Olympic Cauldron Lighting - What Does Sochi Have to Live Up To?

I think this might be a first, as I’d like to take moment at Grab Bag Sports for once to reflect on something that technically isn’t sports. But very much sports related. The opening ceremony for the Sochi Olympics is just over 12 hours away (live) and 24 hours from U.S. broadcast, and even though it’s all about aesthetics, throwing a party, art, history and theater, it’s something that I think the large majority of sports fans have grown to love.

However I’m not really going to go into the ceremony itself, but cover something that has always intrigued me specifically on “opening” night. The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron that signifies the beginning of the games. It’s a monumental moment, and I really can’t wait to see what Sochi has in store for us, can they truly raise the bar or do their own unique thing?

In order to properly judge this, I feel like GBS should take you through the very interesting history of the Olympic Torch: why we have war and conflict to thank for what it has become, and the ceremony and now surprise of lighting of the cauldron.

The Ancient Games
As per Wikipedia:

“In the time of the original games within the boundaries of Olympia, the altar of the sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Hera maintained a continuous flame. For the ancient Greeks, fire had divine connotations—it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Therefore, fire was also present at many of the sanctuaries in Olympia, Greece.”

The Modern Olympics Begin - No Flames, Just Games

In the early years there was only a Summer Olympics (first Winter games were 1924) and actually there was no flame at all.

1896 – Athens, Greece
1900 – Paris, France
1904 - St. Louis, United States
1908 – London, England
1912 – Stockholm, Sweden
1916 - Not held - Due to World War I – Was Scheduled for Berlin, Germany
1920 – Antwerp, Belgium
1924 - Chamonix, France
1924 – Paris, France
1928 - St. Moritz, Switzerland

Interesting that the first ever Winter Olympic Games went to France along with Summer Games in the same year. In fact, this dual hosting repeats itself in 1932 with the U.S.A. and in 1936 with Germany; it was scheduled again that way in 1940 for Japan, but those games were never held (see below).

A Flame is Simply Lit as Commemoration

1928 – Amsterdam, Netherlands   


 

In 1928, for the first time they decided to have a continuous flame buring during the games in Amsterdam, and it stuck, but it wasn’t the ceremony it is now of deciding who got to light it and making it a big deal as evidenced by this historical footnote: “An employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.”

That’s right, the first modern Olympic flame was lit by a guy, because it was his job…
It actually switched over to being famous people or famous athletes in time giving us the “who will light the cauldron?” suspense, but here’s what some of the lightings looked like.

1932 - Lake Placid, N.Y., United States
 
1932 - Los Angeles, United States 



1936 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

War Brings an Everlasting Tradition - The Torch Relay Begins From Olympia, Greece

In the previous 4 Olympics, the cauldron was simply lit up. Believe it or not, the tradition of lighting the torches from the lasting flame in Olympia, Greece and transporting it to the host site came from somewhat terrible reasons, and definitely terrible people. Who is to thank for the torch relaying? The Nazis. In 1936 the Germans were hosting the Summer games in hope of showing their Aryan theory of superiority. Hitler specifically thought lighting the flame from Greece was a way of connecting Aryan Nation to gods as that’s where the flame came from, but the Nazis had a second agenda that lasts to this day, they just did it for the wrong reasons.

The Nazis knew they were getting closer to war, and in an attempt to sway public opinion, they secondarily devised the relay as a way to make many countries feel included in their Olympic games by running the torch through their country on the way to Germany. The Olympic flame was lit by a concave mirror in Olympia, Greece and transported over 3,187 kilometers by 3,331 runners in twelve days and eleven nights from Greece to Berlin, but not entirely as planned as there were protests in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on the way.

So the Nazis gave us the torch relay, but when it comes to the actual lighting of the torch during the opening ceremony, all is the same, person runs up and lights that cauldron.

1936 – Berlin, Germany




So while the new addition to the ceremony signifying the beginning of the games was nice, Jessie Owens kicked some ass and Hitler got mad and started a terrible war because Hilter was stupid, and thus...

1940 - Not held - Due to World War II  - Was Scheduled for Sapporo, Japan
1940 - Not held - Due to World War II – Was Scheduled for Tokyo, Japan
1944 - Not held - Due to World War II  - Was Scheduled for Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
1944 - Not held - Due to World War II – Was Scheduled for London, United Kingdom

So while the Nazis may have had war charged intentions behind the torch relay, their “bringing everyone together” via the torch relay remained even after World War II, even if that’s not what they actually intended. The lighting of the cauldron was still 100% of the time an athlete running into the stadium, sometimes doing a lap of the track and then running up the steps to the top of one end of the stadium or a stand and lighting a standard cauldron wherever it was, usually within basic reach of height.

1948 - St. Moritz, Switzerland
 
1948 – London, England



1952 - Oslo, Norway

1952 – Helsinki, Finland

1956 - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

1956 – Melbourne, Australia

1960 - Squaw Valley, California, United States

1960 – Rome, Italy



The First Winter Relay from Olympia, Greece


1964 - Innsbruck, Austria  



While Innsbruck wasn't a change in the standard running up and lighting of a basic cauldron with a flame from Greece, it was just the first Winter Olympics to do so. Does that mean the previous Winter Olympics had no flame relay... why certainly not, the previous Winter Olympics had quite an interesting history:

“1952 and 1960 had torch relays starting in the fireplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim, and one (1956) had a relay starting in Rome. The 1984 Winter Games were preceded by two torch relays, one from Norheim's fireplace, and the other from Olympia. The plan had been to mingle the two flames, lighting the cauldron with the combination, but this was disallowed; instead, only the Greek flame was used.” 

Yeah thats right, the flame came from some dude's fireplace!!! Understandably they put an end to that short lived tradition.

