Powersports

Fabulous February

Before we get too far into March (Madness), let’s revisit February, a month that we often just muddle through while waiting for spring to arrive.

Let’s face it, February was awesome for sports: the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star festivities and baseball’s spring training. Here’s an examination from a grizzled onlooker, using too many question marks and parenthesis.

(Not so) Super Bowl

By nearly unanimous consent, it was not a super game; however, from my perspective, it wasn’t truly horrible. Yes, there were some bad coaching decisions and lackluster (boring) offense, but outstanding defense and special teams should be appreciated. Still, it ranks in the bottom third of all Super Bowls.

(Not so) Bad Bunny

Forget the politics, but the halftime show with Bad Bunny was entertaining enough. Be honest. As an old dude, the music was mostly foreign to me (pun intended), but the production value of the show was fascinating.

Mr. Bunny and the dancers moving to the beat, falling off a “building” into a crowd below, vegetation that turned out to be actors, cameos from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Following all the pregame controversy, look for the NFL to go conservative next year. Perhaps the return of Up With People is in order?

Winners & Losers

Aside from the Seahawks and Patriots, there were other winners and losers.

NBC’s telecast was excellent (I skipped the 10 hours of pregame/postgame.) Mike Tirico was smooth, the much-maligned Cris Collinsworth brought insight, and the graphics were stellar. Leading up to the game, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were winners, with constant reminders of Super Bowl glory.

Ironically, Brady was also a loser for saying, “I don’t have a dog in the fight,” about if he was rooting for the Patriots, his former team. It seemed weird. My Minnesota Vikings were also losers with all the reminders how they let Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold getaway.

Winter Olympics

What stood out from the Olympics in Italy? The scenery was spectacular. The athleticism of the Olympians was off the charts. Contestants could have been killed or maimed!

The pressure the athletes were under was felt through the television screen. It was nerve-racking watching Mikeala Shiffrin in the slalom even though the TV coverage was tape delayed and I knew she had won.

Other highlights include figure skating, USA double golds in hockey and the curling craze, complete with a Canadian controversy. Crazy, eh?

Oh, Canada!

Our neighbors to the north are known as laid back, easy going folks. That’s why it was startling and kind of amusing to see some Canadian athletes as real hosers.

Fighting is banned in Olympic hockey, but the Canadians still dropped the gloves! Before Team USA won gold medals in both men’s and women’s hockey, BTW, against Canada, curling may have grabbed the top headlines.

We love it. Still, curling brought a touch of “Days of our Lives” and “The Real Housewives” to the Italian ice. The Canadians were accused of cheating because of too much touching (of the stone) and warned for foul language. Just terrible, eh?

What was that buzz(ing)?

NBC had a phenomenal month with the Super Bowl, Olympics and NBA All-Star Game. Putting all of that together was a monumental task, ending in a gold medal performance.

The technology in Italy was fabulous, including handheld cameras on the ice in figure skating and drones bringing us into the action like never before. Maybe by the next Olympics, they can find a mute button for the buzzing sound the drones make?

NBA All-Star Game

I’m no longer going to try to fix NBA All-Star Weekend. It is what it is. The new All-Star Game format seemed to encourage the players to put in more effort. Good.

The other events, Celebrity Game, Slam Dunk and three-point shooting contest, seem to have run their course. In truth, if the whole thing was scrapped and players got a week off it would be fine with me.

The boys of (almost) spring

It is great to hear the crack of the bat once again, with Major League Baseball spring training in full swing.

Of course, hope springs eternal for all 30 teams, but the bad news for 29 of them is that the two-time defending World Series Champion Dodgers improved during the offseason.

Also, there will be a cloud looming over this season with potential labor strife as the owners push for a salary cap. Enjoy baseball while you can. The start of the World Baseball Classic was certainly enjoyable. How about Monday’s Mexico-USA game? Or the USA against Italy? That got our attention.