There are not enough "White" horses in horse racing.  I refuse to watch this so called sport because there is an unfair representation of the amount of "White" horses that run in this sports most respected races, including the Kentucky Derby.  When was the last "White" horse to win the any of the three races in the coveted Triple Crown?  I don't watch the sport so I don't know.  Makes a lot of sense though, doesn't it Mr. Gumble?  You see to me, the idea that the Winter Olympics isn't a true representation of the best athletes in the world in each represented sport just because there are few black participants ludicrous.  As a matter of fact, and I may get into a bit of trouble by Fox Sports for saying this, but it is absolute HORSE ####!

Maybe MTV should remove the award for "Best Rap or Hip Hop Artist" because there aren't enough white rappers.  Or perhaps the black dominated Track Events in the Summer Olympics should be discredited because there aren't enough white runners on the team.  Most Americans already realize how ridiculous Mr. Gumble's comments were, but let's go just a little bit further.  BET will never be a top show because it employs far too few white hosts and on-screen personalities.  The NAACP should not be a recognized group because there are no white members.  And of course, the Jackson 5 will never be the greatest kids group because there was only one white band member.  (Ok, bad joke, but you get the point)

I apologize if anything I say here is taken as racist, because it isn't meant to be.  I just want to know why is it that a prominent black American would rather accuse the winter Olympics of being bias against blacks rather than just admitting that he has no interest in the sports the games include?  We all know that there are few black athletes in the major winter sports categories, but is that the fault of the teams participating or is that because maybe a majority of blacks aren't interested in participating in these sports?  Notice I didn't say all blacks.  I know there is always the exception to the rule.  And even better than that there is always going to be a minority individual that excels in an area that the majority dominates.  There will always be the Eminem's of rap and hip hop music.  There will always be the Barry Bonds or better yet the Jackie Robinson's of Baseball.  There will be the Larry Birds of basketball and the Yao Ming's.  There will be the Tiger Woods' of golf, the Williams sisters of Tennis, and yes even the Shani Davis' of Speed Skating.  Thanks to minority stars such as these, more children will be influenced and hopefully one day the number of minorities will grow in each sport the world has to offer.  But with people like Mr. Gumble insisting that race is the bigger issue than simple cultural interests, the progress will always be minimal at best. 

Until more white people take a deeper interest in basketball, the NBA will be dominated by black athletes.  The same will hold true for all sports.  Different cultures hold different sports in higher regard than others, it is a simple fact.  Hockey until recent years was almost completely a white sport because blacks simply had no interest in playing the game.  Football had the same issues early on.  Tennis still has few black stars.  Golf is finally becoming more attractive to the black community.  Winter sports are no different, and for Mr. Gumble or anyone to say that the Winter Olympics holds no credibility simply because there aren't enough blacks on the team is way off base and totally unwarranted.  The pool of athletes is open to all who want to participate.  The coach isn't going to go into the schools and just pluck kids out of the classroom and turn them into professional Speed Skaters just because he needs a black athlete on his team to be “credible.”   In order to compete at the Olympic level you must have a sense of dedication much higher than the average athlete, and unfortunately at this point in time the number of black Americans willing to compete at the Olympic level in winter sports is much smaller than the number of white Americans.  Thanks to the efforts made today by black winter athletes there will be more blacks in the next winter games.  Maybe seeing the first black gold medalist in US winter games history will inspire a new generation of black athletes to participate in winter sports.  Who knows?

Either way is it really always going to come down to race?  How many people in the US before yesterday even really cared what skin color the American athletes had?  Was there a whole segment of the viewing audience sitting in their favorite chairs with a piece of paper making tick marks for every black athlete they saw?  I can see it now.  Mr. Gumble missed more than the point when he was writing his little piece on the “color-less” winter Olympics.  He also missed some of the greatest achievements in winter sports history.  But that doesn’t matter because they aren’t real sports anyway.  Tell that to Shani Davis and the hundreds of athletes who have dedicated their lives to bringing home gold at the winter Olympics. 

The USA Network featured USA vs Switzerland today in what can only be described as a total blow out game. 

