winter sports

Apr 06

Finally free to jump

At long last, the IOC has approved women’s ski jumping for the Olympic Games.

The longer I covered the fight to get the event in the Games, the more absurd the opposition seemed. The Olympics are supposed to be committed to gender equity. If men compete in the Games and women compete in other competitions, the women also should compete in the Games.

The IOC and others raised faulty comparisons to events that weren’t in the Games, failing to notice that these were separate sports. Agree or disagree with the inclusion of golf or exclusion of karate, but the IOC is within its rights to choose its sports. To let one gender compete when the other is perfectly capable of competing as well is — and always was — sheer nonsense.

In other gender equity news, the IOC approved biathlon’s mixed relay, which should be a terrific event. The other decisions on “team events” seem random — why luge and figure skating, but not Alpine skiing?

Most fans might wish slopestyle, for both snowboarders and freestyle skiers, had made the cut ahead of ski halfpipe. But the IOC has some logic behind that decision. Sochi is already building a halfpipe for snowboarding competition. Slopestyle would require a new course.

Not the case for women’s ski jumping. The facility will be there. The excuses are not. Better late than never.

Tagged with: ski jumping

Feb 02

Midweek Myriad: Fretting over Freddy, winter winners, soccer challenge

By Beau Dure olympic sports, soccer, track and field, winter sports 8 Comments »

Time for another Midweek Myriad, also known as “stuff that happened while I was at Disney World.” I’ve saved the most serious item for the end, which is either “building suspense” or “burying the lead.”

SOCCER: Americans move at transfer deadline, with only 1 of 4 going in the “right” direction

U.S. fans longing for more Americans to succeed in Europe are thrilled that Michael Bradley is leaving Bundesliga bottom-dweller Borussia Moenchengladbach on loan to mid-table Premier League club Aston Villa, though playing time is far from assured.

More worrisome are the players making what ambitious folks would consider something less than a “lateral” move. At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle worries that Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson are following the same career path of loans without upward progress. Carlisle doesn’t even mention Freddy Adu, who is mentioned in a similarly downcast piece by Soccer America‘s Paul Kennedy.

Altidore’s move isn’t bad, really. He’s not seeing time at Villarreal, and he gets to hop into a title race in Turkey with Bursaspor. The snag is that the club also signed Scottish striker Kenny Miller.

Johnson is a few years older and settling into Championship-level soccer. Nothing really wrong with that, and no one’s looking to him as the future at forward for the U.S. national team these days. He’s on loan from Fulham to Preston North End trying to save the club from relegation.

The stunner is Freddy Adu, who quietly went on loan to Rizespor in Turkey’s second division. Even Adu’s harshest critics would’ve had a hard time predicting that he’d be so low on the European club ladder at age 21. I’d say Freddy has to set the Turkish second division on fire to put his career back on track, but in Turkey, the fans usually set the fires.

What’s strange is that no one can really tell us why Adu’s career has taken such turns in the past couple of years. For a while, his European misadventures were easily explained — he couldn’t break into the lineup at Benfica, and he was in a terrible situation in Monaco with an American-education club chairman who brought him in without seeing if the coaching staff had any interest. But we don’t know why Greece’s Aris lost interest in him or why he couldn’t latch on anywhere else in this transfer window.

And this just in (HT to Grant Wahl): Robbie Findley, newly transferred to Nottingham Forest, may be out three months.

SOCCER: NASL, fans damn the torpedoes

The NASL is undaunted (see Brian Straus story) over an initial rejection of second-division sanctioning and the need to start a Carolina team from scratch after previous owner Selby Wellman, a leading figure in the NASL breakaway, was unable to find a a supplemental or replacement investor. The RailHawks trademark sold on eBay for $14,999.

NASL fans also are undaunted, releasing a letter to U.S. Soccer complaining about the lack of D2 status. Kenn Tomasch calmly shredded the letter, mostly by reminding NASL fans that you have to play a few seasons, or at least a few games, before boldly proclaiming yourself a model of stability.

TRACK AND FIELD: Millrose Games surprises

- Ethiopia’s Deresse Mekonnen ended Bernard Lagat’s domination of the mile.

- Jamaican sprinters were a step ahead of the Americans in the men’s and women’s 60.

- The USA shot put train keeps rolling: Youngster Ryan Whiting upset Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson.

Recaps from the New York Times and Universal Sports, plus full results. (Big round of applause for the Millrose site for putting its results on one easy-to-read page rather than making us click for every event. Take note, track and swimming organizers.)

In less entertaining indoor track and field, some U.S. athletes went overseas after sleeping on the floor at JFK and lost to other international “teams” at the Aviva International in Glasgow. The biggest upset was a repeat from last year, with Britain’s Jessica Ennis beating Lolo Jones in the 60-meter hurdles.

