Bearkat Soccer Team Ready For 2012 Season
by Cheval John
After falling short in the semifinals in the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament last year, the SHSU Bearkat soccer team is looking to make a statement in the 2012 season.
The Bearkats are returning all 11 starters from last year’s team that experienced the heartbreaking loss against Texas State Bobcats in the semifinals that went to a penalty shootout.
“It’s cool to have a whole group of us who stayed together through the last three seasons,” senior midfielder Kirby Zak said to gobearkats.com.
“We’re excited about starting our final season together.”
Zak, along with defender Kayla Anderson and forward Tricia Mallory were selected to the 2012 all-preseason Southland Conference women’s team .
Zak is ranked No. 5 in SHSU career goals (17).
Three of those goals were game-winners, including the one that came against McNeese State last year in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Mallory, a junior from Spring, is ranked No. 2 in SHSU career goals (19).
She led the team last year with 8 goals and was named the team’s “Co-Most Valuable Player.”
On the defensive side, Anderson started all 22 games last year and played a total of 2,051 minutes during her career as a Bearkat.
The Bearkats were picked to finish fourth in the conference by coaches in the league.
But they feel that they can finish higher in the league and make a run toward the SLC Post-Season Tournament.
“In our estimation, based on what have… I think we can finish a bit higher,” head coach Tom Brown said.
The Bearkats first game of the season begins tomorrow at 7 p.m as they play host to Texas Southern.
U.S. Upsets Mexico 1-0
by Cheval John
History was against the United States National Soccer Team going into the friendly against Mexico.
The team has not won a match at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City since the first match that was held in 1937.
Mexico was coming off a gold medal win against Brazil at the 2012 London Olympics.
The U.S. was sure to be defeated as they left important players like Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley from this match.
But that was not the case tonight as the United States defeated “El Tri” by the score of 1-0, sending shockwaves throughout the soccer world.
Mexico had the U.S. on their heals for most of the match, but they could not convert on any of their chances.
On the other hand, the U.S took advantage of the opportunity that they were given.
In the 77th minute, Michael Orozco Fiscal scored his first international goal against goalie Guillermo Ochoa after receiving a beautiful back heel pass from Terrence Boyd that made it 1-0.
“El Tri” had their chances to equalize in the closing minutes of the game, thanks in part to Jonathan “El Chicharito” Hernandez.
But the brilliant goalkeeper, Tim Howard made huge saves in the 85th and 89th minute to preserve the upset win over Mexico.
The win will boost the confidence of the team as they will be getting ready for qualifications toward the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“Honey Badger” Cooked At LSU
by Cheval John
It looks like Tyrann Mathieu will not have a chance to return to the LSU football team.
The junior from New Orleans, nicknamed “The Honey Badger,” was kicked off the team last Friday after violating team rules.
He finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy race and was a key element in LSU’s run at the national championship last year.
He returned two punts for touchdowns and forced six fumbles that allowed him to score two more touchdowns as a result.
There was speculation that Mathieu could still take classes at the university and possibly be reinstated to the team in 2013.
But Bo Bahnsen, LSU senior associate athletic director for NCAA compliance told USA Today: “He (Mathieu) is permanently ineligible to play football at LSU.”
Mathieu paid a visits to McNeese State University and Jackson State University since being dismissed.
He would not have to sit out a year since both programs are at the FCS level.
He will hold a press conference later today on where he is going to play.
Not All Ratings Are Good Ratings
by Cheval John
Everyone witnessed history on Tuesday night when the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
The gold medal win was their first since 1996 when the “Magnificent Seven” won it at the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
The only problem is that the event took place three to four hours before NBC aired it in prime time.
Some wonder why they choose to air the event on tape delay when the United Kingdom is five hours ahead of New York.
NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus believes that by showing important events on tape delay, it will draw more viewers than being shown live.
“I think what we’ve proven is that the American viewing public likes the way we tell the story and wants to gather in front of the television with their friends and family-even if they have the ability to watch it live either on television or digitally,” Lazarus said to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.
“I inherently trust that decision is the right one and that people want to see these events.”
This is not the first time that they have done this.
In fact, it has been happening for years.
For example, the “Miracle on Ice” that took place at Lake Placid, New York during the 1980 Winter Olympics, was seen by 34.2 million viewers on ABC.
Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when Team USA defeated the heavy favorite “U.S.S.R. (now Russia).
However, the event was shown on tape delay as well while television networks around the world showed the game live to their viewing audience.
Those Americans who were either at the game or lived overseas were able to witness history before them while those who lived in the states and watched it on television, saw it about three to four hours after it happened.
To be fair, the announcers of NBC tells the viewers to turn away from the set as they display the results so that those who want to see the competition can enjoy it without knowing the results beforehand.
But, with the internet, people can find out the results of a specific event within minutes, even if they have no intention to because it is advertise as soon as you start using the internet.
It’s true that the ratings are much higher if the events are shown in tape delay.
At the end of the day, they cheat their viewers out of the olympic experience.
Missing Out On History
by Cheval John
When NBC showed the bronze medal game between the Brazilian duo of Julianna/Larissa and China’s duo of Zhang Xi and Xue Chen, I believed that they were going to show the gold medal match between Americans Kerry Walsh-Jennings/ Misty May-Treanor and Jennifer Kessy/April Ross right after that match.
Instead, they showed track and field at 3 p.m., which I didn’t care for at the time and then the men’s water polo match between the USA and Serbia, by which the men’s team got destroyed by Serbia .
Not that I didn’t like track and field, but I wanted to witness history.
I wanted to see if May-Treanor/Walsh would win their third consecutive gold medal at the London Olympics or get defeated by an up and coming duo of Kessy/Ross.
May/Walsh eventually defeated Kessy/Ross by the score of 21-16, 21-16 to claim their third straight Olympic gold.
It was the first time that competitors from the same country were playing for a gold medal since the inception of beach volleyball in the Olympics in 1996 when competitors from Brazil faced off for the coveted gold.
Walsh/May have excelled in tournaments and Olympic competition since they became partners in 2001.
They have been the face of beach volleyball and have grown the sport with their enthusiasm and domination.
Everyone expected them to be in the gold medal game.
However, no one expected Kessy/Ross to be there.
The duo have competed in AVP and FIVA tours since 2007.
They even knocked off the Walsh/May on September 7, 2008 to advance to the final of the AVP tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio.
They earned it the hard way by defeating Brazilian duo and No.1 Julianna/Larissa in three sets to make it to the gold medal match.
But NBC decided to show the game in prime time, which ruined everything and once again cheated the audience out of history.
I was bound to find out the results before it aired one way or another through the internet.
Many people complained that MSN should not have showned the results of the match before the actual event aired.
In reality, they did what they are suppose to do: get the information out there as soon as it happened.
Some even suggested that NBC should have shown the event live and then show it again in replay for those who missed it.
That way, those that missed it, can at least see how they got to that result.
I wonder if the executives of NBC ever thought of that.
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