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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant Olympic Notes The Olympics progress with this writer no wiser where in space/time to locate events. Every time I switch on there seems to be a celebrating creche of Chinese children who, we are led to believe, are Olympic gold medalists. China are leading in the Olympics. Or not, depending whose medal table you look at. The American sports sites are largely listing countries by the number of overall medals — which favors the US at present — a surprisingly egalitarian spin considering the traditional winning–is–everything approach (which I'm all in favor of — stuff political correctness, this is meant to be competitive). But I tend to count the number of events actually won. Which does at least mean Michael Phelps currently has more gold medals than the whole of Russia. Another Olympic gripe of mine — the number of events. Or rather sub–events. Not to take anything away from Phelps, but is being really good at swimming worth that many gold medals? Surely swimming should be an event, however you do it, the way tennis is — there's an individual event, and there's a team event (relay for swimming, doubles for tennis), but then swimming is broken down to breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly... it seems a bit like having Rafael Nadal winning multiple golds for forehand, backhand, baseline, serve–and–volley, etc. Back in the gymnastics arena, some leotard–clad munchkin is performing four diverse acrobatic feats to earn one solitary gold. And speaking of cherubic children, did everyone read about the darling little Chinese girl who sang at the opening ceremony? Turns out she didn't, not a single note. The kid mimed along to the singing of another, apparently less photogenic child. China bending credibility? Next you'll be suggesting those gymnasts of theirs aren't really 16 years old. Ricky's Still Relevant Amongst my notes from week one of the non–Olympic sport's preseason: Ricky Williams is back. Again. It's easy to forget that Williams once tallied over 2,200 all–purpose yards and 17 touchdowns his first year with the Dolphins. The next season he added another 1,723 and 10 scores. Then he went to India, then he came back, then he went to Canada, then he came back, then he got injured. Last weekend, he was back, with 5 rushes for 31 yards, which isn't much in itself, but did offer the first true and lasting look at Ricky and Ronnie Brown in the Dolphins backfield for two years. Last time they worked together, they mustered around 2,000 combined yards. Of course, Ronnie might not be all the way back yet, but he was having a Pro Bowl year before last year's injury. Just don't be surprised if fantasy owners looking to fill out their backfield start looking at Ricky in the first month of the season. Rookies of note in week one included some defenders making a quick impact by leading their teams in tackles: cornerback Antoine Cason of the San Diego Chargers (who just couldn't put a foot wrong in their preseason defeat of the Cowboys); linebacker Keith Rivers of Cincinnati, who was one of the later first rounders to sign but looked every inch ready to contribute on a team that desperately needs a spark; and linebacker Dan Connor of the Carolina Panthers, who was only a third round pick, but is already showing people what a steal he is. Tennessee and Oakland both established their ground games during week one. The Titans rushed for 340 yards and Oakland for 248. Of course, neither showed much passing when passing is what they needed to improve, but a solid running game sure as heck makes it hard to pick teams for divisional basements. Atlanta also showed signs of life with 228 yards through the air, 113 of those from top pick Matt Ryan, and the backfield — now featuring Michael Turner — averaged 4.8. Dolphins, Bengals, Raiders, Falcons. I can't help but wonder how many of these performances were just preseason mirages. But this is the real beauty of preseason: letting fans dream of better times before reality sinks in. |
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