The women of the USA team were faster, stronger, and downright better than their Swiss counterparts in all areas but one.  It is hard to judge USA's netminder, Chanda Gunn, as she faced a grand total of 10 shots today.  On the other side of the ice, Patricia Elsmore-Sautter played a terrific game despite giving up 6 goals in a 6-0 loss.  She faced 56 shots and kept Switzerland in this game until things unravelled in the end. She made big saves throughout the game and I have to applaud the effort.

One thing the Americans definately need to work on is their style of play.  They skated circles around an out-matched team, but they took way too many penalties for roughing.  At least three times they were on the wrong end of a 5-3 power play and that cannot happen against a team like Finland much less Canada! 

All else aside, the US team showed a lot of skill and they worked together really well.  Cammi Granato talked before the game about the chemistry this team has and I have to agree that they communicate well on the ice.  I wouldn't put it past them to take Gold this year.

On a side note, how tough is it for Italy to come in and play their first game against Canada?  I'm Tivo'ing this one thanks to some family plans but as I get ready to leave for the day I see Canada is leading 7-0 in the second period.  Not a great showing for Italy, but I cannot comment as all I've seen thusfar is the score and a face off. 

Hopefully Italy will have  a better game when they face Sweden on Monday.

Closing Thoughts:

-As I look at the Olympic rules and the differences in the NHL, how hard will it be for NHL players to play in these games then return to the NHL where the rules are so drastically different? 

-What's with the men's team USA?  No love for them at all?  I saw this morning that the team is leaving up to the players to get family and friends over to Italy to be a part of the events.  Once again, Canada is out-doing the US when it comes to hockey.  When will the US take this sport seriously?

In my last post I talked about the lack of information provided by the CNBC broadcast team covering the Germany vs Finland Women's Ice Hockey game. 

Game two is Russia vs Sweden, and after one period and a new broadcast team, I'm in a much better mood.  The game has a much better pair calling the game and it has that "NHL" feel to it that just makes the game more fun to watch.  Not to mention, I'm learning players names!

The one that sticks out thus far is Martin, Sweden's 19 year old goaltender.  She's stopped everything she's seen and that is saying a lot with the way Russia started this game.  You have to remember, I'm a Blues fan so seeing a goaltender that comes out of the crease to cut down the angles and then make big saves time and again is something new for me, so I have to give props to the young netminder.

On another note, I'm seeing something new for me in hockey and it was on the penalty kill.  Russia took a single penalty in the first period and Sweden set up an 'umbrella' style offense.  When the puck was shot, it seemed as though 2-3 Russian players would come out to block the shot.  The middle player would lay down while the other two would get their sticks right in the way of the shot, building a wall for the power play to shoot through.  It's an ingenious approach, allowing any deflections to go wide of the net instead of a redirect directly in front of the goal that may potentially throw off the netminder.  Not to mention, it gives the goaltender plenty of room to see the puck if it does make it through the defense.  At any rate, it was an interesting thing to watch and I'm looking forward to getting another look at it as the game progresses. 

Closing Thoughts:

-CNBC please don't let that first duo call another game!

-Why is the arena so empty? This is the Olympics!!

-Where can I get info on these teams? Is there an olympic page for each hockey team so I can learn spelling and such on these players, where they play regularly, etc? 

Thanks for any help offered-back to the game!

So I just finished watching the CNBC broadcast of the Women's preliminary game between Germany and Finland.  Finland took the win 3-0 but that's not what I'm writing about.  I'd like to write about the way Finland dominated the game with the play of "x" person or the great puck control from "x" person but frankly, thanks to the horrid play calling, I cannot do that!

CNBC has taken a "let's just talk while there is a hockey game taking place" approach to the broadcast.  The on-ice action was great, as the women of Finland really played an outstanding game.  Unfortunately, I know nothing about these girls, including their names.  Now, that may work if I was taking them home from the bar, but this is hockey, and I wanna know so I can praise their efforts! 

The US media is going to fail miserably if this is how the broadcasts are going to be.  Even worse than the in-game commentary was the post game interview with Finland's goaltender.  I don't know if the language is that different in Finland, I've known a few Finnish people from college but it really seemed like this girl couldn't  understand the interviewer.  Is it that hard to find a translator so that we can get some decent answers from the players.  Even the classic NHL line "we just need to go out there and play our game and good things will happen" is better than "yes." 

For pete's sake!

Anyway, game two, Russia vs Sweden I believe has just started, so I'm off to watch.