Behind The Scoreboard


Thursday, October 13, 2011
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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson

Sports variety

Two or three times a year it happens when sports events which are most attractive to a person seem to converge and present a problem in prioritizing.

This past weekend was like that.

First there was the WNBA finals, pitting the Atlanta Dream against the Minnesota Lynx. Neither of these teams had won a championship. The Dream had been to the finals last season and had been kicked out by the Seattle Storm. The Lynx had never been to the finals before.

If you all recall, some weeks ago yours truly had picked the Dream to win it all this season if they didn’t have to face the Minnesota Lynx. The Dream was highly favored because of Armintie Price who had played at Myrtle and Ole Miss. Atlanta had been performing well all season and it appeared to carry over into the post season. However, when they got to the finals and faced the Lynx in the best of five, the story changed.

Since they opened in Minneapolis, I naturally conceded the first game to the Lynx, but I had thought that they would surely win the second game. I watched the first two games but had to record the third game because duty called on Friday night. I was crushed when late Friday night I found that the Dream had been swept. It would appear that the Lynx really wanted this.

Then on Sunday, while I am still in the throes of selecting a new NFL team on which to hang my Super Bowl hopes, I discover that the last track and field event of the season is taking place in Brussels, Belgium. And why would this be such an attention grabber? Are you kidding? Usain Bolt was expected to solidify his reputation as the fastest man in the world. Remember back in August when Bolt false started in the world event in Daegu, Korea?

Well, I had to leave my football surfing to see what would be the final outcome. It was well worth the diversion. No false start this time. Although he gave his Jamaican teammate, Nesta Carter, the first few steps, Bolt hit the lightning factor immediately and whizzed to a new world record of 9:76.

After that momentous occasion, I took up the task of selecting a favorite NFL team. It suddenly struck me that since I couldn’t remember which team went undefeated in the pre-season, I settled on the Detroit Lions (the fact that Detroit is one of the two undefeated teams at this point had absolutely nothing to do with the decision). I fully realize that the woods are not full of Detroit fans in these here parts so I expect the derision. However, I plan to try to induce the Lions to recruit Usain Bolt and turn him into a wide receiver.

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