1964 – Tokyo, Japan

1968 - Grenoble, France
 
Innovating Socially

1968 - Mexico City, Mexico

Give it up to Mexico to break a huge barrier as Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic Cauldron



1972 - Sapporo, Japan
 
1972 – Munich, West Germany
 
1976 - Innsbruck, Austria
 
1976 – Montreal, Canada



War and Conflict Ups the Gamesmanship of the Cauldrons and Lightings

So after World War II, the lighting of the cauldron runs largely on tradition, a torch relay from Greece where a surprise athlete from the host country does the final leg into the stadium and lights the basic cauldron. Leave it to conflict and the threat of war to once again push the way into torch/cauldron innovation. Going into the late 70s and early 80s the Cold War happened. With it brought a giant pissing contest between the Soviet Union and the United States in the forms of the Space Race, technology advancement, communications and encryption advancements, economic advancements and failures, nuclear advancements and lastly… Olympic Cauldron lighting advancements.

To really fully set the stage you start with the athletes for competing right? But why stop there? Then comes the perfect storm in 1980 at the height of the Cold War, with the U.S. hosting the Winter Games and the Soviet Union was hosting the Summer Games later that year. The  U.S. had the standard lighting of the Cauldron or so everyone thought. Charles Morgan Kerr, A doctor from Arizona who had been elected from all 52 torch bearers to run the final leg, he wasn't even an athlete, barely even important in retrospect.

He was able to walk up steps to light the cauldron, but it was no ordinary Olympic Cauldron, it was the first ever movable Cauldron in Olympic history, so after it was lit it raised high, very freaking high, above everyone, higher than any flame ever before as if the U.S. was saying we have the best cauldron that has ever been done, no one else could do this.

1980 – Lake Placid, United States
Cauldron lighter: Charles Morgan Kerr
The Surprise: Whoa look how high that cauldron goes!!
The Cauldron: ditto to above
The Lasting Memory: Literally the cauldron itself amidst all the athletes rising up above everyone. The cauldron was amazing and having it go up too, but the person lighting it is somewhat forgettable. By the days standards though it was amazing on cauldron alone.

Its On!!!

So that pretty much set the stage, how could everyone, namely the Soviets, one up each other, and the modern history of things has been entertaining to say the least. The U.S. went on to boycott the Soviet Union for summer but it didn't stop people from watching and seeing how the Soviet Union would reply to that?


1980 – Moscow, Soviet Union
Cauldron lighter: Sergey Belov (4-time olympic medalist in basketball, including gold in 1972)
The Surprise: How in the world is anyone going to get up to that cauldron, its behind all the people in the stadium!? Whoa where in the hell did that floating pathway come from!?
The Cauldron: Very tall and very large above the stadium
The Lasting Memory: Watching Belov run atop the crowd as the colors change in his wake then the magic pathway disappeared after he was done running on it.




1984 –  Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Cauldron lighter: Sanda Dubravcic (Yugoslavia's champion figure skater)
The Surprise: The torch arrives via cross country skiers
The Cauldron: Like Moscow and many before it, its tall and atop the end of the stadium seemingly out of reach
The Lasting Memory: Dubravcic running through the performers and up an incredibly steep incline that is actually disappearing behind her





1984 – Los Angeles, United States
Cauldron lighter: Rafer Johnson (Winner of the 1960 decathalon) also the first black person to light the caldron
The Surprise: How in the hell is anyone getting up there to light that thing!?
The Cauldron: It was standard, but it was atop the arch of the rose bowl but seemingly, inaccessible to anyone
The Lasting Memory: It went a little like this, 1) we see the cauldron but no one can get up there.. 2) ok that's a staircase, that gets him higher but it is a stairway to nothing... 3) whoa the whole Olympic symbol is on fire!

Imagine if they did it at night.




1988 – Calgary, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Robyn Perry (12 year old figure skater)
The Surprise: Leave it to Canada to go "eh, just lighting this thing is still good enough for us"
The Cauldron: Big copper/bronze color and it kept rising up after lit
The Lasting Memory: Honestly just seeing the lit cauldron between the intersecting spires






1988 – Seoul, South Korea
Cauldron lighters: Track and field and dancing athletes Chung Sun-Man, Sohn Mi-Chung, and Kim Won-Tak
The Surprise: There is no way in hell anyone can get to that cauldron!
The Cauldron: read above, it was this incredibly tall stem maybe 20+ stories high
The Lasting Memory: Seeing the torch bearers get on the platform and be elevated up the entire stem so they could light the torch. Also hoping the birds would get off the cauldron so they don't get fried. And if that wasn't enough a perfectly timed flyby just as it was lit.




1992 – Albertville, France
Cauldron lighter: Michel Platini and François-Cyrille Grange (a footballer and a 9 year old who remains the youngest cauldron lighter in history)
The Surprise: This was the first time we got to see a fireball (fire on a guide rope) that Grange lit and it then flew into the cauldron.
The Cauldron: like a giant musical instrument honestly
The Lasting Memory: It was the first night time ceremony which allowed them to do the fireball



1992 – Barcelona, Spain
Cauldron lighter: Antonio Rebollo (paralympic archer)
The Surprise: He shot a freaking flaming arrow into the cauldron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Cauldron: It was tall, and high above the stadium, overseeing it, and inaccessible to anyone but that did matter because...
The Lasting Memory: He just shot a flaming arrow into the cauldron to light it!!!  I really like to think this will forever remain one of, if not the, coolest lighting ever. It took a massive amount of skill to pull this off and that's what made it so damn impressive. I really like to think this was the pivotal moment that took us from really cool, to pushing the envelope.



1994 – Lillehammer, Norway
Cauldron lighter: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
The Surprise: He just ski jumped in with the flame in hand!!!!
The Cauldron: It was just a white cylinder, not even that remarkable, it was all about the delivery on this one.
The Lasting Memory: Its silly to lay the importance to Prince of Norway who lit the cauldron because no one cares about that, you can barely even find that part on YouTube, the part people care about was Stein Gruben ski jumping with the flame in hand to deliver it to the games. The insane part is that he wasn't even supposed to do it, he was just the understudy that filled in due to injury.



