Month: March 2013

sports culture

Sharpest Title IX comment in a while

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’m a little uneasy with Sally Jenkins’ comments since her co-author Lance Armstrong’s downfall, and I do think Title IX enforcement is getting counterproductive in spots.

But Jenkins has a lively wit, and when she’s right, she’s a joy to read. Like so:

Ooooh! Title IX baiting! Yeah, Title IX is still necessary because the instant it wasn’t there any more, Geno Auriemma would be be back coaching out of a unheated attic in an auxillary gym, and women would be sewing on their own numerals, in order to cut the budget so more ivory could be inlaid in the coffee table in Nick Saban’s office.

via One Of Our Favorite Sports Columnists, Sally Jenkins, Is Here To Take Your Questions.

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mma

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Episode 8: Much more Mr. Nice Guy

Posted on by Beau Dure

Previously on The Ultimate Fighter: Nothing of interest. Not in the mini-recap, anyway. We’re quickly on to what passes for the theme music this season, a couple of French horn notes while Dana White squints.

Adam Cella thinks no one deserves a contract more than Bubba, based on his sacrifices and work ethic. I think he deserves because he stumbles over his cliches and ends up with something like “ducks in a basket with eggs in a hat.”

Jon Jones touts his last pick, Dylan Andrews, in advance of his fight against Zak Cummings. Of Cummings, Jones says he thinks he’s right-handed. Great scouting.

Andrews grew up with his brothers’ marijuana plants surrounding his bed. While many MMA fans seem to think that’s a cool thing, those brothers have apparently wasted their talents, while he was lucky enough to wander into a gym.

Uriah Hall bonds with Andrews over their fears of fighting. We only know that from Hall’s confessional. In their actual conversation, Hall looks like he’s staring daggers at Andrews. But we have to remind ourselves:

Next we hear that Cummings thinks Andrews is a really nice guy.

Coaches’ challenge time! Each guy is supposed to use heavy equipment to fill a dumpster, move tires and other stuff.

Dana White says this is the first time they’ve had a challenge that wasn’t some sort of sports challenge. Apparently, the Faber-Cruz “take large weapons and blow stuff up” challenge was sports-related.

“My father-in-law owns an excavation company,” Sonnen says. If he had known this would be the challenge, he would have called him.

But we get a thrilling back-and-forth battle. Jones gets the first scoop of dirt, then loses the hang of it. Sonnen races out to a big lead but has trouble with the third tire. Jones reclaims the lead and comes within one bad bounce of winning, leaving the door open for Sonnen.

Everything is going Sonnen’s way this season. Everything. The best we can say for Jones is that he’s taking it well.

Weigh-in goes smoothly. Dylan talks about his family. Sonnen generously says this looks like an even matchup because Dylan may not have stood out in the prelims, but Zak’s KO was a bit of a fluke. Let’s go back and check the draft — Zak Cummings was Sonnen’s third pick.

Herb Dean is the ref. He starts the fight. My closed-captioning tells me Sonnen says, “Need water.” We get 30 seconds of the anticipated strike duel before Zak presses for a takedown. Dylan defends that, but then Zak drops him. Dylan covers up. Zak gets in Dylan’s half-guard and lands elbows. Zak moves to mount but, to the shock of everyone, Dylan sweeps. Dylan gets in Zak’s guard and drips blood on him, but he also gets space for a good ground-and-pound assault.

Zak looks uncomfortable, but he does make things a little tricky by snaking his legs up. Dylan shrugs that off and advances to half-guard, raining elbows while Zak’s face shows the wear and tear of a tough first round. The horn sounds too soon for Dylan.

Round 2: Zak goes for an acrobatic spinning back kick, bringing a smile to Dylan’s face. Zak smiles back, and they touch gloves. A few seconds later, Zak touches his left glove to Zak’s face in a little less friendly manner. He chases a reeling Dylan across the cage, but Dylan recovers to dump him down. Dylan once again has a great position in Zak’s half-guard, with his corner yelling at him not to pass. Zak is trapped against the cage and can do little but defend and try to get Herb Dean to stand them up. Dean issues a couple of warnings, which encourages Zak to tie up Dylan tightly. But Dylan improves his position just a bit and gets some punches in there.

While this is going on, I have a great idea for a workout app. Call it “Herb Dean: Personal Trainer.” It’s a heart monitor. When your heart rate drops below a certain point, Herb says, “Work. Need some work.” When someone designs this, please send me a little portion of the royalties.

Anyway, Zak never figures out a way to get away from the cage. The horn sounds, Zak and Dylan hug, and Dylan raises his arms … in victory? We’ll have to see. Round 2 is definitely his. But Round 1?

Ad break builds the suspense, and …

We come back to see both fighters prepping for a third round. But no! Keith Kizer says that’s it.

Dylan admits he was close to tapping in Round 1 but somehow found another gear. “I went to another place, I don’t know what it is.”

It’s officially a majority decision. Cummings, like everyone else, hopes for a wild-card slot.

Ah, the ever-contentious wild-card discussion. Dana decides to leave it up to the coaches. He says two guys from each side are eligible: Team Sonnen’s Kevin Casey and Zak Cummings, Team Jones’s Clint Hester and Bubba McDaniel.

Sonnen says he’s an easier spot because Kevin clearly deserves it. And he empathizes with Jones having a tough call.

Remember when we all thought Sonnen and Jones were going to have nasty trash-talking sessions? Didn’t happen.

It’s all laughter in Jones’s dressing room as he jokes about being Bubba’s teammate but having a cool dude in Hester. “And he’s black!”

Ultimately, Jones decides to go with the guy who has put in more years. That’s not a bad criterion. Bubba gets the spot, and Hester immediately hugs him.

So it’s Bubba vs. the King. They wanted this fight all along. They’ve got it. The staredown is intense.

Next week: It’s a Thanksgiving dinner. And “one of the most shocking finishes in TUF history.” So the cage is electrified now?

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olympic sports, winter sports

World Cup spring, USA vs. Maze: “I want that globe”

Posted on by Beau Dure

Slovenia’s Tina Maze has the overall World Cup Alpine title in hand, more than doubling her closest pursuer (2,254 points to 1,065 for Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch. The only suspense remaining in the women’s standings: Can Maze complete an unheard-of sweep of the globes handed out in each discipline?

Not if the U.S. Ski Team can help it.

After her slalom win Sunday, Maze leads in every discipline except downhill, where she’s only one point behind the injured Lindsey Vonn.  If Maze remains upright in the World Cup final, she’ll take that one. She already has the giant slalom in hand. If FIS still gave a trophy for combined, she’d have that one, too.

Giant slalom is almost in Maze’s hands. She leads Julia Mancuso by 55 points. Mancuso has to make the podium to have a mathematical chance. If Mancuso wins the final, Maze needs a top-five. If she’s second, Maze needs a top-10.

Mikaela Shiffrin is impressed. (Photo by Mitchell Gunn/ESPA via USSA)
Mikaela Shiffrin is impressed. (Photo by Mitchell Gunn/ESPA via USSA)

Then we have the showdown. Tina Maze vs. Mikaela Shiffrin, the teen phenom who gave up her slalom lead on Sunday. Maze now leads by seven points. It’s not officially winner-take-all — if both skiers miss the top places, Shiffrin will need a gap of two or three places to claim the title — but it’s close.

The word from this morning:

Meanwhile, in men’s Alpine, the USA officially won’t be walking away without any crystal globes. Ted Ligety has clinched the giant slalom trophy. That’ll happen when your season results are five wins and two third-place finishes in seven races. He also won the world title, of course, and he’s third in the overall World Cup standings with a career-high 922 points (620 in giant slalom).

First place will come down to a final week showdown between defending champion Marcel Hirscher (Austria) and 2007/2009 champion Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway).

In cross-country skiing, Kikkan Randall clinched the sprint season title with a split-second win over dominant Norwegian Maret Bjorgen. Margin of victory: 0.07 seconds. Can’t wait to see the video on that one. Randall also picked up some distance points this season and stands third overall.

Andy Newell is second in the men’s sprint standings, too far back to win but in good shape to stay in the top three.

In ski jumping, the U.S. men aren’t in the mix, but Sarah Hendrickson is on her way to finished second in women’s.

Nordic combined finds the USA still in transition after the big run up to Vancouver. No Americans have been in the World Cup top 10 since.

