by Tom Weppel
I’ll be curious to see how much more we shall hear from Roger Clemens and his posse of attorneys, in the fallout from the Congressional Hearing. I mention that, especially now with Spring Training in full force, and with Roger now without a team. Is the guy going to retire? If he plays, he would absolutely receive tremendous amounts of scrutiny when pitching. If he pitches well, fans will wonder if he’s doing shots of HGH, won’t they? If he pitches poorly, then people will think it’s because he’s NOT doing anything!
It could end up being a farce. Clemens is in a pickle, for sure.
And I should say the Barry Bonds Watch continues, as the guy is still unemployed.
After the All-Star break, we are now going to see how some trades will affect teams in their play, while also giving us more interesting competition, especially out West. Certainly having Shaquille O’Neal with the Suns will change their team, on both ends of the court. O’Neal should strengthen their defense, without question. That is certainly a priority for them, as they simply have not been able to stop their opponents from playing with them, despite their strong record.
But I am curious as to how he will operate within their offense. Phoenix is well-known for their run-and-gun style. Shaq is in his mid-30’s and is NOT known for his ability for speed or being a part of a fast break.
So, will we see Phoenix, slow their offense down? Will they stop running as much as they have so far this season? Shaq will be able to continue being a scorer. It should be very interesting to see how they play.
The Lakers now have Pau Gasol, which gives them a very tall front court, without question. Their style of play will change as well, and we have seen how Gasol is going to compliment the members of that Laker team, both on the court and off. They will be a better team, no doubt.
And so now, it seems the strength in the NAB certainly continues to thrive in the Western Conference, while the Eastern Conference is down to Boston and Detroit. Others are doing a decent job, such as Orlando and Cleveland, but the Pistons and Celtics, to me, are the only two that are good enough to compete with the boys out West.
It will be interesting to see how thing play out in the next month or so, as we get closer to the playoffs.
This week the PGA Tour will have their Match Play Tournament out in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a nice diversion from the usual fare we see week in and week out on the Tour.
Tiger Woods is back after taking a few weeks off. He says he loves this tournament, and thrives, because he enjoys the head-to-head competition. It makes sense, and it will be interesting to see if anyone can emerge from the considerable pack of professional golfers, as to who can come thru and beat Eldrick this weekend.
After running the 50th Daytona 500, the boys head out West to go after it in Fontana, California. I thought last week the race had gotten a little overhyped. While I have total respect for NASCAR, in what they’ve done to build their sport to the level they have currently achieved, I also think they need to be very careful in how they proceed in moving forward. I think they have already realized their situation, in making so many changes that heir longtime fan base is now immune to. As a result, NASCAR is trying to make a play in keeping their traditional fans. It might be tough.
What is also tough, at least in my mind, is watching FOX do a telecast of a race. There are two aspects that totally disturb me. The first involves going to a commercial break while the racing is still going on. What is that all about? Its totally ridiculous! Can you imagine if, during the Super Bowl, CBS went to a break while plays were being run?
It makes no sense to go to a break during green-flag racing. If nothing else, FOX should give us a little camera in a corner of the screen, showing the race action, while airing commercial spots.
The second item involves the commentary during the race. While I think Mike Joy does a good job with calling action, I think Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds are a complete joke. They try to one-up the other during the race. They will NEVER criticize a driver. It seems everyone is the best and has a shot! And they act like little 5th graders getting an ice cream cone in their demeanor. They are WAY too enthusiastic! IT drives me completely nuts.
Someone needs to give both those guys a shot in the arm and make them realize they are NOT doing a good job. PLEASE!
Nonetheless, we will indeed hear them the first half of the year, when FOX will carry all the races.
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
Article Published in the 2-21-08 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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