1996 – Atlanta, United States
Cauldron lighter: Muhammad Ali
The Surprise: Muhammad Ali
The Cauldron: A Large french fries from McDonalds??? Seriously, that's what it looked like
The Lasting Memory: For many people it was obviously Ali holding the flame and then lighting a little fireball the shot up to the very odd, McDonalds french fry holder looking shape. The anticipation of "who will it be" was so great on this one, I remember people visibly trying to figre out who was last in the line.



1998 – Nagano, Japan
Cauldron lighter: Midori Ito (1992 silver medalist)
The Surprise: Chris Moon (a mine explosion survivor) delivers the torch into the stadium and eventually it goes up but then its Ito in gorgeous Japanese traditional outfit from under the stage who does the lighting, not the one who delivered it up there
The Cauldron: Actually very unique with the colors and the way it had a bunch of spurs of sorts
The Lasting Memory: A basic but perfect lighting, proving that you don't always have to be in a running suit, you can look elaborately elegant



2000 – Sydney, Australia
Cauldron lighter: Cathy Freeman (Winner of Olympic silver in 1996 and went o to win in Sydney too, the only person ever to light a cauldron and win a gold medal in the same games.)
The Surprise: the Australians built a freaking waterfall into their stadium but forgot to build a cauldron!!! Where is the flame going to go!!!?
The Cauldron: A hidden from view saucer under a waterfall that rose up and connected to its stem.
The Lasting Memory: My personal favorite cauldron to date, it was completely hidden, yet perfectly in view, the entire time hidden under the water so that final torchbearer Cathy Freeman literally set water on fire. Think about that for a second. She set water on fire, then the flame arose around her, made its way up to the top where it got attached to a stem and rose even higher, its just awesome.



2002 – Salt Lake City, United States
Cauldron lighter: The Whole 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team
The Surprise: Mike Eruzione recreates the famous 1980 medal ceremony with the entire 1980 hockey team
The Cauldron: A beautiful swirling spire very high above everything
The Lasting Memory: Many people remember the torch being skated around the rink, but it seemed silly when you noticed they were just doing circles. But then it got really cool, for Americans at least, when the final torch bearer was captain of the 1980 hockey team, Mike Eruzione. What made it awesome was that he recreated, to the detail, the exact scene of the 1980 medal ceremony, because back then only captains were awarded the medal but in 1980 he waved up the entire team, and did the same with the torch setting the record for the most ever cauldron lighters.



2004 – Athens, Greece
Cauldron lighter: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Sailing gold medalist, and won silver in these games)
The Surprise: the flying torch bearers
The Cauldron: I'm sure its not what they were going for but it looked like a giant joint until it was made vertical.
The Lasting Memory: not only did a bunch of torch bearers fly out from the crowd, but Kaklamanakis ran over to what looked like the biggest doobie ever and lit up. The torche then made a 120ish angle turn upward to soar over.



2006 – Torino, Italy
Cauldron lighter: Stefania Belmondo (cross country skier, one of Italy's most decorated olympians with 10 medals)
The Surprise: The whole freaking stadium lights up!?
The Cauldron: Uhh technically the whole stadium got lit up, the cauldron looked like it exploded, but if we're talking just the cauldron it was a cool set of spiraling pipes high above everything.
The Lasting Memory: Ok so far I've talked about just torch lighting, but did you see them have an F1 car do donuts in the middle of the stadium!? Seriously just go to the 1:42:00 mark. (I think that satisfies our racing talk quota of this blog)



On second thought if it were China, the donuts would have made a perfect Olympic rings on the ground... speaking of...

2008 – Bejing, China
Cauldron lighter: Li Ning (China's most decorated athlete, gymnastics, with six medals)
The Surprise: What the hell is going on, are the chinese even human, this whole thing looks like a science fiction thriller, people are flying, the torch is gigantic but it was literally not there 2 seconds ago!!!
The Cauldron: an amazing paper spiral look, but crazier is that it literally wasn't there until it was time for the lighting.
The Lasting Memory: The memory everyone in the world had was spending the next 2 weeks trying to pick their jaw up off the floor from the opening ceremony, the dancing, the drumming, the blocks, the largest led screens ever, the projected videos, the dancing calligraphy, and to top it off their torch lighter was suspended and ran the entire length of the stadium's rim sideways, and then lit a cauldron that appears out of freaking nowhere.



2010 – Vancouver, Canada
Cauldron lighter: Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Wayne Gretzky...ish
The Surprise: Soo... I guess only 3 torch lighters needed?
The Cauldron: It was supposed to be, and eventually was, 4 leaning towers around a master cauldron, but one of them got stuck so eventually they gave in and just lit the 3 that were up. After wards they fixed the 4th and got it done.
The Lasting Memory: Sadly all video of this ceremony is being pulled off youTube, and the collage below doesn't fully show the awkward million hours everyone stood around waiting to see if the 4th tower would show up. It was awesome of Canada though to have the idea of having 4 towers leading up to a master cauldron.



2012 – London, England
Cauldron lighter: Seven unknown aspiring young athletes
The Surprise: After high stakes gambling, worldwide speculation, the Britians turn to 7 unknown young athletes to light the numerous cauldrons, rather than a single one.
The Cauldron: One mini cauldron for every country participating in the Olympics
The Lasting Memory: London did what they do, they saw what China did and knew they couldn't compete with the scale so they brought their ingenuity. Rather than a famous athlete they sent their youth to do the lighting, and rather than one big cauldron, the made a ring of small ones that each country was able to take home. Innovation in spades those Brits.



