Mercer senior guards Courtney Ford and LaToya Jackson lit up The University Center floor, combining to score 52 points, but their efforts were not enough to stop USC Upstate from securing an 87-78 Atlantic Sun Conference victory.
The Bears were sluggish early on and the physical play of the Spartans kept them in the lead for most of the contest. But with 3:27 left on the clock, Mercer stepped up their game to take a 76-74 lead thanks to the industrious duo of Jackson and Ford. However, a 13-4 run silenced the home side and secured the win for Upstate.
“Tonight came down to a couple defensive stops that we couldn’t get,” said Mercer head coach Janell Jones after the game.
The triumph lifted the Spartans to 9-5 in the A-Sun while Mercer dropped its third-straight game to fall to 8-6.
02/18/2010 UNF, W 61-47
Mercer took to the court looking to get back on track and snap a five-game Conference losing streak. In the end, the visitors proved no match for the Bears’ lightning offense.
After Mercer had taken a considerable 10-point lead into half-time, UNF stormed back with a 7-0 run in the opening 4:29 of the second half to close within three points at 30-27. But the Bears held strong, striking back with a 14-6 charge over the next 8:14 to push its lead to 14.
Guards Courtney Ford and Niecey Lewis both notched 11 points on the night. Ford also pulled down five rebounds, dished out three assists and claimed three steals in the win. With her first steal of the game, Ford surpassed Jessica Miller as the program’s single-season steals leader.
“It was a great win to get us back on track,” said Mercer head coach Janell Jones. “I thought we played really good defense. Our bench gave us quality minutes and offensive production.”
The victory pushed Mercer to 8-8 in the A-Sun while UNF’s troubles continued as they fell to 6-11.
02/20/2010 Jacksonville, W 63-46
It was Senior Day at The UC and sure enough Mercer seniors Courtney Ford and LaToya Jackson combined for 32 points and showed exactly why they will be so hard to replace next season.
After surrendering the opening field goal of the game, a 17-point run helped Mercer take a 32-29 lead into half-time. Their dominance continued in scoring the first six points of the second period to build the lead to nine. The lackluster Jacksonville were held to just 7-for-26 shooting as the Bears ran amok before clinching the 17-point victory, much to the delight of the home crowd.
Ford scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Jackson added 11 points. Sophomore forward Lacy Ramon narrowly missed a double-double as she went for 14 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought we had great energy today,” head coach Janell Jones reflected after the game. “We battled hard in a very fierce encounter.”
The win improved Mercer to 10-8 in Conference play while the Dolphins were pegged back further to 7-11. The Bears now know that if they can secure two wins next weekend at Belmont and Lipscomb they will be seeded second for the A-Sun Championships in March.
Taking on the defending Atlantic Sun champions in their home arena was always going to be a difficult task. And despite 18 points from sophomore forward Lacy Ramon, Mercer were silenced by a powerful ETSU side who shot 50 percent from the field.
After trailing by as many as 22 in the first half, the Bears opened the second frame on a 23-13 run to close within five at 58-53 with 12:37 remaining on the clock.
However, the Buccaneers scored the game’s next eight points to go back on top by 13 with just over ten minutes left and never looked back.
Four Mercer players cracked double-digit scoring in the losing effort. Sophomore guard Neicey Lewis contributed 16 points while LaToya Jackson and Courtney Ford netted 12 and ten points, respectively. Ramon also added six rebounds and a steal to her output. Ford tallied five rebounds, five steals and five assists in the loss.
“We started the game not shooting the ball well,” Mercer head coach Janell Jones said afterwards. “We could have rolled over at any time, but, to our credit, we were real resilient and played hard.”
With the win, ETSU remained unbeaten at the MSHA Athletic Center and improved to 13-2 in Conference play. Mercer, on the other hand, dropped its fourth-straight contest and fell to 8-7.
02/13/2010 @ Campbell, L 60-66
Mercer guard LaToya Jackson continued her stellar senior season with a team-high 14 points, but the Bears could not recover from an early deficit and fell to Campbell 66-60 at the John W Pope Jr Convocation Center.
The Camels, who produced some lights-out offensive play, led by as many as 18 in the first half, but the Bears narrowed the advantage to just two with 7:25 remaining in regulation. Leading by a slim 51-49 margin, the Campbell out-scored Mercer 15-11 over the final minutes to capture the win.
“Campbell shot the ball lights-out in the first half,” said Mercer head coach Janell Jones. “After the ten-minute mark we gave up five key offensive rebounds and turned the ball over on key possessions. That will get you beat in a close game.”
Mercer’s Courtney Ford, Kourtney Carter and Neicey Lewis each netted 10 points in the losing effort. All ten of Carter’s points came in the first half.
With the victory, Campbell moved up to 9-7 in Atlantic Sun Conference action while Mercer suffered its fifth-straight loss and dropped to 8-8.
The Mercer women’s golf team began it spring season with a 17th place finish at the prestigious Hurricane Invitational hosted by Miami University.
Senior Monica Kelsey clinched the highest individual finish for the Bears with a 236 total over three rounds of the notoriously tricky par-72, 6,199-yard Miami Lakes course.
Freshman Aurelie Wiriath fired a team-best 79 on the final day of the event, improving on her first and second round totals of 81 and 82 respectively, to tie for 73rd place.
Wiriath’s fellow freshman Kimmy Graff notched an 87 on day three, bringing her total to 246, good for 74th overall. Sophomore Alicia Poole and freshman Kaitlin Marrin rounded out the Bears scoring as they tied for 79th place with a three-round total of 248 strokes each.
Mercer head coach Gary Guyer was positive afterwards: “This is going to be the most exciting spring season I have been involved with since I started coaching at Mercer.”
Discussing star senior Kelsey, Guyer said: “It will be the last season of competitive golf for Monica and I know she wants to make it special. Monica always works hard, but she has been working extra hard over the break. She is a smart golfer and I can see her winning the Atlantic Sun individual title.”
As a team, the Bears posted a final total of 967 at the Hurricane Invitational. They placed six strokes behind Southern Mississippi. Central Florida won the title with combined score of 867, just one shot ahead of Georgia State.
Mercer have little time to rest on their laurels as they are back in action starting Feb 21 at the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate in South Carolina.
Mercer Cycling is certainly going from strength to strength this Spring having recorded an impressive finish in their first ever event as an official team.
Five Bears riders traveled north to Dallas, Ga. for the 8th Annual Lillie Glass Tundra Time Trial last weekend. Originally, the race was due to take place a week earlier but inclement weather forced a delay.
The 12 mile route on the famous Silver Comet Trail serves as an early season warm-up for many cycling teams in the southeast and is known for its brutally tough conditions.
And tough it was as temperatures hovered in the mid 30s as all five Mercer riders set-off in the early morning.
Despite this, Mercer swept the collegiate category podium en-route to a strong finish. Kevin Roberts notched the fastest time on the course in the collegiate category, averaging 22.87 mph while Andrew Lockwood had the second fastest category time, pacing his bike at 22.0 mph.
Newcomer Evan Ayoub clinched third in the collegiate field followed by Gabe Denes and Loren Sumner in the Category 5 field. The 1-2-3 finish for the Bears proved they can be a force over the course of the coming season.
“It was no doubt the coldest race I’ve ever been a part of,” said Mercer team captain Andrew Lockwood after the race. “It was a great first showing by our team and while we swept the podium, we still know there’s plenty of work to do to get to where we want to be by the end of the season. The times were down a bit from what I expected, but then again we don’t often train in these kinds of brutal conditions all the time. It certainly does a number on your lungs when you go all out for half an hour.”
Indeed, if Mercer had been awarded an afternoon start, when temperatures hovered in the 50s, then the times would have undoubtedly have been faster.
