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Let me start with this: I love the Olympics. Everything from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony. I love watching rowing, and baseball, basketball, and water polo. I love hearing about athletes who are big in their country, but a nobody in ours. I love seeing the flag wrapped around the champions shoulders. That is true entertainment. Now onto these Games.

The first week of the Beijing Olympics have come and gone, and, as usual, there are tons of incredible story lines. I could talk about 41 year old Dara Torres, who captured three silver medals. I could talk about Women’s gymnastics, where Americans Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson went 1-2. I could talk about the ‘Redeem Team’, and how USA Basketball is regaining its former dominance. Or I could talk about American Sprinter Tyson Gay failing to make the 100 meter finals. But I want to focus on two stories, one obvious, one not so obvious.

First, Michael Phelps. Every race was captivating as his quest to become the greatest Olympic Champion heated up. The 4 x100 Freestyle relay, with teammate Jason Lezak miraculously coming from behind to win. My living room, filled with friends and family, was going crazy. We might have broken some noise restrictions. Then his excruciatingly exciting 100 meter butterfly, with Phelps winning by one-one-hundredth of a second. Won by a finger tip. If we didn’t break noise restrictions on the first race, we definitely broke them there. Watching the gracious Phelps compete was a true joy. He redefined Olympian, with both his athletic prowess and his character. A true Olympian.

Next story isn’t so heartwarming. It serves as a reminder that the Olympics aren’t always perfect. Ara Abrahamian, a Swedish wrestler, was stripped of his bronze medal. He was upset because of a supposed bad penalty call that decided his match. At the medal ceremony, Abrahamian took the medal off his neck, walked off the stand, and threw is medal to the ground. You keep hearing how the Olympics are about ‘fair play’, ‘sportsmanship’. I don’t buy it. There are still enough crazy people out there who will selfishly ruin someone’s moment in the sun for personal grief. The IOC did the right thing in revoking his medal.

Every Olympics I find myself rooting for sports I don’t follow or know nothing about. But that’s what so great about it. I find myself caught up in Volleyball, or Handball. I get excited when Diving is on. Swimming is always a source of nerves and anxiety. Every time I get ‘inspired’ by a sport. During the Athens Games, I seriously considered training to become a pole-vaulter (hey, I was 12, I had time). During the Torino Games, I wanted to train to become a cross-country skier. Olympics inspire me. They captivate me. They serve as a reminder that peace is attainable. Now, I’m not a politician. I’m not a foreign affairs expert. But I know sports. And I know how they bring people together. And if this event can have enemies rooting for each other for two weeks, then its progress. I’ll take progress.

That’s why I love the Olympics.

About the Author

Your favorite writer from The Blog of Champions, is also writing for Tastefully Driven. He brings his sports expertise and knowledge to Tastefully Driven, and will continue to provide the insight and opinions you’ve grown to know and love. Any questions, comments, suggestions? You can contact him here.

With Joba Chamberlain going on the 15 day disabled list, and visiting renowned orthopedists Dr. James Andrews, the Yanks are in trouble. They were just starting to make a move, and are only 3 games back in the Wild Card race. Joba’s a stud: 2.63 ERA, with 104 strikeouts. A True Ace. So what does this all mean? Well, their only solid pitcher is Mike Mussina, and he’s 39. Phil Hughes, a stud prospect is rehabbing, but isn’t expected for awhile. If they wanted to make the playoffs, Joba would lead them there. Then again, there’s always next year.

What if I told you there was a sport that’s part football, part rugby, part soccer, and part mixed-martial arts?  A sport where players play an entire 50 minute game with no rest and no time outs.  Sound too crazy to be true?  It’s called Calcio Fiorentino, it’s played in Italy, it has a hardcore following, and it is absolutely brutal.  And if it wasn’t for last weeks’ jaw-dropping article in Sports Illustrated, no one outside of Italy probably would have ever known it existed:

Its origins can be traced to the first century B.C., when Roman legionnaires played it to prepare for combat. The game’s official rules date to 1580, and it was played by the Italian aristocracy, including three popes. Discontinued for centuries, the sport was revived in 1930 as an annual rite in Florence.

