Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010

02-19-2010 2-Minute Warning

Tragedy in Vancouver The Winter Olympics began on a very sad note with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, a luger from the Russian country of Georgia. Kumaritashvili died during a training run earlier Friday, prior to the opening ceremony.

Blame has been spread all around, with officials and athletes offering differing views.

I don’t feel it’s fair to blame the man just days after his tragic death. Let a full investigation be done, but don’t smear his name before he’s even been buried in his home country.

Other than that, I’ve been enjoying the Olympics immensely — aside from the dull opening ceremony. It was exhilarating watching Johnny Spillane win the first-ever medal for the U.S.A. in the Nordic combined normal hill event. He had the gold in sight, but lost by four-tenths of a second.

I’ll take it, and am looking forward to the next two weeks of Olympic games.

Ho-hum Daytona

I’m usually pumped about the Daytona 500. Football season is over, baseball’s opening day seems too far away, and I’m not a big basketball fan. So when Daytona rolls around, it’s like Christmas morning.

Unfortunately, the race was pretty dull — what I actually watched. When NASCAR officials began fixing the pothole Sunday, I knew it was going to be awhile. It ended up being 144 minutes of waiting.

The last 10 laps, which are always the best, made up for the wait, with Jamie McMurray, the ultimate victor, battling Dale Earnhardt Jr.

I’d be very surprised if Dale Jr. can keep that sort of momentum throughout the season, but hey, this may finally be his year — yeah right.

The week’s race is at the Auto Club Speedway at California. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. on Fox.

East beats West

I admit, I totally forgot the NBA All-Star game was on TV this weekend. Between the Olympics and NASCAR, I had my fill of good sports, although I always like some good basketball.

The Eastern Conference All-Stars barely squeaked by with a 141-139 win Sunday over the Western Conference All-Stars.

Dwyane Wade, who racked up 28 points, garnered the MVP honors. Chris Bosh made the winning free throws for the East, and Carmelo Anthony tried for a three-pointer, but failed.

The game, at Cowboys Stadium, had more than 108,000 fans in attendance, which was a record-breaking crowd.

Not everyone went to Vancouver, you know.

Bringin' the wood Tiger Woods will break his three-month silence and meet with a small group of reporters at 11 a.m. today at the clubhouse of TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. to discuss his past and future. He will also apologize for his behavior.

We’ll see if he’s up to par at answering the tough questions.