2014 – Sochi, Russia
Cauldron lighter:  ????
The Surprise:  ?????
The Cauldron: ?????
The Lasting Memory:  ????

What do you have in store for us Russia??? Or for that matter how will you raise the bar for the future:

2014 – Rio, Brazil
2018 - Pyeongchang, South Korea
2020 – Tokyo, Japan

Olympic Dinner

Kicking off the Sochi games with some beef stroganoff. Happy Olympics!

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics: Preview Podcast

Here is our first non-Blogathon podcast! Feel free to share, to let us know what you think, and to get feedback to Wedge on Twitter @AllenWedge.

Super Bowl XLVIII: Commercial Ratings

So we know that when it comes to the Super Bowl, the commercials are just as important as the football game being played.

I'll keep a running post here where I give my ratings for some of the commercials shown during Super Bowl XLVIII. (Ratings are mostly based on originality and humor. I don't really care about what they're selling.)

Fusion Hybrid: Double Commercial - 3.5 out of 5 - Bonus points for James Franco.

Bud Light: Ad About a Guy Who Doesn't Know He's in an Ad - Uh... 1.5 / 5 - I guess I might have to change this one since it looks like it will continue. But that's kind of annoying too. Just give me your best in 30 seconds.

Doritos: Time Machine - 4 / 5

Silverado: Bull - 1.5 / 5 - "Nothing makes me want to buy a truck like cows having sex." - my friend Jeremy

Turbo Tax: Sean at the Prom - 4 / 5

Bud Light: Part II - 2 / 5 - Arnold is playing ping pong. But I'm still not into this.

Beats Music: Ellen with Bears - 2.5 / 5 - My kids loved it.

U2: Invisible - 1 / 5 - I think the hatred that Wedge and I have for U2 has been well documented around here.

Cheerios: Baby and Puppy - 4 / 5 - Her face is great.

Squarespace: A Better Internet - 2.5 / 5

Radioshack: The 80s Called - 5 / 5 - Perfect! Jason Voorhees, Chucky, Twisted Sister, ALF!

GoDaddy: Puppets By Gwen - 2 / 5 - Did she really just quit her job? If so, I could go to a 3.

T-mobile: Tim Tebow No Contract - 2.5 / 5

Volkswagon: German Engineers with Wings - 2.5 / 5

Wonderful Pistachios - 4 / 5 - The head crack!

David Beckham Bodywear - 1 / 5

Carmax: Slow Clap - 5 / 5 - The kid falling off the bike was the best.

Geico: Digital ID - 1 / 5

M&Ms: Peanut M&Ms for Everyone - 3.5 / 5

Highlander: Terry Crews and the Muppets - 5 / 5 - There were singing vegetables!

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: Seinfeld Reunion - 5 / 5 - Counts as a commercial. The best commercial ever. Waiting for that Full House reunion though!

Audi: Compromise Scares Us - 4 / 5

T-mobie: Tebow Part II - 3 / 5 - This one was a little better.

Chobani: Bear Attack - 2 / 5

KIA: Laurence Fishburne - 2 / 5

Heinz: If You're Happy and You Know It - 2 / 5

Honda: Bruce Willis and Fred Armisen - 2.5 / 5

Chrysler: Bob Dylan - 1 / 5 - Really? Dylan is selling cars?

Coke: Touchdown - 2.5 / 5

Butterfinger: Peanut Butter and Chocolate - 2.5 / 5

Hyundai: Johnny Galecki - 1 / 5 - This is worse than all the "Yay, America" stuff.

Jaguar: Good To Be Bad - 1 / 5 - What is the deal with all the cars?

Oikos: Full House Reunion - 5 / 5 - Yes, yes, yes! Those pants are going to stain.

T-mobile: Breakup - 1.5 / 5 - Kind of hypocritical since they've already used Tebow twice.

Sodastream: Scarlett Johansson - 1.5 / 5

Go Daddy: Spray Tan - 3 / 5

Doritos: Cowboy - 4 / 5

Esurance: 1st Commercial After the Game - 4.5 / 5 - Jim Halpert!

Super Bowl XLVIII: Fun with prop bets

We hoped to have more Super Bowl coverage this week, and we even had a non-Blogathon podcast planned for about five minutes! Unfortunately, things got a little busy for us. (We're shooting for an Olympic preview podcast this week, for those who like to hear us talk.)

Still, it's Super Bowl Sunday, and it's going to be a great day. With all the prop bets available for today's big game, I figured I'd weigh in on some of them. Please note, (a) I am not a gambler and (b) I am a Broncos fan. So don't blame me if you lose any money. Also, remember, I already kind of predicted a 49-7 Denver victory.

So here are my predictions for just some of today's available prop bets for Super Bowl XLVIII (2014).

Player to score the first (receiving or rushing) TD: Demaryius Thomas

Longest rush of the game: Russell Wilson

Will Richard Sherman receive a taunting penalty (between kickoff and final whistle)? No.

Will Richard Sherman receive a pass interference penalty? Yes.

Color of liquid dumped on winning coach: Clear.

Seen first after kickoff, Erin Andrews or Pam Oliver: Pam Oliver

Will any member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers be shirtless during their performance? No.

Will Renee Fleming forget or omit one word of the National Anthem? No.

Will Renee Fleming wear gloves? Yes.

Renee Fleming's glove color: Black

(Note: I wish I knew Renee Fleming so she could help me bet this one and we could win a trillion dollars.)

Below are some available "over/under" bets.

Russell Wilson TD passes (2): Under

Marshawn Lynch yard total on first rushing attempt (3.5): Under

Peyton Manning's "Omaha" count (27.5): Over

Renee Fleming's National Anthem length (2:22): Over

Number of times Archie Manning is shown on screen (2.5): Over

Number of times "12th man" is said during the broadcast (2.5): Over

And just for fun, I'll add a couple that are not officially available to bet on, as far as I know.