MORE MYRIAD HEADLINES

- Winter X Games: Shaun White, Lindsey Jacobellis and Kelly Clark are still really, really good at snowboarding. The only surprise in that trio: Clark landed a 1080. Nick Baumgartner upset Seth Holland in the men’s snowboardcross.

- Soccer: Ridge Mahoney points to a major issue that could derail the Cosmos-to-MLS train: the league’s lucrative adidas deal. (Update: Grant Wahl, who has done the most extensive interview on the Cosmos to date, says the club has prepared to go adidas if it gets into MLS. Ridge’s piece is still worth reading as a reminder of how much power adidas wields.

- Handball: Olympic champion France keeps rolling, winning another men’s world title with an extra-time win over Denmark. Spain edged host Sweden for third, and Croatia beat my buddies from Iceland for fifth. All close games in the world championship of the sport that have the highest popularity-to-English-language-coverage ratio in the world. (AP)

- Figure skating: The highlight of the U.S. Championships in my beloved former hometown of Greensboro was Alissa Czisny’s remarkable comeback from afterthought status to win a battle of three former national champions. Christine Brennan, who has stuck with the sport through thick and thin, has the analysis.

- Ski jumping: Not sure what to make of the fact that Sarah Hendrickson has been at the forefront of a strong U.S. showing in international competition this year but managed only 18th in the World Junior Championships.

- Luge: No stunning world championship for the USA’s Erin Hamlin this year. She finished 14th. (AP)

- Freestyle skiing: Hannah Kearney’s World Cup moguls win streak stands at five heading into the World Championships in Park City.

- Cyclo-cross: Katie Compton took second in the World Championships. Holding this event in cold mud just seems especially cruel.

- Wrestling: Olympic champion turned Biggest Loser competitor Rulon Gardner is still hawking a 1 1/2-pound sandwich and challenging people to eat it with fries and a massive drink in 20 minutes. Maybe Rulon’s hoping to match legendary competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, who is still skinny. (AP)

Last and not least …

At BigSoccer, Bill Archer has annoyed a lot of Canadian fans, and they have the prerogative not to be Bill’s buddies.

But aside from my own “Bill’s a good guy once you get to know him” story, I can say this — if you care about the sport, you should be reading Bill’s blog. I’ve yet to see anyone else in the Americas, from basement bloggers to professional journalists, do as much work in compiling disparate reports on the issues of FIFA, CONCACAF and other international soccer bodies. I would say to my fellow journalists — Bill is doing what we should be doing.

This piece on the utter travesty of Qatar’s Asian Cup final is a prime example.

If someone can offer valid reasons why organizers locked the gates before kickoff, separated families and brought out the riot police, fine. Let’s hear from them. But let’s not act as if this isn’t news.

We the American soccer media/blogosphere shouldn’t be moving on so quickly from FIFA’s extraordinary World Cup decisions to an exclusive focus on the MLS preseason or slobbering all over the latest EPL transfers. My challenge to all of us: Keep watching FIFA and Qatar. If Qatar is an absolutely unsuitable host for the Cup and FIFA is an unsuitable guardian for the game, these things can be and must be changed. Silence won’t get it done. If Al Jazeera can talk, so can we.

Tagged with: eddie johnson • freddy adu • jozy altidore • millrose games • nasl • qatar • world cup

Jan 26

Midweek Myriad: Marta, Nadal, handball, 1260s, etc.

By Beau Dure chess, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, winter sports 1 Comment »

One of the joys of following a hundred sports or so is that you’re not stuck dissecting the Super Bowl to the point that it becomes joyless. Instead, we have all this:

- Marta signs with Western New York. A WPS shocker. Good news from a media point of view because it means more of us will be paying attention to veteran Rochester reporter Jeff DiVeronica, who jokes on Twitter that Marta will push him up to 1,000 followers.

The conventional wisdom would be that Marta would sign with The Club Formerly And Still Partially Known As The Washington Freedom But Also With Magic Jack In The Name (TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN) so that Dan Borislow would have a marquee player to market in South Florida and perhaps somewhere in Washington once the team hires marketing and sales staffs and finds venues in which to play. Instead, Borislow has given us the best WPS smack talk in the league’s brief history, via Our Game: “This came as a total surprise. I am glad she will be playing in the league. She will discover we are the team to beat, so I hope she is at the top of her game when she plays us.”

For all the talk in MLS about “Rivalry Week,” maybe we should be circling the calendar for TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN’s visit to Rochester.

- Nadal loses. And it’s a pity. Tennis could use a Grand Slam charge from the charismatic, humble Spaniard, but an injury has derailed his Australian Open campaign. Nadal didn’t want to use the injury as an excuse, but he wasn’t fooling opponent David Ferrer. Class acts all around. (NYT)

- Winter X Games time. And the NYT notes that several more X sports may be joining the Winter Olympic program. No word on women’s ski jumping, though that sport has a better-defined set of rules and so forth.

The Summer Olympics might be too big. The Winter Olympics aren’t, and it’s hard to begrudge slopestyle its place. But if the IOC adds the X sports without women’s ski jumping, the excuses will ring hollow.

- Handball heaven. It’s only $20 away. At least the highlights are free, so I was able to scout semifinalist France in their win over my buddies from Iceland in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final. (Dan Steinberg also enjoyed covering that team in Beijing and linked to my highest-read blog post ever.)

Iceland plays Croatia for fifth place on Friday. The semifinals the same day: France-Sweden, Denmark-Spain.

- Also this weekend:

Cyclocross World Championships. The muddier, the better.
U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in my former hometown of Greensboro.
Luge World Championships. U.S. sliders not having a particularly good year.
Paralympic Athletics World Championships.
Millrose Games.
Strikeforce: Middleweight and welterweight title fights, plus Herschel Walker.
Final weekend of Tata Steel chess classic, where U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura shares the lead in an elite group.

Tagged with: handball • iceland • ioc • marta • ski jumping • washington freedom • western new york flash • wps

Jan 18

Jacobellis wins another world title

By Beau Dure olympic sports, winter sports No Comments »

Personal bias alert: Though I tend not to name favorite athletes because I’m a good objective journalist, Lindsey Jacobellis has always been one of my favorites because (A) she’s really good at what she does, (B) I interviewed her before most people knew who she was, (C) she was on my plane to Europe for the 2006 Olympics and (D) she has continued to be successful after being rotated on the spit of short-attention-span American public opinion after losing gold with the board grab late in the medal race in 2006.

Here she is winning her third world title and adeptly dealing with a curious line of questioning that could only be explained by the language barrier. Great race on what appears to be the only snow in Spain.

Video (not embed-ready, apparently)

The other favorite I’ll name is Hannah Teter, because the combination of achievement and charitable work she has compiled at such a young age is staggering.

Jan 03

2011 in myriad sports

By Beau Dure 2011 calendar, 2012 medal projections, basketball, chess, cycling, mma, olympic sports, rugby, soccer, tennis, track and field, winter sports No Comments »

Any listing of the year in sports is going to be selective, and this one is no different.

The idea here is to get every world championship in every Olympic sport. Some sports don’t have world championships in odd years, so you’ll see a mix of 2010 world championships and a handful of elite 2011 events.

I’ve also included other major Olympic-sport events such as track and field’s Diamond League and various events in tennis and men’s soccer, which have no specific world championships for Olympic-eligible athletes. I also have some events of U.S. interest and a few non-Olympic sports selected through a mix of cultural importance and personal whims.

The “priority” ranking, not really priority but just for purposes of sorting: 1 is a world championship in an Olympic sport, 2 is a near-world championship, 3 is U.S. interest and 4 is general interest.

