Costas Now: Bissinger Vs. Leitch

Will Leitch of Deadspin thinks he's taking part in a roundtable about sports writing and blogging, but what he doesn't realize is that host Bob Costas has secretly replaced the other panelist with author Buzz Bissinger, who is BATSHIT CRAZY:

Costas Now: Bissinger Vs. Leitch

Seriously, click through to that link and watch the clip. It starts off with Costas sort of blindsiding Leitch and trying to get him to agree with Costas about what the "reasonable criticism" of blogging is. Then, Bissinger interrupts him to tell him he's "full of shit." That is, actually, the intellectual high point of Bissinger's appearance.

It's really an amazing few minutes of video -- cringeworthy, disappointing, and unfortunately representative of a large portion of the mainstream sports media, who apparently feel very threatened by the fact that the Internet has allowed people who don't get to spend time in the locker room the opportunity to share their opinions with a wider audience.

Sometimes democracy results in the formation of the United States of America; sometimes it results in photos of Ben Roethlisberger pouring tequila down a co-ed's throat while wearing a t-shirt that says "Drink Like a Champion Today." Personally, I think both outcomes have made the world a better place.

What Kind of Name Is 'Lady Horizon,' Anyway?

Yesterday we took the girls to see the Harrisburg Lady Horizon basketball team. I was shocked to see that there actually was professional women's basketball in Harrisburg -- apparently they're part of something called the Eastern Basketball Alliance, which as near as I can tell is about a sixth-string minor league. The teams play a double-header, women first followed by the men's game. The men's league seems a bit more substantial than the womens' -- the women's page on the EBA website lists seven teams, but one of them has no roster and two others apparently only play road games.

The game was played at the Harrisburg High gym, and kids got in free with an adult, so it was a cheap afternoon out. Zosia really got in to watching the game for about the first 15 minutes we were there, remarking that the players were doing "cool stuff" like jumping and running and shooting the ball. After a brief conversation about how "shooting" and "time outs" were good things in basketball but bad things in life, her attention drifted and she found herself much more interested in the snacks at the concession stand and the mascot than the game, so we decided not to push our luck and stay for the men's game.

She has been playing soccer at pre-school (Soccer Shots) and I think she is just starting to think about the concept of a team sport. We've talked a little bit about what it means to "win," and just about every time we go up the stairs, when we get to the top she says, "I beat you." Of course, that's often followed by "What does 'I beat you' mean?"

The Horizon looks like a good (and cheap!) way to introduce her to these sorts of sports -- certainly cheaper than my original idea, which was a Hershey Bears game -- and I expect we'll be going to quite a few games over the rest of the season.

(And an aside about the title of this post -- today in the Patriot News there was a picture of a player on the Penn State women's basketball team. Across the front of her jersey it said LADY LIONS. I'm pretty sick of the practice of naming the women's team the Lady Whatevers -- it's extremely patronizing, and brings to mind antiquated phrases like "lady doctor" -- but in this case it's beyond ridiculous. There is a word in the English language that means "lady lion": LIONESS. If the men's teams are the Nittany Lions, why not name the women's teams the Lionesses? This would have the added bonus of being extra fierce since it's the lionesses that go out and do all the hunting while the male lions laze around and try to decide which of their cubs to kill.

Anyway, Lady Horizon. Feh.)

Wimbledon

With the house to myself this weekend, I spent more time watching tennis than I probably have over the last ten years combined. When I was in college, the French Open often took place during the dead days right around finals, so I watched that tournament just about every year, but I rarely had the time or inclination to watch much Wimbledon. This year was different

I watched Venus Williams overpower Marion Bartoli on Satuday, and that was entertaining, but Sunday's men's final between Federer and Nadal was one of the best tennis matches I have ever seen. I actually took a break after the first three sets because I was getting drained watching it, something that hasn't happened while watching sports on TV since my Cubs-obsessed days. Even John McEnroe, announcing the match for NBC, was reduced to simply exclaiming, "how great was that??!?" on numerous occasions. I really feel like I lucked into one of those matches for the ages that come along only every several years.

Nadal really appears to have stepped up his game and gave Federer his biggest Wimbledon challenge ever. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Federer seemed a little flat-footed in the second and Nadal ended up breaking him to win 6-4. He bounced back in the third, winning in another tiebreaker. After getting his knee taped in the fourth set he slowed down a bit, but was quickly back on his game, hitting winning shots from just about everywhere on the court. He had his chances to win the match, too, as he took Federer to his first fifth set at Wimbledon in six years. He had two break points in consecutive Federer service games but couldn't convert, and Federer ended up winning his fifth straight Wimbledon.

Even with the loss Nadal has, I think, shown Federer that he can hang with him on grass. This is shaping up to be a terrific rivalry that could last many years.

One other thing about the match -- McEnroe has to be one of the best sports announcers ever. I learned things about tennis in general, and about Federer and Nadal specifically, by listening to him -- he does a great job of explaining exactly what each guy is doing in a way that greatly improves the experience of watching the match.

Now I'm getting excited for the US Open in August. Bring it on!