We’d like to do Joannie Rochette a favor, and discuss her skating. K?

Nobody was talking about Rochette before her mom’s tragic death a few days ago from a heart attack.  This is not because she’s not a good skater–she finished fifth in Torino, ahead of Kimmie Meisner–but because…well, we hate to say this right now, and clearly so does everyone else, but short program just isn’t on the level of the other medal contenders.  She IS a good skater, and we feel terrible about her mom, but her choreography isn’t at the level  Her footwork sequences in the short were pretty good, and her jumps weren’t under-rotated or anything, but comparing her spins to Mirai Nagasu’s or the rest of her choreography to Mao Asada’s is silly…they’re just not on the same plane. She did have by far the best dress, though. By far.

If Joannie pulls off a clean freeskate, she’ll have won the hearts of the judges and the crowd, especially since she represents Canada.  But she won’t make the podium, even though she’s currently ranked #2 in the world. We just don’t see it.

Our guess: fifth? seventh? in there.

That was good news, and now we have some more. The increase in girls’ athletic activity that was heralded by the advent of Title IX is linked by several studies tp a 7% lower rate of obesity twenty to twenty five years later. (While this may not seem like a lot, no other public health or fitness related initiative can show such a correlation.)

Here’s to girls on the field, on the court, and in the pool!

UPH is making a resolution for the New Year: at least five posts a week, no matter what.

We’ll be back in 2010!

9:28 He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, the daring young man on the flying tra–oh, that’s just Alex Gonzalez, making a relatively routine play.  Wow.

9:29 THANKS TBS.  Now I know what RISP are.  Now explain what “scoring position” means.  Or better yet, “runners!”

9:31 Lester has adorable elf ears.  That is all the news that’s fit to print.

9:32 Figgins is the third K.  Told you they were coming.

9:35 Abreu draws his second walk.  Crowd goes nuts.  Everyone else is clearly as bored as we are.

9:38 Roommate asks if liveblog has mentioned the bananas foster we are about to make.  Crowd goes nuts.  Everyone is less bored now.

9:40 Second roommate, who just walked in, admits this is, in fact, kinda boring.  And he’s from the Midwest, so he knows from boring.

9:41 The bases are loaded.  With two outs.  Are we excited yet? We actually can’t tell.  John Farrell, aka Future Indians Manager, is chatting with him.

9:42 No grand slams this year?  “Well, who on the Angels hits homeruns?  Just Guerrero.  Oh. There’s Guerrero.”  (We have really attentive friends, clearly.)

9:43 That was, perhaps, a bit of a high swing. Moving on now.

9:18   “Kendry Morales is no Mark Teixeira, but he’s getting better all the time.” Did we get Yankee ass-kissing advice from Joe Buck? (Clearly, yes, I get it.  Teixeira was in fact the guy at that corner for a brief period last year.  Still….)

9:20 First hit of the game comes from Alex Gonzalez in the 9 spot. Irony, thy name is Angels game.

9:22 Yep, ain’t no game.  Ellsbury hits it to Lackey to end the half.

9:23 We were about to say how boring this game was, but…what? Interference call mean the Sox have runners at first and second, whih the TBS guys haven’t even caught up with yet…

9:24…and then DP flies out.  Even when it’s not boring this is boring!

Sure, they lost last year’s one game playoff, against the White Sox, and thus ended up finishing second in their division.  But this year, we think, they can do it.

It’s a confluence of circumstances, really.  First off, that ridiculous rain-caused doubleheader last week against the Tigers, when the team was only two games back.  They won one and lost one, so no big drama results-wise, but then they kicked the crap out of the Royals for a bit, while the Tigers were busy losing two out of three to the White Sox (whose 79 win season is good for a winning percentage of .488.  Stunningly mediocre at best.)

One game playoffs are historically played the day after the regular season, in the stadium of the team with the stronger record in the season series (the presumptive division winner, if you will.)  This year, though, things are a little odd.

First of all, MLB instituted a coin toss to determine where the game would be played…and the Twins won it.  Good karma? Well, just wait.  The Twins play in the Metrodome.

You know who else plays in the Metrodome? The Vikings.  You know when they did that? About the same time the playoff game should have been in the fourth inning or so.

So, an extra day off for both teams ensued, but the Twins have all the momentum going into this one.  They took their last series, won their last game versus Detroit, and get to play in a stadium full of what will undoubtedly be some residually-hyped fans.

Plus, the fact that football was played there last night might do some odd things to the game.  Sure, the technicians try hard, but divots, uneven spots, and other weirdness just can’t be avoided, even on AstroTurf (although the Metrodome website assures us that the field surface is actually state of the art Field-Turf.  ‘Scuse us, Metrodome Gods.)

Point is, the Twins are more used to the havoc that home football games wreak on their playing surface than the Tigers.  Even though all but two of their games the day after football in the ‘dome have been played away in the last couple years, they still deal with practices, scrimmages, and all the other business sharing a stadium comes with.

The Tigers don’t, and that could be a difference.  Not to mention that whole, you know, psychological Minnesotans-are-winners thing from last night.  And the Twins have taken 18 of their last 23.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have a scratch-happy Miggy Cabrera providing distraction.,  If the Twins win, their resulting one game lead will be the biggest of the season.

Favre’s handing the baton: round two is on.  We’ll take the Twins. (And we may be blogging the game, so stay tuned!)

Love,

The Sports Chick

People come visit the USA.  Even a city like Chicago, while not the number one tourist destination, is likely to glean some tourist dollars.  While this is of course also true of Rio and Madrid, the two between which the final decision was made, we still like the idea of putting the Olympics outside the US.

For one thing, last time the Olympics were held here, there was a judging scandal.  The time before that, there was a bomb threat.  Now, these things are clearly unrelated, but we obviously don’t have the best track record here.

Also, the Olympics is international, and the US is so often a leader in so many international-type stuff. Like, say, the UN.  Why not embrace the opportunity to let someone else take the lead.  In our opinion we can do more by taking a slightly back seat.  It’s better international relations to let others into the spotlight, and this is a perfect opportunity.

So, see you in Rio!

It paid off.

Last night’s haul, all in perfect just-out-of-packs-and-into-the-sleeves condition:

-a Josh Hamilton rookie card.

-a 1982 Reggie Jackson card

-a Curt Schilling card from his first year with the Phillies

-a Mark McGuire “slugging rookies” card

Altogether, the experiment has totally paid for itself, and we’re having tons of fun.  Though we haven’t dared to chew one of the pieces of 1988 era gum from the Topps packs yet….