“I thought our team did outstanding given the circumstances,” said Kevin Roberts after his first career time trial victory. “Especially with the cold, I’m excited to see us place where we did and I’m excited about our upcoming season.”
Mercer Cycling now hits the road to the southeast as they travel to Georgia Southern for next week’s collegiate race. Don’t forget to pick up the next edition of The Cluster, Mercer’s student newspaper, for all the news and views from the event.
Who can we blame for the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili? The brave Georgian died in practice for the men’s luge shortly before the start of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver just under two weeks ago. He was 21. He hit a pole after flying off the track. As a result, the Games began in a particularly gloomy fashion.
This is not supposed to happen. The daredevil competitors are supposed to cheat death. But, instead, death has cheated Kumaritashvili and it has cheated us. Naturally, we want someone to blame.
The organizers have been very quick to blame Kumaritashvili. He “did not compensate properly” going into Turn 16 they claimed in a press conference shortly after the indicent. True, Kumaritashvili was not among the world’s elite. But he was no amateur; he took part in five World Cup races this season. He knew what he was doing. Perhaps he just got it wrong.
The next option is to blame the Canadians. This is a very tempting option. Their highly unpleasant “Own The Podium 2010” initiative, in which they seek to exploit home advantage to the last nanosecond, has alienated the world they are supposed to play host to.
Home athletes always have an advantage: getting brash and devious about it is neither necessary nor appropriate.
But Kumaritashvili did not die because he had been deprived of practice or from any other semi-legitimate foul-play. He died because he was practicing, not because he wasn’t. We can’t blame the home country.
The third option is to blame the track. An Olympic event is different to the routine competitions in any sport: you not only have the elite at their very best and most competitive, you also have less experienced and underfinanced competitors from nations a good way from the sporting power centers.
They are there for the glory of doing their best. You need, then, an event that tests the top guns while getting the rest through unscathed. And in sports as potentially dangerous as the luge, this is a difficult task.
The question, then, is whether or not an Olympic luge track should try to create safer landings for an error-stricken luger, as motor racing tracks have their gravel pits for cars that go out of control.
That’s one for the lugers and for all the dangerous sports to consider more fully after Kumaritashvili’s death.
But it’s not the moment to start casting blame on the people for this. If we blame anything, we must blame the human spirit. Dangerous sports are not supposed to be a soft option. They are enthralling because of that element of danger.
There are two duties here: the organizers must do all they can to make it safe and the contestants must do all they can to avoid stupidity. That is the contract of the danger sports. It’s called responsibility, and it’s a two-way street.
Ultimately, but not coldheartedly, we have to accept what we all know very well: that accidents will happen. We go into such sports knowing they are dangerous. Everyone collects bruises and worse, some get injured and, alas, sometimes somebody is killed. It behooves everyone to do everything possible to avoid this; unfortunately, deaths are inevitable.
The only way to avoid death in sport altogether is to ban all dangerous sports. But the human spirit won’t accept that. All who are involved say the same thing: we don’t do dangerous sports for the love of death. It’s the love of life that drives us.
That must be what Kumaritashvili is remembered for.
It was another weekend and another tournament for Mercer’s softball team in Atlanta as they traveled up I-75 to participate in the Phyllis Rafter Memorial tournament hosted by Kennesaw State. The Bears posted a 3-2 record in their five games that stretched from Friday to Sunday including big wins against Tennessee Tech 9-1, Ball State 9-1, and Middle Tennessee State 8-4 in the finale.
One largely unanswered question from the past weekend is who exactly is Sarah Santana? Mercer fans quickly learned about the softball team’s other ‘Sarah’…Sarah Stukes who finished last season with a .299 average with 9 HRs and a team high 29 RBI. But it was Santana, a freshman from Valdosta, that impressed fans the most with a pair of homeruns over Ball State and another long ball against MTSU. In only four starts and fifteen at-bats, Santana has moved to the top of Mercer’s batting statistics, leading the team in batting average (.467), homeruns (3), RBI (12), and slugging percentage (1.133). We will undoubtedly be seeing more of the freshman phenom as the season continues.
Western Illinois 4 – Mercer 0
Mercer was shut out for the first time all season as they lost to Leathernecks in a lopsided affair. A first inning homerun courtesy of WIU’s Julie DePolo was the ultimate difference as starting pitcher Jenni Holtz suffered her third loss of the season, giving up nine hits and four earned runs in the process. Surprisingly, the Bears’ offense was silent for the night, mustering only five hits (two from catcher Emi Sherrill) and unable to push any runners across the plate. Leatherneck pitcher Kamren Ferguson (2-2) threw the complete game shutout while striking out six Bears in the process. Mercer 9 – Tennessee Tech 1
Silence and then a drubbing? The Bears’ eight run win was most likely the result of a lineup change from head coach Mike Raynor as he started sophomores Lilli Luke and Stephanie Canara as well as the freshman Santana. Offensively, Emi Sherrill headlined this contest with two homeruns and four RBI to spearhead the Bears at the plate. With a five run fifth inning, Mercer pitcher Kari Chambers held TTU in check to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Mercer 9 – Ball State 1
Continuing their winning ways from the night before, Mercer’s Sarah Santana had a breakout game with two homeruns and five RBI on the day. Jenni Holtz (3-3) returned back to her usual form and struck out ten en route to another quick victory. Mercer would push across four runs in both the second and sixth inning to run-rule the Cardinals.
After the game, Raynor commented, “Our Jekyll and Hyde offense goes from feast to famine and today was an example of that. We seem to be right on the verge of breaking out and we have the talent to do just that.”
Southern Illinois 3 – Mercer 1
Just as the Mercer faithful thought the Bears were on a winning track, the Missouri Valley Conference school derailed the team’s hopes in a close game. Despite a rough outing for MU starting pitcher Kari Chambers, four hits wouldn’t muster enough offense to hold off the Salukis. Jenni Holtz would come in for 4.1 innings of relief, but a two-run homerun from SIU in the second inning would seal the game.
Mercer 8 – Middle Tennessee State 4
On the final day of the tournament, the Bears climbed over the .500 mark with another impressive outing against the Blue Raiders. Mercer’s Kristin Marko and Sarah Santana launched yellow balls over the fence to give the orange and black a commanding eight run lead in the sixth inning. Mercer would surrender four runs in the bottom half of the inning, but ultimately, the damage was done and the Bears picked up a big victory. Natalie Jones picked up her first win of the season after pitching four innings while reliever Kari Chambers surrendered four runs, but mustered enough to finish off the game.
Mercer now returns home for two doubleheaders against Florida A&M as well as in-state rival Savannah State before traveling to Montgomery, Alabama for a matchup with Alabama State.
Men’s Basketball The field of eight teams is now set after the latest weekend of conference play, with every seed still yet to be determined. Currently, Campbell and Jacksonville lead the conference with a 13-5 record, but with a head-to-head matchup this coming weekend, one school will certainly gain an advantage over the other. Belmont and Lipscomb are currently tied for the third spot in the conference with a 12-6 record as well and while they play both Kennesaw and Mercer in their final two games, both teams are favored to win against both schools which could result in a potential tie for the spot (Lipscomb holds the head-to-head advantage in the Battle of the Boulevard with two wins this season over the Bruins).
A bit farther down in the standings, ETSU currently occupies the fifth A-Sun spot at 11-7, followed by Mercer’s 10-8 mark. Fresh off a win against USC-Upstate, ETSU should hold their advantage over the Bears as they face North Florida and Jacksonville in their two final games while Mercer takes on the two Nashville based schools. Rounding out the A-Sun, North Florida holds the #7 spot at 8-10 while Kennesaw State sneaks into the tournament with a 7-11 record. USC-Upstate, Florida Gulf Coast, and Stetson are the bottom three schools in the conference standings (USCU and FGCU aren’t eligible for the post-season play anyways due to reclassification rules).
Predicted General Shale Brick 2010 Atlantic Sun Tournament Seeds:
(Records reflect final season standings…current record plus the final two conference game predictions)
Women’s Basketball Unfortunately, sometimes the best miss out. That will certainly be the case this basketball season as Florida Gulf Coast (22-5, 17-2) and USC-Upstate (18-8, 12-5) will miss the postseason tournament due to NCAA reclassification rules. It’s a shame that two of the league’s top three teams aren’t eligible, but there’s still a plethora of teams to watch for during next week’s tournament. ETSU, last year’s A-Sun Champion, has already captured the #1 seed in the tournament with two games left with a 17-8, 15-2 record. With USC-Upstate gone from the #3 spot, Mercer then bumps up to second seed with a 13-14, 10-8 mark. The Bears’ two remaining road games are winnable ones against Belmont (13-13, 8-10) and Lipscomb (4-24, 2-16).
Therefore, if Mercer continues their winning ways, the Campbell Camels would lock in the third seed at 14-13, 9-9. Belmont, Kennesaw State (10-17, 7-11), Jacksonville (8-18, 7-11), North Florida (9-18, 6-12) and Stetson (6-22, 6-12) would likely follow in that order with the bottom four spots still up for grabs. Predicted General Shale Brick 2010 Atlantic Sun Tournament Seeds:
(Records reflect final season standings…current record plus the final two conference game predictions)
North Florida has improved considerably in all sports since entering the Atlantic Sun conference only a few years ago. In fact, the Ospreys are on track to return to Macon for the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference tournament next week, but when Mercer caught the Jacksonville-based school in the University Center for the final regular season meeting, it was the Bears who prevailed. The 77-67 win was a crucial home win for Mercer, especially considering they were without the services of guard James Florence who sat out with a high ankle sprain.
Florence’s injury snapped his streak of 79 consecutive starts dating back to a 2007 game against Sewanee when he sat out as a sophomore. Florence’s teammates step up in a big fashion though as Daniel Emerson would dominate the game with Dwight Howard like statistics, finishing with 20 points and 18 rebounds. Mercer also received big time minutes from sixth man Brandon Moore who chipped in 18 points and 8 rebounds.
Filling in the shoes of Mercer’s all-time leading scorer, Jeff Smith and E.J. Kusnyer helped make up the scoring difference with a combined 21 points as senior guard Brendan Walker got the start at point guard. Reserve point guard Mark Hall also got to see considerable time on the floor (27 minutes) as he led the Mercer offense.
Tied 32-32 at halftime, Mercer shot an astounding 14-for-22 from the field during the second half in order to outpace UNF by ten points. Another memorable moment occurred in the second half when Kusnyer hit his 88th 3-point basket of the season, passing Mercer’s Reggie Titus (1988-89) for the single-season record in that category. Kusnyer continues to lead the nation in three-pointers made this season.
For UNF, the game wasn’t a lost cause as they got to experience the pressure that come with playing in the University Center, which they hope to use to their advantage come tournament time. Talented guard Eni Cuka would score a game-high 21 points for the Ospreys as they dropped their tenth conference game of the season.
After a day off, the Bears returned to the UC Arena to take on the Jacksonville Dolphins. Arguably one of the best rivalries in the Atlantic Sun, the Jacksonville-Mercer game has always been one of the most physical battles in conference play. Many of the seniors on both teams still remember the ‘Basket-Brawl’ that occurred in 2007 when several players got in a scuffle at the end of the game prompting both benches to clear.
While this version of the game didn’t feature any fights, it certainly had plenty of tough fouls, questionable officiating, and was just downright ugly for most of the game. In short, finesse wasn’t the name of the game as Mercer fell 76-64 to their southern rivals.
James Florence made a go in this final rivalry game of his career, playing 21 minutes, but wasn’t his productive self as he posted just 2 points and 3 assists before fouling out. In contrast, JU guard Ben Smith was undoubtedly the player of the game for the Dolphins as he hit 14 of 17 free throws to finish with a game-high 26 points. Plagued by poor shooting on both sides in the first half, Jacksonville maintained their halftime lead (31-25) and let it grow a bit more during the second half. Even a late burst of energy from the Bears in an attempt to comeback was soon shot down by Dolphins’ hot shooting. The 5th largest UC crowd would watch the Bears fall to the Dolphins yet again at home by a final margin of 12 points.
Daniel Emerson led the Bears once again with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but it was guard Jeff Smith that really got the offense flowing in the second half as he finished with 8 assists and 11 points.
“We played hard and so did they,” Mercer’s Bob Hoffman said after the game. “We just weren’t as good as them today and we wanted to get inside and go to the free throw line. Unfortunately, they just got there more than we did,” referring to JU’s 44 free throw attempts (comparing to Mercer’s 25).
As the Mercer faithful honored their four seniors (Florence, Emerson, Kusnyer, and Walker) in their final regular season home game, the Bears now head on the road to face Belmont and Lipscomb in their final road trip of the season.
As the Atlantic Sun conference slate comes to a close, the Mercer men’s basketball team picked up a key win against East Tennessee State but also a tough loss against the Campbell Camels on the road in the Bears’ next to last road trip of the season. The narrow six point loss to Campbell, 69-63, came as a result of 20 turnovers on offense and 13 steals for the Camels on defense, but two nights later the Bears shocked everyone with an unheralded first win in Johnson City as they defeated the Bucs 82-77.
The loss against the Camels was a tough one to swallow for Mercer fans as well as head coach Bob Hoffman. “We needed to finish more plays and we had opportunities late in the game but just couldn’t finish,” the second year head coach said on MercerBears.com. “They were very physical and played a lot of trapping defense everywhere. We just didn’t handle the pressure very well,” he added.
The Campbell-Mercer matchup also featured what could be the final matchup between talented guards Jonathan Rodriguez and James Florence. Both players made A-Sun history as the first 2,000 point players to face one another during the regular season. Both were also major factors in the game as Rodriguez scored 24 points (9-15 FG, 6 assists)for Campbell and Florence tallied 21 points (7-13 FG) on the night for Mercer.
It was certainly a low scoring affair in the first half as the Camels led at the break 24-22. Campbell and Mercer were choosy in their shot selection during the first half, but accurate when they did shoot, hitting 43% from the field for both sides. The second half brought about more Mercer turnovers and offensive miscues on which Campbell capitalized on, but in the end the Bears’ second half effort shooting kept them in the game. A blistering 65% (15-23 FG) from Mercer, led by Florence, Daniel Emerson (12 points, 6 rebounds), and E.J. Kusnyer (10 points) helped pace the Bears. Campbell’s Rodriguez got plenty of help from his teammates though as Miles Taylor (12 points), Junard Hartley (10 points), and Lorne Merthie (10 points) also finished with double-digit scoring totals. The win helped improve Campbell’s standing in the Atlantic Sun by another game, boosting their record to 10-5.
After the tough loss, many basketball fans assumed that another trip to ETSU’s home court in Tennessee would equal another loss for Mercer. For the first time in six years since the ETSU-Mercer series began, the Bears picked up a monumental win against the Bucs on the back of some hot shooting from guard E.J. Kusnyer. The burly-Pittsburgh native hit five 3-Pointers to pace Mercer with a team-high 21 points on the night while forward Daniel Emerson chipped in 17 points and 11 rebounds including his 300th rebound of the season.
ETSU had a hot shooter of their own during the game with Tommy Hubbard hitting 10 of his 20 shots to net 24 points, but ultimately Mercer’s team effort on offense and 33-for-40 from the charity stripe sealed the five point win for the Bears. Notably, starting guard James Florence played only 21 minutes after a high ankle sprain, finishing with 12 points.
I reached an interesting conundrum just a few days ago in trying to decide what I really wanted to watch on television. The end of the Fox’s Daytona 500 partially overlapped with NBC’s broadcast of the Vancouver Winter Olympic games, specifically the men’s short-track speed skating event, and I was forced to make a decision. While some of you may have written me off from the mention of the word NASCAR, allow me to appeal to your sports intellectuality. While I thoroughly enjoy both sports and their collective environment (of which I’ll compare and contrast shortly), I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoy watching a sport that seems so polarized in the world today. At first glance, it seems that you’re either a NASCAR fan or you’re not. I like to think of myself as somewhere in between. I enjoy the Daytona 500 and watching NASCAR at its best at Bristol, Talladega, Atlanta, and the other major tracks. However, my viewing habits are less than habitual and are usually reserved to the first 20 or last 20 laps of a race (often the only ones that matter in a 400-500 mile event). I’m enough of a fan to know about 35 drivers out of a 43 car field, but not enough of one to put a ‘3’ sticker on the back of my pickup. As for speed-skating, I only really know of the U.S.’s Apolo Anton Ohno. But like NASCAR, I can’t help but sit on the edge of my seat as the field of six or seven skaters tears up the ice in the same fashion that I tried to with my rollerblades in the neighborhood. Those guys absolutely smash it…and are graceful at the same time. Due to TiVo restrictions and other complications, I was forced to make a decision. In doing so, I took into account the following factors of which I think will be of interest to you.
Sponsorship (Edge – Speed Skating) Every great athlete needs sponsorship and these two sports have very different backings. Speed skaters proudly wear their country’s logos on their skinsuits. NASCAR drivers proudly display every type of sponsor imaginable on the sides of their cars at the racetrack. Budweiser or Germany? Pennzoil or Korea? Bass Pro Shops….or the U.S.? In the end, I gave a slight edge to the speed skaters only because their post-race speech doesn’t have to include the sponsor’s name 73 times.
Commentary (Edge – NASCAR) You simply just can’t beat Darryl Waltrip’s “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!” at the beginning of a race. Yes, the Olympics provide the ahem…more professional commentators, but sometimes Al Michaels just sounds a little stiff in calling a competitive speed skating race. An instant upgrade to the Olympics would be the color commentary of Monday Night Football’s Jon Gruden or even John Madden but it would still be hard to beat the NASCAR feel as you watch the race.
Race Format (Edge – Speed Skating) 500 miles or 1500 km? If time is of the essence, speed skating is the bang for your buck as the races last around three minutes each. Compare that to this year’s Daytona 500 in which the race started at 1pm and ended at nearly 7pm (including a 2 hour delay for track repair). Still, NASCAR just takes longer. The middle of the race can sometimes resemble paint drying. Speed skating is decided quickly and thus receives the edge in format.
Personality (Edge – NASCAR) Everyone is stock car racing has a nickname. There’s Smoke (Tony Stewart), Lil’ E (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Shrub (Kyle Busch)….and on and on. Speed skating could use some of this as the eastern European competitors look a little stiff and unfriendly out there. From a marketing perspective, I’d rather have NASCAR’s bad boy than Bulgaria’s speed skater. Sorry. Edge goes to NASCAR in a decisive defeat.
The Decision (Speed Skating…but NASCAR during commercials) Ultimately, this was an issue of timing. Both sports have their own compelling reasons to watch, but it boiled down to which sport I couldn’t see year round. Speed skating is a once every four year event (as the Winter Olympics will occur in 2014 in Sochi, Russia) whereas the boys in NASCAR will beat and bang on each other until late November. I can always catch up on the race online anyways. So for now, I’m glued to the television watching Ohno take on the best in the world in speed skating.
Kennesaw State (12-19, 7-13)
