The Times Dispatch Blogs

Race walking has got to be the most bizarre sport I’ve ever watched.

First, just the concept of “race walking” seems strange. A race is supposed to be a contest to see who can travel the fastest. When traveling on foot, this is usually called “running.” So in race walking, are you supposed to go fast, but not too fast? Are there speed limits?

And then there’s the way the competitors look when they’re walking. They keep their backs straight with their arms bent at the elbow, swinging from side to side. It appears that they hardly bend their knees. It’s not really walking or running. It’s more like “waddling.” Actually, they all looked like they needed to go to the bathroom really badly.

During the race I saw, there were several contestants bunched together in a pack. They looked like a bunch of penguins. Penguins that needed to go to the bathroom. I’m sure it was an intense competition, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
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Random thoughts on the Olympics:

It’s funny how during the Olympics, we get excited about sports that we couldn’t care less about at any other time. Like swimming, for example. Does anyone watch swimming any other time? I don’t. But it has always been one of my favorite events of the summer games.

I never knew badminton could be so exciting, especially doubles competition. More high schools should play badminton. The equipment is probably fairly inexpensive and it can be played indoors or outdoors.

Table tennis can also be amazing to watch. Table tennis players have got to have the best hand-eye coordination and quickest reactions of any athletes.

Is there a more boring event to watch than rowing? This is not to be confused with kayaking, which can be pretty entertaining.

There are several events that I never would have considered as Olympic events. Like trap shooting and skeet shooting, bouncing on a trampoline and walking.

The judging in boxing is even screwier than it is in gymnastics. There’s always been an element of shadiness when it came to judging Olympic boxing. Until they can come up with a better system, boxing should be dropped from the Olympics and replaced with Mixed Martial Arts. Very few MMA contests go the distance, so judging is rarely an issue. Most bouts end with a tapout or when one competitor is not able to defend himself. All you need is a competent referee.

This appears to be the best USA basketball team we’ve had in years. More often than not in recent years, the United States has been a disappointment in international hoops competition. This year should be different, though. I’ll be surprised if any team stays within 20 points of Kobe & Company.
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August is finally here and that means one thing (besides triple-digit temperatures) — football season is just around the corner. NFL teams are in training camp, while college and high school teams have begun their summer practices. There’s already been an NFL preseason game on television.

However, something is a little different this year, at least locally. There will be no Walnut Ridge – Hoxie game this year. For the past several years, when the Mustangs and Bobcats met on the football field, not only did it signify the beginning of a new football season, but also the beginning of a new school year. Despite what the thermometers read, summer was pretty much over.

That wasn’t always the case, though. When I was in high school at Walnut Ridge many years ago, the two schools were in the same conference and always played in the final game of the regular season.

Then, for a number of years in the 80s and 90s (I’m not sure of the exact years), the two rivals played each other twice each season, in the first game and then again in the final game. I never cared for that arrangement. I always felt that playing twice a season slightly diminished the “specialness” of the rivalry. One of the things that makes a rivalry game so important is that they are only played once a season. The winners get an entire year to brag, while the losing team has to wait a year for a chance at revenge.

The Hoxie senior Mustangs open the 2008 season on Thursday, Sept. 4, against Heber Springs. The game will be played at Harding University in Searcy.

The Walnut Ridge senior Bobcats open their season on Sept. 5 at Cave City.
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It’s summertime again (okay, I know it won’t officially be summer until June 21 — but that’s beside the point) and that usually means a long dry spell for sports. Actually, it’s not just sports, but television in general has pretty slim pickings. Whoever it was that called television a “vast wasteland” must have done so after channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon during the summertime.

Baseball and NASCAR are approaching the midpoint of their schedules, but those sports have long, drawn out seasons, making it tough to get too jazzed up over a single game or race. However, there are a few things going on in the sports world worthy of attention.

First, in the NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics have each made their respective conference finals. I haven’t watched the NBA very much over the past few years, but even I would be interested in a Lakers-Celtics final.