Freestyle skiing‘s overall trophy hardly matters. Everyone’s specialized, with FIVE events per gender in the Games now with the 2010 addition of skicross and the 2014 additions of halfpipe and slopestyle. Top Americans:

  • Hannah Kearney, first, women’s moguls
  • Torin Yater-Wallace, first, men’s halfpipe
  • David Wise, first, men’s halfpipe
  • Keri Herman, first, women’s slopestyle
  • Emily Cook, second, women’s aerials
  • Maddie Bowman, second, women’s halfpipe
  • Patrick Deneen, third, men’s moguls
  • Heather McPhie, third, women’s moguls
  • Bradley Wilson, fourth, men’s aerials
  • Dylan Ferguson, fourth, men’s aerials
  • Eliza Outtrim, fourth, women’s moguls

And the World Championships just wrapped up in Oslo. U.S. notes:

  • Women’s halfpipe: Bowman didn’t start.
  • Men’s halfpipe: Wise and Yater-Wallace 1-2.
  • Women’s moguls: Need you ask? Hannah Kearney. She was also third in dual moguls.
  • Men’s moguls: No medals in the traditional event, but Deneen was third in duals.
  • Women’s slopestyle: Herman wasn’t there; Grete Eliassen took third.
  • Men’s slopestyle: Thomas Wallisch first; Nicholas Goepper third.
  • Men’s skicross: John Teller third

Still two more weekends on the World Cup circuit, though, so we’ll hold off on the medal projections for now. Safe to say the USA will be expecting some hardware in Sochi.

In snowboarding, the medal projections are already up. We’ll revisit after X Games Tignes in late March. But worth noting: Even though U.S. snowboarders erratically participate on the World Cup circuit, they lead the freestyle disciplines: Scotty Lago and Kelly Clark (halfpipe), Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson (slopestyle).

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soccer

MLS: New stadiums already? Slow down

Posted on by Beau Dure

A hypothetical City Council meeting in Expansionville, 2014.

MLS MAN: Greetings! I represent the local owner-investors who are ready to plunk down $80 million in expansion fees to bring Major League Soccer to Expansionville!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Sounds good. Should boost the economy. And I’d love to see Landon Donovan here — what a great comeback he made last year. But how much do you need for a stadium?

MLS MAN: Here’s more good news — we’re willing to spend $150 million to build it. All we need is $20 million for infrastructure improvements in the area.

COUNCILPERSON 2: That sounds like half the cost of Columbus Crew Stadium in its entirety.

MLS MAN: Ummm … yeah. You’ve done some research. But this will be an investment in the future.

COUNCILPERSON 2: And they’re already talking about replacing Columbus Crew Stadium.

MLS MAN: True. But Crew Stadium didn’t have luxury boxes.

COUNCILPERSON 3: I ain’t putting my tax money for some millionaire owner for his fancy kickball stadium!

COUNCILPERSON 2: Uh … right. Anyway, getting back to Crew Stadium — so now, the problem is that they don’t have luxury boxes.

MLS MAN: And they can’t sell naming rights.

COUNCILPERSON 2: So? Neither can FC Dallas. And a bunch of MLS jersey deals are expiring without replacements.

MLS MAN: Well … yeah. Anyway, we’ll have luxury boxes.

COUNCILPERSON 1: But in 15 years, will you want more?

MLS MAN: Perhaps. But we can talk about how to upgrade it.

(blank stares)

COUNCILPERSON 2: So this location …

MLS MAN: Oh yes — outskirts of town, vacant land, just needs the infrastructure upgrades.

COUNCILPERSON 4: Aren’t most recent MLS stadiums easily accessible by mass transit?

MLS MAN: Well, some, yeah.

COUNCILPERSON 5: Hey, why doesn’t Columbus just rip off the upper section and build boxes? It’s not like anyone ever sits up there, anyway.

COUNCILPERSON 2: Yeah, seriously. But back to our question: Are you going to come back in 15 years and ask us to help you build a new stadium on a train line?

PROTESTER IN CROWD: More like five years!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Excuse me, sir, we’ll have a public comment period on this project next week.

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Money for park! Not for Clark! Money for park! Not for Clark!

COUNCILPERSON 1: Clark?

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Ricardo Clark. Plays for the Houston Dynamos.

MLS MAN: Dynamo.

PROTESTER IN CROWD: Whatever?

COUNCILPERSON 1: Can we have him removed, please?

COUNCILPERSON 2: OK, back to the point … can you assure us that if we make this investment now, you’re not going to be asking us for more money for something new before we’ve all broken even on this deal?

MLS MAN: Uhhhhhh ….

And so Expansionville dropped out of consideration for MLS, leaving the league to consider a third New York team.

And no, I don’t want to imagine a D.C. council discussion along similar lines.

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soccer

FIFA boldly … asks for clarification on Nigeria’s lesbian ban

Posted on by Beau Dure

The Nigerian women’s soccer team went into the 2011 World Cup with the momentum of having ousted lesbians from the team.

