Summer of Sports '21: Those Sports Mad Australians

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

For American sports fans, summer means baseball is in its prime, basketball & hockey are in offseason free agent frenzy, and football is readying for its new season when training camp is getting started, among other things. But as we've been spending the past week or so watching the Olympics like so many others in the world, think about what the vibe is like for sports fans down under, where, in the Southern Hemisphere, winter is about to turn into spring and things start to take into shape sports wise. And to think, there's one country that is mad about sports, maybe so much so than anywhere else.

Sport represents such a solid part of the Australian culture... and it is so obsessed with it, that during these Tokyo Games the country is more than willing to alter their work and sleep schedules to watch their favorite athletes go for gold, or for any big sporting event where their athletes and teams are on the big stage out of country.. For swimming, the big finals that we in America have gotten to watch in our primetime, the dominance in the pool the Aussies have been having have taken place around lunchtime during the latest pandemic-forced lockdown in their country.

Still, it's safe to say that Australia is a sports-mad country that takes athletic competition so seriously. And as we enter the second week of the action in Japan as the world's athletes continue to inspire us all, it's best that this Summer of Sports post provide more context into this down under love affair.

Summer of Sports '21 - A Primer on Sports Betting

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Since 2007, it's been a near-annual tradition of mine to fly to a city that's both America's playground and one of the world's great tourist destinations. If you know me, then Las Vegas has become my favorite place to travel to... and just seeing the nearly 200 #DCVegas videos I've posted on my YouTube channel very much explains my love affair with Sin City. And when I next go there, I am looking at the chance to do something that I've never been able to do before, but one that's become a red-hot item.

Even though I've enjoyed each of my ten Vegas trips and with #11 likely to come this fall, something I've not done yet is take even one bet on a sports event at the many race & sports books in town... and I'll be down to bet on a horse race or a football game for the fun of it, just like so many others. The allure of betting on sports events have become a hot commodity lately as laws that barred this activity outside Nevada were struck down, and interest has boomed to go along with it as the U.S. now follows other countries in making sports betting a greater part of the sporting landscape here.

Up until recently, the major pro sports leagues long frowned upon Vegas as a city to not place a team in despite a 4-hour drive from Los Angeles and within a flight of that length from everywhere else in the country, but for one obvious reason. Of course, that would be Nevada's stance on legalized betting and long being the only state where full sports betting is legally accepted. And because most every hotel has a race & sportsbook in its casinos, except for exhibition games and the occasional "home" game hosted by a team from next door Las Vegas was off limits for major professional team sports.

But times have changed: the rapid growth of a market that's among the fastest-growing in the country, the millions who travel here each year that makes it among the world's most-popular attractions, and the changing stance in most of the country on gambling have seen a total 180 in Las Vegas' sporting fortunes. In the span of a few years, the NHL has become a smash hit thanks to the rapid success of the Golden Knights, followed by the Raiders moving from California to Southern Nevada... and there may be more to come to join big fights, golf, NASCAR, UNLV, rodeo and more on the Vegas sports slate.

Plus, there's those sports books which probably take the cake for becoming the best place anywhere in America to watch the big games, with a strong communal experience of watching ports with strangers that existed for a long time before the emergence of twitter brought that to social media. And if you happen to follow on Instagram boxing's 50-0 man, Floyd Mayweather sometimes took snaps of the bets the money man makes on a number of games when he wagers at the sports book.

So, what exactly is sports betting? It's the subject of the first installment of this 2021 Summer of Sports, as DCBLOG temporarily turns our attention from covering MTV Reality shows and the upcoming 37th season of the fifth major pro sport of The Challenge, to focus on matters in the sports world -- which has long been a strong passion of mine, and where this intersects with another in the Las Vegas culture.

Summer of Sports '21: A DCBLOG Look Ahead

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In my world, there are four huge passions of mine: television (with a slant towards MTV reality shows), music, Las Vegas and something that's been in my blood almost since I was a kid: sports. I have had a solid passion for it for years and years when it comes to the wide world of athletic competition, and not a day goes by that a mention of sports goes unnoticed in the Cueva household, whether it's watching our favorite sport of the NBA or the many viewing parties of many Super Bowls, boxing fights and beyond.

Back in 2015 during a historic year in many ways in the world of sports, DCBLOG took advantage of a summer off from covering MTV's The Challenge (appropriately entitled America's fifth major pro sport) to offer a season of blog posts devoted to covering topics, issues and primers on the sports world. It coincided with the traditionally-packed season of big events during this time such as the international soccer, the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Tour de France and the World Series of Poker, plus the UFC, golf and Australian rules football. We've also gotten to do two series of Olympic posts on here when Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games two years later in Rio, along with a few football posts when Super Bowl 50 was held in the Bay Area.

As my MTV slate is light this summer as far as the blog is concerned, this opens up the calendar for me to devote another series of sports posts that will fill this time which --- thanks to the pandemic pushing back the sports calendar a bit -- will offer plenty of check out on here over the next couple months. Just glancing over at the 200+ drafts I have of posts that I have never posted on here, many of them are sports-related that were put on the backburner due to my total focus on other matters... and when the schedule provides for that it will finally be posted on here.

Considering that the Olympic Games are my favorite event, there will be a number of posts covering that part of the sporting world that only get the attention during the fortnight... and they will be up during the Games, perhaps on a daily or regular basis. That is the tentative plan, provided that I have time to post all of those since I will be hunkered down in my room to binge-watch all the action when competition begins a few days prior to the Opening Ceremony in a few weeks' time.

Since our first season of sports posts seven years ago, something that has emerged into the American sporting discussion has been of sports betting and fantasy sports... something that became ubiquitous when commercials by DraftKings and FanDuel aired around the clock in the 2015 NFL season. We plan to kick off our 2021 sports series with a primer on sports betting in the week ahead, and we'll also delve into the fantasy sports world too. 

There are also posts on sports not well known in America that are planned to come on here including cricket, darts, rugby, Formula 1 auto racing and Canada's take on football. There's also other sporting topics such as the fandom that the nation of Australia have for sport, the first stadium in the entire world to have a retractable roof, and a few other things. Of course, this are our plans during this special season of blog posts... but it's when the run-up kicks off to Season 37 of The Challenge do we wind down our sports season on here and turn our focus back to preparing for all the action and drama from Croatia.

So, that's just a brief Look Ahead to what we got ahead of us in this Summer of Sports... and we'll see you for post #1 just to come.

- I AM DC

#DCBLOG

DC Sports Extra: Uncle Verne

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

This Thanksgiving weekend is Rivalry Week in college football as most of the major conferences hold their last week of regular season play prior to the conference championship games, and it also means some of the sport's most-revered rivalries will take shape. Michigan vs. Ohio State will take precedent as the country's #2 and #3 teams play in what will be a charged atmosphere. The classic matchup between Notre Dame and USC will also take place, and in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Iron Bowl will be renewed as the #1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide take on arch rivals Auburn.
   Along with next week's SEC Championship Game, it will mark the next-to-last college football assignment for one of the most-beloved sportscasters in American television, Verne Lundquist. During our coverage of The Challenge: Rivals III earlier this summer, we looked at his legendary career when he announced that he would be stepping down from calling SEC football at the end of this college football season, as well as being the recipient of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Sports Emmy Awards in New York City. Enjoy this excerpt from this summer.

Summer of Sports: Changing Talent

Originally Posted as part of DCBLOG's MTV coverage earlier today,

re-posted for the interest of sports media enthusiasts

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

Last week on Pulse ExtraTime, we offered appreciation for one of the icons of sportscasting in CBS' Verne Lundquist, and previously we featured Garbage Time host Katie Nolan. This week, we will look into the revolving door that is moves of sports talent. If you're someone who follows sports media, then you likely go to a site called Awful Announcing, which covers what's happening in sports television, digital and all else. This past week, the editors and columnists of that site offered their opinions of which personnel moves have had the greatest impact, and influenced this mini-post.
   It's been quite a past twelve months for the sports media world as it has been on the fields and courts, as rights and viewing habits have been all over the place, as well as a whole slew of changes as far as the talent is concerned...those who discuss the games, who call them and all on between.

● There's the co-host of ESPN's controversial First Take, Skip Bayless, who will shortly leave his post next to Stephen A. Smith to move ultimately to FOX Sports and join others who specialize in what is referred to as "hot takes" in Colin Cowherd, Jason Whitlock and Clay Travis, as well as former boss Jamie Horowitz who created the so-called "Embrace Debate" culture at the 800-pound gorilla and now is looking to bring his success - and viewers - to the fledging FS-1 channel.

● After his much publicized spat with ESPN that led to both his departure from Bristol and the eventual shutdown of his Grantland site, Bill Simmons joined HBO last year and give him all the freedom of being with premium TV's King Kong. The Ringer site launched this past week, his new HBO talk show debuts next week, produces a Game of Thrones companion show and he's already become a top podcast host (and someone who also loves watching The Challenge too).

● And there's David Feherty, a former golfer who's now the game's most unique broadcaster with his wit and humor, but has also dealt personally with alcoholism. For 20 years, he was part of CBS' golf team including The Masters, but last year moved to NBC in continuing to do on-course and tower commentary, while keeping a spot on Golf Channel, where he's hosted his own acclaimed, self-titled talk show with golfers and those who love the sport as the US Open takes place this week.

Speaking of the Peacock, for me sports media's biggest personnel move of the past 12 months came just last month, when the fortunes of not only NBC but also ESPN changed with one move. Just after the Kentucky Derby, one of sports' most versatile talents, and a prized member of the ESPN team for 25 years, Mike Tirico, announced his departure from Bristol for NBC. Having joined the network as an SportsCenter anchor in the early 1990's, he ultimately rose to prominence as the play-by-play voice of ESPN's Monday Night Football, the NBA, golf and college sports, and hosting the past two FIFA World Cups, Grand Slam tennis and beyond. And like other sportscasters before him, Tirico got his start at Syracuse University and calling Orangemen games on its college station WAER.

   For the folks in Bristol, this surprise move by someone they thought would work his entire career there along with Bob Ley and Chris Berman is only part of a slew of bad news that has haunted The Worldwide Leader in Sports in the past year: falling subscriber numbers, fans on Twitter getting on Skip, Stephen and others for their provocative opinions, people like the aforementioned Simmons and Keith Olbermann being let go among a significant cut in ESPN's workforce, and declining revenues for this very section of The Walt Disney Company impacting the bottom line for those who hold stock in the mouse ears. His departure leaves a massive hole in the network's lineup that will be hard to fill, though another Syracuse alum and a son of one of the first sportswriters to do TV work, Sean McDonough, will take over for Tirico on MNF.
   For NBC, they have snared a huge fish in the sportscasting pond and Tirico now represents the future of its sports division. Come the end of this month after he does hosting work on EURO 2016, he begins his NBC stint as a host for its Olympic coverage in Rio - returning to where he covered the World Cup two years ago, joining Cris Collinsworth on NBC's half of the NFL Thursday Night Football package, and going back to his roots as part of the network's golf package - including the Open Championship and Ryder Cup. Should NBC get a piece of the last big sports property up for auction in the Big Ten, he should figure prominently in that too. And considering its deep lineup of championship events, as well as family being factored in, it was not an easy call for Tirico to leave his home of 25 years for a new challenge that lies ahead.
   All this shores up a sportscasting group featuring Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Dan Patrick and others too many to mention. And when those first two do decide to step aside, then Mike will most surely be first in line to take over Bob's seat as Olympic primetime host perhaps as early as the next Winter Games in South Korea in two years, Al's spot to call SNF and a Super Bowl, and return to his golf roots in joining Feherty, Johnny Miller and Golf Channel. He is one of the best in the business and now he's joining the best in the business when it comes to quality sports television. While a former sportswriter from Dallas moving across networks and a bad breakup for another have been big, it's live events that matter most in the sports TV business, and it's Mike Tirico's move from ESPN to NBC that is, to me, the biggest talent move in sports media in 2015-16.

- DC

DC Summer of Sports: The Story of My Passion

BY DC CUEVA

> @DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow

Welcome everyone to the DC Summer of Sports on DCBLOG and DCNOW. Summer is the time when sports is taking over the country's attention during the hottest season of the year. And it will again be a busy time with the FIFA Women's World Cup, NBA & NHL Finals and free agency, baseball, major golf and tennis, NFL training camp & preseason, and much more. And over the course of the next few months, this lifelong sports fan will be devoting his spare time her to covering this passion that I've had since I was a kid.

   DCBLOG will be blogging on the events, sports and much more, with all of those aforementioned events and a lot more to be given at least some coverage from here until fall. Likewise on DCNOW, you will have a front-row seat to the big events with my live tweets, commentary and more from those who play, follow and watch the action. But we begin this Summer of Sports with a brief reflection on this long fascination I've had with sports, my love affair with it and this relationship now two decades old.

As I begin writing the first drafts of this post on Sunday, May 3rd, it's in the aftermath of the most epic sports day we've had in a long time. We saw a fight that everyone anticipated for six years that would be the fight of the new century that turned out to be a runaway for Floyd Mayweather over Manny Pacquiao. We had an epic Game 7 in the NBA Playoffs that came down to the last minute that saw a bonafide star deliver in the clutch that knocked out the defending champs. We joined with fans in Louisville for the annual rite of spring known as the Kentucky Derby, America's greatest horse race. We also had day 3 of the NFL Draft, game 2 of Yankees-Red Sox at Fenway, an NHL Stanley Cup playoff game and day 4 of the World Golf Championships-Match Play in San Francisco. For those also interested, there was also NASCAR at Talladega, Supercross racing, European Champions Cup rugby union, world championships in regular & sled hockey, table tennis and snooker; and England taking on the West Indies in test cricket. And for this Olympic sports fan, down in the Bahamas, the U.S. beat Usain Bolt and Jamaica in the men's 4x100m relay at the IAAF World Relays.

   That Super Sports Saturday saw an unprecedented array of big events that rivaled any Super Saturday at the Olympics (generally the middle Saturday at the summer fortnight), and also gave my family reason to redo the interior of our house for our fight viewing party with my extended family. May 2nd, 2015 proved once again my love for sports that I've had since I was a kid, and proved my passion for the entire spectrum.

There's something about sports that makes this one of the few things that are closest to a religion to me as anything else. Since the 90's back when I was in elementary school, I've been fascinated by it and ever since, I feel like it's part of my lifeblood. I collect programs, lanyards, pins and anything of interest that's related to sports. These days, other than for MTV shows, music or other things, I typically have a sports channel on my TV much of the time. And it's a family trait that's been passed down from my late grandpa to my dad to myself and sometimes extended to our entire family as well. There's nothing like seeing great competition between superb athletes or competitors. There's always a competitive fire that fuels me within when seeing it on screen or that rare instance that I'm there.

   But unlike other sports fans who might be tied down to one or a handful of sports, I am the epitome of someone who is interested in the entire sporting landscape. Sure, my two biggest sporting passions are basketball and the Olympics. But I am also one who watches football, baseball, hockey, golf, boxing, and even sports we don't hear of here but others love elsewhere. I'm one of those sports fans who actually follows countless numbers of sports that are out there that we here in America don't usually think of, at least to the mainstream folks. This is very much similar to how I approach my tastes in music and in certain aspects of TV programming, where I prefer a wide scope rather than just picking and choosing. To put it bluntly, there is so much more to the world of sports than just football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and a dozen other sports.

   As a passionate Olympic fan, I am used to that wide variety of sports that take place during the fortnight which grabs all my attention during those 17 days every two years. And I keep a tab on Olympic matters in the 18-24 months between Games and always make it a point to tune to any Olympic sports event when possible when it airs on TV. On a given weekend when sports is on broadcast television in addition to cable channels, I can go from one sport to another depending upon what's going on in a certain Saturday or Sunday. Thanks to having an iPad and a YouTube app, I can watch sports from all over the world ranging from ultimate frisbee and roller derby to AFL aussie rules and past events, and the list goes on. And I'm collecting more and more sports publications for both my reading pleasure and for reference in bringing you these posts.

There is that aforementioned, occasional chance I get of attending sports events live, and I've been able to a good number of them, though it's not as frequent as that of other sports fans. The first live sporting event I attended was on Halloween Eve 1993, when the Warriors played the Sonics in a preseason affair. That night, Chris Webber played his first home game, Chris Mullin suffered a hand injury that sidelined him for a small early portion of the season, and Sonics coach George Karl and my dad had a little conversation.

   Ever since, I've been to events in the four major sports, at college level and of course locally where I'm situated here in Milpitas, CA (outside of San Jose). Though the most recent one was back over a decade ago, I've been to a few baseball games (several A's and 1 Giants at old Candlestick) including the first one that took place just one before the '94 players strike - yes it feels a bit creepy to say that. I went to another Warriors game in 2006 - fittingly as I post this just before the 2015 NBA Finals it was LeBron James and his Cavs coming in to visit the Warriors, and then after that me and my cousins went to a local adult entertainment place afterwards (my first visit to a strip club). I've also been to two Sharks games, a Santa Clara college hoops game, and a few Milpitas High games with my cousin who played on the basketball team.

   And it's my sporting passion that also had something to do with finding a newfound love in what some consider the so-called "fifth major sport." I have to admit that before a few years ago, I wasn't really into MTV's The Challenge as much as I am into its sister show, The Real World. But watching the London Olympics and the great competition over the 17 days of the British fortnight in the summer of 2012 gave me a reason to give the show a try, and now a few seasons later The Challenge is now one of my favorite shows. In my primer on that show here, I likened its evolution to that of golf's Ryder Cup, going from a friendly competition between two MTV sister shows to an intense competition which has both big MTV fans like myself and those who are sports nuts glued to that show, including now-former head of Grantland Bill Simmons.

In all, sports is one of those handful of things that I consider closest to a religion than anything to me. I am into all sports, I'm an avid sports TV viewer and I follow it every day. A number of clothing I have in my closet are sports related. I have a strong sports book and video library to relive moments as they happened and for both reading and research. And there's always a passion that comes to me when I get to see competition at its best. And now during this down time in another passion of mine of the MTV Trifecta, it's time to devote the next few months to enjoying the biggest events and moments in sports, and the stories that come with it, right here and at DCNOW with this fan. Bring on the summer.

Be sure to follow my DC Social Network throughout the summer as I will be staying busy both here on DCBLOG and across my social media platforms as we follow the Summer of Sports.

- First, make sure to follow my secondary twitter account dedicated to live tweets, DCNOW at Twitter @DC408DxNow. There, you'll be front row center with yours truly to the big events, starting tomorrow with the NHL's Stanley Cup Final between Chicago and Tampa Bay. On Thursday, the NBA Finals tips off in Oakland with the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers battle for the title with a star matchup between LeBron James and Stephen Curry. On Super Soccer Saturday this weekend, it's the UEFA Champions League Final in Berlin between Barcelona and Juventus, followed by the 1st matches of the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. And horse racing's Triple Crown will be on the line as well on Saturday as American Pharoah looks to become the first to win all three legs at the Belmont Stakes in New York. Major golf & tennis, baseball and more will be live tweeted there too.

- DCBLOG will be devoting more and more of this site to covering the upcoming Summer of Sports. In my next Summer of Sports post, I'll be offering a look at the UEFA Champions League ahead of Saturday's final, plus a number of soccer posts throughout the Women's World Cup. Posts on the NBA, golf's majors, Wimbledon, the Stanley Cup, World Series of Poker and much more are planned here over the summer, so be sure to bookmark this site for extensive sports coverage.

- And if you're an MTV fan, after the WWC I'll be live tweeting season 4-B of Catfish, the revival of America's Best Dance Crew, a new season of Teen Mom 2, the VMA's and the fall's main event for me & some of my fellow MTV fans: Season 3 of Are You The One?. Also expect a DC FORUM post soon with fellow MTV/sports fans Andrew Kirk & Brian Cohen as we discuss recent seasons of the Trifecta, which I also cover extensively here.

- And don't forget to follow my primary Twitter handle @DC408Dxtr, my Instagram account also at the same handle, and at Tumblr at dc408dxtr.tumblr.com.

Thanks for checking out this first DCBLOG post during this Summer of Sports. And be sure to join me both here on the Blog and on DCNOW for full coverage of sports' biggest events, both in blog form and in the social world. Until then, thanks for reading, have fun and talk to you then.

- I AM DC