Left Coast Sports Babe

Apologies to anyone reading this after the game,

Americans are getting very excited about the USA-Canada gold medal hockey game Sunday. In fact, many Americans polled said they actually planned to watch all four quarters.

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Mark McGwire, after admitting he lied about steroids, has once again accused someone else, in this case his brother, about lying about the details of that steroid use. Isn’t this kind of like Tiger Woods quibbling about his number of waitresses.

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In their neverending effort to come up with an aggravating prime-time show, NBC did a segment on why Canada has produced so many great comics – Dan Ackroyd, Mike Meyers, John Candy, Jim Carrey…. One of the reasons given was, of course, the cold winters. But great comedy comes from suffering, so why no mention of the Maple Leafs?.

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Meg Whitman, already up over 30 points in the Republican primary over her opponent Steve Poizner, has now unleashed a barrage of negative ads against Poizner. Well, if this Governor thing doesn’t work out she has a great shot at a job as an assistant coach in Seattle with former USC Coach Pete Carroll.

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The Buffalo Bills have announced they will not offer Terrell Owens a contract for next season. Thereby surprising T.O. and absolutely no one else.

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The University of Oregon has now had four football players arrested in one month. Maybe the university has been going too far in their efforts to prove they have an NFL ready program.

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Since the Olympics seems to constantly add new events, it maybe shouldn’t be surprising that one of the latest sports looking to qualify as a medal sport is – not making this up – “Synchronized Ice Skating”

Another step in the Olympics never-ending quest to find a sport that not a single straight man will ever watch.

But really, what did we expect from the network that has done such an amazing job with their regular prime time lineup?

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Watching the Sunday night show focused on ice dancing brings one thought to mind. Did I accidentally change the channel to a PBS documentary on the Ice Capades?

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Watching NBC’s commercials for “The Marriage Ref.” Now there’s a program that might work well on tape-delay – say, until about 2015.

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Monday night, NBC’s coverage of the ice dancing finals will be aired opposite ABC’s “The Bachelor.” And all over America men will be asking “Honey, didn’t you want me to clean the garage or something?”

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A recent poll showed 86 percent of Americans think goverment is broken. Wow. Didn’t realize 14 percent of Americans were government employees.

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Sarah Palin was a no-show at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Apparently Palin backed out once she heard that for health reasons CPAC requires all their speakers to wash their hands before taking the podium.

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With all this tape delayed Olympic coverage I suppose we on the west coast should start preparing now for Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012. When NBC will probably present us with “Super Bowl Monday”

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American Airlines is now charging $8 for a blanket and pillow. Which you can keep for future use, although there may be a $25 excess baggage charge if you bring them on your return flight.

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Ronald Howes, the inventor of the Easy-Bake oven, died last week at the age of 83. At the funeral, there will be no pallbearers, the casket will simply be powered by a number of 100 watt light bulbs.

So you do have to wonder. How did Canada, generally considered one of the world’s kinder, gentler, countries, manage to become a repressive nation in the eyes of the world, for fencing off… a torch?

Vancouver organizers had tried to protect the Olympic flame, and in the process, fenced the cauldron off in such a way that visitors couldn’t really see it, let alone take a picture. The fence is coming down, or at least being moved for visibility. But looking like a insensitive North American bully over something trivial… isn’t that the United States’ job?

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NBC’s tape delayed Olympic coverage means really exciting viewing for U.S. sports fans who don’t listen to radio, watch news, go to online sites during the day, or check their facebook accounts. Which means both of these fans are happy.

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Since Johnny Weir took the fox fur off his costume, the men’s figure skating finals were free from protests. Although looking at the outfits of the other skaters, one almost expected to see some demonstration from PETS – People for the Ethical Treatment of Sequins.
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The latest Olympic glitch was NBC’s broadcasting Shaun White’s profanity filled conversation with his coach after White had been assured his first half pipe gold. Snowboarders use vulgar language? Next thing we’ll hear is that some of them have been known to smoke a little something too.
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From Bill Littlejohn: Lindsey Vonn, helped by a cheese treatment on her injured shin, won the gold in the Olympic women’s downhill. Obviously a master of her Kraft.

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Antawn Jamison was traded from the last place Washington Wizards to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Talk about an upgrade. Sort of how it will be if the Olympic broadcast next time goes from NBC to ESPN.

