Letters to the Editor
melanon
Published Letters: 3 Editor's Choice: 2
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...and snowboarding pads the American medal count
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am not buying the sudden ogling by the American press over snowboarding as entirely genuine. Granted, the men's SBX yesterday seemed to have a little more national diversity than the half-pipe events, but as of that event the US had won 6 of 9 medals in the snowboarding competitions, and they didn't actually sweep the men's half-pipe medals like they did in Salt Lake. Americans are conditioned to extol the virtues of whatever sport they happen to be good at, and downplay the significance of those which other countries have the audacity to beat us. And we desperately need a slam-dunk now, since the latter seems to be happening more frequently.
I have a feeling if the Americans and not the Germans had swept the podium in the women's singles luge, luge would be the most wonderful thing going. People seem to be ok with this modest bit of xenophobia, for reasons I'd like to see explained someday.
Oh yeah, I found it funny that it took Jay Leno to mention the fact that snowboarding has made Shawn White quite wealthy. NBC Sports wasn't going to dare whiz on the Olympic Spirit with that.
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Not only are PKs a bad way to break ties...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...they're often troublesome when they occur during the course of a game as well. A referee awarding a penalty is basically giving a free goal, especially since the coach can designate anyone he wants to take the shot regardless of who was fouled. Given how enormously valuable every goal is in soccer and especially the World Cup, that's an enormous price to pay for what have been some calls that have been even questionable fouls. France's last two goals in the tournament were on penalties; can you really say those fouls cost them a certain goal?
I am not the most soccer-savvy person, but my suggestion (if you must have penalties) is to move the spot back, perhaps to the top of the arc or beyond. That would give the keeper a split-second longer to react and eliminate the ridiculous guessing (at this point he might as well not be there at all). The free-throw analogy is apt; so if you're going to have one during the game, perhaps it should only be worth half as much as a regular goal. (Now, I don't expect that one to happen, I'm just being speculative.)
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You can add...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"God Bless America" (ugh) to the list of ceremonies FOX has no trouble finding a place for in its broadcast. I don't think I need to connect the dots here for anybody, especially those who have seen what is ostensibly FOX's "news" division.