Monday, October 31, 2016

Sports this 'n' that

Back in the day, it was fairly common for football games to end in ties. When first the NFL, then colleges and high schools, adopted overtime rules for regular season games, ties became all but extinct.

In the last two weekends, we've been reminded that sometimes it can still happen.

8 nights ago, an NFC West match between Seattle & Arizona ended in a 6-6 draw after overtime. No matter how hard the teams tried to determine who was better, the kicking game on both sides took a siesta, and we were left with a stalemate.

Yesterday, in London, where they're accustomed to stalemates in soccer, Washington & Cincinnati battled to a tie at 23-all.

The moral of the story? Sometimes, old school football still works.
============================================
Lost in the hubbub over Troy High advancing to the Section II Class AA Super Bowl with a win over CBA on Friday was the fact that earlier in the evening, the school's volleyball team was eliminated in its first round match in the sectionals, losing to Shaker. The result was not reported to The Record, and as of now, I cannot be certain if it was reported at all. All I know is that Shaker advances to play Shenendehowa in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

This again emphasizes a point that has been made to me in contact with local sports writers via e-mail over the last year and change. It's up to the schools to make sure the results of all of their athletic contests make the paper, because not everyone has internet access, and that includes a lot of alumni who might be curious about how the school is doing in the sports they used to play.
============================================
The timing of this next article is a little curious, considering that last night, for the first time ever, WWE had a women's title match headline a pay-per-view.

A headline appeared online this morning hyping the fact that a new women's wrestling promotion is being formed, founded by the daughters of WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan, Kerry Von Erich, and Roddy Piper, as well as the daughters of former AWA, WCW, & WWE star Diamond Dallas Page and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme. Brooke Hogan (ex-Brooke Knows Best), who had cups of coffee with WWE and TNA, has been serving as the spokesperson for the group. Seems inevitable that she'd get into the family business after all. Lacey Von Erich, Kerry's daughter, had a brief run in TNA. Ex-WWE & TNA personality Christy Hemme has also been attached. Reportedly, they're interested in UFC stars Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey.

All this says to me is that while they want to compete with TNA, which is on its last legs, they're actually looking at a bigger picture down the road. Yes, they may think down the line that they could challenge WWE for audience attention. In the words of the late Gorilla Monsoon, highly unlikely.

No comments: