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All-Star Week Welcome to the middle of July….where the sports world comes to die. The good news is that NFL camps open in the next ten days, the British Open (even without Tiger…and Kenny Perry) starts on Thursday, and we’re subjected to baseball’s “exhibition” to determine home field advantage in the Fall Classic. Let’s start with Major League Baseball, and their attempt to create interest in the American League destroying the National League once again. By my count, the NL hasn’t defeated the AL in the All-Star game this century. That’s all you need to know. Based on the recently completed interleague mismatches, I don’t think anyone this side of Wrigley believes the two sides even play the same brand of baseball. Of course we were saying the same thing in the NFL, when trying to compare the quality and depth of the AFC vs. the NFC….and we saw how the Super Bowl turned out. I absolutely despise the ruling by Bud Selig that allows this weak exhibition to determine something as important as home field advantage in the World Series. In my opinion, the endless 162-game regular season should be a decent barometer of a team’s worth, not a one-game showcase loaded with a makeshift line-ups. As I’m writing this latest batch for “Ripe Gripe”, I’m already cringing at the thought of Chris Berman destroying my eardrums with his lame nicknames and over-hyping the blasts on Monday’s Home Run Derby. The entire format should be tweaked, and it starts by eliminating Berman from this particular broadcast and anything that has to do with ESPN’s coverage of golf.
Throw in the Yankee Stadium sidebar story along with any event in New York, and Berman will be more embarrassing than he normally is when in control of the play-by-play duties. To be honest with you, I enjoy him in-studio for the NFL…and that’s about it. I’m convinced that Wednesday, July 16th, is the single worst day in sports. There is absolutely, positively nothing scheduled for the entire sports world on this date, other than the Tour de France. I remember back when I actually used to care about the results, when Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong were kicking the French in their ass….but now, it doesn’t even deserve this amount of space in Ripe Gripe. I did notice that the two hottest stars in sports both won again, this past weekend. Kenny Perry won his third PGA Tour event in the past two months, by taking the fabled John Deere Classic. Man, ever since Tiger Woods captured the US Open and bolted to get his knee scoped, 48-year-old Kenny Perry has been dominating. He has now won three of his last five starts on the Tour. It should also be noted that Perry is going to skip the British Open this week, so he can concentrate on the prestigious title in Milwaukee. The Kentucky native skipped the US Open last month, too. Who needs to compete with the best players, when you can kick the kids around on U.S. soil? Also winning again this weekend was Kyle Busch. In fact, he won twice just for good measure. By sweeping both races in Chicago, Busch is making his case for one of the greatest years in racing history. He’s winning everything….trucks, Nationwide and Cup…it doesn’t seem to matter. In case anybody is counting, Kyle has 14 wins so far this season.
He has now won three of the last four Cup races, and his move with two laps to go against two-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson was a thing of beauty. He took Johnson to the woodshed, in claiming his 7th Cup win of the season. I didn’t think he had a chance to catch the record which is 13 wins, last set by Jeff Gordon, but the 23-year-old racer has a legitimate chance. It is getting so commonplace to watch him bow to the booing Junior fans, that it’s becoming hilarious. The only thing that could've stopped him in Chicago was the muddy infield, as he was trying to practice his victorious donuts. As I mentioned weeks ago, Junior Nation needs to find somebody else to taunt…this kid is too good for all of them right now. So, Brett Favre wants back in Packerland? ...Now, isn’t that special?
I am so disgusted by this entire issue that I waited until the last second to discuss it on the radio, television and now on the blog. Favre has put the Packers in a tough spot, and I think the franchise has handled it to perfection. Don’t release him….give him a chance to compete for the gig. There is no way the team can release him and allow the future Hall of Famer to cut his own deal that could include joining an NFC North rival. The best thing about the Favre story is it gave the normally bland month of July some juice. It also added to the stakes at the Green Bay camp, which opens next week. While everybody and their brother have taken off for some vacation time, I will alert you that this will be our last full week of radio shows on “PrimeTime with the Packman” for the month of July. We’re taking two weeks off, effective 7:01 PM on Friday, July 18th…not that I’m counting, or anything. We’re scheduled to be back the first Monday of August. I will have another Ripe Gripe for you next week on the blog, and then take a quick break to recharge the batteries for a hectic Southern Fried Football™ season. By the way, I will be unveiling the Southern Fried Football™ TourBook , website and 2008 schedule the first week of August…so stay tuned. While I will be doing the daily television commentaries during my two weeks off, the radio and internet features will be on a short hiatus. |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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