The FIFA response at the time: “Huh? What? Oh. OK, we’ll talk to the coach.”

Now, with reports that Nigeria has banned lesbians from all levels of football, FIFA … wants clarification.

The issue has deep roots in Africa, where legal bans remain and men still use “corrective rape” to try to convince lesbians to change.

So, once FIFA gets its “clarification,” the question will be whether FIFA wants to make a statement — one that may force some attitudes to change.

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mma

The Ultimate Fighter 17, Episode 7: Bones does not know

Posted on by Beau Dure

We recap, and then Josh Samman, still in a towel in his post-victory whatever, starts planning matchups. What was Jon Jones saying about him coaching too much?

The gang goes to Hooters, and while I don’t make moral judgments, I refuse to acknowledge anything that takes place at a chain restaurant that encourages men to treat women as objects.

Actually, I may have gained some respect for Uriah Hall, who refused to join the gang for a photo with Hooters women.

Then it gets serious. Samman, who had a major problem with a blood clot, has pain in his leg. He gets it checked out. Nothing serious. But he gets to chill in a hospital bed for a bit.

Jimmy Quinlan, tonight’s underdog fighter, talks about going through the police academy after college. But like Forrest Griffin, he decided to go for the fighting thing first. (Unlike Forrest, as far as we know, he has a job waiting for him if the fighting thing doesn’t work out.)

Chael Sonnen goes through the fight plan, which we already knew. Quinlan is great on the ground. Clint Hester, his opponent and much-heralded top pick, comes from a boxing background. So Quinlan isn’t going to have much interest in standing toe to toe with him.

We meet Clint Hester, from my home state of Georgia. He used to hang out with smaller kids and threaten the guys who bullied them. For some reason, I have visions of him beating up Matt Hughes.

Quinlan, on the other hand, is no bully. He jokes that Hester used a bowl reserved for him, so now they’re going to have to fight today. Hester plays along: “OK, 4 o’clock by the monkey bars.”

These guys are almost as fun as the TUF Smashes cast. Probably better fighters.

Fight time. Quinlan shoots for the takedown right away. After some effort, he picks up Hester for a slam. Hester slowly works his way back up. Another slam. Hester gets up again and gets stuck in a clinch with Quinlan. But he’s able to creat some space for his knees, then his fists. The strikes are clearly bothering Quinlan, but he manages to get another takedown. Then another slam. And yet, Quinlan doesn’t seem to have landed a single strike. Hester strikes a few times for the bottom. Quinlan responds by moving down to Hester’s legs, as if to say, “Yeah, I took you down, and you’re still down, but I’m going to take you down AGAIN!”

So it’s a scoring dilemma. Do you favor Quinlan’s takedowns, as Luke “The Mouth of England” Barnatt seems to think?

Round 2, another takedown. And everyone yells at Hester to keep his hand on Quinlan’s head. He doesn’t. Quinlan gets mount. Hester decides to give up his back instead. Quinlan gets the choke, and we have another upset.

“That was a good fight,” says an unidentified voice. No, it wasn’t. It was a wrestler who has no other discernible fighting skills beating a guy who has no idea how to avoid being slammed by a wrestler. And it’s more proof that Jon Jones should just quit making fight matchups and flip a coin.

In fact — you know that bit about the fighters being better than those in TUF Smashes? I take it back. And I take back the bit about Hester beating up Matt Hughes.

Sonnen, as usual, offers up sound analysis. He was impressed with Hester’s striking from odd angles and less impressed with Quinlan’s takedowns. He leans toward Hester in Round 1.

Sonnen and Jones have some good-natured banter about their bowling bet from last week’s episode, and we’re on to the fight announcement. It’s Dylan Andrews vs. Zak Cummings because they’re the only two fighters left. And yet, it’s still probably Jones’s fault.

The closed captioning (yes, I need to keep the volume down) tells us Jones paid tribute to Dylan’s (speaks indistinctly). That’s promising.

Next week, Dana White gives the coaches construction equipment for the coaches’ challenge. This cannot go well.

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soccer

Editing the Laws of the Game

Posted on by Beau Dure

The loud caterwauling you heard around the world this afternoon related to a questionable red card given to Manchester United’s Nani. Real Madrid scored two quick goals, Manchester United was bounced out of the Champions League, and civilization collapsed.

A furious, if somewhat one-sided, debate raged on Twitter over the call. NBC’s Pro Soccer Talk posted dueling posts from Richard “Red Card” Farley and Steve “No It Isn’t” Davis.

