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The Euro 2012 Tournament Starts this Weekend-ESPN Will be there for all of the Matches

June 7, 2012 by 1 Comment

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship aka the Euro 2012 starts today to see which national soccer team will emerge victorious in the 14th European Championship which sees 16 nations vying for the title. In the next championship, in 2016, the field will expand to 24 teams.

Aside from bragging rights the winner gets something much more substantial, an automatic entry into the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup that will be held next year in Brazil. The event, which will carry on for the next month will see matches held in eight cities sprawled across two nations-Poland and the Ukraine.

While I enjoy a good match I am really in no position to predict who is a favorite or which teams are the top ones to follow. I would suggest heading over to The Big Lead and look at Ty Duffy’s body of work on the subject.

The tournament has had a touch of scandal currently, with the continued growth of the match fixing scandal in Italy, something that initially helped kill that nation’s bid for the tournament and now sounds like it might have killed the national team’s chance of participating.

A few days ago the Italian team captain, Cesare Prandelli said it would not bother him if the team was withdraws from the event due to the scandal, which has been ongoing since 2006 in one form or another. There were 14 arrests last month and a player was dropped from the squad. As of this writing it has not happened.

In addition the BBC has reported that racism and neo-Nazis could be a problem and that former England team captain Sol Campbell is advising English fans to watch the matches from the safety of their home. And last but not least there are reports from Fox Sports that the jerseys sold at the matches contain toxic chemicals.

The Finalists
Group A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic

Group B
Netherlands
Denmark
Portugul
Germany

Group C
Spain
Italy
Ireland
Croatia

Group D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

The official site for the tournament is well laid out and carries a lot of current and past information, including how the teams did in the recent batch of friendlies, videos, photos, past history of the event, updates from team camps and general news.

There is the usual data on teams and when the event starts statistics will start to fill in on each game. What I like is that there is a number of games in the fan section where you can make prediction on who wins their group, who will win the Golden Boot, and other events

ESPN has taken the soccer broadcasting bull by the horns and will be broadcasting all of the matches, spread out across the ever growing network of channels and outlets that it owns. It has been working to make itself a much stronger player in the soccer broadcast world and so far it seems to be paying off.

This will be a real test to its commitment and I am looking forward to watching as many of the matches as possible. I will also be interested if I hear anything about this event from a number of friends who suddenly became soccer fans when the US Women advanced in the World Cup but had never mentioned the sport prior or after to me.

Filed Under: BBC, Contests, ESPN, ESPN FC, ESPN3, Euro 2012, FIFA, Fox Sports, Soccer Tagged With: , ,

Race Day in Dover as NASCAR Readies for FedEx 400

June 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Some very interesting 3-peats last week. I guess technically they were not actual 3-peats but so what? In the Coca-Cola 600 Kasey Kahne won for the third time and it is clear that he really likes this race since on the tour he has only won 13 times. The list of other 3 time winners shows that he is in an impressive group with luminaries such as Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Buddy Baker among the six others that have accomplished the feat.

The race was a great day overall for Hendrick Motorsports, which aside from Kahne had an additional 3 cars in the top 11. Filing out the top five was Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski.
http://www.doverspeedway.com/

This Week
The FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks will be run at the Dover International Speedway’s monster mile, touted as the world’s fastest one mile oval. Good news for fans that have visited the track’s web site, they now have a mobile app that seems to be speedier than the regular one.

Broadcast
June 3 12:30 pm ET on Fox

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -10
3) Denny Hamlin -16
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -18
5) Jimmie Johnson -48

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton
@nascarnowespn-ESPN2 NASCAR
@siriusxmnascar- Sirius XM:
@SPEED-Speed

Nationwide Series
Brad Keselowski skated to a nice win last week in Charlotte, leading the last 67 laps and praying that the gas he got when he fueled up with 73 laps to go would last-it did, making his caution lap decision not to pit pay off.
The top five was filled out by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler. Point’s leader Ricky Stenhouse had mechanical issues and finished 26th while one other widely watched driver, Dancia Patrick disappointed by starting 3rd but finishing 13th.

The 5-Hour Energy 200 is this weekend and they will be racing in just a little over 24 hours of posting this. It should be a fun race as speeds will be high and drivers should be raring to go on this interesting track.

Broadcast
June 2, 2 pm ET ESPN & WatchESPN

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -13
3) Austin Dillon -28
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -57
5) Cole Whitt -94
5) Justin Allgaier -94

Indy 500
Congratulations to Dario Franchitti who won his third Indianapolis 500 in a very intense last lap battle with Takuma Sato, who ended up hitting the wall in a tremendous crash after their tires made contact with each other.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Dover International Speedway, ESPN, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Indy 500, Kurt Busch, Live sports via mobile, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: , ,

Big Weekend for Racing Fans: Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500

May 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The two will make for a great week of viewing for fans. With Indy moving its starting time back to noon it once again gives drivers that want to the opportunity to race in both events, all it needs is a helicopter ride in between. I am too lazy to look at this moment but I believe that only one driver has ever finished both races in the same day.