DATE	SPORT	EVENT	LOCATION	PRIORITY
2/8/2011	Alpine	World Championships	Garmisch, Germany	1
7/3/2011	Archery	World Championships	Torino, Italy	1
8/27/2011	Athletics	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	1
4/17/2011	Athletics	London Marathon	London	2
5/6/2011	Athletics	Diamond League	Doha, Qatar	2
5/15/2011	Athletics	Diamond League	Shanghai, China	2
5/26/2011	Athletics	DL Golden Gala	Rome, Italy	2
6/4/2011	Athletics	DL Prefontaine Classic	Eugene, Ore.	2
6/9/2011	Athletics	DL Bislett Games	Oslo, Norway	2
6/11/2011	Athletics	DL adidas Grand Prix	New York	2
6/30/2011	Athletics	DL Athletissima	Lausanne, Switzerland	2
7/8/2011	Athletics	DL Meeting Areva	Paris	2
7/10/2011	Athletics	DL Birmingham GP	Birmingham, England	2
7/22/2011	Athletics	DL Herculis	Monaco	2
7/29/2011	Athletics	DL DN Galan	Stockholm	2
8/5/2011	Athletics	DL London GP	London	2
9/8/2011	Athletics	DL Weltklasse Zurich	Zurich, Switzerland	2
9/16/2011	Athletics	DL Memorial Van Damme	Brussels, Belgium	2
1/28/2011	Athletics	Millrose Games	New York	3
2/26/2011	Athletics	USA Indoor	Albuquerque	3
3/20/2011	Athletics	World Cross Country Champs	Punta Umbria, Spain	4
8/8/2011	Badminton	World Championships	London	1
8/28/2010	Basketball	(Men) World Championships	Turkey	1
9/23/2010	Basketball	(W) World Championships	Czech Republic	1
6/18/2011	Basketball	Women's EuroBasket	Poland	2
9/3/2011	Basketball	Men's EuroBasket	Lithuania	2
6/14/2011	Beach volleyball	World Championships	Italy	1
3/1/2011	Biathlon	World Championships	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	1
2/4/2011	Biathlon	World Cup, U.S. stops	Maine	3
7/28/2011	BMX	World Championships	Copenhagen, Denmark	1
2/14/2011	Bobsled/skel	World Championships	Koenigssee, Germany	1
9/16/2011	Boxing	World Championships	Busan, Korea	1
8/18/2011	Canoe/kayak	Flatwater World Champs	Szeged, Hungary	1
9/7/2011	Canoe/kayak	Slalom World Champs	Bratislava, Slovakia	1
5/3/2011	Chess	Candidates Matches	Kazan, Russia	4
2/19/2011	Cricket	World Cup	India, Sri Lanka, Bangla	4
3/19/2011	Curling	(W) World Championships	Esbjerg, Denmark	1
4/2/2011	Curling	(Men) World Championships	Regina, Canada	1
2/12/2011	Curling	US Championships	Fargo, ND	3
3/24/2011	Cycling	Track World Championships	Apeldoorn, Netherlands	1
9/19/2011	Cycling	Road World Champs	Copenhagen, Denmark	1
5/7/2011	Cycling	Giro d'Italia	Italy	2
7/2/2011	Cycling	Tour de France	France	2
8/20/2011	Cycling	Vuelta a Espana	Spain	2
3/19/2011	Cycling	Milan-San Remo	Italy	4
4/10/2011	Cycling	Paris-Roubaix	France	4
4/24/2011	Cycling	Liege-Bastogne-Liege	France	4
1/3/2011	Darts	World Championships	London	4
7/16/2011	Diving	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
9/25/2010	Equestrian	World Equestrian Games	Lexington, Ky.	1
4/27/2011	Equestrian	Dressage World Cup final	Leipzig, Germany	2
4/27/2011	Equestrian	Jumping World Cup final	Leipzig, Germany	2
10/12/2011	Equestrian	Last eventing classic	France	2
10/8/2011	Fencing	World Championships	Catania, Italy	1
3/13/2010	Field hockey	(M) World Cup	New Delhi, India	1
9/11/2010	Field hockey	(W) World Cup	Rosario, Argentina	1
6/25/2011	Field hockey	Champions Trophy women	Amsterdam	2
12/1/2011	Field hockey	Champions Trophy men	India; city and date tbc	2
3/21/2011	Figure skating	World Championships	Tokyo	1
1/22/2011	Figure skating	U.S. Championships	Greensboro	3
1/30/2011	Freestyle ski	World Championships	Deer Valley, Utah	1
10/8/2011	Gymnastics	World Championships	Tokyo	1
1/13/2011	Handball	(Men) World Championships	Sweden	1
12/3/2011	Handball	(W) World Championships	Brazil	1
4/16/2011	Ice hockey	(W) World Championships	Switzerland	1
4/29/2011	Ice hockey	(Men) World Championships	Slovakia	2
8/23/2011	Judo	World Championships	Paris	1
1/29/2011	Luge	World Championships	Cesana, Italy	1
1/1/2011	MMA	UFC 125: Edgar-Maynard	Las Vegas	4
1/22/2011	MMA	UFC Fight for the Troops	Fort Hood, Texas	4
1/29/2011	MMA	Strikeforce	San Jose, Calif.	4
2/5/2011	MMA	UFC 126: Silva-Belfort	Las Vegas	4
2/27/2011	MMA	UFC 127: Penn-Fitch	Sydney	4