Number of times broadcasters mention Julius Thomas played basketball (1.5): Over

Will Eric Decker drop a pass? Yes.

Will Jacob Tamme score a touchdown? Yes.

GBS Grammar Time

I really do try to read more about sports online, but it's just too difficult. First of all, there is simply not enough good coverage for sports that are not football, baseball, or basketball. Even college basketball and baseball are lacking in coverage. But the main reason that it is so hard to read about sports these days is that the writing is often terrible. I can't get through articles (or blog posts) without stumbling across numerous spelling and grammar errors, having to translate what the writer is actually trying to say. I sometimes feel like I should be paid as an editor just for making it to the end.

I hate to pick on any one writer, but… I'm going to do it. I don't have a personal grudge against this person, who might be a great dude, and I don't know that I've ever read his stuff in the past. (Also, I do not claim to be perfect in any way myself. But I am also writing for Grab Bag Sports, making no money doing so, and do not have the benefit of an editor.)

Today I tried to read a story from the front page of Yahoo. Written by Kelly Dwyer for the Ball Don't Lie blog, this piece is a hot mess and is far too representative of the type of stuff I find myself trying to read through daily. The post discusses Royce White and how GM Daryl Morey refers to White as the "worst first round pick ever." White suffers from anxiety disorder, while Dwyer apparently suffers from freelance writing stress, where we have too many deadlines and not enough editing support. (I totally understand, trust me.)

But seriously, take a look at some of the text from a piece that Yahoo is pushing on its front page.

• The former Iowa State standout says he still wants to play in the NBA, but his anxiety disorder has prevented him from taking the court with either the Houston Rockets (and, after a trade, the Philadelphia 76ers) in a regular season setting.

First there is the use of "either," which should be combined with "or" instead of "and." Even worse, his "and" is in the parentheses. In fact, if you take out the parenthetical section, you get "has prevented him from taking the court with either the Houston Rockets in a regular season setting."

• White hasn’t been specific in discussing the barriers (travel? Inability to work in a major pro setting? Communication anxiety with teammates and coaches?), while neither Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, or 76ers GM Sam Hinkie (who was with the Rockets when they drafted White in 2012) haven’t commented much about their various stalemates.

Wow, what a sentence! This guy clearly has trouble with parentheses, as taking them out of this sentence gives us this result:

White hasn’t been specific in discussing the barriers, while neither Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, or 76ers GM Sam Hinkie haven’t commented much about their various stalemates.

The "neither…or" is incorrect, and the comma after Morey is just a guess, I assume. "I kinda feel like this might need a comma. Let's do it!" But even better is that the essential parts of the dependent clause state this:

Neither Daryl or Sam have not commented. 

So… Tell the truth. Have they commented or not?

• You may not like the way Royce White handled his communication with both the Houston and Philadelphia front office.

Honestly, Kelly, I'm more concerned about the fact that Houston and Philly share a front office! That seems impractical!

• There is a lot to be not on Royce White’s side here…

OK!

• Yes, Royce White was a first round pick from an American college that hasn’t played a regular season NBA minute yet, something struggling even top overall pick Anthony Bennett has in his favor.

I can't believe that this American college has not played a regular season NBA minute yet! And really… what the hell is going on with the second part of the sentence? "Something struggling even top overall pick Anthony Benett has in his favor"? I don't even know what that means.

There are other things I could pick on, but I think I've made my point. However, the best part is Dwyer's bio, where it states he is an editor for Ball Don't Lie!

And this is why I stick to the radio for my sports updates as often as I can.

Note: If any of this text is later changed and/or corrected, I do have screen caps to prove this is what was originally published.

Super Bowl XLVIII: The Tecmo Super Bowl Prediction

For five consecutive years now, I have correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner by choosing one of the teams and playing Tecmo Super Bowl. This year I attempted to move to 6-0 in Tecmo predictions by selecting the Denver Broncos and facing their Tecmo division rivals, the Seattle Seahawks.

1st Quarter

(Note for our regular readers: For the first time in years, I opened the game with an actual kickoff and not an inadvertent onside kick attempt!)

Seattle took the opening kickoff to their 15 and got the run game going for a couple of plays. But on third down, linebacker Michael Brooks rushed quarterback Dave Krieg to force a high incomplete pass.

Denver returned a punt to the 33, and quarterback John Elway immediately struck with a 67-yard bomb to receiver Vance Johnson. The Broncos led 7-0.

The Seahawks scored their only touchdown of the game on the next drive, with running backs Derrick Fenner and John L. Williams ripping down the field in big chunks. Fenner ran 18 yards for the score, knocking five guys to the ground in the process and tying the game at 7-7.

The quarter expired as Seattle kicked off.

2nd Quarter

The game took a strange turn here, with the next three quarters seeing six turnovers (plus two successful onside kicks). After Bobby Humphrey ran for a first down, Broncos running back Steve Sewell fumbled on the next play. Dwayne Harper recovered for Seattle.

Denver quickly got revenge, however, as Fenner immediately coughed the ball up, and Dennis Smith recovered for the Broncos. Receiver Mark Jackson hauled in a 48-yard pass from Elway, with Humphrey then carrying seven yards for the touchdown. Broncos led 14-7.

On the next drive Krieg hit Brian Blades for 41 yards. Seattle stalled when Brooks and Warren Powers each got sacks, and Krieg threw incomplete on third down. A good punt backed Denver up to its endzone, leading to Elway's only incomplete pass on a Hail Mary to close out the half.

3rd Quarter

With only a 14-7 lead, I was ready to pounce on the Seahawks defense. Unfortuantely, Johnson fumbled the kick return, and Jacob Green grabbed it for Seattle at the Denver 20. The Seahawks didn't keep the ball for long though. Powers took over, blocking a pass, stopping a run for a loss, and then recovering a fumble forced by Brooks at the 35.