Last week there was the All Star Sprint Cup event. I did not see these races due to other obligations but according to ESPN’s report I did not missed that much as drivers figured out how to game the system. Jimmie Johnson won the $1 million event but complains of sandbagging seem to have arisen. I suspect we will see the rules tweaked a bit next year to try and stop this from occurring once again.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -2
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4)Denny Hamlin -17
5) Jimmy Johnson -39

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton
@nascarnowespn-ESPN2 NASCAR
@siriusxmnascar- Sirius XM:
@SPEED-Speed
@NASCAR_TNT-NASCAR on TNT

The Coca-Cola 600

Broadcast
May 27 at 5:30 PM ET on Fox
The race will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway and is the longest race of the season for the drivers, and that is not counting and any additional delays from cautions could drag out the telecast. It looks like the race will be run under hot and humid conditions, although there is also a chance of isolated thunderstorms as well.

With Jimmie Johnson so hot lately he has to be considered the favorite in this race, his having gone two for two over the past two weeks. No asterisk need be applied to last week because I am sure no driver hits the gas in an effort not to take home the prize. However the length of a race also has to impact the chances that some unforeseen mishap can ruin a driver’s day.

Nationwide Series
The Nationwide Series also returns, with the running of the History 300. Somehow I missed the fact that they were running in Iowa last week- sorry. I just looked to see what other race was occurring in Charlotte. O well it happens.

It looks as if Rickey Stenhouse Jr. did not miss me, dominating the race by leading 209 of the 250 laps and winning the checkered flag He apparently likes the track with three wins here in the last year. The win was good for extending his lead in the series. The top five was filled out by Elliott Sadler coming in second followed by Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch. For those of you still enthralled by Danica Patrick, she did not finish for the second time this year.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -34
3) Austin Dillon -43
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -74
5) Cole Whitt -92

History 300
Broadcast
May 26 2:30 ET on ABC

The Indy 500
Broadcast
May 27 12:00 PM ET ABC
The Indy 500 is also this weekend and fans in the infield should be prepared for some hot racing, and hot weather. There are expectations that the race may set a heat record, beating the 92 set in 1937 if it hits the estimated 94 on Sunday.

With qualifying over the top row will feature Ryan Brisco alongside James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay leading off the 33 car field. It looks like it was a pretty busy week for the drivers and fans.

Filed Under: ABC, Athlete to Follow, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Indy 500, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: ,

The All-Star Race is Here. NASCAR Starts its Engines in Charlotte

May 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last weekend in Darlington was a bit of surprise for both races, calm at the start and then havoc later on. Ok now that I think of it that is not too surprising. Anyway in the Sprint Cup Bojangle’s Southern 500 Jimmie Johnson came through for Hendrick Sports, winning its 200th race.

Johnson benefited from the late yellow flags to help him overcome fuel issues late in the race and I would like to second the announcers comments about has there been any studies done regarding the turning on and off the engine to save fuel. Does that really work? For Johnson it broke a long cold streak dating to last season.

He seemed to be pressed late by Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch but they did not hold up down the stretch. The top four finishers after hi were Denny Hamlin, Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.. For any interested in Danica Patrick, she finished six laps down.

In other track news Kurt Busch was fined $50,000 and placed on probation for speeding through pit road late in the race and then returning and bumping Ryan Newman’s car after the race. Think there fender bender in the race affected this? The probation will last until July 25th. Also next year no more Impalas ranging free on the track as Chevrolet has said that they will be replaced next season by the new Chevrolet SS.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -2
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4)Denny Hamlin -17
5) Jimmy Johnson -39

This Week- The Sprint Showdown
Broadcast
May 19, 7 pm ET on Speed

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

The Sprint Cup is shaking things up a bit this weekend with the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will have an altered format this year and will now feature five segments, the first four will consist of 20 laps each and the final segment will have ten laps.

Drivers that win one segment will be at the front for the next segment. Multiple wins enables the second place winner to take the pole position. The ten lap race will only count green flag laps. Also no points but lots of cash!

Nationwide Series
No Nationwide again this weekend, maybe giving Elliott Sadler time to cool down from the tap he received from eventual winner Joey Logano last weekend. Actually Sadler was quite professional about the whole thing in his post race interview, but I have to wonder if a return tap is not in his future.

