Sunshine In Dublin…

Greetings from Dublin, Ireland where we have experienced three consecutive days of full sunshine.  We left the US on Sunday night, but I did bring a few notes with me to allow for brief commentary until we get home early next week.

I watched a bit of the opening weekend action in the USFL before leaving the US last Sunday night.  Here are five notes I made during the telecast:

1. The two teams are playing the game in an organized way.  It looks as if the teams have been practicing and playing together for a long time – – which is not the case.  That is a credit to the coaching staffs.
2. Given the recent record of Spring Football Leagues, it should be considered a major accomplishment if the USFL simply makes it to a second season next April.
3. Players are delivering enthusiastic performances.  Motivation is likely that they want NFL observers to see them hustling and making plays as often as possible.  Every player here wants to “graduate” to the NFL.
4. Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt as an announcing team were very good.  Klatt sometimes rattles on, but they let the game speak for itself to a large measure.  They were certainly better than many of the college football announcing crews out there.
5. I am already tired of the “helmet camera”.  Just because technology allows for that to be part of the telecast does not mean it enhances the telecast.

Speaking of TV announcers, there was some good news last week about one of them.  Dick Vitale got to “ring the bell” when tests showed him to be cancer-free.  Vitale had been diagnosed with lymphoma and he also had surgery to remove a melanoma, but after several months of treatment, he went through a PET Scan, and it came up clean.

Vitale is 82 years old; plans call for him to return to the airwaves for ESPN starting next college basketball season.

The Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs is working to remove Native American mascots from various public schools in the State.  It appears that the next target will be schools named “Thunderbirds” because that name represents a mythical bird that is an important part of the culture of several tribes in the State.  I wonder how this Commission will react when the Air Force Thunderbirds land at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs…

Finally, here is an observation from Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

“There is an art, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.  Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………