Elway tried to settle things down by handing off to Humphrey, who shredded the defense for a 65-yard touchdown! Broncos led 21-7.

With all the momentum, I knew this was the time to try an onside kick. The Broncos stole a possession, and Johnson scored on a 47-yard pass with no one around him. Broncos led 28-7.

The kickoff backed Seattle up to its nine yard line, and the first play lost five yards. But then Fenner ran it past the first down mark, only to lose the ball on another fumble, this one being recovered by Denver's Greg Kragen at the Seattle 20. Johnson attempted a wide receiver end-around for three yards on the final play of the quarter.

4th Quarter

Trying to run some clock, Humphrey started the final quarter with two rushes, failing to get a first down. The speedy Elway scrambled on fourth down to move the chains and then hit Jackson for an 11-yard touchdown. Broncos led 35-7.

Krieg threw an incomplete pass on the next drive and was then picked off by Denver's Wymon Henderson at the Seattle 15. Elway passed to Sewell for another score. Broncos led 42-7.

With less than two minutes remaining, I went for another onside kick and was successful once again. One last 47-yard strike to Johnson ended the scoring, and the Broncos led 49-7 with 1:22 remaining.

The Seahawks recovered my final onside kick attempt and blazed down the field, thanks to catches by Ron Heller and Tommy Kane. A final completion to Fenner was stopped at the Denver two-yard-line, and the game was done.

Outcome

With a decisive 49-7 victory, my prediction is clear. The Denver Broncos will defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Blogathon: Final Scoring and Recap

So, the final scores are in for our 2014 Pick 'Em Challenge.

Wedge - 69
Speedgeek - 65
Mike - 58

So my racing picks did me in, as I expected. Three of my selections were out of contention really early. Like, I don't even know if the drivers had keys to their cars. The fact that Wedge was able to pick the winner is amazing to me. Those cars were dropping left and right. Once my Ganassi pick turned into a Flintstones vehicle, I was out of this competition. For final thoughts on the race, definitely check out what Wedge and Speedgeek had to say.

The biggest surprise of this challenge to me was the low score of the Pro Bowl. Who knew that making it a draft would cause the players to be more competitive? After the 13-touchdown Tecmo Bowl-ish display from last year, the teams combined for only six scores?!

Hey, at least I broke 50.

Daytona Wrap-Up

Well, how about that for an ending, huh? Three of the four classes had a first to second gap of less then 3.0 seconds at the checkered flag (two of them were less than 2.0 seconds), a controversial call that affected who won a class that was later rescinded, storylines galore...there wasn't a whole lot missing from this 24 Hours of Daytona, right?

Well, as Wedge referred to earlier, I wouldn't go that far. A great finish, and I was certainly entertained (which is the point, I suppose), but there was a lot to dislike here.

 - For the most part, my days of complaining about TV coverage are well behind me. Yes, I've done my share of bashing ABC for their coverage of IndyCar over the years, and I do wish that some networks and teams would pay a little more attention to what they were doing, but I'd say that I vent my spleen on the internet about TV coverage probably once a year or less at this point of my life (which is saying a lot, since I was such an arrogant so-and-so as a teenager that I used to rant to my parents about how bad Bob Varsha was at his job...either he got a lot better since 1992, or I mellowed and figured out that it's damn near impossible to make every single call a perfect one for two straight hours sometime in the ensuing years; I'll bet that it's the latter, and that he was just as awesome back then). I don't even have a whole lot to say about the actual crew that was covering the 24. I think they did their usual B+ to A- job (it's probably impossible to score an A+ in my book, but I'm not upset about that). HOWEVER, whoever was pacing the commercials this weekend, in the last three hours of the race...they have some explaining to do. Even in my days of watching a lot of NASCAR (which ended in about 2010, which is an entirely other topic), I've never seen so many ad breaks. In my estimation, during the last two hours of the race, there were eight or nine occurrences of "ad break/return to coverage for two minutes or less/another ad break", and there were even two occurrences that I remember for sure of "ad break/return to coverage for two minutes or less/ad break/return to coverage for two minutes or less/another ad break". Yes, two times down the stretch, there were THREE ad breaks in an eight minute or less stretch of real time. That is egregious. I hoped that this would translate into one of those "we're going commercial free for the last 20 minute!" things, but that definitely didn't happen. I get that there are bills to pay and what not, and Calvin Fish, Dorsey Schroeder, Justin Bell, Andrew Marriott, Bob Varsha, Tommy Kendall and all the other pros at Fox Sports 1 don't work for free, but are there not less obvious ways of shoving ad content in front of peoples' eyeballs? Maybe instead of that third ad break in seven minutes, rotate a couple of sponsor logos at the top corner of the screen while the action continues? I know I've seen that before during races, so why wasn't it employed this weekend?

 - By the same token, I've been wary about the GrandAm "takeover" of the ALMS for two reasons: 1) the NASCAR-owned (actually "sister company", I suppose) GrandAm has had an iffy relationship with technical rules enforcement in the past (I still hold a grudge over 2009, when a Porsche-engined car won at Daytona by a virtual nose, then GrandAm cut the Porsches off at the knees by eliminating their sixth gear and knocking down their rev limiter by 500 RPM for most of the year...related: the Porsches didn't get close to winning another race until the last race of the season, after GrandAm finally relaxed the penalty), and 2) the enforcement of yellow flag and restart procedures hasn't always been what I would call "consistent with other sanctioning bodies worldwide". We got a good dose of #2 today, when Leh Keen went off track with about 21 minutes to go in the race, hit a tire barrier in the Continental Horseshoe hairpin, was stationary for about four or five seconds, then put the car into gear and resumed driving (I'm not sure he even pitted right away to repair the damaged front fascia, that's how light the damage was). Local yellow, right? If that? No car to clear away, no debris of any sort to clean up...NOPE! 13 MINUTE FULL COURSE YELLOW! Yes, I know that everybody wants a photo finish, and we basically all but got one today (a two second gap after 24 hours of racing is incredible, even if it had to be manipulated into being), but is this what racing has become? Throwing cautions whenever expeditious to bunch the field up in order to keep margins of victory razor thin? If this is going to be an every race occurrence under IMSA sanction, then you can count me out.

