Nick and I start the show (well, after a quick rant about having a kid who is almost three years old acting like a three-year old) talking about the Olympics. For those who didn’t see it, I filled in for Shanoff at the today. In that, I pose the question of if we have to root for Americans in the Olympics just because we’re expected to be Patriotic.
What if the person is unlikeable? What if there is more to it than that? It’s not a loaded question at all, I really don’t know the answer about our national responsibilities. Please , and listen to the two of us discuss. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Inside the Press Box:
Nick and I talk about the post Daulerio put up on Deadspin that included Dick Ebersol’s email address and a suggestion to email him directly with complaints about the Olympics. While we see it as a thinly-veiled attempt at looking like the ‘anti-establishment’ website Deadspin was created as, in this case, neither of us have any issue with DS posting the information. At all.
If Ebersol is going to be in charge of NBC Sports, and viewers have issues with NBC Sports, who better to complain to. Now, there’s little chance he’s actually checking that email account himself, and if he does, he isn’t anymore. Either way, a guy like Ebersol is totally fair game.
College athletes, however, are not. DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky had his cell phone number sent out and was getting hundreds of crank calls and thousands of texts from Mississippi State fans this week. That’s not right. Honestly, it’s the kid’s personal cell number — it’s not like you called the team hotel on a road trip and played a few pranks. Let the kid have some privacy. Oh, and MSU fans, when is it EVER okay to throw something on a basketball court? You are college kids, you’re not a bunch of animals. And even if you are a bunch of dumb hicks who think it’s okay to throw stuff on the floor during a game, do your school — and your team — the favor of staying home.
Housekeeping:
PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TODAY!!!!!!!
Conlin looks at Florida eateries for fans going to Spring Training. Oh, and Inqy scribe . The internet is not safe. These Prince videos are great. There’s a Dirt Frank reference, Nick rants about parking tickets in the snow and I bitch about my mailman. A regular hump day.
Thanks for listening.
Tags: Baseball, Bode Miller, Dick Ebersol, Lindsey Jacobellis, Olympics, Patriotism,
Guys, I’ve been hearing a lot of Olympic discussion over the past two days, and as the Canadian who seems to participate in Hellenic Eurosports (rowing, cycling and xc ski), I feel the need to defend.
First, Vancouver and the snow. It is warm in Vancouver; it’s always warm in Vancouver. The national rowing team is based in Victoria, just across the way, precisely because the lake never freezes. This is why they put the major infrastructure in the major city, like the skating oval, and put the things that need to be cold, like the sliding track for luge/bobsled up in the quaint mountain town. The real problem is the freak occurence of the warmest winter in the 100 years they’ve been writing that kind of thing down.
Next, I need to defend women’s hockey teams. We all know that the tourney will come down to the US and Canada, though the Swedes can very rarely play the spoiler. Still: point differential matters in the Olympic tournament, so they’ve all been encouraged to run up the score, or it could come back to bite them later. Your blame and ire against unsportsmanlike play should thus be directed at the international body that sets up the system.
Love the podcast.
You guys missed the stink bomb incident at the Flyers/Devils game last year when talking about fans throwing stuff on the ice.
Some dude threw a stink bomb on the ice during overtime in Philly, the Flyers won, he bragged about throwing the stink bomb when he got outside the building and I believe he eventually got arrested.
I feel your snow pain, both of you. I love the snow (because I’m a freak) but parking where I am in Queens is HORRIBLE. It’s already sparse and the snow just compounds it as people park in the most bizarre fashion and take up 2x as much space as normal.
Plus, count yourselves lucky to not have a complaining 4 year old who’d rather not walk a block from the car to the apartment.