3/3/2011	MMA	UFC on Versus	Louisville, Ky.	4
3/5/2011	MMA	Strikeforce	Columbus, Ohio	4
3/19/2011	MMA	UFC 128	Newark, N.J.	4
3/26/2011	MMA	UFC Fight Night	Seattle	4
4/30/2011	MMA	UFC 129	Toronto	4
7/2/2011	MMA	UFC	Las Vegas	4
9/6/2011	Modern pent	World Championships	Cairo, Egypt	1
7/9/2011	Modern pent	World Cup final	London	2
2/24/2011	Modern pent	U.S. World Cup stop	Palm Springs	4
8/30/2011	Mountain bike	World Championships	Champery, Switzerland	1
2/22/2011	Nordic ski	World Championships	Oslo, Norway	1
5/31/2011	Poker	World Series of Poker	Las Vegas	4
9/19/2011	Rhythmic gym	World Championships	Montpellier, France	1
8/28/2011	Rowing	World Championships	Bled, Slovenia	1
5/21/2011	Rugby	Heineken and Amlin Cup finals	various	4
9/9/2011	Rugby	World Cup	New Zealand	4
10/3/2011	Sailing	World Championships	Perth, Australia	1
7/29/2010	Shooting	World Championships	Munich	1
9/3/2011	Shooting	Shotgun World Champs	Belgrade, Serbia	1
6/13/2011	Shooting	Last World Cup rifle/pistol	Munich	2
3/11/2011	Short-track	World Championships	Sheffield, England	1
3/19/2011	Short-track	World Team Championships	Warsaw, Poland	2
1/14/2011	Snowboarding	World Championships	La Molina, Spain	1
6/26/2011	Soccer	Women's World Cup	Germany	1
7/29/2011	Soccer	U-20 World Championships	Colombia	2
4/26/2011	Soccer	Champions League semis	various	4
5/3/2011	Soccer	Champions League semis	various	4
5/14/2011	Soccer	FA Cup final	Wembley	4
5/18/2011	Soccer	Europa League final	Dublin	4
5/28/2011	Soccer	Champions League final	Wembley	4
6/5/2011	Soccer	Gold Cup	USA	4
6/18/2011	Soccer	U-17 World Championships	Mexico	4
7/1/2011	Soccer	Copa America	Argentina	4
1/22/2011	Speedskating	Sprint World Champs	Heerenveen, Netherlands	1
2/12/2011	Speedskating	Allround World Champs	Calgary	1
3/10/2011	Speedskating	World Single Distance Champs	Inzell, Germany	1
7/16/2011	Swimming	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
7/16/2011	Synchro swim	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
5/8/2011	Table tennis	World Championships	Rotterdam, Netherlands	1
5/1/2011	Taekwondo	World Championships	Gyeongju, Korea	1
1/17/2011	Tennis	Australian Open	Melbourne	2
2/5/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup, first round	various	2
3/6/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup first round	various	2
4/16/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup semis	various	2
5/23/2011	Tennis	French Open	Paris	2
6/20/2011	Tennis	Wimbledon	London	2
7/8/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup second round	various	2
8/29/2011	Tennis	U.S. Open	New York	2
10/31/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup final	tba	2
11/28/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup final	tba	2
11/16/2011	Trampoline	World Championships	Birmingham, England	1
9/10/2011	Triathlon	Final, World Champ Series	Beijing	1
4/9/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Sydney	2
5/14/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Yokohama, Japan	2
6/4/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Madrid	2
6/18/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Kitzbuhel, Austria	2
7/16/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Hamburg, Germany	2
8/6/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	London	2
10/10/2010	Volleyball	(M) World Championships	Italy	1
11/14/2010	Volleyball	(W) World Championships	Japan	1
11/4/2011	Volleyball	Women's World Cup	Japan	2
5/27/2011	Volleyball	World League	various	2
7/6/2011	Volleyball	World League finals	Gdansk, Poland	2
8/5/2011	Volleyball	World Grand Prix	various	2
8/24/2011	Volleyball	World Grand Prix finals	Macau, China	2
11/20/2011	Volleyball	Men's World Cup	Japan	2
7/16/2011	Water polo	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
11/10/2011	Weightlifting	World Championships	Paris	1
9/13/2011	Wrestling	World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1
10/13/2011	Multisport	Pan Am Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	4

