What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:
1
For the 78th time, today a 45-pound bronze statue will be handed to an individual college football player — branding that individual as the best college football player in all the land.
Which begs the question: Do you care?
Bud Withers of the Seattle Times — a voter for the Heisman — posed that question on Friday.
Wrote Withers: “I’m wondering if the Heisman — the most hyped, publicized and romanticized individual award in sports — is simply driven these days by media concentration on it.
“Stated another way, is it possible the public interest in the award is far less than the broadcast minutes and the print inches devoted to discussion of it?”
We’re guessing the answer to that question is: yes. But so what if the public doesn’t treat the Heisman with the same hysteria as “Dancing with the Stars?”
One of the most fun parts of being a sports fan is debating the greatest teams, games, and players. Sure, the Heisman is over-hyped? But that doesn’t diminish its rich history, or its value as a conversation starter at tailgate parties across the land.
2
Gary Bettman long ago secured his place for posterity in the Sports Commissioner’s Hall of Shame.
But it seems he is taking ineptitude to a whole new level in 2012.
In case you’ve forgotten, the National Hockey League traditionally plays games in the fall and winter. Except with Bettman at the helm. The current lockout is the third in a row at the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement, and its becoming more likely that an entire season will be lost.
The problem with the NHL’s business model was created by Bettman’s “leadership.”
As TheBigLead.com points out: “Teams in Canada and natural hockey markets in the northern U.S. are making money. Teams in the south, mostly misguided expansion and relocation projects under Bettman in the 1990s, are hemorrhaging money. Those owners are better off not playing hockey.”
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