If you don’t want to wait until September and October for meaningful (and entertaining) baseball, the NCAA Baseball Tournament gets underway this weekend. The 64-team field will be whittled down to the eight teams that will advance to the College World Series in Omaha. I don’t keep up with college baseball during the regular season, but the NCAA Tourney and the CWS usually provide lots of drama and excitement for baseball fans.

Also, the Little League World Series will be played later in the summer. If you’ve never watched the LLWS, I urge you to check it out. It’s great fun to watch the kids play their hearts out for the love of the game and a desire to win.

For me, personally, the best thing about summer is the realization that each day that passes brings us one day closer to the start of football season. The NFL preseason starts Aug. 3. Only 68 more days! And, best of all, just three short months from today — Aug. 28 — marks the beginning of the college football season!
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The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are in the books and, as usual, there were a few surprises. Four of the remaining 16 teams — West Virginia, Davidson, Villanova and Western Kentucky — are double-digit seeds.

As expected, the #1 seeds in each region are still alive. The same goes for the #3 seeds. Only two of the #2s, Tennessee and Texas, are still in it, while Georgetown and Duke bit the dust in the second round. The #4 seeds were even less fortunate, with Washington State being the only one still standing.

Now, on to the Sweet Sixteen:

East Region
This is the only region where the top four seeds have advanced to the semifinals. In fact, ninth-seeded Arkansas’ first-round win over #8 Indiana has been the only “upset” so far.
#1 North Carolina vs. #4 Washington State. It’s hard to imagine anyone beating the Tar Heels right now.
#2 Tennessee vs. #3 Louisville. I pick Louisville in a mild upset.

Midwest Region
#1 Kansas vs. #12 Villanova. The Jayhawks will put an end to ‘Nova’s Cinderella run.
#3 Wisconsin vs. #10 Davidson. Davidson beat an outstanding defensive team, Georgetown, in the second round and will face another one in Wisconsin. I’ll go with the Badgers.

South Region
#1 Memphis vs. #5 Michigan State. Memphis has too much firepower and too many athletes for the Spartans.
#2 Texas vs. #3 Stanford. I’m picking the winner of this game to go to the Final Four. It’ll be Stanford.

West Region
#1 UCLA vs. #12 Western Kentucky. UCLA survived a scare against Texas A&M in the second round. They’ll romp and stomp over the Hilltoppers.
#3 Xavier vs. #10 West Virginia. The Mountaineers will be the only Cinderella in the Elite Eight.

Final Four: UNC, Kansas, Stanford and UCLA.
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My second favorite sporting event of the year, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, gets underway Thursday. Actually, that’s not correct. The tournament technically starts Tuesday when Coppin State and Mount St. Mary’s play in the ‘play-in’ game for the right to get blown out by North Carolina in the first round.
Random thoughts on each of the regions:

East Region
This region has more potential upsets than any other region.
If the “good” Arkansas team shows up, they will beat Indiana. Heck, if the Razorbacks play like they did Saturday against Tennessee, they could give North Carolina a run for the money in the second round.
George Mason, Winthrop, St. Joseph’s and South Alabama are all lower-seeded teams that have a chance to pull upsets.

Midwest Region
Three first-round games stand out in this region.
The Kansas State-USC game may have the most marquee value of any first-round game. The game will feature two of the country’s top freshmen, in K-State’s Michael Beasley and USC’s O.J. Mayo.
Clemson-Villanova could be another outstanding matchup.
Tenth-seeded Davidson, playing close to home in Raleigh, N.C., should upset 7th-seeded Gonzaga.

South Region
None of the first-round games really stand out to me.
For an upset, I’ll pick 12th-seeded Temple to beat 5th-seeded Michigan State.
Looking ahead, Memphis versus Mississippi State could make for an interesting second-round contest, but the Bulldogs will have their hands full with Oregon in the first round.