Two more notes:

1. No, I didn’t try to list every interesting soccer event. Didn’t want to overwhelm the calendar with one sport.

2. Many, many thanks to the wonderful WP-Table Reloaded plugin.

Tagged with: 2011 in sports • world championships

Dec 13

Tossing down the gloves before fans of hockey’s “Code”

By Beau Dure winter sports 1 Comment »

A few years ago, hockey fans got an intriguing addition to their bookshelves — The Code, which promised to demystify the unofficial rules of fighting.

It didn’t, frankly. The book is a worthwhile read, full of entertaining stories from the men who drop the gloves on the ice but are thoughtful, charitable and funny off it. But it fell short of explaining how hockey incidents progress from a clumsy hit to full-scale fisticuffs, and it didn’t follow through and show what happens to a game after a fight.

Sometimes, it’s just for a momentum change. Alex Ovechkin, the best hockey player in the world (sorry, Crosby fans, he’s just a bit better-rounded), gave someone a clean hit over the weekend and immediately dropped the gloves with the clear intent of shaking up his slumping team. That much is understandable.

Sometimes, it’s just to establish that a player can fight, which seems to be the case in this classic clip of Georges Laraque accepting a fight with the calm demeanor of someone agreeing to play chess in the park:

But after reading the book and watching a couple hundred hockey games in my lifetime, I have trouble accepting that “the Code” is the wondrous self-policing tool it’s supposed to be. As in the real world, fights seem to settle very little.

Fight fans have a meticulous site, hockeyfights.com, dedicated to rating each fight and fighter. But they don’t give any context. Neither do reporters and TV commentators. The comments at hockeyfights.com are usually full of the keyboard-warrior mentality you see from people questioning athletes’ toughness online or yelling at MMA refs to “stand ‘em up” when fighters have spent 15 seconds grappling rather than punching each other in the face. They also devote a lot of time claiming one guy “won” a fight in which both guys struggle to grip each other’s shirts or throw clean punches before slipping to the ice.

Hockey enforcers clearly have a sense of fairness and camaraderie that other athletes should envy, and fighting isn’t worth any trumped-up moral outrage. I’ve cheered for fights on occasion myself. But do fights really serve a vital purpose in the NHL?

I could be wrong in thinking “the Code” is overblown. I just need to see more evidence.

Sp here’s my challenge to fight fans: Take a hockey fight and tell me why it happened. Then tell me how the game changed as a result.

Tagged with: code • fights • hockey

Dec 09

Holiday diversions: Chess, biathlon … any curling?

By Beau Dure chess, olympic sports, winter sports No Comments »

This is the time of year in which work productivity is minimal, traffic and weather can be too much to bear, and the yule log is sometimes the highlight of the TV programming.

SportsMyriad sadly cannot be your all-inclusive guide to everything interesting on TV. For one thing, we don’t know what you like. But we can offer up a few items of interest if you need a December diversion aside from the mountains of soccer still available on FSC, GolTV and ESPN3:

- Chess: FIDE can’t get the world’s best players to agree on a world championship format, but several of them have turned up in the London Chess Classic: world champ Vishy Anand, world #1 Magnus Carlsen, former world champ Vladimir Kramnik, top American Hikaru Nakamura and four English players who were once or might be contenders. Carlsen lost on the first day, while Nakamura held off Anand. The fun part: They use soccer’s scoring system — 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw. Neat thing to try in a competition that often sees too much caution. Check the Day 1 recap, check each game in progress at Susan Polgar’s blog, and get live commentary (or witty dissection, if Nigel Short is involved) on the official site.

- Biathlon: Weekend sprint, pursuit and relays — unfortunately, the “late” race each day is at 8:15 a.m. ET. Live on the official site.

- Other Olympic sports: Universal Sports has figure skating’s Grand Prix final, rugby sevens, Alpine skiing and a few other events — some pay-per-view, some free.

I have not, however, been able to find any televised curling. Can’t have everything.

Tagged with: biathlon

Nov 24

Biathlon team surprises

By Beau Dure olympic sports, winter sports No Comments »

Last year, biathlete Haley Johnson got a few World Cup points. This year, she isn’t going to the World Cup or IBU Cup.

In February, Wynn Roberts got a start in the Olympics. This winter? No slot on the team.

Such is the harsh, unforgiving world of sports that don’t attract mountains of money. Most of the spots on the team were determined by trials.

Jay Hakkinen, who has had a long career with a few top 10s along the way, is taking the early part of the season off.

Tagged with: biathlon

May 17

Monday Myriad: Sparkling play in WPS, short-sighted decision in Italy

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, golf, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field, winter sports 3 Comments »

We’re starting with WPS for a highlight that probably didn’t make SportsCenter (correct me if it did) but should have. It’s Abby Wambach’s back-heel, throwing off three defenders and setting up the Washington Freedom’s first goal against the run of play as the Atlanta Beat once again looked wonderful but couldn’t finish. If you want to skip ahead to it, go to the 1:17 mark:

Wambach’s header wasn’t bad, either, which is why she gets my Player of the Week vote ahead of Marta. Granted, if I could see Marta’s video highlights, that would help.

The full week (home teams first):

Atlanta 0, Washington 2: The Beat might have played the best two games ever without scoring, outshooting the Freedom 21-10.
Boston 1, Bay Area 2: Marta has both goals for the league leaders.
St. Louis 2, New Jersey 2: Apologies to Laura Kalmari, who scored twice for Sky Blue and won’t win Player of the Week ahead of the bigger names.
Chicago 0, Philadelphia 1: Not a very good week for home teams, was it?

GLOBAL SOCCER

Several trophies were on the line, but the decisive games made news for reasons beyond the results.