 - The penalty on the #555 Level 5 Ferrari has been rescinded, and class victory given back, but I still can't believe that anybody in race control could have possibly thought that it was a good idea at any time to levy a penalty on something that they'd only probably had time to review a replay of once or twice...FOR A RACE WIN, ON THE LAST LAP. We heard that there was a penalty being handed down to the #555 car even before Joao Barbosa had stopped to pick up a flag or something on pit lane after his cool down lap, which meant that there had been no more than 5-6 minutes elapsed between "cars side by side in the infield" to "results changing penalty announced". Hey, guys? In the future, if this happens again, I think we're all fine with you watching a few more replays from a couple more angles, just to make sure you got it right. If it means that the champagne in victory lane isn't quite as cold as the winners might like, I think we'll all get over having to wait an extra minute or three. Just spare the embarrassment of rushing to a decision because you feel like you need to RIGHT THIS SECOND.

So, with that, consider my spleen vented, my garments rent, all that good stuff. Because outside of that stuff (as major as it might have been), we actually saw a pretty good race. The Prototype balancing act between the DPs and the LMP2s was probably about as good as you could get, even if there was never a doubt that a DP would win (Daytona is almost alone on the schedule in its identity as a high horsepower, low drag track, which is the DPs whole thing...LMP2 cars will probably dominate most of the rest of the schedule, unless IMSA hands the DPs even more downforce than they already have). The Fords were just about on the pace, which is pretty darn good for a brand new engine (they'll definitely win races later in the year). The GTLM class was as good as expected, with four different makes in the top-5 in class. GTD was an absolute monster of a class, with Ferrari, Porsche and Audi all seriously contending for the win, even right down to the last lap (the#58 Snow Racing Porsche sneaked up and finished in the wheeltracks of the #45 Flying Lizard Audi after all that argy-bargy). If IMSA can stifle the urge to tinker, tinker, and tinker some more with the balance of performance, we could be in for an epic season, at just about every track.

That's all from Speedgeek Towers! Thanks to everybody for stopping by to check out Blogathon, and special thanks to Mike and Wedge for having me along on this excellent adventure in the first place. I'm already stocking up on Red Bull so that I can stay awake for next year's movie. Is there any chance that there's a "Hockey Moms 2: Back 2 the Ice"? Come on back and find out!

2014 Pro Bowl Preview

I don't know if I'll like the new Pro Bowl format or not, but I'm definitely OK with them trying new ideas. With Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders drafting teams, we're able to get matchups and teammates that we never would've seen in the past. Below is a quick preview of each position, the team I think has the advantage at that position, and my predictions for the game.

Quarterback - Team Rice

If you have Drew Brees, I'm likely giving you the edge, especially when he has his tight end. Philip Rivers and Alex Smith will be able to keep any lead that Brees builds up. I think we all know how Team Sanders' starter, Cam Newton, performed in his last Pro Bowl: 9-for-27 with three interceptions. Andrew Luck and Nick Foles will not be able to bring them back if Brees gets a lead.

Running Back - Team Rice

LeSean McCoy is backed up by Demarco Murray and Matt Forte. That's pretty unbeatable. Jamal Charles is a great starter for Sanders, but I wonder how much he'll play. I'm not as confident in Eddie Lacy and Alfred Morris yet. I also think Rice's Mike Tolbert is a more effective fullback than Sanders' Marcel Reece.

Wide Receivers - Team Sanders

Yes, you have to give the edge to the team with AJ Green, Dez Bryant, Antonio Brown, and DeSean Jackson. However, can Newton get them the ball? With Rice's quarterbacks, he'll be fine with Brandon Marshall, Josh Gordon, Larry Fitzgerald, and Alshon Jeffery. Plus, tight ends will be a huge factor. Leading us to…

Tight Ends - Team Rice

Jimmy Graham and Tony Gonzalez, both members of Team Rice, are two of the best to ever play the game. Team Sanders' Jason Witten is good, and Jordan Cameron is a rising star. But this is not even close. I can't wait to see Brees with Graham and Gonzalez on the field at the same time.

Other Positions

I honestly do not know enough about NFL linemen and defenses to properly analyze other positions, especially in a game where very little defense is played. I would likely give Sanders the edge at kick returner (Cordarelle Patterson over Dexter McCluster) and kicker (Justin Tucker over Stephen Gostkowski), but neither player will probably have much of an impact.

Prediction - Team Rice by at least 14

What an end to the race... ruined by IMSA officials

First of all, great job by Corvette who takes home overall 1, 2, 3 finish.

But seriously terrible race for IMSA who will be remembers for a terrible website, crashing Timing & Scoring but most of all throwing a caution for no reason at the end of the race and following that up by penalizing the winner of the GT Daytona class for trying to win the race side by side with the Audi. What a crap way to end the race, it was super exciting to the last minute and done completely clean, the Ferrari could have done nothing else, they basicly got penalized for trying to win.

the official call was "avoidable contact" only except on replays they don't even seem to have made contact, it was just good hard racing.

You don't want it to sour your take on the last 24 hours but what a terrible way to spoil the end of the race for the fans and those drivers.

I hate my racing picks, and I hate all of you.

Seriously, my picks were terrible. I guess I need to hope the Pro Bowl can help me, but I don't know if it can.

Anyway, as we run under a yellow flag in the final 20 minutes or so, I'm going to bow out and leave the final racing analysis to the masters.