West Region
Again, none of the first-round games jump out at me.
Fourteenth-seeded Georgia will try to continue its Cinderella post-season run against 3rd-seeded Xavier.
Purdue-Baylor and Arizona-West Virginia could also be interesting.
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Arkansas State University officially announced that Red Wolves would be the university’s new mascot. On Thursday they unveiled the new logo. When I saw the new logo, my first reaction was, “It ain’t got no eyeballs. Where are the eyeballs?” I must say, though, I really like the new logo. I think it would look great on their football helmets. I’ve never cared for the ‘stAte’ logo they’ve used for the past several years. The new wolf would look much better, even without eyeballs.
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Speaking of ASU, Nolan Richardson announced the other day that he was no longer a candidate to replace Dickey Nutt as head basketball coach. Personally, I can’t believe he was ever seriously considering the job.

Nolan’s a great coach and his accomplishments speak for themselves (a national championship at Arkansas, an NIT championship, a junior college national championship, etc.), but there’s no way that ASU, or the Sun Belt Conference would have provided a big enough stage for Nolan and his Texas-size ego.

One interesting rumor going around on the internet was that Nolan was asking ASU for a deal similar to the one Bobby Knight got at Texas Tech a few years ago: Nolan would coach a couple of years, then turn the job over to his son, Nolan III (a.k.a. Notes). I don’t know if it’s true or not, but if it is, that certainly would have been a deal-breaker.

Notes was the head coach at Tennessee State a few years ago. One day after practice he got into an argument with one of his assistants. Notes went to his car and got a gun and went back into the gym, looking for the assistant.

On second thought, maybe ASU should go ahead and hire Notes. It could have its advantages. For example, if I’m a referee working an ASU game, you could be assured that Notes’ team is going to get every close call.
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The Arkansas Razorbacks looked terrible in the Cotton Bowl, and I’m not just talking about their dismal on-field performance. For the first time in school history, the team wore all red uniforms, or more specifically, red pants to go along with their red jerseys and helmets. They’ve worn red pants before in the past, but always with their road white jerseys, and even then only rarely. Before Tuesday, they had never worn the red pants with their home red jerseys.

Personally, I thought they looked like a bunch of hot dogs. When I say “hot dogs,” I don’t mean showboaters or trash talkers. I mean actual hot dogs. Big red weenies.

Interim head coach Reggie Herring said they wore the all red unis because they wanted to do something special to honor Frank Broyles. Broyles is one of the most successful coaches/administrators in the history of college athletics. If the team wanted to honor Coach Broyles, why didn’t they play with a sense of pride and passion? They should have played like they cared if they won or lost. Instead they went out and played like, well, like a bunch of weenies.
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Well, I haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire with my first batch of bowl game predictions. At the moment, I’ve only picked two of the first eight correctly. I would have done better if I’d based my picks on which team had the coolest looking helmets.

Armed Forces Bowl – California vs. Air Force. Air Force has the cooler helmet, but I’ll go ahead and pick California.

Humanitarian Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State. This game will be played on Boise State’s blue turf. Fresno is in the same conference as Boise, so they’ve played on the “smurf turf” before. That’s why I’m taking the Bulldogs.

Sun Bowl – South Florida vs. Oregon. Oregon lost their final three games of the regular season after quarterback Dennis Dixon went down with a knee injury. They won’t beat South Florida, either.

Music City Bowl – Kentucky vs. Florida State. This should have been one of the better games of the bowl season. That was before the academic cheating scandal rocked FSU, resulting in the suspension of over two dozen players, including some starters. Kentucky looks like the easy choice now.

Insight Bowl – Indiana vs. Oklahoma State. How can anyone pick against Indiana? The Hoosiers suffered a tragic blow in June, when coach Terry Hoeppner died from complications of a brain tumor. The team responded by going out and earning their first bowl berth in 14 years to become the year’s biggest “feel good” story in all of sports. I’m not picking against them.

Chick-fil-A Bowl – Clemson vs. Auburn. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville and Clemson coach Tommy Bowden both reportedly turned down the Arkansas job earlier this month. That could make for one interesting post-game handshake. Auburn will win the game.

Outback Bowl – Wisconsin vs. Tennessee. Tennessee’s speed will be too much for the Badgers.

