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Apparently, we’ve reached the point of too late. Once, it was considered an unpardonable professional sin to lose live play on TV or radio to a commercial.
Now, it’s a greater sin to lose the commercial to live play.
Once, attaching any sport to any gambling enterprise was considered so sinful it was made bold-face-type clear in the written rules of leagues, teams and networks.
Now?
There was 2:10 left in Wednesday’s Bruins-Rangers game on MSG, Boston up, 3-2, thus the Rangers were in desperate attack mode. Time to pay strict attention. Yet, that’s when play-by-player Sam Rosen had to sacrifice his concentration to say this:
“You’re watching the ‘Foxwoods Final Five.’ Go to Foxwoods.com for special offers, or to preregister for your Dream Rewards Card.”
He had to stop paying attention to say this with play on, two minutes left in a one-goal game! We all deserve better than this — hockey fans, cable subscribers, MSG subscribers, but especially Rosen, now in his 26th year of calling Rangers games on MSG.
* More crazy talk. On the Big East Network/ESPN Regional telecast of Vermont-UConn on Wednesday (seen here on SNY), Vermont was keeping it close, inspiring play-by-player Mark Brown to twice note that Vermont “won’t back down.”
Back down? Back down from what? Was this a basketball game or the Cuban Missile Crisis? Was Vermont not supposed to play defense, try to rebound? “Hey, you guys are better than us, so go ahead, have a layup.”
* Is there no other way for NFL teams to rouse home team patrons than to fill the stadium with the sounds of an emergency siren? Imagine if, during Sunday’s Cowboys-Giants blackout, that Jets’ games siren went off? There would have been mass panic.
So why not lose the sirens and replace them with, I dunno, train whistles, animal roars? Better yet, given that it’s the NFL, a simple “Last Call!” shouted on the p.a. system would cause plenty of excitement.
That’s a bunch of spit: There’s nothing racial about loogies
It’s so confusing. In 1997, when the Broncos anabolic rage-aholic LB Bill Romanowski, white guy, spit in the face of 49ers WR J.J. Stokes, black guy, this became a huge story. We were told that what Romanowski did, and for which he was fined, constituted an overt act of racism.
I never before had known that racial side to spitting. I just figured that spitting in a man’s face was a very bad thing to do. But OK, I became older, wiser.
In 2000, Raiders DE Regan Upshaw, black guy, spit in the face of Steelers punter Josh Miller, white guy. Although Upshaw was fined, the episode barely made news. No racial angle was even hinted.
In 2005, the NFL fined Redskins DB Sean Taylor, black guy, for spitting in the face of Buccaneers RB Michael Pittman, black guy.
In 2006, Cowboys WR Terrell Owens, black guy, was fined for spitting in the face of Falcons DB DeAngelo Hall, black guy.
Two Sundays ago, Dolphins LB Channing Crowder, black guy, claimed Ravens FB Le’Ron McClain, black guy, spit in his face.
So now I’m back to figuring that I had it right the first time: Spitting in a man’s face is a very bad thing for anyone to do to anyone.
* The moment football experts, including coaches, begin to cite “averages,” they begin to drift from the shores of Football, headed toward the Land of Baseball, where most often only two people — pitcher and batter — act and interact at once.
Though there’s no evidence that Supreme Court Justice (1916-39) Louis Brandeis was a football fan, he did say this: “I abhor averages. I like the individual case. A man may have six meals one day, none the next, making for an average of three per day. But that is not a good way to live.”
While we’re at it, reader David Dominik asks why TV gives “average distance” for punters when they often try not to punt as far as they can? Because TV and the NFL have always done that, no better reason. Anything that starts with “average” is considered vital.
Car dealer gobbles up ‘Pac’ cash
Public menace Adam “Pacman” Jones, now with the Bengals, has been ordered to pay $241,000 to a New York City car dealer for non-payment on two leases, for a Bentley and a Lamborghini.
* Great (Extended) Moments In Sports: Monday, Nets-Clippers on YES. The game stops for the three refs to review a replay to see if Nets guard Anthony Morrow had committed a “clear path” foul against Eric Gordon. The score at the time was 2-2. Seriously.
* HBO presents the tape of Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito tomorrow at 10 p.m.
* So now Tiger Woods’ IMG misguidance counselors have his dial set to public relations cycle in another transparent, make-the-rounds con. As Ch. 9’s Joe Franklin lectures: “Sincerity is the key to the public’s heart. There’s nothing more important than sincerity. And once you learn how to fake sincerity …”
* Notre Dame-Army at Yankee Stadium tomorrow has nothing to do with any “old days” traditions. Rather, it’s the latest in must-buy ticket-bundling and price gouging, upholding the tradition of new Yankee Stadium.
* Washington, home against UCLA on ESPN last night, donned their Nike-issue black uniforms. Washington’s school colors have been purple and gold, but only forever. ESPN, Nike and look-tough, gangsta-approved black uniforms. Boo-yah!
* Soon, the history of Madison Square Garden will be spoken and written in terms of B.C. (before Cablevision) and A.D. (after Dolan). The Knicks’ record this decade, starting with the 2000-01 season, is 331-501, plus 2-7 in the playoffs.