NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE And so we will see the Colts and Bears head down to South Florida next week as they prepare for the massive, ridiculous coverage that the Super Bowl has now adopted. To me, it has become way, way too much hype, publicity, and overkill, as everything concerning each team will be highly scrutinized and reported upon, including the family tree of all players, coaches, and even the cheerleaders! Each player and both teams will be analyzed from top to bottom, and lots of us will probably not care. So many people are going to invade South Florida, the whole region might just sink into the Caribbean. And while there is interest in what will happen during the game, in a way, a lot of us will just want to get the damn thing over with. We shall see how it all plays out, and please, correct me if I end up being wrong!
The Head Coaching Carousel continues to spin out of control in the National Football League. While quite a few have been fired, Bill Parcells has decided to call it a career (for now) and bailed out of the Dallas Cowboy juggernaut. He certainly leaves Jerry Jones with quite a bit of work to do. Meanwhile, 34 year-old Mike Tomlin and 31 year-old Lane Kiffin were both hired to be head coaches of NFL teams. Now, I know that youth can be a positive in many aspects of life, but maturity and experience need to be considered as well. I think its very possible one of these guys could get overwhelmed by their job workload. Hell, before long, we’ll be hearing that “little sixteen year-old Johnny is the new Head Coach of the Patriots. Johnny kicked ass playing Madden ’08 during interviews, which the owners loved! He says he will bring an explosive offense to the team, since he has already ‘played’ every team in the league and used every Patriot player during his Madden Days!”
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION So far this season we see two teams that seem to be dominating the season. The Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns are heading for a Western Conference showdown that will prove to be extremely tasty. Both of these teams have been good for a few years, with the Mavs even playing up in the Finals, losing to the Heat. What I find interesting is that you’ve got a German, Dirk Nowitski, leading Dallas, while the Canadian, Steve Nash, runs the engine for the Suns. Basketball has without question become an international sport.
Meanwhile, the defending champion Miami Heat have been dealing with injuries to their two star players, Shaquille O‘Neal and Dwayne Wade, and their head coach, Pat Riley. Shaq hasn’t played at all this season due to a knee problem, but should return within the next week. Wade had played on and off this year and hopes to be 100% by the end of the regular season. Riley is a question mark to return.
While the Western Conference certainly has their strength in numbers, the Eastern Conference is in shambles. It’s possible that one or two teams will make the playoffs this year with a losing record, which to me shouldn’t even be allowed.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE The NHL goes into the second half of their season with some pretty strong teams at the top, such as the Nashville Predators, the Atlanta Thrashers, and the Buffalo Sabres. The problem, though, with those teams is that nobody knows who they are, and a lot of folks in their cities don’t care. They are not in big, marquee markets, and the players on those squads are not household names, which the NHL desires very much to help continue bringing their sport out of the toilet known as the lockout a year-plus ago.
Maybe you will see squads like the Red Wings, Devils, and Anaheim Ducks keep playing solid hockey as the League continues their move into the playoffs in a few months. We shall see how things evolve.
NASCAR Almost all the drivers and their teams are now camping out in Daytona, doing a lot of test-driving of vehicles as they continue to prepare for the Daytona 500 and the 2007 season. Earlier this week, CEO Brian France announced that changes would be adopted this year to the way things are calculated in determining a Champion. Two more drivers will be allowed to participate in ‘The Chase’ for the Cup, and more points will be given to drivers who WIN races. While we are hearing opinions both pro and con, overall the feeling is that these changes will be good and more favorable for the season. As always, we shall see.
LAST WORD There were reports this past week concerning the ACC Championship Game keeping its home in Jacksonville, mainly for football, but for baseball as well. Look, no city would’ve had a full house in their stadium for Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, a school with an enrollment of about 4,000. Neither school is a football powerhouse. On top of all of that, this region is more dominated with an SEC flavor, mainly due to Florida and Georgia, without question, and I find it hard to think that might ever change. Locals don’t care about the ACC. And so I believe there will always be a struggle for the ACC to generate local interest in its teams and sports.
Tom Weppel talks trash on Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. on WIOJ-AM 1010, and on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
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