Spain: Barcelona looked as good as ever in beating Valladolid 4-0 to finish the La Liga season with a record 99 points — 31 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss — a season that ranks with Arsenal’s unbeaten Premier League run (2003-04) as one of the best ever in a top European league. The only team to beat Barca was erratic Europa League champion Atletico Madrid. Runner-up Real Madrid lost twice to Barca and still somehow kept pace until the very end, drawing 1-1 with Malaga in a result that kept the home team in La Liga next year at Valladolid’s expense.
Italy: Inter Milan made their fans sweat a little more, waiting until the second half to score at Siena and hold on for a 1-0 win that clinched the Serie A title by two points over Roma, which won 2-0 at Chievo.
Italy/USA: American defender Oguchi Onyewu, who missed much of the season after an injury in World Cup qualifying, worked out a one-year contract extension with third-place AC Milan by offering to play for free in 2012-13. The club have agreed, which is appalling. What happens to the next guy who gets hurt playing in a World Cup qualifier? How much pressure will be on that player to do what Onyewu did? (BBC)
FA Cup: Premier League champion Chelsea beat last-place Portsmouth, which played the season under the cloud of financial problems, but the underdogs managed to throw away much of their charm when Kevin-Prince Boateng’s brutal foul on Michael Ballack knocked the German cornerstone out of the World Cup. Boateng, coincidentally, has shifted nationality from Germany to Ghana and may play against Germany — and his half-brother, Jerome Boateng — in the World Cup. Perhaps it was instant karma that Boateng had a penalty kick saved, spoiling Portsmouth’s chance to take an improbable lead. (BBC)
German Cup: Bayern Munich 4, Werder Bremen 0. Saturday’s Champions League final (Bayern-Inter, 2:45 p.m. ET, Fox) will feature two teams going for a triple of league, cup and European trophies.
England: Congratulations to Oxford United, which returns to League football with an emphatic Conference final win. (BBC)
Mexico: Jose Francisco Torres will be available for the U.S. camp without a club-vs.-country battle, as his Pachuca side fell on 3-2 aggregate to Toluca. Santos followed up a 3-3 draw at Morelia by winning the second leg 7-1. What is this — the NASL? Third seed Toluca and fifth seed Santos will be the clubs playing in the Mexican final and lining up to crush MLS teams in next season’s CONCACAF Champions League.
CONCACAF (women’s): It’s a miracle that Haiti is able to field a team at all after the earthquake. They’re doing more than competing — they’ve advanced to the final round of Gold Cup qualifying. (All White Kit)

MMA

Strikeforce: Alistair Overeem demolished Brett Rogers to retain his heavyweight championship, saving Strikeforce from the PR dilemma of having their heavyweight champion already beaten by Fedor Emelianenko. All eyes now turn to an Overeem-Fedor matchup, assuming Fedor dispenses with Fabricio Werdum this summer. Also, Antonio Silva pushed Andrei Arlovski farther down the heavyweight ladder. (MMA Fighting Stances)
Shine Fights: Boxer Ricardo Mayorga was all set to face veteran Din Thomas in Fayetteville, N.C. Then a Florida judge granted boxing promoter Don King an injunction against Mayorga’s participation. After an afternoon Twitter flurry in which the card seemed to be going on with or without the main event, the North Carolina commission scrapped the whole card, though the co-main event of Murilo Rua vs. David Heath isn’t a bad matchup at all for a smaller promotion. King was asked to present a $1 million cash bond, which he did in two duffel bags. (Yahoo!)
Washington Combat: Sort of a senior-circuit main event, though Pedro Rizzo has two wins over Jeff Monson in recent years and was on Affliction’s much-hyped debut card against Josh Barnett. His opponent, Gary Goodridge, lost to Paul Buentello on the same Affliction card and lost to solid fighters Overeem and Gegard Mousasi since then. Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas says it’s time for Goodridge to hang ‘em up. (Washington Post)

CYCLING

Giro d’Italia: Through nine stages, the leader is Alexandre Vinokourov, making his first big run since being tossed out of the 2007 Tour de France for flunking a doping test. Cadel Evans is 72 seconds back. American Tyler Farrar leads in points and has the red jersey, the equivalent of the Tour’s green.
Tour of California: Mark Cavendish, who won last year’s sprint title while Levi Leipheimer won the overall, won Sunday’s first stage of the eight-stage race. The big climbs are Tuesday and Friday.

TENNIS

Madrid Masters (men): After some atypical struggles, Roger Federer is back to normal, reaching the final and then, because it’s on clay, losing to Rafael Nadal. (AP)
Madrid Masters (women): Venus Williams reached the final and climbed to No. 2 in the rankings, her best since 2003. She lost in the final, though, to unseeded Aravane Rezai. Maybe she’ll be seeded next year.

