by A.J. Coltrane
Now that the Winter Olympics has evaporated from the public consciousness for another four years, the programming on SportsCenter represents a good analogue for what the sports-addicted care about in the wasteland that is sports in late February.
A sampling!
NBA trade deadline: Not much happened. No teams significantly helped or hurt themselves, and no title aspirations were effected. Not much coverage. The biggest of the stories: Somewhat-Newly-Out Jason Collins got signed by the Nets.
MLB: Baseball exhibition (spring training) updates on the ticker! Of course, the fact that Pitcher X threw for 5 innings and allowed 2 runs against mostly AAAA competition while working on his curveball for the first time in six months means absolutely nothing — but there it is, crawling across the bottom of the screen.
NFL: The Michael-Sam-Has-Come-Out discussion got buried after he had a very poor performance at the Combine, in favor of discussion as to whether the “N”-word should be banned in the NFL. Not suprisingly, the studio hosts were all in agreement about the appropriateness of the “N” word. Also not surprisingly, they looked much more comfortable with the latter subject.
NCAA Basketball: Highlights involving mens teams that are 1. Very Good, and 2. Well funded. Everyone else need not apply.
MLS: No soccer coverage, even though opening day is in about two weeks. Ignored in favor of —
NFL again: NFL Combine Analysis: And analysis, and analysis. Even in February, the NFL is king.
I’m watching cooking shows at the moment. March can’t come soon enough.
FlatbreadGarden 