Weekly Sporties

-All this week ESPN has been trying to promote the hell out of the World Poker Championships. You see, ESPN over-paid for this event when poker was hot, but like all fads it has since faded in popularity. However, the network still has several years left on this contract, so they have to pretend as though it still matters. Therefore, ESPN has tried to liven up the contest by showing the games as they happen and not revealing what cards people have until the end. On the surface, the rationale makes sense: people aren't going to watch something that was filmed months ago and not allowing people to know what cards the players are holding will keep people guessing and watching until the end of the hand. Sounds good in theory, but that's only going to hold on to the people who actually care who wins. The other 98% of the world's population is just annoyed that you removed the only good parts of the show, because watching real poker is boring as hell. The fact that we can no longer see the hold cards and have to wait in real time while 6 anti-social and pale guys do calculations in their heads is not a selling point. Before I might have hung around for a hand or two, but now I'm not watching at all. Just move this to ESPN 8 and get it over with.

-I have said this every time it has happened before, so I don't want anyone out there to think this is sour grapes because the US lost last week, but penalty kicks really are an awful way to decide a world championship. They make the event seem too gimmicky to ever be taken seriously. I think they should go back to having sudden death and a 'Golden Goal'. At least that way you actually get rewarded for how you play the game and not by something that only happens on rare occasions during play. Imagine if the NBA Finals were decided by a game of H-O-R-S-E, because it's really the same thing.

-Speaking of the NBA, even though the league is at the beginning stages of a lockout that everyone says will last until at least January, the NBA released its schedule this week with games set to start in November. Now, those games are never going to be played: I know it, you know it, the players know it and the owners know it. Making it even more obvious is the fact that the two sides aren't even scheduled to meet for more labor negotiations until the middle of August. I think the reason this bothers me is because it makes the NBA seem like it is talking down to its fans. We're all adults and we can handle bad news, so please, treat us like we put our big-boy pants on and don't tell us everything is going to be fine when it clearly isn't. The NBA is already going to lose a lot of fans to the lockout, they shouldn't piss off the ones they have left by treating them like children.

-So, from one lockout just starting to one that is on its last legs, the NFL lockout may be coming to an end. The other night the NFL owners approved a new CBA by a vote of 31-0. (The Raiders did not take part in the vote. I assume it was because the vote happened when the sun was still up and Al Davis can only come out at night.) However, the players union said not so fast as they want to go over all the details to make sure the owners didn't slip some last-minute loopholes in before they sign anything. While that makes sense, I don't think that is the major concern. I think what's happening now is that players hate training camp and fully expected to get a couple weeks off from it, not thinking a deal would get done so fast. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that they are just dragging their collective feet because a few dozen made vacation plans for early August.

-Still, the deal will get done and not much will be different, except for one thing: the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio has already been cancelled for this year. While the city of Canton is saddened by this announcement, I personally never understood the purpose of the game. I always felt as thought it distracted people away from that year's class of inductees, which was a raw deal considering how hard they had to work to get there. Having one year with no game to take the spotlight away from the class may not be a bad thing. And when you consider this year's class has both Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe, two of the leagues best talkers and self-promoters, they may actually prefer it this way.

-From the moment it was revealed that Stevie Williams was going to caddy for Adam Scott at a couple of events I had been saying that he would never caddy for Tiger Woods again. It's simple human nature - you don't let people borrow something if you are worried about never getting it back. Therefore, I can't really say that I was surprised when Tiger formally announced a switch this week. What was surprising was the revelation that Tiger gave Stevie his blessing to caddy for Scott with a "I'm going to say it's ok even it's really not and I'm mad about this, but I'm not going to tell you that because I want you to come to that conclusion on your own" tone, because I always thought that tone was reserved for 22 year-old girls. So, what this really boils down to is Tiger getting pissed that his loyal caddy appeared to be stepping out with someone else. Boy, that's ironic, isn't it?