The bump came with only five laps to go on a restart and wrecked Sadler, also hurting his standings as then points leader. For most of the race Denny Hamlin had been in charge but that changed after one of the earlier yellow flags. He managed to finish second followed by Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Austin Dillon. Danica Patrick managed a 12th while Travis Pastrana finished a respectable 17th.
No race this weekend so we will see you in Iowa.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -23
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -59
5) Cole Whitt -82

Filed Under: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Darlington Raceway, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart Tagged With:

The War of Words begins between ESPN and NBC Sports

May 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

ESPN has had an emerging rival in the all-sports all day broadcasting model in recent days with the rise of NBC Sports Network, and while the two have not had much to say about each other that may be changing.

According to USA Today the war of words began earlier this week when ESPN President John Skipper made some comments about rival NBC during ESPN’s upfront presentation that on the face of them did not seem to extreme, but that lit the fuse.

NBC shot back deriding ESPN’s quality and the value they deliver for the dollar they charge, ESPN shot back that more people use its mobile app than watch NBC, and so it goes. I expect that this will continue for some time, mostly at events such as the upfront presentations.

For those of you with a long memory you will recall the battles between ESPN and rival Fox when Fox was working on establishing itself as a 24/7 sports network. They sniped at each other; put their logos over all sorts of images to prevent rivals from using them and a host of other actions, many of them infantile.

Ah, the good old days. First they seemed to come to an understanding and ceased over use of their respective logos and refrained saying trite and petty things about each other and then finally Fox eventually threw in the towel and dropped its efforts, although rumors have recently come that it might be reexamining the idea.

While in some ways this current fight has no impact on sports fans, in other ways I believe that it will have a positive one. Competition is good for fans because hopefully it means the players involved will raise their game. I think that the rise of MLB’s network has made ESPN raise the level of Baseball Tonight, for instance.

One issue is that there is little overlap, ESPN has a large range of premium sports and NBC does not, although it does have the upcoming Olympics and a few other sports such as the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, which are seeing a strong resurgence in viewership. Other events such as the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 and the Amgen Tour of California, while very good, just do not have the viewership of or the range of games that ESPN rolls out.

Filed Under: Baseball, Contests, Cycling, ESPN, Fox Sports, Live sports via mobile, NBC Sports, NFL, Sailing, Volvo Ocean Race Tagged With: , ,

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

May 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Sometimes it is good to listen to the announcers, although I am pretty sure none of the drivers in last week’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega were in a position to do so, at least those that were still left on the track as the race had its final green flag for an overtime sprint to the checkered flag..

If the drivers had that luxury front runner Matt Kenseth, who shot out into a big lead without the benefit of teammate Greg Biffle to give him a push. He was in that position at the end due to a nine car pileup that happened with just four laps to go.

As the Fox Sports announcers were questioning the tactics here came rivals Brad Keselowski who with a big push from teammate Kyle Busch shot past him into the lead with a lap to go. Busch, judging from the post race interview sounded like he then expected that he would be able to pass Keselowski at the end, but failed.

This was Kieslowski’s second win of the season followed by Busch, Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Biffle rounding out the top five.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -7
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -9
4) Denny Hamlin -27
5) Kevin Harvick -45

This Week’s Race
This Saturday the teams head to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangle’s Southern 500 on the 62 year old historic track. The oval course has a distance of 1.366 miles and gget ready for some up the wall driving.

There is an interesting reason that Darlington is more egg shaped than a true oval. When the course was being modified to accommodate the up and coming NASCAR races a local property owner down near turns 3 and 4 did not want his fishing hole disturbed so the course was narrowed down at that end.

Broadcast
May 12, 6 pm ET on Fox

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

Nationwide Series
Broadcast
May 11th at 6:30 pm ET on ESPN 2

Last week’s race was also what you would expect from Talladega, with a number of crashes including a major one that left driver Eric McClure with a concussion and internal bruising, but he was out of the hospital on Monday and will not be behind the wheel tonight.

The race had a much better ending for Joey Logan, who with five pas to go shot into the lead past Kyle Busch to win the Aaron 312. The win was Logano’s second of the season and the first second of the weekend for Busch.

The race resulted in some shuffling in the leader board as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and took the points lead from Elliott Sadler while Cole Whitt was fourth, with Dale Earnhardt Jr taking the firth spot.

I seemed to have missed the real fun however. I rushed out of the house as the checkered flag dropped and missed Danica Patrick put Sam Hornish Jr. into the wall with a ‘tap’ on the cool down lap. He had bumped her earlier in the race. She claims that t is all behind them and that she apologized to Hornish, Roger Penske the car owner and talked with Nationwide Series director Joe Balash. She was not penalized and finished 13th in the race, Hornish 12th.

Tonight they will be running the VFW Sports Clip Help a Hero 200 under the lights, so sit back, have a beer and watch the action as you relax yourself into the weekend.

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -5
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -60
5) Cole Whitt -77

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Darlington Raceway, ESPN, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: ,
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