Cotton Bowl – Missouri vs. Arkansas. Arkansas’ Darren McFadden (the best player in college football) versus Missouri’s Chase Daniel (the best quarterback in college football). Picking with my heart and not my head, I’m taking Arkansas. Also, I love that helmet.

Gator Bowl – Texas Tech vs. Virginia. The Red Raiders will go over, through and around Virginia.

Capitol One Bowl – Michigan vs. Florida. I have to pick Florida to win the game, but I’ll be rooting for Michigan to stomp the Gators and the Heisman Thief.

Rose Bowl – Illinois vs. USC. Illinois is the most undeserving of all the BCS teams and Southern Cal will show why.

Sugar Bowl – Hawaii vs. Georgia. A very interesting match-up. Hawaii went undefeated against a very soft schedule. Now they get a chance to show what they’ve got against one of the big boys. Georgia may have been the best team in the SEC at the end of the season. I’ll pick Georgia, but I think it could be real close.

Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma vs. West Virginia. The Sooners were embarrassed in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, losing to Boise State. They’ll get their revenge against West Virginia.

Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Kansas. Like Hawaii, Kansas put up a lot of wins against a soft schedule. They won’t be able to handle the Hokies.

International Bowl – Rutgers vs. Ball State. Ball State couldn’t even beat Nebraska. I’m taking Rutgers.

GMAC Bowl – Bowling Green vs. Tulsa. Bowling Green won’t stop Gus Malzahn’s high-flyin’ Tulsa offense.

BCS National Championship Game – LSU vs. Ohio State. Once again, the SEC will reign superior over the college football world.

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The bowl season starts tonight, so without further ado, here is part one of my fearless predictions.

Poinsettia Bowl – Utah vs. Navy. Navy will sink Utah.

New Orleans Bowl – Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic. Memphis ended the season on a roll, winning six of their last eight games. They’ll keep it going against FAU.

Papajohns.com Bowl – Southern Miss. vs. Cincinnati. Cincinnati was one of the surprise teams this season. Southern Miss fired their coach. Take Cincy.

New Mexico Bowl – Nevada vs. New Mexico. Is it a bad sign that the name of your bowl opponent is also the name of the bowl? Not for Nevada. The Wolfpack will win.

Las Vegas Bowl – UCLA vs. BYU. The Bruins fired coach Karl Dorrell after the regular season, and they still haven’t named a replacement. Even Arkansas found a coach quicker than this. BYU wins in a rout.

Hawaii Bowl – Boise State vs. East Carolina. I was going to try and make a potato joke, but all I could think of was ‘Boise will peel the Pirates’ so instead I’ll just say that Boise State will win.

Motor City Bowl – Purdue vs. Central Michigan. I’ll take Central Michigan.

Holiday Bowl – Arizona State vs. Texas. Arizona State.

Champs Sports Bowl – Boston College vs. Michigan State. Boston College.

Texas Bowl – TCU vs. Houston. It’s a good thing these teams are playing in the Texas Bowl, because no one outside of the state would care. TCU will win.

Emerald Bowl – Maryland vs. Oregon State. Oregon State and their “sports bra” jerseys will win.

Meineke Car Care Bowl – Connecticut vs. Wake Forest. Razorback fans everywhere should send WF coach Jim Grobe a Christmas card for turning down the head coaching job at the U of A. I’ll thank him by picking the Demon Deacons to beat UConn.

Liberty Bowl – Central Florida vs. Mississippi State. This could be one of the better “non-major” bowl games. UCF will slip past MSU.

Alamo Bowl – Penn State vs. Texas A&M. I’m glad these two mediocre-at-best teams are playing each other. That keeps one of them from stinking up another bowl. I’ll take Penn State, but it’s highly unlikely that I could care less.

Independence Bowl – Alabama vs. Colorado. Otherwise known as The Battle For a Winning Record. Alabama lost their last four games of the regular season, which included a loss to Louisiana-Monroe. That’s enough for me to pick Colorado.

I’ll pick the rest of the bowls next week in part two.

Here’s wishing everyone a very happy and safe Christmas and a thank you to everyone who’s bothered to read this stuff the past few months.

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