Look for a Pro Bowl preview from me a little later and maybe a recap in the morning.

Next week I'll have lots of fun Super Bowl stuff, including my Tecmo Bowl prediction and hopefully a football edition of GBS at the Movies. Then, of course, we'll be gearing up for the Olympics.

Thanks to everyone who hung out this weekend, mainly Wedge, Speedgeek, and our wives and kids, who were forced to witness 24 hours of sports.

OK, I'm ready for the race!

Got some beer, got some chips. Got two computers set up. I'm officially ready for the 24 Minutes of Daytona!

02 Ganassi Car is Done

This is probably not what it looked like

"On No. 02 car, the floor started rolling back."

Translation: Dixon could see the track under his feet.

So yeah, that is considered unrepairable. Unsafe to continue

Universal Sporting - Tennis leads the way

So earlier you saw our first installment of sports sharing universally saying there should be no allotment of players for singular plays. But recently in a few text messages and emails Mike and I exchanged some of the things that tennis simply gets right and everyone else should do.

#1 - Your challenges allowed is simply counted by how many times you are able to be wrong and only players get to make them.
It makes no sense in the NFL that you have a limit on challenges even if you are right all the time. Baseball only lets umpires make calls and its the same in the NHL. Why not let the players make a challenge and forget the coaches, because at heart its the players contesting the battle.

Its simple really, if players don't see the point in making challenges, then it doesn't need to be made. In football ALL the time coaches challenge even though they know they are wrong because they want an extended timeout, or because they have multiple challenges to blow. Just change it to "you only get to be wrong once and you're out of challenges"

#2 - Replays should not be done by humans, at the very least it should not be done by a single person on the field. 
Seriously we have so much damn technology; and we refuse to use it. In tennis a challenge takes upwards of 20 seconds. In the NFL it takes 5-10 minutes and in the few instances of baseball that has been done to date it's taken 15-20 minutes.

Technology can easily see if a football crossed the line or hit the ground of if a soccer ball or hockey puck crossed into the goal, it makes no sense we let a human look at a TV screen and make an objective call if they could "see" it crossing. So many calls in the NFL are not overturned because there isn't enough evidence; that's insane in this day of technology.

More to the point everyone on the field has a bias, the Ref doesn't want to look like they made a bad call, and all the participants want things to go their way. If technology can't be used, leave it up to a professional call reviewer who should make the call in 2 minutes or less and be done with it; at the end of the day its sports, not a trial by jury.

#3 Giant Souvenirs!!!
Ok I'm mostly joking but have you guys seen the ridiculous giant tennis balls that kids in the stands get autographed by the players!? Obviously its a souvenir-only ploy but it should be done by all sports, gigantic footballs and hockey pucks, gigantic shoes for track athletes and gigantic hockey sticks, and best of all, real life size model cars, not real cars giant models with no engine.

#4 Quick Interview to the Crowd After a Match and Then Souvenirs up to the Nose Bleeds
This one is for the fans, they shelled out a ton of money to go and for the folks way up top they don't get to see as well, sometimes have to deal with weather and get no chance at an autograph. In tennis though after a match they interview the players for everyone to hear rather than having them just run back into a tunnel. Then after the interviews they autograph some tennis balls and hit them up into the high stands for the fans. This is a great practice and is a way to make the blue collar fans happy and give them a chance to take an autograph home.

#5 Lastly and this isn't just tennis that does this... All decisions made about how the sport is conducted is done with priority of the game and the fans at the stadium/track/field FIRST!
Too many leagues are doing TV timeouts, angle adjustments and such for the viewers at home and its starting to hurt the sports. The NFL could barely sell out 3 playoff games and the Super bowl secondary market prices are at an all time low because being at home in comfort far outweighs being at the game. the same goes for many sports because we've actually changed the games enough that you're actually at a disadvantage being there. So bad TV timeouts, and ban extending yellow flags at races to match the Tv window, you're compromising the integrity of sports.

This is happening now...

It's 5:00 somewhere. Except it's not, cause it'd have to be 5:15.

"Oh my God. That's the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life." - my wife

90 Minutes to Go...Status Quo

I've been dragging my feet on posting anything for the last 30 minutes or so, waiting for something significant to happen at the top of any of the classes. Really, not a whole lot has changed since my last post about 90 minutes ago, with the exception of the #4 Corvette hitting trouble and dropping out of the lead battle in GTLM. Good news: that does still mean that all the classes are still up for grabs, with at least two cars on the lead lap in every class. In particular, GTD has four or five cars on the lead lap (it's hard to tell from the IMSA.com timing and scoring page, as it refreshes every 30 seconds or so).

We are potentially in for a great battle, that comes down to the last 10 minutes in every class. Can't ask for a whole lot more, can you?

P2 in the Top 5

Considering all of the attrition going on in this race, gearboxes, axles, oil leaks, fires, crashes, its amazing that we have multiple cars battling for the overall lead, the GTD lead and even the GTLM lead.

Also a huge shout out to the Muscle Milk guys who are in 5th place overall in the highest P2 car of the field. Actually only 10 seconds back of the Ganassi 02 entry at the moment for 4th.

A little under an hour and a half to go, curious how the final stints here work out, we've got some crazy people at the wheels right now.

I want to go to pit row.

You think I could sneak in with my car and just pull in to one of the pits? My brakes aren't the best, I hear this clicking noise sometimes on right turns, and one of my back windows does NOT stay up. I mean, it's a 92 Honda Accord, and it runs great. But these dudes look pretty good, and they work FAST. It'd only take like 46 seconds.

Blogathon 2014: Limerick #4

When Spencer's race car caught on fire,
He knew he would not find a buyer.
Though he still tried to sell it,
The smoke, you could smell it.
But he did get four bucks for one tire!