Olympic hockey can turn history-formed habits strange.
Given that Canada is the favorite but Team USA has a reasonable shot, my rooting interests this week drifted to the teams that played against Canada.
Thus, Tuesday, during Canada-Germany, I found myself mouthing, “Let’s go Jer-ma-nee!” Let’s go Germany? Did I just say that?
Then, the next day, it became “Let’s go Rush-a!” Geez, first Germany, now I’m rooting for Russia!
Good thing Canada was off, yesterday, as opposed to playing, say, Iran or North Korea.
➤ One more thing about Doc Emrick: He’s also North America’s Hockey Laureate, its Norman Rockwell on flat-screen canvas.
Tuesday, during Switzerland-Belarus on USA Network, Emrick said this of Swiss defenseman Severin Blindenbacher, “One of those great shoulder-to-shoulder names. It seems like it belongs to a brewing family, doesn’t it?”
Wednesday, at 3:45 EST, during USA-Switzerland on NBC: “Some of you may be watching this in school, depending on the time zone. It must be hard to study. Especially, though, you want to thank the teacher who made it possible to watch this game.
“I remember when the World Series was during the day. Martha Kirsch, Ruth Sheffield, Morton Ellis — they all let us watch the World Series. You never forget the teacher who let you do that. So make sure you thank him or her, today.”
Nike shills cower to Tiger
As long as Tiger Woods remains Nike’s top golf guy, asking players with Nike deals for candid assessments of Woods is a waste of time. Same goes for trying to pull honest takes on Woods from golf voices belonging to networks that televise golf. Always —always— follow the money. Until Woods no longer means big TV ratings, he always will be granted the excessive entitlement that he has long felt entitled to.
* By now, NBC can’t help it — the sell comes first. Late in Canada-Russia, Alexander Semin and Dan Boyle twice connected in a vicious, illegal manner. But minutes later did NBC show us if the two shook hands in the postgame ritual? Heck, no. NBC was busy with close-ups of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, the only NHL-on-NBC players NBC sells.
* Calm down. That kid seen during Thunder-Knicks, Saturday — that delightful child in the front row wearing a Knicks jersey and seen giving an MSG camera what appeared to so many to be the “double bird” — was just signaling that the Knicks are in a one-and-one.
* Golf Channel/CBS’s Nick Faldo: Another term for the power fade is “Fore, right!”
Valentine’s Day could be on Sunday nights
It seems as if “Fantasy” Joe Morgan, 20 years on the job, is unlikely to be back in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball booth. If so, I’m guessing — and hoping — Bobby Valentine.
Also, Aaron Boone, good gift of gab, was added this week to ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight”
panel. And yesterday, J.P. Ricciardi, most recently the Blue Jays’ GM, also was added to “BT.”
Storm swirlin’ at ESPN
SUSPENDED ESPN host Tony Kornheiser — he’d been suspended once before for having the audacity to take a shot at ESPN — lost sight of three things when he poked fun at the ensemble worn by “SportsCenter’s” Hannah Storm:
1) ESPN is most sensitive about ESPN. Thus, if an ESPN host is going to be heard to objectify a woman sportscaster, pick a woman with some other network.
2) The sexual objectification of women is best left to regional ESPN Radio hosts who regularly include “hot babe” talk, “which babe would you rather have” debates and assorted “guy talk” followed by reminders about the hosts’ next appearance at Hooters.
3) There’s a time and a place for such ESPN TV talk — and worse. The Sunday primetime ESPY Awards show — last year starring, hubba-hubba, Victoria’s Secrets models — for example, has long been one of those times and places.
* Sunday morning, if you were scoring at home, the Johnny Damon-to-Tigers story shaped up thusly: FoxSports.com credited FoxSports.com and the AP with the scoop. ESPN credited ESPN’s Karl Ravech. Yahoo! Sports credited the N.Y. Times and USAToday.com. Several newspapers credited the AP. USAToday.com credited Yahoo. And CBSSports.com credited SportsIllustrated.com. Got it?
* The 16th hole at the Phoenix Open — being played this week and for the first time as the Waste Management Phoenix Open — long has been known to draw the drunkest patrons in golf. Reader John O’Shea of Nanuet figures it’s a good fit: Waste Management shake hands with the wasted.
* Have you noticed that the PED/Steroids/HGH Era and the Hip Surgery and Torn Tricep Eras arrived together?