OLYMPIC SPORTS

Swimming: Universal Sports has some video from the Charlotte UltraSwim, including Michael Phelps cruising in the 200 IM. Dancing with the Stars contestant Natalie Coughlin also is back in the pool. (Universal Sports)
Track, field and whatever this is: Tyson Gay set a “world best” (it’s not officially a world record because it’s not officially an official event) of 19.41 seconds in Manchester. Makes you wonder how Usain Bolt can run a 19.19 around a curve.
Running: Remember the USA TODAY profile on Amy Palmiero-Winters, the amputee who qualified for the 24-hour running world championships? She finished a very respectable 19th, coming just short of 200 kilometers. Scott Jurek covered 266.677k for a silver medal as the U.S. men placed third. Anna Piskorka (10th, 214.417k) was the top U.S. woman as the women’s team finished fourth. (USA Track and Field)

CHESS

Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky drew in their first meeting at the U.S. Chess Championships on Sunday, likely keeping both of them on track to play again in the “Final Four” in this uniquely formatted tournament. Irina Krush killed my fantasy team by losing out of what seemed to be a winning position against Varuzhan Akobian in a 113-move thriller. (U.S. Chess Federation)

INTRIGUING READS

Golf and tennis: One sport’s U.S. federation is taking all the right steps to get kids interested and keep them playing. The other is scratching its head as players appear to be abandoning the sport, and the solutions may be quite costly. (Wall Street Journal).
Football: Flag football — eventual answer to gender-equity questions? Convenient dodge of gender-equity questions? Waste of time? Great activity? Many opinions here. (New York Times)
Skiing/long-running TV shows: Lindsey Vonn was thrilled to do a guest spot on Law & Order. Not so thrilled to hear this is the final season. She’s organizing a group to save the show. (Yahoo! – Fourth-Place Medal)

Tagged with: abby wambach • ac milan • alistair overeem • barcelona • giro d'italia • hikaru nakamura • lindsey vonn • oguchi onyewu • strikeforce • tour of california • wps

Apr 08

Thursday: Bring on Bellator

By Beau Dure mma, soccer, winter sports No Comments »

Quick roundup this morning in between a traffic-slowed morning run to school and a trek out of the Plex. As in Maryland SoccerPlex.

- Soccer: Can anyone remember a more memorable week of Champions League games? Messi’s magic and Bayern’s rally, punctuated by Arjen Robben’s wonder goal, were spectacular. Most of the semifinalists have no time to rest. Lyon is in the middle of a tight five-team race in France. Bayern Munich, which just reclaimed the lead in Germany, plays at third-place Bayer Leverkusen. Messi and Barcelona? Oh, they just have a game at Real Madrid, which is always one of the top rivalry games in the world but even moreso now that they’re tied for first in Spain.

- Soccer: Pachuca has advanced to face Cruz Azul in a Mexican exhibition, I mean, the CONCACAF Champions League. (AP)

- Short-track speedskating: Apolo Anton Ohno has eight Olympic medals but might go even more Greek now as he auditions for films and considers TV options. (AP)

- Figure skating: Evan Lysacek is even busier as he balances Stars on Ice with Dancing with the Stars. (Washington Post)

- Nordic combined: Still more Olympic athletes keeping busy — the four U.S. medalists are heading to the Middle East to visit troops on what they’re calling the Heavy Medal Tour. (USOC)

- Triathlon: World Cup season starts Sunday in Sydney. (AP)

- MMA: Can we stop the “Rich Franklin replaces Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell” rumors now? Dana White has said rather emphatically that the June 12 Vancouver main event is Tito-Chuck. (FanHouse)

- MMA: UFC in Afghanistan? (Yahoo!)

- Curling: Make it six straight wins for Pete Fenson and company, and they’re on the verge of the World Championship final four. (USOC)

TODAY’S TV

- MMA: The second season of Bellator, a tournament-based promotion that has expanded its talent pool, begins live on some Fox Sports Net affiliates. Trying to pin down which ones. Major signings Roger Huerta and Joe Warren are in action tonight. See the Sherdog weigh-in report.

- Soccer: All Europa League and Copa Libertadores. (Soccer America)

- Other sports: Masters, NBA, NHL and the Frozen Four, an underrated event. (USA TODAY)

Tagged with: bellator • ufc

Previous Entries

Finally free to jump

Midweek Myriad: Fretting over Freddy, winter winners, soccer challenge

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Jacobellis wins another world title

2011 in myriad sports

Tossing down the gloves before fans of hockey’s “Code”

Holiday diversions: Chess, biathlon … any curling?

Biathlon team surprises

Monday Myriad: Sparkling play in WPS, short-sighted decision in Italy

Thursday: Bring on Bellator

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