American Sports Thread

[Minder]

looking forward to sunday allready . mayo v's derry in tthe league opener then sit back and watch the superbowl. Is Burcie plaing at half time ? Really getting hooked on watching Americas game some great footage from years gone by . Was watching the 1968 Jets yesterday great programmes

Love Americas Game, had nearly everyone of them taped on Sky + last year but missus deleted them, will try again as they will be on all week in the run up to Sunday.

[thejuice]

Aye cant wait. Rooting for the Cards. Steelers favourites to win though. Will be fun, bags of popcorn and maybe a beer or 2 but have to be in work the day after but might take a few hours off.

Paddy Power offering these odds on different things:

http://www.paddypower.com/bet?action=show_event_by_markets&category=SPORTS&ev_class_id=17&chosen_ev_id=1321030&disp_cat_id=

[the Deel Rover]

looking forward to sunday allready . mayo v's derry in tthe league opener then sit back and watch the superbowl. Is Burcie plaing at half time ? Really getting hooked on watching Americas game some great footage from years gone by . Was watching the 1968 Jets yesterday great programmes

Love Americas Game, had nearly everyone of them taped on Sky + last year but missus deleted them, will try again as they will be on all week in the run up to Sunday.

what i find amazing was their use of technology back in the 60's even then most of the co ordinators were miked up for plays

[magpie seanie]

So if it starts at 6pm ET that's 11pm GMT isn't it? Over at approx 2.30am would it be?

Thought Pittsburgh would do it from a good way out but unfortunately didn't put my money where my mouth was. Arizona is an incredible story but over the course of the season I think Pittsburgh deserve it and I think they will do it.

[Minder]

So if it starts at 6pm ET that's 11pm GMT isn't it? Over at approx 2.30pm would it be?

Thought Pittsburgh would do it from a good way out but unfortunately didn't put my money where my mouth was. Arizona is an incredible story but over the course of the season I think Pittsburgh deserve it and I think they will do it.

Should start shortly after 11pm, most games are a few minutes under 3 hrs but half time is longer in the Super Bowl i think so probably will be over around 2.30am

[tyronefan]

what channel is it on

[Minder]

what channel is it on

Sky Sports and BBC (i think)...........

[anportmorforjfc]

bbc 1, sky sports. The half time show is around 1 hour long i thought. So more like 3.30am or 4am

[the Deel Rover]

bbc 1, sky sports. The half time show is around 1 hour long i thought. So more like 3.30am or 4am

i was thinking the half time show was around 1/2 hours twould be hard to stay foccused if the break was an hour but maybe it is

[The Iceman]

bruce is on at half time and I don't mean play your cards right - the Boss

[Puckoon]

Big news story here at the minute concerning a high school girls basketball team, that beat another team 100-0.

http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/basketball/girls/news/story?id=3859935

Coach says team played with honor
ESPN.com news services


Updated: January 26, 2009, 9:14 PM ET
Comment / Email / Print HS Basketball ShutoutDALLAS -- The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

On its Web site last week, the Covenant School of Dallas, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Kyle Queal, head of school, and board chair Todd Doshier.

Covenant coach Micah Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to The Dallas Morning News that he does not agree with his school's assessment.

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

Queal would not say if Grimes was fired because of the coach's statement, but told the newspaper that Grimes "now only represents himself."

A phone number for Grimes could not be located by The Associated Press. The Dallas Morning News said Grimes did not respond to its repeated e-mail requests for a telephone interview.

Queal did not immediately return a phone message left at his home Sunday afternoon by the AP. There was no answer at a number listed for Doshier.

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers -- even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.


No Mercy
When should competition take a back seat to compassion? In high school sports, the debate rages after a recent 100-0 girls' basketball blowout, writes Jeff Miller. MORE

Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the past four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls' basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become one-sided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said last week. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

The story has received national attention, and the Dallas Academy team has been recognized for refusing to give up during the lopsided contest.

Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma said on Monday that he's not sure how he would have balanced good sportsmanship with competitive instincts.

"When you get a big lead and you have players in who don't usually score, do you tell them, 'don't try to score?' he told ESPN. "I have never heard of 100-0. And I have no idea what I would have done. It's a little different in college because of the shot clock. ... I would venture to say that how he approached the game, during the game, after the game, the stance, probably got him fired as much as the score."

[heganboy]

i think this crap is a storm in a tea cup- so what you took a beating?

we played under 12 games at clan na gael where we ended up on the wrong end of 7-20 to 0-3 scorelines, nobody felt mentally scarred by the game, sure it pisses you off but all this molly coddling crap drives me nuts. I can tell you that no one was telling bumpy and diarmuid not to score against us...

[mc_grens]

This from Bill Simmons at ESPN.com. Thought it was funny...

The Marisa Tomei Suddenly Getting Naked In Every Movie Award for "The most dumbfounding ongoing occurrence"
As a lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan, the Super Bowl ads for his performance next month never stop flooring me. Don't they know how the man is wired? He can't bang out three songs without sprinkling one autobiographical story in there, and he certainly can't just go away without returning for an encore, right? (Note to the NFL: After Bruce finishes his set, hog-tie him to one of the uprights or else he's coming back out for three more songs. Just trust me. You don't want Bruce wandering back onto the field with his guitar like Shooter in "Hoosiers" and getting bowled over by a safety.) Look, Bruce might be telling the NFL, "Don't worry, I won't tell a story. I'll just sing my three songs and get out of there." But he won't be able to do it. You watch. We're gonna get a moment like this after the second song.

"Tampa Baaaaaaaay! (Crowd cheers.) Is anyone alive tonight??? (Crowd goes crazy.) Super Bowl Forty-Threeeeeee!!! (Crowd goes crazy as Bruce turns somber.) You know, when I was growing up, the only thing my dad hated more than me was my guitar. (Crowd hushes.) He was always saying, 'Bruce, I wish you never got that danged guitar.' So one day I was playing it in my room, my dad was watching Super Bowl Three between the Jets and ... uh ... uh ... I think it was the Colts. Big man, was it the Colts? (Clarence says, 'Yeah, boss. The Colts.') Well, turns out my dad had a ton of money on the Colts ... and they lost. But I didn't care. I was just up in my room strummin' my guitar. Then Dad came upstairs, and I remember asking, "Hey, Pop, who won the game? And Dad got mad and broke my guitar over my head. He busted me up pretty bad, I needed 589 stitches to close the wound. From then on, I knew I needed to start watching football. And so I did. (Dramatic pause.) This is 'Darlington County.'"

For those interested the Half time set list will be about 4 songs and is rumoured to be something like this...

1. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out/ The Rising.
2. Something from the new album (probably "My Lucky Day")
3. Born To Run
4. Dancing in the Dark.

Oh, as for the side show to Bruce... Go Cards!

[GalwayBayBoy]

i think this crap is a storm in a tea cup- so what you took a beating?

we played under 12 games at clan na gael where we ended up on the wrong end of 7-20 to 0-3 scorelines, nobody felt mentally scarred by the game, sure it pisses you off but all this molly coddling crap drives me nuts. I can tell you that no one was telling bumpy and diarmuid not to score against us...

Think the culture in the states is a bit different to here regarding this.

Running up the score against overmatched opponents is generally frowned upon. Even in the ultra professional and ultra competitive world of the NFL it is considered bad form to run up the score. I remember the Pats coming in for some criticism for this last year when they were hammering teams most weeks. Where do you draw the line though?

[Minder]

There is always this issue that American Sports seem obsessed with and that is "class", not sure who said it but an NFL coach was whining about getting the score run up on them and someone said, "try and f*cking stop them then".................