Written by: Jamie Lazaroff
Edited by: Bob Lazzari
Well, what a great time to be a Boston sports fan! The Pats are undefeated, and the Celtics look better than I thought. By the way, congrats go out to the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Series for the second time in four years--a clean sweep! Before 2004, it took 86 years to win another title; now they've won two World Series titles in my lifetime-- wooooooooooooooo! I believe with the pitching and young stars they have now, we will see more championships in the near future.
*Why are the World Series games televised so late at night? The first pitch is not until 8:30 P.M with a half hour pre-game show before that. Many games did not conclude until well past midnight. What is Major League Baseball doing? How are kids going to become baseball fans when they grow up if they can’t watch the World Series when they are young? At the very least, they could put one game on during the daytime.
*What can I say about the Patriots that has not already been said or written about them? They are winning with so much ease that it's making their games boring. The only way I see them losing is if they lose their focus. Most people are looking forward to the Indianapolis game on November 4. Indianapolis is the only other undefeated team in the NFL, but New England has scored 86 more points than Indy. They have also scored 14 more touchdowns than the Colts. I would look after their bye week for a possible slip up--or maybe the December 3rd game at Baltimore.
*What a year in college football! In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Saturdays in the fall . But I root for one team, Notre Dame (I don’t what to talk about it!). This year, there have been more upsets than I can ever remember. The top two teams in the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) have lost (LSU and South Florida). As of this week, Boston College is number two and UCONN (let me type that again), UCONN football is ranked 13th. Like I said, a wild and unpredictable year.
*I understand why the National Football League played a regular season game in London, England; they are trying to globalize American football. However, I don’t think it will work. American football is not a global game. It was born in the U.S and is played mostly in the U.S.. In England, they have rugby-- which is a much faster and skillful game. Globalization is easier in basketball or even hockey because these sports are played all over the world. I think it will take more time and money to educate the world about American football. And by the way, rugby players don’t play with pads on.
*As an advocate for people with disabilities, I have to say that we have a long way to go. I was reading a press release about ESPN's coverage of The Breeders’ Cup. One of the features in the coverage was about Greg’s Gold, a horse named after a Special Olympics athlete. What made me so angry was this: the release said that the athlete "suffered" from Down syndrome. A person with Down syndrome does not "suffer;" they have it, they are born with it, and people do not die from Down syndrome. I had hoped the piece for TV would show better judgement and use better language than this (It did). This is why we need with-tv.
This week's spotlight shines on the Australia Men’s national wheelchair basketball team. This profile comes from the Paralympic website.
After placing second at the 2007 VISA Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, Great Britain, only losing the final match against Paralympic champion Canada in a “last second thriller”, won the final of the 2007 Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, against Iran (75:37), taking home the gold medal and title of Oceania Paralympic Champion. For the new Rollers’ Head Coach Ben Ettridge, Australia's Gold Medal victory at the Arafura Games took his win-loss record to 9-and-1, since he took over from his mentor Murray Treseder, who departed Australia to take up the top job with Great Britain in March.
The team has a good mixture of talented young players and more experienced older ones, the youngest being 22 years of age and the oldest 41.
Career Highlights of the Rollers:
Gold medal - Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games
Silver medal - ATHENS 2004 Paralympic Games
Bronze medal - 2006 IWBF World Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands
