The Cheap Seats: Jason and company sports blog (used to be Tom and Sean's)

I accept Sean and Tom's invitation to fill in while they're on holiday.  I just returned from a two-week break, and I lost out on a couple days because I didn't see their Cheap Seats invitation until today.

Now the pressure's on to publish interesting posts.  And I'm surprised there hasn't been a mention of 2 other major events that have happened the past couple weeks, so I'll do it and add my perspective.

Tiger is golf. 

Who else attracts a gallery of dozens deep yearning to witness his magic and absorb his competitive intensity?  Who else can single-handedly control TV ratings?  Who else can put together a performance, despite the injuries and pain, and win in dramatic fashion?  Golf (including the players, fans, networks) will miss Tiger during his absence.   But it gives the PGA a chance to prove that it can survive without Tiger.  And it gives other players a better chance of winning a tournament.

Soccer/Football.  It reigns in Spain. 

I didn't watch much of the Euro 2008 tournament myself, but while I was vacationing in Europe there was no escaping it.   Will the U.S. ever be an international presence for football?  And I'm not talking about American football, where we are the ONLY presence.  What happened to that generation of young players a few years back that were supposed to grow and bring a soccer presence to our country and represent us?  Nothing.  The rest of the world doesn't fear the U.S. anymore, and I'm only talking about sports.  Football is the measuring stick of the sports world for dominance, and as of this post, the US is ranked 30th.  But then we're not even dominating other sports that we're supposed to be the best at.  We're not the best in basketball (losing the last 3 World Championships and also the Olympics in 2004), or even baseball (doing poorly in the inaugural World Baseball Classic and not qualifying for the 2004 Olympics) anymore.  Lets see what happens in Beijing next month.

Thanks again guys for welcoming me to the Show.