That’s a Jethro Tull reference. Would you prefer Avril Lavigne? Some skater boys did pretty well over the weekend.

Short-track: A lot of world records fell over the weekend at the World Cup opener in Calgary, and J.R. Celski came up with one of the biggest, breaking the 40-second mark in the 500 meters. Celski also picked up a third-place finish, as did John-Henry Krueger, a discretionary pick for the World Cup squad who must have done some industrial smoothing to finish just behind Celski and Canadian favorite Charles Hamelin in the 500.

Check out the 500-meter final (via DailyHouse):

Canada’s Valerie Maltais took the women’s 1,000-meter record, though the overall World Cup leader at 1,000 is Britain’s Elise Christie.

Not a great weekend for the U.S. women, who finished eighth in the team classification. The men were a solid fourth, well ahead of China, despite finishing eighth in the relay.

Figure skating: Here, the U.S. women had a great weekend. For all my fretting over the “rise up and fade” tendencies they’ve had over the last few years, the results at Skate America speak for themselves: Ashley Wagner first, Christina Gao second. (On the downside, Rachael Flatt was ninth out of 10.)

Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the ice dance so comfortably they probably could’ve tossed in a bit of the Chicken Dance toward the end. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin were a promising third in pairs.

So if you want to panic about anything from a U.S. standpoint, consider the men. Japan swept the podium, Jeremy Abbott was fifth, and the other U.S. men were in the bottom four.

MLS: The playoff field is set, with Columbus and Dallas falling short of the last spots. San Jose has the Supporters’ Shield, but L.A. defender Omar Gonzalez cares not for the Quakes’ style of play, accusing them of some off-the-ball ref-not-looking shenanigans. And Galaxy supporters group Angel City Brigade raises some pointed questions for security at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Women’s soccer: Germany announced its re-emergence, holding the USA to a 1-1 draw on the Fan Tribute Tour at Toyota Park, the former home of the Chicago Red Stars.

Swimming: Missy Franklin is going to Cal. Can’t blame her, but those of use who learned to swim at the University of Georgia may be a little sad to hear the news.

Triathlon: Gwen Jorgensen knows how to finish a season in style — second place in the last World Championships series race, moving her up to ninth on the year. Sarah Groff was ninth on the day, seventh on the year.

The U.S. men had a rougher time, but the USA also came away with several paratriathlon and age-group prizes. If only they had a category for “over-40, can’t stand cold water or running” entries.

Rowing: Want to see a frightening photo? Go to the Head of the Charles’ official site and wait for “Day 2 underway” to come around. Is this rowing or rugby?

Swimming: A lot of Olympic swimmers pass on the World Cup season, particularly after the Olympics, but Anthony Ervin and Jessica Hardy seem to be making up for lost time with a few wins on the circuit this weekend.

Also in the Team USA roundup: Katie Compton’s latest cyclocross medal and the Head of the Charles.

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Icing the kicker, or why coaches are sometimes wrong

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Beau Dure

Journalists (and fans) love to second-guess coaches. Honestly, they’re rarely on solid ground. We don’t see everything in practice and team meetings. Coaching staffs sometimes spend 80 hours a week going over game plans in minute detail, and journalists (and fans) simply can’t match that depth of knowledge.

Asking about a particular decision is one thing. That’s illuminating. We can learn more about the game that way — if the coach’s reasons can be made public. Armchair coaching, on the other hand, is usually ridiculous.

But sometimes, those of us in the pressbox or the stands can see the forest for the trees. Or we can see a blind spot or bias that forces a bad move. One example: In retrospect, D.C. United’s handling of Freddy Adu was far from ideal, particularly when Peter Nowak pulled him out of a playoff game in which he was supplying plenty of creativity that replacement Matias Donnet did not.

And coaches are often playing hunches that just don’t add up. I’m convinced NFL coaches are doing just that when they call time out to “ice” the kicker.

The problems with icing:

A. Without the timeout, kickers may be rushed to get their kicks away. So many things can go wrong with the snap, the hold or the kick. Calling timeout gives everyone a chance to get in place.

B. The timeout sometimes comes so late that the kicker gets a practice kick. Then he has a chance to check the wind, check his footing and make any other correction.

C. That’s one timeout gone. Suppose the kicker puts his team ahead, and you have to come back and drive the length of the field? That timeout would’ve been useful, right?

I’m going to keep an eye out for the rest of the season — I’m sure I’ll find several really bad icing calls. (Yes, I must be overcompensating for the lack of hockey this season.)

Example #1: Giants-Eagles, Sept. 30. New York kicker Lawrence Tynes misses a 54-yard field goal for the win, but Philly coach Andy Reid had called a late timeout. See Problem B above. Tynes corrected the flight of the ball on his second attempt, but he came up a yard short to bail out Reid. Three more feet on that kick, and Reid is being vilified this morning.

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Happy Labor Day

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Beau Dure

I’ll keep up with comments over the weekend, but I don’t plan to post. I’ll catch up on the Paralympics and more on Tuesday. Maybe Monday, if I just can’t stay away. I am adding some writers who may start next week.

Enjoy the weekend.

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A few changes at SportsMyriad

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Beau Dure

berlin-olympic — The unprocessed version of the background photo shows kids running up the Marathon Step at the Olimpiastadion after the opening ceremony.

Looks a little different, doesn’t it? What? You’re viewing in an RSS reader? OK, click through the full story …

OK, now are you at the site itself? Great. Looks a little different, doesn’t it?

