained idea that will be DOA as soon as it shows up in City Hall. The bottom line is that money talks and bulls[p]it walks.”
Tiger Woods’ announcement that he was taking time off from PGA events simply changed the focus of the “Tiger Woods stories” that golf writers must be compelled to write by editors who have become addicted to Tiger Woods stories. Folks, Tiger Woods was once the best golfer in the world; for the last 5 years he has not been anywhere near that stature. In fact, if you look at the last 5 years alone and consider the amount of coverage in the media for Tiger Woods juxtaposed with his athletic accomplishments here is a sports figure that he has begun to resemble:
Danica Patrick
Think about the amount of coverage per meaningful victory over the past 5 years and those two sports figures are coming closer and closer together.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………