The rules are few. There is a normal soccer ball, a 100-by-50-meter sand pitch with goals running the width of each end zone and two teams of 27 men. Fifty minutes of play. No timeouts, no substitutions. A few tactics are expressly forbidden, such as sucker-punching and kicking in the head. Otherwise, head-butting, punching, elbowing, choking and throwing sand in opponents’ eyes are encouraged, if not applauded.

And of course, what you’ve all been waiting for - videos.  There aren’t a ton available, but they should give you a taste of what it’s like to play this brutal game:

Unreal.  All I can say is WOW.  Oh, and why isn’t this televised?  It’s like MMA on crack!

Brett Favre is ‘un-retiring’ after 4 months of being retired. This video is of an interview Brett conducted with Fox News. My take is simple. Retire. Stay retired. Host a charity golf tournament. Because this whole business of ‘flip-flopping’ does no one good. The Packers were one game away from the Super Bowl. They have a good team. Favre had a good season. No doubt. But it’s unfair to the Packers, the League, and most importantly, Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, the supposed heir apparent to Favre’s throne, has been waiting in the wings for 4 years. And when Favre always contemplates retiring, it’s Rodgers who’s in limbo. My message is simple, Brett: Do what’s best. Do the Right thing. I don’t think money is an issue. I can understand you want to play. But don’t go back to Green Bay. You’ve caused more problems in 4 months than you did your whole career. Move on. You can go to another team if you want. That’s fine. People might say that the Packers owe it to Brett to allow him to return. I disagree. Brett, you owe it to the Packers to move, to let them move, start the post-Brett life. Favre is a great QB. Hall-of-Famer. But right now, he’s being selfish. Haven’t you done enough? Isn’t it time? Why even retire in the first place? Go to Washington, go to Carolina. Go to the Jets, go to the Bucs. Finish your career the way you want to. Just make a decision, make it quick, and move on.

About the Author

Your favorite writer from The Blog of Champions, is also writing for Tastefully Driven. He brings his sports expertise and knowledge to Tastefully Driven, and will continue to provide the insight and opinions you’ve grown to know and love. Any questions, comments, suggestions? You can contact him here.

It wasn’t very long ago that sports fans only looked to third party websites like ESPN, CBS SportsLine, or Yahoo Sports for their sports fix. Official league sites were hard to navigate, infrequently updated, and overly biased. Over the past year each of the three US major sports has significantly upgraded their websites. Leveraging their exclusive access to information, audio, video, and more, MLB.com, NFL.com, and NBA.com now offer unique content that isn’t available anywhere else on the web – making them must-visit destinations for their respective fans. Who did the best job? Who is still lagging behind the competition and leaving their fans wanting more? Let’s find out:

The Criteria

We will evaluate each of the sites based upon ten criteria:

1. Scores and Gamecasts - the number one reason fans visit the official site. How easy is it to find scores? Are they updated live without requiring a browser refresh? How much information is provided during a gamecast?
2. Reporting - are transactions and other news reported quick and accurately? Do they offer RSS feeds?  Do they have feature articles? If so, is the analysis solid and relatively unbiased?
3. User Interaction - how can users get involved? Can they comment on stories and videos? Can they participate in fantasy sports?
4. Video - can users easily find highlights? How quickly are they available?
5. Archives - can you find historical stats, video, and articles?
6. Stats - can you browse and search player and team stats quickly and effectively?
7. Update Frequency - are stats, rosters, and news accurate?
8. Live Audio and Video - what options do fans have who cannot watch the game live? Each has a gamecast, but how to they supplement the gamecast with additional audio and video? Do they offer mobile services?
9. Design and Navigation - is it easy to find what you’re looking for? Do ads clutter the page and ruin the experience?
10. Shop - is it easy to find team specific memorabilia? Are prices reasonable compared to purchasing the same item in stores or elsewhere online? Do they have a broad selection of items available?