I have a few shout-outs to make:

1. The logo and other design advice are the work of someone familiar to soccer fans and players — Prairie Rose Clayton, who tweets as @hoover_dam and shows her breathtaking banners (we’re talking real-world, show-at-soccer-games banners, not banner ads) at tifosi.hooverdam.net. She’s so cool that when I met her in Boston, a big-time music person (Ted Leo) came up and recognized her.

2. The new theme is Magazine Basic, which I can’t believe is free. It’s wonderful and incredibly easy.

3. The background photo is from Olimpiastadion in Berlin at the opener of the 2011 Women’s World Cup. I wanted a photo I took, but I also wanted to do some processing so it wouldn’t overwhelm the rest of the site. I used a sepia filter, of course. I hear the kids today call that “Instagram.”

The cosmetic changes will indeed point to more substantive changes. I’m going to keep up a steady presence on the blog, and I’m going to rev it up big time after I finish the MMA book. Almost there.

I’ll be looking not just for advertisers but for writers as well. See the “About” page for details on both.

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Pardon our dust

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Beau Dure

Yes, the traffic to the medal projections has overwhelmed the site. I’m making a few changes to improve performance. Things should be better later this afternoon. Thanks for checking in.

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Past, present and future projects at SportsMyriad and beyond

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Beau Dure

Getting personal for a bit, though it’s also about the state of this blog …

If ever there was a day to question my life, it was today. The B-52s and Squeeze were playing 2.5 miles from my house. I drove past twice on a parent-related errand. What the heck am I doing with my life? Why am I driving past two great bands for some humdrum suburban activity?

But when I left USA TODAY two years ago, it wasn’t to see the B-52s and Squeeze. It was family time. It was project time.

Then some terrific opportunities came along. I wrote a lot for USA TODAY’s magazine group. And espnW called out of the blue and offered me some Women’s World Cup work in Germany. That turned into about nine months of truly rewarding reporting in women’s soccer.

This year, WPS is gone. And the Olympics is a different animal.

If I had my way, I’d be boarding a plane for London sometime in the next few days. I don’t think I have to do much more to prove that you can drop me anywhere Olympians are competing, and I’ll come back with good stories both expected and unexpected. (And to think I hadn’t even put “interview the president of Iceland” on my bucket list.)

But alas, I’m not going. I’m not even working for employers I might have expected one or two years ago. I can list several reasons why that happened. Freelance money has dried up in a few places. Other places aren’t so willing to jump through the hoops for freelancers to travel. One situation was either a simple misunderstanding or malignant neglect, and it’s not really worth it for me to figure out which it was. And it’s not all on the employers — I wasn’t willing to consider an extended gig so I could make the trip. Go back to the first reason for leaving USA TODAY: “family time.” We can swing a couple of weeks away. Anything else is pushing it.

So that’s what I’m not doing this summer. That leads to the question I’ve heard a few times in recent days: “You’re doing what?”

Four things, and they all deserve some explanation:

1. Trapit. (see trap.it) Coincidentally, my new robot overlords got a bit of pub today with the release of their iPad app. I’ve seen a few descriptions of the service — “a hybrid between a search engine and a recommendation site” is in the link I just posted — but I think of it as a really, really intelligent search engine. Ideally, you’ll set up search terms — or “traps” — and you’ll get the best/most recent stuff available without all the nonsense you get in more general searches. It’s almost like Pandora for the whole Web. You say what interests you, and that gets refined as you use your electronic thumbs. My work here (temporary, through the Olympics) will be somewhat behind the scenes, but I’m pleased with it, and it’s a good use of my expertise.

2. Bleacher Report (see the Hope Solo story). The reputation may be “anything goes.” But B/R has taken some big steps, especially the hiring of the most excellent King Kaufman to spread some journalistic wisdom among the contributors, toward getting its content to be as solid as its site architecture and search-engine optimization. (Those big terms basically mean the site is really easy to use, and its stories pop up a lot at Google.) My first impressions of the organization from the inside are overwhelmingly positive.

And the bottom line is this: They want to do the Olympics right. I want to do the Olympics right. Any questions?

3. Popdose (see the Tour de France story). This is basically a community of people who are really far too cool to be hanging out with sports journalists. But they let me write for them anyway, and I hope to take them up on the invitation from time to time.

4. SportsMyriad. You don’t have to be named Alanis to find this ironic: While I’m getting all this other work with intense deadlines, my dear old blog has taken off. But that’s good.

I plan to segue into Phase 2 of this blog after the Games. I’d like to bring on some contributors to serve two goals: Give readers one-stop shopping for all the niche sports that are undercovered elsewhere, and give writers a chance to develop and show off their expertise. I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that Soccer By Ives has helped a few upstart reporters get some exposure, and I’d love to do that here to find the next great gymnastics or curling writer. Maybe I’ll even get some veterans who are willing to write for exposure.

Or (and?) maybe I’ll actually try to monetize this thing beyond the Amazon and Google links.

In any case — yes, I’ll be getting back to the medal projections in the morning. Five more to go, and then I can update the big table. And get some sleep.

And then finish my danged book on The Ultimate Fighter. If you have a message from me about that, don’t think you’re off the hook.

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Hey, RSS-phobes — you can now “like” this blog on Facebook

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Beau Dure

“Gee, how will I know how to get the latest updates from SportsMyriad? I don’t use Google Reader or RSS readers, and I sometimes miss things on Twitter.”

SportsMyriad on Facebook.

“I wish there was a way I could pass SportsMyriad stuff to all my Facebook friends.”

SportsMyriad on Facebook.

“I like to like things I like in the real world on Facebook, too!”

SportsMyriad on Facebook.

Got it?

SportsMyriad on Facebook.

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