Realmscapes

Fantasy Sports 2010, Week 36: Winning One League, Starting Three More

This is the time of year when I'm going nuts fantasy-wise with a bunch of overlap. Baseball and Major League Soccer are winding down, but UEFA Champions League, the NFL, Euro Qualifiers, and the Premiere League are just getting started. The result? Really really long fantasy sports posts for several weeks. Scrolling skills will be needed.

Hyphen-ing Ourselves

Rush touched on something today in his show that also bothered me while watching the halftime show of yesterday's Pats/Colts game.

Just before going back to the game, Shannon Sharpe congratulated Coach Lovee for being "the first African-American coach in the NFL" to make it to the Super Bowl. This combined with something my wife brought to my attention some time ago--a cultural observation that was unfamiliar to her when she lived in Germany:

Why the continued call to attention of race? Coach Lovee (and Coach Dungy) is going to the Super Bowl because of his exceptional coaching skills this season. ANYONE can succeed in 21st century America based on their skill, strength of character, etc. Why aren't we shining spotlights on the exploits of every hypenated American?

If there is continued racism in this country, it is because the media keeps perpetuating it. One more vegetable in the tossed salad that is the liberal vision for American culture.

Overtime Rule Change Over-due

The debate still rages as to whether the NFL needs to rework their overtime rules. The traditionalists say to leave it alone because it has always worked. The question isn't about the rule's effectiveness, it is about competitive fairness. In baseball, each team gets at least one shot at winning in extra innings. In soccer, with or without the "golden goal" rule, both teams inheritantly have a chance at touching the ball.

So what is the solution? I favour the method currently employed by NCAA football where both teams get at least one possession. After that, sudden death rules apply. Another idea worth considering is to keep sudden death, but that a team must score four points to win. Either way, the rule has got to be changed. Because as it stands, the winning team in OT is for all intents and purposes decided by a coin flip.