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Sunday Morning Line with Len Hayward
by Len Hayward
Midland Reporter-Telegram
Len Hayward is the Sports Editor for the Reporter-Telegram. He can be reached at hayward@mrt.com.
Commenting on this and that after a week off from my column:
n Plenty has happened since my last column two weeks ago, but the one item that stands out is Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals in swimming.
Yes, you can argue about whether he is currently the best athlete in the world, but what you can't argue about is how he has handled everything and how he competed. Phelps was gracious after every victory, and even knew in the 400 medley relay that it was his teammates that brought home the gold for him early in the meet.
It's an accomplishment I may not see again in my lifetime, and I took the chance to watch it as much as I could.
n As far as the rest of the Olympics, I was rather disappointed in the fact that I was not able to see much live, or even taped for that matter, baseball. Granted, I had an interest because Jayson Nix, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill were on the team, but when the squad first met Cuba during the preliminary round, the game was nowhere to be found on any of NBC's satellite networks. And that was in the middle of the night.
That's right, the last vestiges of the Cold War was being played out between two great baseball nations and NBC was showing beach volleyball and badminton on their networks. Nowhere, did I find baseball. I had to watch that game online on my computer.
Give me a break. I know baseball won't be in the Olympics after these games, but come on NBC, it's still baseball and it's even the U.S. vs. Cuba. That just aggravates the heck out of me.
n Early this week, both Midland High and Lee should have chosen a starting quarterback for next week's season openers. It's interesting that both have battles for the job, which were covered today in football section "The Long Road Ahead," and will be interesting to follow how it plays out through the season. With district starting so early, some decisions that might have been put off a few weeks in previous years will now be accelerated.
One more reason, to love the new District 2-5A.
n This weekend will be a Midland football fan's dream with five games in three days at Grande Communications Stadium as part of the ASCO Midland Football Madness. All five teams in the county will be playing for the first time and should produce some good football. My congratulations go out to the organizers for this event, who put in a lot of hours to make this work. This even also offers $1,000 scholarships to a deserving player from each team that participates.
n The Cowboys offense showed their true ability on Friday against the Texans and showed they are going to be tough to stop. The defense also showed some signs of being one of the better ones in the NFC, so all you Cowboy fans who were worried after the first two preseason games you can rest easy everything will be fine. They might even win a playoff game this year.
n NASCAR's recent penalties to Joe Gibbs Racing for their post-race shenanigans at Michigan was very surprising to me for an organization that prides itself on doing things the right way. I know other teams were screaming that the Toyota engines were more powerful than other manufacturers but to do something to try to skew horsepower numbers is simply inexcusable.
Hopefully, it won't happen again because if it does, I think NASCAR should take the unprecedented action of kicking the teams out of the Nationwide Series for at least a year.
n A couple of local golf notes: Congratulations on Green Tree club professional Jeremy Langdale raising more than $11,000 for the Birdies for Kids program in the Metroplex last week. Langdale played with other Australian pros in North Texas, along with former Dallas Star Brett Hull, to raise money for a number of charitable organizations. Great job Jeremy.
Also, congrats to Midland Country Club head pro Lance Patterson for winning the NTPGA's Teacher of the Year Award for 2008.
n And finally, check out www.mywesttexas.com/sports and our high school football section for all the stories online that you saw in today's football section. Also, keep checking the site for updates on standings and statistics as each week progresses during the season.
Commenting on this and that after a week off from my column:
n Plenty has happened since my last column two weeks ago, but the one item that stands out is Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals in swimming.
Yes, you can argue about whether he is currently the best athlete in the world, but what you can't argue about is how he has handled everything and how he competed. Phelps was gracious after every victory, and even knew in the 400 medley relay that it was his teammates that brought home the gold for him early in the meet.
It's an accomplishment I may not see again in my lifetime, and I took the chance to watch it as much as I could.
n As far as the rest of the Olympics, I was rather disappointed in the fact that I was not able to see much live, or even taped for that matter, baseball. Granted, I had an interest because Jayson Nix, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill were on the team, but when the squad first met Cuba during the preliminary round, the game was nowhere to be found on any of NBC's satellite networks. And that was in the middle of the night.
That's right, the last vestiges of the Cold War was being played out between two great baseball nations and NBC was showing beach volleyball and badminton on their networks. Nowhere, did I find baseball. I had to watch that game online on my computer.
Give me a break. I know baseball won't be in the Olympics after these games, but come on NBC, it's still baseball and it's even the U.S. vs. Cuba. That just aggravates the heck out of me.
n Early this week, both Midland High and Lee should have chosen a starting quarterback for next week's season openers. It's interesting that both have battles for the job, which were covered today in football section "The Long Road Ahead," and will be interesting to follow how it plays out through the season. With district starting so early, some decisions that might have been put off a few weeks in previous years will now be accelerated.
One more reason, to love the new District 2-5A.
n This weekend will be a Midland football fan's dream with five games in three days at Grande Communications Stadium as part of the ASCO Midland Football Madness. All five teams in the county will be playing for the first time and should produce some good football. My congratulations go out to the organizers for this event, who put in a lot of hours to make this work. This even also offers $1,000 scholarships to a deserving player from each team that participates.
n The Cowboys offense showed their true ability on Friday against the Texans and showed they are going to be tough to stop. The defense also showed some signs of being one of the better ones in the NFC, so all you Cowboy fans who were worried after the first two preseason games you can rest easy everything will be fine. They might even win a playoff game this year.
n NASCAR's recent penalties to Joe Gibbs Racing for their post-race shenanigans at Michigan was very surprising to me for an organization that prides itself on doing things the right way. I know other teams were screaming that the Toyota engines were more powerful than other manufacturers but to do something to try to skew horsepower numbers is simply inexcusable.
Hopefully, it won't happen again because if it does, I think NASCAR should take the unprecedented action of kicking the teams out of the Nationwide Series for at least a year.
n A couple of local golf notes: Congratulations on Green Tree club professional Jeremy Langdale raising more than $11,000 for the Birdies for Kids program in the Metroplex last week. Langdale played with other Australian pros in North Texas, along with former Dallas Star Brett Hull, to raise money for a number of charitable organizations. Great job Jeremy.
Also, congrats to Midland Country Club head pro Lance Patterson for winning the NTPGA's Teacher of the Year Award for 2008.
n And finally, check out www.mywesttexas.com/sports and our high school football section for all the stories online that you saw in today's football section. Also, keep checking the site for updates on standings and statistics as each week progresses during the season.
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