Blogger Roundtable: Brazil 2014 or Rio 2016?

Which sporting event in Brazil would you rather attend: The 2014 FIFA World Cup or The 2016 Summer Olympics? Please give your opinion by answering the poll at the top of the page and share your thoughts in the comments section.

All eyes will be on Brazil in two of the next three summers as the country is set to host what are arguably the two biggest international sporting competitions in the world. Many people dream about getting the chance to go to either event, but if you could only go to one, which one would you select?

Here's what our bloggers had to say:


Adam Malz - Olympics

I would much rather attend the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. The Olympics offer a variety of sports and the same level of pride in your country that the World Cup offers.

Matthew Hakimian - World Cup

Despite the aura the Summer Olympics carries, there is no single sporting event that can match the excitement of the World Cup. It is the pinnacle of the most popular sport outside the U.S. as the world's best soccer players vie to obtain national glory. In addition, from start to finish the World Cup is twice as long as the Summer Olympics (32 to 16 days). As a huge soccer fan though, my answer is likely biased due to the fact that the quality of Olympic soccer doesn't even compare to the level of competitiveness featured in the World Cup.

Thomas Kroner - Olympics

I would rather go to the Summer Olympics in Brazil simply because America is considerably better at nearly every other sport in the world than we are at soccer. If I’m spending the money to travel and stay in another continent then I want to see America succeed. The last thing I want is some little Portuguese person coming up to me talking trash about the result of a game.

Max Fogle - Olympics

After seeing the World Cup draw for the USMNT, I'm tempted to say the Olympics. While I would like to see the German national team and the Ronaldo national team, I wouldn't be able to take another defeat to Ghana. I would rather get better use on all of my star spangled paraphernalia and watch a bunch of Americans win at sports that I usually do not watch. It would be Rio 2016 for me.

Sochi 2014: The NHL's Return?

Will Sidney Crosby and Team Canada get to celebrate in Sochi?

It is now less than 365 days until the Olympic flame is lit and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games begin. While many questions of the game are unknown and will not be answered until right before the games, (will there be enough snow on the slopes? Or will they have to bring snow in like Vancouver in 2010?) The biggest question to hockey fans, though, should be answered soon. Will the NHL players be allowed to participate in the next winter games?

Since the 1998 Nagano Winter games, the NHL has taken a mid-season break to allow NHL players to participate in the games. The reason why the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) want NHL players is quite obvious: they want the premier talent in hockey to part take in the Olympics. The reasons why the NHL is not sure about allowing its players back also make sense: they assume all the injury risks to stop stars and get no reward in direct revenue or anything else. 

Both the IIHF and the NHL realize the need to keep the players going to the Games, especially after the success of the NHL players at the 2010 Vancouver Games. The gold medal game between the USA and Canada was an instant classic with Sidney Crosby, the NHL’s biggest star, cementing his legacy by scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. The gold medal game was watched by 32.8 million Americans, making it the most watched game since the famed “Miracle on Ice” game at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. Despite the success of the Vancouver Games, why is the NHL still so skeptical about sending its players to the Sochi Games?

The NHL gets no revenues from any of the advertising the Olympics receives for the use of the NHL players participating. The NHL cannot even use the highlights or photos of the Olympics for their own marketing. The NHL would like to get use to the images and highlights from these Olympics in exchange for the NHL players participation. IOC rules, though, only allow the images from the Olympics to be used by their sponsors, which the NHL is not. But why is the NHL not considered a sponsor of the game? They provide the athletes, rather than the money, to support one of the larger winter events. Baseball was never successful at the summer games because the MLB never was willing to allow the best major leaguers to go to the Olympics. I understand the IOC's and IIHF's hesitation. After all, if they let the NHL have access to images from these Winter Games, when does the NBA start asking for the same from the Summer Game? Will FIFA ask for the same for soccer?

The NHL also wants access for its general managers and other team personal to interact with its players while in Sochi, as well. The IOC has generally been reluctant to give leagues these rights, but is it worth it for the IOC to lose top quality athletes in a major sport at the Sochi Olympics? The NHL is giving up two and half weeks of its season. It is reasonable to understand their desire to receive some sort of compensation. 

In the end, I think everyone will be shocked if the NHL, IIHF, and IOC do not agree to do a deal that allows the NHL players to return to these Olympic Games. It is something the NHL needs if it is to completely recover from its last lockout and the IIHF and IOC needs to make the ice hockey competition at the Olympics seen as a truly legitimate with the world’s best hockey players competing. 

Is Andy Murray Making The Leap?

Andy Murray

Tennis is an intensely psychological sport. In a singles match, a player is completely on his own without any guidance or instruction from a coach. One of the most important characteristics required of any great tennis champion is an unwavering belief in one’s ability to succeed. Winning a point or game can help a player believe that he has a good chance of winning the match. Similarly, winning a major tournament gives a player the confidence that he is capable of winning more tournaments in the future and the resulting snowball effect can lead to many years of success. On the other hand, confidence can be very fragile in tennis. Losing a point can be difficult to overcome and losing a championship can be devastating. Andy Murray attained that ever so important confidence this summer and that explains why he was able to win an Olympic gold medal in London and his first Grand Slam title at the US Open.

17 players have made five Grand Slam finals in the Open Era, which began in 1968. A player who has made a Grand Slam final five times in their career has clearly demonstrated that he possesses the talent and the consistency to be a great champion. Of the aforementioned 17 players, 14 of them have won at least four major championships. The other three are Ilie Nastase, recently retired Andy Roddick (who could not win more because of the steady dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal era) and Andy Murray who may be on the verge of a career breakthrough. The 25-year-old Murray has exhibited the mental fortitude to overcome tough losses, as he is currently playing his best tennis despite losing four finals early in his career. Now it seems that he truly believes he can beat Nadal, Federer, and Novak Djokovic (the three players with the most titles currently on tour), an attitude that allowed him to achieve a great deal of success this summer. The door is wide open for Murray, as Nadal is currently having major knee issues and Federer is not the dominant force he once was.

As I mentioned earlier, the inner belief in one’s ability to succeed is vital to consistently performing at a championship level. If Murray can win four grand slams by the time his career is over after struggling to win one for so long, he would have completed a remarkable turnaround. He has the perfect mentor to help him undergo this reversal in Ivan Lendl. Lendl can relate to Murray because he struggled similarly in grand slam finals at the start of his career, as he also lost his first four finals. He ultimately became one of the best to ever play the game, winning eight grand slam championships, tied for sixth most of all time.

The 2012 U.S. Open Champion

Other than Lendl and Andre Agassi (who lost his first three finals and also went on to win eight), most players who lost their first two Grand Slam finals struggled to recover. Seven of the other nine guys who lost in their first two Grand Slam championships either never made it back to the finals or are still playing and haven’t made it back yet. Andy Murray proved at the U.S. Open last week and at the Olympics this summer that he has recovered from his early defeats. Based on the performances of other players who made five grand slam finals in their careers, Murray could be primed for a few years of major success and he has the perfect coach in Lendl to guide him on the way. Murray avoided becoming the first player to lose his first 5 major championships; instead, he seems ready to ascend to a new level of greatness.

London 2012: Live! Or not.

Last night, 17-year-old American Missy Franklin was getting set to compete for the Gold in the 100m backstroke. NBC had just done a fantastic feature about Franklin's life at school and at home, and she was really being set up to be one of the faces of these Olympic Games. It was around 9:00 PM ET.

Too bad the race had already happened hours before. 

And too bad that NBC aired a promo for "Gold medalist Missy Franklin" two minutes before she actually won the race. 

Whoops. 

But NBC isn't the only one playing spoiler. Yesterday, I was foolish enough to glance at a television screen showing SportsCenter. The ESPN Bottomline made sure that I knew how men's gymnastics would play out later that night. The US finished 5th. But not on television. That didn't happen until much later.

And therein lies the problem. Due to the time difference, all of the events in London are taking place from about eight in the morning to about seven at night. NBC could show all of these events live, but they have instead decided to forego showing the biggest events (swimming, gymnastics, etc) live in favor of pushing them to primetime. Thus, the only live events you may see on TV are volleyball, judo, handball, and various other peripheral events. 

NBC is allowing people to view a free online stream of the events as they take place. I tried that for the men's gymnastics last night. After about twenty seconds of one athlete's floor routine, I was treated to buffering, freezing, and eventually a blank screen. Apparently I'm not the only one who is having a problem. 

The decision to save events for primetime obviously makes sense from a ratings standpoint. Millions will tune in to watch the women's team compete for the team gymnastics title tonight. The same will tune in to see if Michael Phelps can become the most decorated Olympian of all time. Unfortunately, we live in a world of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and live feeds and blogs and ESPN and radios and televisions. 

WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY. 

We have technology that can tell us who is doing what at any given second. It's not even advanced. It's literally one person at the Olympics tweeting who won gold, getting retweeted a hundred thousand times, and just like that, the results are in. Now multiply that one person by dozens of reporters and a bevy of other spectators, and even the athletes themselves. There is no possible way to avoid finding out the results unless you turn off the internet, TV, radio, and your phone. Even then, you still might be subject to a spoiler on the very network who has it in its best interest NOT to spoil the race. 

I've already begun to take the precautions that I just mentioned. My TweetDeck has been turned off. Facebook is being checked sparingly. I want to see who wins the women's team competition tonight, and I want to see it with at least a little cloud of doubt hanging over the result. 

So yeah - big deal. Kid has to go a few days without his Facebook and his twitter. Tough life. 

But we shouldn't have to. Evidenced by their rebranding of Versus to become NBC Sports Network last January, NBC is trying to become a major player in sports. They have hockey. They have Sunday Night Football. And they have the Olympics. Sadly, they're dropping the ball big time on that last one. 

A sports network should dedicate itself to showing events live whenever possible. There is no difference between showing gymnastics live in the morning (and then replaying it at night) and not showing gymnastics live in the morning and tape delaying it until primetime. 

No matter what, the results are out there for all to see. At least give us the chance to see them while they happen.

And I'm not talking about a feed.