Olympic Hockey Roundup: Day 3

As much as I wish the NHL switched to European sized ice, thank God we still have North American style officiating. An automatic 10 minute misconduct just for knocking some guy in the head? And how soft did the refs call the Germany/Sweden game? Daniel Alfredsson draws a penalty by losing a shoving contest with a German. Lame.

FINLAND 5, BELARUS 1

The '06 Silver Medalists expectedly dominated Belarus, but compared to the other blowouts, this was one of the least impressive. But what does that matter? Only in goal differential (which is a tie-breaker). Finland went undefeated in the '06 Games until they met Sweden in the final, and their team is equally as "unimpressive" (in quotes, because it's relative compared to the other powerhouses in the tourney) as it was back then. Don't judge this team until they play Germany on Friday.

SWEDEN 2, GERMANY 0

Sweden won Gold in '06. Sweden is the #3 team. Germany was 10th in the '06 Olympics. Germany is ranked 12th in the world. As a German fan, I'm satisfied with a 2-0 loss. Especially since Sweden's first goal should have been waved off for a blatant goaltender's interference.

To be fair to the Swedes, they looked extremely rusty (except for Alfredsson). The number of offsides they had testified to this. They hardly ever put together the lengthy, pretty, passing plays they're capable of. This will probably be their worst performance of the tournament.

But look out for Germany. Finland, I'm talking to you. This team won't score much, but they can play defense. And it's not a boring, backfoot kind of defense like we saw from the Swiss, or from past German teams. It's a slightly more aggressive defense that could frustrate contending teams.

CZECH REPUBLIC 3, SLOVAKIA 1

Jaromir Jagr returned to North American ice with a goal and an assist, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 34 of 35 shots faced, propelling the Czechs to a victory in the first legitimately competetive matchup of the tournament. Marian Gaborik scored the lone Slovakian goal.

David Krejci was -1 for the Czechs, and Zdeno Chara registered 4 penalty minutes.

Today's games:
3pm on USA: USA vs. Norway
8pm on CNBC: Canada vs. Switzerland
12:30am on CNBC: Russia vs. Slovakia

Tough draw for the Slovakians, having to face the Czechs and Russians on back to back nights.

-The Commodore

20 Years Ago Today...

The Berlin Wall fell and Germany became one country. What has Germany 2.0 given us since 1989?

Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW, hot supermodels, Marco Sturm, Sebastian Vollmer, Scheiße porn, great soccer, the best beer in the world, Oktoberfest, David Hasselhoff, astrophysicists, "Du Hast," and a language that makes yelling fun.



-The Commodore

WHY LONDON?

Later today, the Patriots will be on their way to London. They'll be practicing at a cricket field, and playing in a soccer stadium. This is part of the NFL's latest attempt to globalize their game. And it will also be their latest failure. Outside of the US, there just simply isn't demand or even room for American football.

Remember NFL Europe? Rohan Davey does. Teams in London, Spain, Scotland, Germany, and the Netherlands. By the end of the now defunct League, 5 of the 6 teams were German, the only country that seemed to develop any sort of fan following. Even there, most of the fans in attendance were transplanted Americans who worked or studied abroad and wanted to enjoy their nation's sports in another language.

England is the wrong place to try American football. The NFL thinks the game will translate there because the language already does. But ask Finnish hockey players, Chinese basketball players and Cuban baseball players if language matters in the globalization of a sport.

The NFL will point to the popularity of rugby in the UK as a reason to market American football there. To me, that's more of a seat-taken kind of sign, rather than a seat-open sign. If British sports fans want a hard-hitting game, they'll watch rugby. In fact, most Brits consider football to be slow-paced, because of all the stoppages. Europeans are accustomed to sports that rarely stop. That's why hockey and basketball have flourished there.

If the NFL wants to market in Europe, it should play games in Germany, not Britain. The Germans showed the most interest in NFL Europe. Germans like Sebastian Vollmer are gradually becoming part of the NFL. Germans don't have a physical sport of their own like rugby to play/watch. And unlike other Europeans, Germans love things that are efficiently planned and rigidly timed. NFL games are efficiently planned and rigidly timed.



And you know what, you don't need to play a game in Britain or Germany in order to get people to notice you. With global communications today, anyone everywhere can watch any sport they want. So just pay some popular German TV station to broadcast one NFL game a week. If it catches on, the station might start to pay the NFL.

But in the end, football will never be a popular sport worldwide. It's funny how it is the dominant #1 in the US, while the rest of the Big Four sports do much better abroad (basketball in 6 continents, hockey in Eastern and Northern Europe, and baseball in the Caribbean and Pacific Rim).

The world knows about American football, and few care. And I don't care that they don't care. That is until my team has to go to England to play in a promotional game that will ultimately be a marketing failure.



-The Commodore

Patriots First Day Picks

The Patriots did some wheeling and dealing, trading themselves out of the 1st round, but they wound up with 4 picks in the 2nd round. As such, they didn't get anyone who will blow your socks off. They didn't get an OLB. In fact, they seemed to address more of their 2010 needs than their 2009 needs:

PATRICK CHUNG, S, OREGON
A hard-hitting, close-to-the-line breed of safety. The drafting of Chung probably means the end of Rodney Harrison as a starter. Chung also joins James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather at the position.



He's a playmaker, which the Pats have desperately lacked in their defensive backfield for years. He hits hard, he picks the ball off, and he tackles. He had 9 career picks, and 370 tackles, setting a school record.

I love this pick. Chung seems like a guy who will be capable of changing a game with two or three plays, while simultaneously doing his job on all the other downs. He doesn't seem like he'll improve the pass-defense situation too much, though. And that's a concern that needs addressing.

RON BRACE, DT, BOSTON COLLEGE
The Pats traded up to get the 40th pick, and they took Ron Brace. With contracts like Vince Wilfork's coming to an end very soon, the Patriots got some insurance/leverage with this selection Brace. Brace was BJ Raji's fellow tackle, so he certainly got some help. The Pats have a tendency to convert DTs into DEs in their 3-4 schemes (Seymour and Warren were both DTs, and could play DT for many NFL teams), so I wouldn't be shocked if Brace sees time when the Pats go 4-3, and also occasionally at DE on 3-4.



DARIUS BUTLER, CB, CONNECTICUT
This guy has "Patriot" written all over him. He's versatile, playing both offense and defense. He returned kicks. He even played some QB in high school. He's only 5' 10" but he can get up there with his vertical leap.

The Pats seem to have a philosophy when it comes to their defensive backfield. Get a dozen guys with potential and hope 2 or 3 of them work out. Take a lot of shots, hope you hit something. I think this Butler kid has tons of potential. He's too athletic to not at least catch on as a special teams player.



SEBASTIAN VOLLMER, OT, HOUSTON
The Pats ended their extensive 2nd round selections with offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer, originally from Kaarst, Germany (I like him already), Vollmer is nearly 6' 8" and 315 lbs. He's not stunning, and from what everyone is saying, he's a guy who will help the Pats more in 2010 (when they're likely to lose some free agents on the O-line) than in 2009.



-The Commodore