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All-Star game hard to watch

There have been times that the All-Star game had appeal to me. I think most of those times Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas were running the point for their respective conferences.
The latest edition from Las Vegas was about like watching a Hollywood awards show. If you were dying to see the faces of the stars, you might tune in.
But be prepared for a very dull evening.

All-Star games without defense just don't work in hockey or basketball. And defense is the last thing on their mind.
Until further notice, baseball is the only All-Star game worth the time to flip the channel in that direction. The pitcher-batter matchup is intense enough to make that one worth watching.

Posted by Andy Newberry at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boring Bullies

The Dallas Mavericks don't have many firestorms right now. They have to create a fake one of Dwyane Wade making comments about last year's NBA Finals to create interest.
The Mavericks are early 90s Cowboys' boring to a lot of people -- well 90s Cowboys minus the championships -- they show up, they take control and leave with a W.

Lately, the big thing has been whether they can keep letting 30-point leads get down to 8 before asserting themselves again and winning by 17.
Most NBA coaches don't have to worry about blowing 30-point leads. They never get them.

Posted by Andy Newberry at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Surprise In San Diego

Some were shocked when Marty Schottenheimer was fired this week as the head coach of the San Diego Chargers. That's the same Chargers who led the NFL with a 14-2 record this year. Nobody did a better job over the 17-week regular season, not even Tony Dungy.

But I bet one guy who wasn't stunned at all is new Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, who left San Diego last week to take over in Dallas.
I was listening to an interview with Phillips when he made the comment that he thought people were wrong about Dallas being "his last chance at a head coaching job." He said something to the effect of "nobody knows what's going to happen in San Diego."
I have a feeling Wade did know. But neither journalist on the show caught what might have been a slip of information and followed up on it.
It's the first thing I thought of when I heard the news on Marty yesterday.

Posted by Andy Newberry at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)