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No City of Akron basketball tonight
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Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
NBC Releases Olympics Announcer List
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Friday, Aug 15, 2008
Some out there weren't able to put their finger on their blase attitude toward the Olympics.
Stopping into a favorite spot, a conversation sprang up about that subject before the games began. No one had interest in them, and no one I spoke with had any definite plans to watch.
Attitudes are changing.
NBC has turned the Olympics into must-see TV, even though the Opening Ceremonies' fireworks got a bigger bang courtesy of digital technology and the cute little girl singing during the event gave her best Milli Vanilli imitation.
According to Nielsen Media Research, NBC averaged 30.4 million viewers the first three nights of the Olympics. It's easy to figure out why: There are stories to tell — compelling ones.
Quick: Someone tell me the most interesting story about the 2004 Summer Olympics? Well, there was one, but it certainly didn't resonate with Americans.
The men's basketball team, under the coaching of Larry Brown, laid a big, fat, rancid egg in Athens, Greece, bringing home the bronze medal.
This year is different. Americans are hooked. Even I, who usually finds time to rearrange his sock drawer during the Olympics, have discovered the bonus coverage on NBC's assorted channels.
Like many of you, two stories fascinate me.
The first: The relentless Michael Phelps, who continues to pour it on in his Olympics competition and seemingly is unstoppable in his quest to win the most medals in a single Olympiad. He's up for eight, and I suspect he might win in every event.
Let's face it. We want to know everything about the guy. What goes into that 12,000-calorie-a-day diet? Why isn't he as neurotic as other swimmers, eliminating every strand of hair from his body with some advanced form of electrolysis? Does he realize that he has more bling now than most rappers? The important stuff.
Then there's the men's basketball team, led by Akron's own LeBron James, who brashly guaranteed America that the gold was coming home where it belonged.
This is one set of events I planned to follow regardless, but James' prediction, made in Time magazine, nonetheless, made it necessary to put the team's schedule on my calendar. Other than the early parts of the game against Greece on Thursday morning, they looked like a team on a mission. Redeem Team? Definitely.
Call 2004 a wake-up for hoops fans who expect NBA players to waltz into any international event and rule the court. Team USA's organizers required a three-year commitment and a checking of egos at the door.
Think it hasn't worked?
Coach Mike Krzyzewski has a group of NBA superstars, arguably the most impressive ones since the original Dream Team in 1992, playing a brand of basketball the NBA hardly sees. No one player dominates, and defense rules.
The Olympics on their own represent an event worthy of some attention, but it's stories such as Phelps and a team trying to right what they perceive to be a wrong that turn the games into a happening. You want to be watching should Phelps make history. And you'll want to stick your chest out in pride should a team, led by a local hero, actually redeem itself.
It won't be surprising when I walk into that watering hole Saturday morning to join more than a few folks to watch Team USA face off against Spain at 10.
CBS locks up SEC
Given the news from CBS, it doesn't look as if fans of the Southeastern Conference will have to worry about whether there's a chance their league tries to assemble its own network.
CBS Sports signed a 15-year deal Thursday to broadcast SEC football and basketball games along with the rights to use some of that programming over the Internet and for other digital opportunities.
Fans of the SEC get peace of mind knowing they won't be held hostage by contract negotiations stalled by one or both parties.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/sportsblitz/
Some out there weren't able to put their finger on their blase attitude toward the Olympics.
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