| | | Dieux du Stade |
NCAA Men's College Basketball heats up this weekend, and in the absence ofNFL games today, a few dozen division one games are scheduled today, with atleast 20 being broadcast on national television. Add that to the roughly 30 games broadcastSaturday, with even more played, and it is obvious that some of the conferenceswill see changes in standings after this weekend. It is too soon to make any calls as to whowill be seeded in the upcoming NCAA tournament, give it another six weeks and all will become clear. The NBA is in an alike situation, with seven games each daythis weekend (including Monday). GoldenState is clearly dominating in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference,leading both LA teams, who are below .500, along with Sacramento andPhoenix. The only other team who has anysort of a lead of a few games is Houston, in the Southwest Division of theWestern Conference. Minnesota leads the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celticslead the Atlantic Division, Miami the Southeast Division, and Cleveland theCentral Division. Governing Boards of International Sports Franchises oftenmake boneheaded decisions, usually based on motives that have nothing to do withbuilding up the sport. Profit motive isoften at the fore, or the commissioners' self esteem. Sometimes decisions boggle the mind. Boards of Governors of other institutions,such as the NCAA, share in the blame for hurting their sports, rather thanhelping them to flourish. The NFL Pro Bowl will be held this afternoon, this year heldthe Sunday between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. The NFL just can't seem to settle on when thePro Bowl should be played, but it's place here ensures none of the players ofnext Sunday's teams will play, and everyone else is just trying to avoidinjury. The Canadian and American "National Hockey League,"has also engaged in boneheaded thinking. They have decided not to pause their schedule for the two weeks of theWinter Olympics this year. Their Boardof Governors ruled against interrupting the season to send players toPyeongChang from February 10–25. Ratherthan respecting multinational players and their countries, and enhancing thereputation of North American Sports, the NHL has made this bad decision, which onceagain damages the reputation of North Americans before the world. Instead, this is the weekend of the 63rd National Hockey League All-Star Game, willbe held today at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, home of the Tampa BayLightning. Again, officially, the NHL has declared that the All-Star Game willbe played in lieu of NHL participation in the 2018 Olympics. Rather than building up the sport, though,through a standard glorification of NHL Stars, this is a mini playoff of a minigame, which at times only coincidentally resembles professional hockey. The2018 All-Star Game will again use the bizarre 3-on-3 tournament format introducedin 2016, in which teams representing each of the NHL's four divisions (theAtlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific) will play a single-eliminationtournament, with each game consisting of two 10-minute halves played 3-on-3 andgoing directly to a shootout if tied after 20 minutes. The weekend also includes flashy uniforms, designedespecially for the weekend, celebrity appearances and shootouts (Do NHL Bosses really think Justin Bieber inspires anyone to love hockey???), and othergimmicks meant to enhance fan excitement!!! but having little to do with the sport. This sad version of what the NHL All Star Game has come to might be besttransferred to a mid Summer hockey festival, or maybe a formal dinner and awardpresentation.... It is unfortunate BigHock has chosen to override that beautiful expression ofinternational cooperation which is the Olympics. Having said that, at the All Star break, Tampa Bay is leadingthe Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, and Washington theMetropolitan Conference. In the WesternConference, Nashville and Winnipeg are at the head of the Central Division, andLas Vegas leads the Pacific Division. France, and in particular French Rugby, has been the most fecund source of Dieux du Stade. In French Top 14 Rugby today, at 11:30, local time, Stade Franҫais will take on Section Paloise (Pau) at the StadeJean-Bouin in Paris. At 15:50, at the Stade Marcel-Michelin, ClermontAuvergne will host Montpellier Hérault. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 1/27/2018 08:20:00 PM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