MLB.com

Thoughts & observations:

• Gamecasts are light years ahead of other sports. Watch pitches as they actually come in, change “views” from behind the batter or behind the pitcher, and watch highlights as they happen. They even offer video previews for games.
• The MLB Blog network has blogs by players, writers, front office executives, and fans. Yup, that’s right, you can start your own blog and have the content aggregated on their blog network. Regardless of the blog, it’s very simple to comment and get into a conversation with the author. Very cool.
• If you subscribe to MLB.tv ($50/year for the premium package), you can stream games live over your PC, watch any game after it’s over (including condensed games), watch up to six games at once, and have the system track players and automatically switch to them during their at bats (great for fantasy players). Wow.
• In depth, sortable stats are available going back to 1871, but they’re missing important modern stats such as OPS+.
• For $1.99 you can download full DRM-free classic games going back to the 1950s.
• Mobile audio, gamecasts, and text alerts are readily available.

NFL.com

Thoughts & observations:

• The NFL is the king of exclusive contracts, the most popular of which being that Direct TV is the only way to watch out of town games. They also exclusively offer their NFL mobile service through Sprint and radio coverage of out of town games through SIRIUS satellite radio. These relationships might make the NFL a ton of money, but they hurt the casual fan that doesn’t already utilize the services necessary to take advantage of the content.
• NFL GamePass allows you to watch games online…but isn’t available in the US due to the aforementioned Direct TV deal. Lame. Even lamer is the fact that the NFL Sunday Ticket is available on NINE providers in freaking Canada. Of course, the only fans that truly love the NFL – the US fans – get screwed.
• Other than by playing fantasy football, there doesn’t appear to be any way for users to easily interact on NFL.com. No forum, and no blogs, articles, or videos that allow user comments. Like everything else, the NFL seems overly obsessed with their ability to control every little bit of content on their site.
• Stats are available for every season in history, with video highlights of every game available back to 2003. Impressive.
• Gamecasts are solid. They’re updated almost immediately and offer audio alerts for key plays. Unfortunately they still lack some of the advanced features of MLB.com…at least as of the end of the 2007-2008 season.

NBA.com

Thoughts & observations:

• They do a fantastic job of integrating international basketball news in with NBA. With the China Olympics only weeks away, they understand that they basketball world is focused on the Olympics and not the upcoming NBA season.
• Much like MLB.com, forums and blogs are readily available and easy to comment on.
• The NBA might have more sponsorships than even the NFL, but they don’t let it get in the way of their offerings. Fans can sign up for NBA League Pass through almost every cable and satellite provider in the US. NBA League Pass allows fans to watch out of town games on TV, but for free they can also watch games streaming online. Audio is available to fans for free online.
• Video is readily available, but I found it a bit difficult to navigate to older game highlights. I had to look at the team schedules to find links to game results, which included links to the game highlights. Not super hard, but a bit more difficult than the other sites. Highlights are also only available for games going back two years. Many older highlights also play only in Windows Media Player, which is a bit outdated compared to the inline Flash video available on other sites.
• Stats are available going back to 1946-1947, but aren’t as in-depth or sortable like the other sports.

Final Scoring

On a scale of 1-10, 10 being perfect and 1 being horrible, here are how I scored each site in the categories listed:

MLB.com is the Winner!

After spending some time on all three sites, it becomes clear that MLB.com is a notch above the rest. Their really is no reasonable criticism of their offerings – you can get all of the information you want regardless of how much money you’re willing to pay or the medium that you are using. Put simply, Major League Baseball makes it as easy as possible for fans to find what they are looking for.

Of course, the real winner is the user. With great news, stats, and video available from each site, fans finally have a reason to visit the official league sites.