Fox Soccer’s analysts raged about “intent,” a word that does not appear in the Laws of the Game and its attached interpretations. (“Intentionally” appears four times, but never in the context of judging yellow or red cards.)

Coincidentally, the keepers of the Laws made a minor tweak this weekend, supposedly reducing confusion with a change in the offside rule.

Those keepers, known as IFAB, are reluctant to make changes. As they should be.

But the Nani debate highlights one of several passages that could use some editing.

Farley, in his rebuttal to the rebuttal, highlights English referee Graham Poll as an example of a divide between English refs and European refs. And quite often, there is. There’s certainly a divide between European refs and English-bred commentators, who still think a studs-up shot to the knee is a friendly greeting.

But here, at last, is the point. Poll says the Nani incident could easily be a yellow card. And many people agree.

And yet … Law 12, Fouls and Misconduct, does not specify anything about yellow cards for fouls that don’t quite deserve red cards. Go ahead – read page 38. The closest you’ll find is “unsporting behaviour.” Red card infractions include “serious foul play” and “violent conduct.”

Now if you read on to the interpretations, you find some common-sense talk on page 113. IFAB defines “careless,” “reckless,” and “using excessive force.” Careless? No foul. Reckless? Yellow card. Excessive force? Red card.

So if you stuck with the Laws, you’d be stuck trying to shoehorn a reckless foul into “unsporting behaviour.” The interpretations, on the other hand, clearly state what referees do anyway — give yellow cards for infractions that aren’t quite worthy of a red card.

Seems like the word “reckless,” at the very least, should be included in the actual text of Law 12. Right?

(But don’t add “intent.” The pundits were just bringing it up to make fun of it.)

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olympic sports, soccer, winter sports

Monday Myriad, March 4: Nordic state of mind

Posted on by Beau Dure

Headlines from the week:

– Slovenia’s Tina Maze is having the best Alpine skiing World Cup season of all time.

– Norway’s Maret Bjoergen had one of the best Nordic World Championships of all time.

– Shaun White was back in action with another U.S. Open title.

– Milers Mary Cain and Will Leer stood out at the USA Indoor track and field championships.

– At the same meet, pole vaulter Jenn Suhr broke five meters and the indoor world record. The only other women’s pole vaulter to clear five meters is Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva. Isinbayeva’s outdoor record: 5.06 meters. Suhr indoors: 5.02.

– Speedskaters Brittany Bowe and Brian Hansen won World Cup races for the first time.

The Storified version has a few more fun features:

http://storify.com/duresport/monday-myriad-march-4-storify-version

 

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olympic sports, winter sports

Alpine update: Maze sweeping, USA rotating

Posted on by Beau Dure

Today’s Alpine skiing news goes beyond what I can sum up on Twitter:

First, let’s talk about Tina Maze. Last season, she finished second to the dominant Lindsey Vonn, but she didn’t win a single race.

This year, she has won nine races. She has been on the podium 20 times, tying U.S. great Phil Mahre for second-most in a season behind Austria’s Hermann (Herminator) Maier, who had 22 in the 1999-2000 season.

In that season, Maier had 2,000 points. Maze broke that record today and is up to 2,024 points.

Here’s the scary part: The season isn’t over. We have seven more races.

The other headline for Maze today is that she became just the second woman to win a race in all five disciplines — downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and combined. She could actually win the season title in all five (though, technically, no globe is at stake in combined).

  • Giant slalom: Clinched it with two races left.
  • Combined: Clinched it. No races left.
  • Super-G: Almost clinched it. She’s first, with American Julia Mancuso chasing. Two races left: Sunday and in the World Cup final.
  • Downhill: She’s in second. But she’s only one point behind Vonn, who isn’t coming back in the next month. Others are in contention: Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch and the USA’s Stacey Cook. One race left at the World Cup final.
  • Slalom: This one is the most challenging. She’s second, 33 points behind American teen phenom Mikaela Shiffrin. Two races left.

A lot of Americans are popping up in the standings, even after Vonn’s illness and catastrophic injury. Mancuso is a strong fourth overall, moving ahead of Vonn this weekend.

Today’s racing summed up the U.S. experience this season. Laurenne Ross finished second for her first World Cup podium. And Alice McKennis crashed, breaking her shinbone and requiring an airlift.

Maze vs. the Americans will be a fun story to follow in Sochi. Now, please, everyone stay healthy.

Links:
AP: Tina Maze breaks 2,000-point mark
Eurosport: Maze wins Garmisch downhill and breaks 2,000 points
World Cup standings

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