I Did Nothing Sunday

I guess it could have been a worse weekend. I mean, Jeff Gordon could have won the Daytona 500 and the Americans could have put the languid Latvia-level effort out there again against Sweden. But as I am quickly coming to join the “haters” of Jimmie Johnson and the United States lost again, it was not a pleasant day of television here.

Everyone is talking about how “even” this tournament is- how hard it is to pick a winner. Canada is losing to Switzerland. The USA can’t handle Latvia. But I watched a lot of hockey last week- and this competitive surge is more the circumstances of the tournament- than the fact that Switzerland and the Swedish Elite league, for instance, has closed the competitive gap with the NHL.

The conditions of this tournament puts an unbelievable premium on playing from ahead. Every team, outside of the real bottom-feeders, can put a competent goalie and three-four solid NHL-level defensemen out there. Get up a goal- and then just like the “real” NHL, you depend on those five proficient guys to sit back and protect it. Your NHL defensemen collect the puck and competently pitch it out for twenty minutes- and you rely on your adept goalie to stop the stoppable shots. Everyone else just stays out of the box and first plays puck support in their own end- and suddenly the small Slovakia or Swiss edge becomes a problem.

The larger ice surface doesn’t help offense when the team you are playing is in this sort of shell. If this tournament were in North America, Canada and the USA would throw the puck in the corners and behind the net, and steamroll these Swiss defensemen. In this game, even if you win the puck out of the corners- who cares? You are so far from the net- you still have to carry it or make a good pass. Boundary play is much less important- and good NHL wingers excel first and foremost at boundary play. Here it is all puck possession: win face-offs, move the puck through the zones, team play. Mind you, NHL players can do this stuff- but the talent gap is much smaller than the size and strength gap- and this is where not playing together much hurts- particularly again when playing form behind.

As to the Daytona 500, Jimmie Johnson blasted the “haters” during his post-race press conference. And I’m sitting there thinking that almost every time this guy wins someone on his team is suspended, fined or disciplined for deliberate cheating. You can’t take this win away from Johnson for anything he did yesterday- but his victory with his “team leader” Chad Knaus sitting home for cheating wasn’t courageous. It is a dishonor. Something has to be done about this race team- and if Knaus is caught again- park them. That’ll get Lowe’s attention anyway.

The race itself was lots of fun. I know the drivers hate the plate- but it is the greatest thing going. Okay, Daytona and Talladega are not races anymore. They are shows. And I don’t want to watch “shows” every weekend. But they sure are fun the few times a year they put the plate on- watching the field pinwheel out of the turns three-wide and nine-deep time and time again.

Outside of a little anti-Stewart bias, RaceChick points out in succinct terms what you need to know about each competitor’s day- so I’ll send you there. Her point on Dale Jr. is a particularly good one- not pointed out by the NBC announcers all day. Plate racing is about who will go with you- and outside of Tony Stewart and Truex, Junior does not have many friends at the plate tracks:

Junior no longer has that many friends on the race track. One that comes to mind immediately is Elliot Sadler. Geez Candyman, you played my Junior there at the end. I'm sure y'all would've made something happen together.