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Tiger Woods has scheduled his first news conference since his November car accident Friday right in the middle of the Winter Olympics, and the Accenture Match Play championship. Since Accenture cut him as a spokesman, some think Tiger’s timing was motivated by revenge.

But that’s silly. To deliberately try to grab the Olympic spotlight and/or disrupt a major golf tournament would require being a supremely arrogant egotist who had absolutely no regard for the feelings of others…. Ooops, never mind.

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The New Jersey Nets are building a new arena in Brooklyn. But they just announced that for the next two years they have reached an agreement to leave the Meadowlands and play in Newark. What, was Bakersfield not available?

Many Olympic problems are being blamed on warm weather melting the ice. So maybe THAT’S what’s been happening to the Sharks in the playoffs.

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U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir has been receiving death threats from some PETA members and other animal rights activists because his original costume featured fox fur. Now, I personally hate fur but I hope no one tells these activists that most of Weir’s competitors will have their feet covered in leather.

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The City Council of West Hollywood has voted to ban stores from selling dogs and cats, even though there are no pet stores within the city limits. What’s next, a resolution commending women who haven’t had plastic surgery.

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NBC ran a promo for Jay Leno returning to the Tonight Show during the Olympic telecast. Which probably marks the first time most people have seen Leno in prime time.

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Watching the half pipe athletes playing with their phones before and after their runs: If they want to add both degrees of reality and difficulty, how long until the sport gives boarders extra points for texting DURING their runs?

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Actually “half pipe” might be a bit of a misnomer. Because it seems that if before you’d be brave and/or crazy enough to attempt the event, you’d have to smoke a full pipe.

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Bobby Bowden said he didn’t want to retire from Florida State, but he didn’t want to be a “figurehead football coach.” Besides, if he had been interested in a position like that he would have made more money with the Oakland Raiders.
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San Francisco mayor and former candidate for governor Gavin Newsom has now announced plans to run for lieutenant governor. Makes sense, if elected, the position will give him plenty of time to run his campaign for his next office.

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Carrie Prejean is complaining again about losing her Miss California title, saying the pageant people WANTED her to pose for Playboy. Is that really likely? Now she COULD have been encouraged to do so by the Republican party….in preparation for a future Senate run in Massachusetts.

Sign you won’t see at Wrigley Field anytime soon but seen on a home in New Orleans:

This IS Next Year.

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Another sign seen in New Orleans – Happy Lombardi Gras.
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Figure skating is being tape delayed so long on NBC that the top skaters aren’t on the air until almost midnight. What does the network think this is, the World Series?
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While many Canadian celebrities appeared at the Olympic opening ceremony, a notable no-show was Celene Dion. Apparently the Canadian government thought it might be a violation of the Geneva Convention.

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Like many television viewers I was switching last night between the Olympics and the Bachelor. It got kind of confusing though, at one point I couldn’t tell if the Russian pairs skaters lost a medal or didn’t get a rose.
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The Fox show “24” shut temporarily down production when Kiefer Sutherland had surgery for a ruptured cyst near his kidney. The operation took place between 2:00pm and 3:00pm.

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Many of the newer Winter Olympic sports like snowboarding started out as alternative extreme sports for disaffected youth. Does this mean that some year in the not too distant future we can expect the Summer Olympics to include beer pong?

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Billionaire Meg Whitman denies reports that with her expensive campaign she is trying to “crown herself governor.” Besides, she says, in the U.S. we refer to it as a tiara.

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I’m confused. Sarah Palin is upset about a Family Guy episode featuring a girl with Down’s syndrome. But it’s a Fox show; I thought the rule was if Republicans make jokes about being disabled it’s acceptable satire.

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Sebastian Janikowski apparently will get a $16 million, four-year contract from the Oakland Raiders, which will be the highest for a kicker in NFL history. It’s an especially nice deal because with JaMarcus Russell at QB, Janikowski won’t have to kick a lot of extra points.

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Dan Quayle’s son, Ben, age 33, is running for a House seat in Arizona. He feels he has the expiriance to help clean up the lejislatire.

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Mystery writer Dick Francis died at the age of 89. The funeral has been scheduled for an obvious place, but at the last minute it will be changed to a surprising new time and location.

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While most Winter Olympic sports are beautifully and technically difficult, they can be boring to watch. Maybe the solution is to combine two at once. Curling and figure skating anyone? (Sort of an ice version of dodgeball.)