Sez Me …
As a rule, I don’t enjoy things I can’t understand. And I can’t understand many things. Too many things.
But I love the Winter Olympics. Even though I don’t recognize a lot of it. However, it is fun to get jingoistic every so often — especially in 2026, when we don’t get many chances while shaking our heads, wondering what the hell is going on.
It’s just that we don’t always know what we’re watching. The athletes are phenomenal. But unless they’re really screwing up, my naked eye basically is closed. Why weren’t they good enough?
Especially in the judges’ eyes. Sports judged by judges are always a problem. Give me the sports that aren’t decided by these people, like the French in figure skating.
I was in Barcelona for the 1994 Summer Games, watching boxing, which had just put in a new scoring system. A judge would have a gizmo in each hand, pushing a button each time a boxer scored. The judge in front of me spent most of the time looking at the ground, leading ace AP boxing writer Ed Schuyler to write an entire story about the clown.
There are so many snowboarding events now. They are fantastic. But judged. I see greatness, then suddenly I’m told what I’m seeing isn’t good enough.
Curling. Curling is great. It reminds me of old men playing bocce at Amici Park in Little Italy. But I have no idea what’s going on, the nuances, which are many. You know it’s arrived when Canada is accused of cheating.
Figure skating has become gymnastics. I miss the elegance of a Peggy Fleming, who was so wonderful, but wouldn’t have a chance today.
I could go on. I watch anyway.
But NBC spends billions for the rights to the Winter and Summer Games. Hell, it reportedly pays Snoop Dogg $500,000 a day, plus expenses. A total waste of money when it could be spent educating the public — and media — on things it doesn’t understand, and unknown athletes and sports thrust upon citizens every four years.
Alas, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” which would cover sports not of the everyday variety, is gone. ESPN could show plenty, but doesn’t. NBC, which invests so much every four years, only covers some track and field and figure skating during non-Olympic times.
Too much of this is “2001: A Space Odyssey” to me. Except I love the Olympics. Hated the movie. …
Ilia Malinin, Chloe Kim and Lindsey Vonn dared to be great. It’s OK. Some people run into burning buildings. …
Drake Maye’s offensive line stunk. But I don’t want to hear about his sore shoulder and any injections he had. Maye was awful and played scared. Period. …
Maye had two TD passes all year vs. teams above .500.
The Patriots’ offense was up there with the worst to play in a championship game. …
Sam Darnold was OK. Not great, but smart. Seattle’s defense should have been Super Bowl MVP, but I can see why Kenneth Walker III was. …
Run the ball. Don’t turn it over. Play defense. Keep the QB safe. You win Super Bowls. …
The Patriots ran the ball 13 times. They were scoreless through three quarters. Football is a game of adjustments, Josh McDaniels. …
Twenty games into a season, rookies no longer are rookies. …
Mike Macdonald may have been the first head coach to win a Super Bowl calling his own defensive plays, but don’t tell me Bill Belichick didn’t have a yea or nay on every defensive play call with the Patriots. Bill wasn’t listening to Bad Bunny through those earphones. …
You don’t think Pete Carroll could have nixed the historically stupid pass call at the end of that Super Bowl? …
Jim Harbaugh has hired five new offensive coaches, including protean Mike McDaniel as OC. That’s just about right. …
North Carolina fans, owners of one of the five greatest basketball legacies, rush the court after beating Duke and injure people. I think the Tar Heels have been there before. Dean Smith is spinning like a tornado. …
Randy Moss says writers should not vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only players and coaches, because writers are “biased.” I like Randy. Smart guy. But come on. So are players and coaches. …
Not everyone among the 50 who vote for the Hall is a writer. Dan Fouts is a voter. Great. But if he’s written anything, I haven’t read it. …
It doesn’t appear the Hall has any plan to stop lumping senior players, coaches and contributors into one category. A mistake. …
Tony Dungy says it’s not the voters’ fault that Belichick didn’t make the Hall, but the process. The process isn’t good, but voters did vote. …
Roger Goodell says the NFL has nothing to do with who goes into the Hall. Please don’t tell me The League had nothing to do with the Hall expanding that 2020 class and getting in Paul Tagliabue. He wasn’t making it otherwise. …
Baseball’s Hall sends a ballot to voters (writers) with those players eligible. You can vote for up to 10. You can vote for nobody. If I don’t vote for one when he’s first eligible, that’s it, because I don’t come close to voting for 10. He’s done nothing after that to earn it. …
Some folks, who love to bitch, are upset that Fouts, who played his entire career here, informed Drew Brees, who began here and was let go, that he was going into the Hall on the first ballot. Drew still lives in San Diego County. …
Even when Brees stunk — and he did before becoming great — he believed in himself. As confident as any athlete I’ve talked to. …
Adam Vinatieri is the only field goal kicker who belongs in the Hall. He won Super Bowls, and kicked the tying FG in the Tom Brady Tuck Rule Game (in the snow). …
I’m not a kicker guy. But I’ll say right here that Brady and Belichick don’t have nearly as many rings if not for Vinatieri. …
Bad Bunny is Bugs. And always will be Bugs. No Bunny can be as bad as Bugs was. …
People were charging as much as $400 for public Super Bowl parking. San Diegans commuting to Santa Clara chose the meters at Balboa Park: $1,000. …
Linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu somehow has been granted a ninth year of eligibility at the University of Montana. That’s a long time to be … in Montana. …
Lost in all this City Hall parking fiasco: Those who work the expensive high rises in Bankers Hill near the park used to leave their cars for free in Balboa and walk. Now they use a nice chunk of their minimal salaries for parking. …
The Dodgers can’t hit Griffin Canning. So he is here. …
No matter what, the Padres got a steal in Nick Castellanos. …
Football is gone. I am in a slump. …
Fortunately, football’s offseasons hop. More so now than ever. At every level. …
Will China eliminate hockey in Canada? Not if dentists have any say. …
A real sign in Tahoe: “Donner Camp Picnic Ground.” Historians claim a Donner once said, in 1846: “Now what? We’re all out of potato salad.”