Ramble On ...

Every time a pro sports league starts a game a second past 8pm ET, every single sports TV columnist on the eastern seaboard screams bloody murder that the professional sports gurus are only in it for the almighty buck. The naysayers claim that the television executives in search of higher ratings have ruined modern civilization.

Of course, when the NBA tipped Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between Boston and Cleveland last Sunday at 3:30pm, not a word was spoken or written about the early Eastern-time-zone-friendly start. The kids could see the game and all was well, but not a single columnist made note of it.

Instead, all I heard was criticism of the NBA schedule maker. "How come it's not on in primetime? How can the NBA risk having two Game 7s on a Monday night? Mike Francesa of WFAN ranted on THREE TIMES in a span of about 45 minutes, stating the SAME EXACT THING over and over again. "The NBA should have the Celtics on Saturday night at 8pm, then a doubleheader on Sunday with the two Game 7s at 5:30pm and 8pm," he said on his afternoon drive last Wednesday.

I contend, "No matter what time you start a game, you screw some kid somewhere."

For instance, a little kid in Paris would benefit from an 11pm EDT, 8pm PDT start as he or she could wake up early at 5AM in France and watch the game live.

On a slight tangent, it always amazed me that sports TV critics and some fans criticize the TV execs for trying to sell their souls, schedule and alter programming, manipulate the game schedule - ALL to GET better TV ratings. Well, doesn't that equate to getting the game on at a time when the MOST people can view it? Isn't that the overall goal, to please the MOST people?

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This Andy Katz column on ESPN.com caught my eye. It frames the upcoming summer for Coach K and the USA Olympic basketball team:

Coach K juggling Duke shake-up, Olympic team as he goes for gold

By Andy Katz

Last week's ACC meetings in Florida had to get cut from Mike Krzyzewski's schedule.
Something had to give during an offseason that will end up being the busiest, most pressure-packed and easily most disruptive for Krzyzewski in years.

Within the past month, Krzyzewski said goodbye to his former player, longtime trusted top assistant Johnny Dawkins, who took the Stanford job. And then Krzyzewski had to reshuffle a coaching staff that will have three new faces in three new positions.

Krzyzewski saw one top reserve (Taylor King) transfer (to Villanova), but he picked up a steal of a late-spring recruit in 6-foot-10 Miles Plumlee, a one-time Stanford signee who got out of his commitment after Trent Johnson went to LSU.

Mike Krzyzewski has to juggle a coaching staff in new positions as well as the big expectations of the Olympic team this summer.

That's just at Duke. That doesn't even account for the Olympic team, an overriding but welcomed burden that hovers over him.
Instead of the ACC meetings, Krzyzewski spent a few days in Phoenix meeting with USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and the Olympic team's coaching staff. He has had to pick and choose his spots on when to call the players on the Olympic roster during the NBA playoffs. He is preparing for a minicamp next month. And he's focusing his thought process on the one and only goal for the end of this three-year commitment -- a gold medal in Beijing.

"With all the stuff going on, with my staff, I had a few balls to juggle," Krzyzewski said. "It's all in place now. I don't have much time. It all has got to be done right because it can't linger. I don't have much time."

And that little time will be spent primarily with USA Basketball this summer. Right now, USA Basketball lists 33 names on its men's national team roster. Colangelo and Krzyzewski have to narrow that down to the final 12 who will lead the United States.
"It'll be some tough choices; there are more deserving players for us than just 12," Krzyzewski said. "We've had so many great responses for players who want to be a part of it for the right reasons."

Dwyane Wade's status is uncertain because he was injured for a significant time this past season. (He played in only 51 games.) Wade played for the national team two years ago in the world championship, in which the team won a bronze, but not last summer in the Tournament of the Americas, which the U.S. team won.

Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers), LeBron James (Cleveland) and Dwight Howard (Orlando) are all must-have players, Krzyzewski said. The rest of the team will be decided on those who best complement the key players.
"We've got to balance out who they are now and who they were then, because there are guys who have gotten better," Krzyzewski said. The only players who have played in both 2006 and 2007 are James, Howard and Carmelo Anthony (Denver). The emergence of point guards Chris Paul (New Orleans) and Deron Williams (Utah), both on the 2007 team but not the 2006 team, would seem to make them favorites to be on the final 12 this summer.
Krzyzewski said that the plan is to have the team decided by the time it arrives at the Las Vegas training camp on June 30.

The Americans will start practicing in Las Vegas on July 20. They will play five exhibition games overseas before they start playing in Beijing on Aug. 10. Lost amid Krzyzewski's Olympic plans was the disruption to his Duke staff.

Krzyzewski said he wasn't surprised that Dawkins took the Stanford job. Krzyzewski, who insisted he's not ready to retire, said the two had talked about Dawkins becoming a head coach the past few years.

After Dawkins left and took Mike Schrage (the director of basketball operations), the first thing Krzyzewski did was bump Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski up to co-associate head coaches. Then he hired Nate James, a former player, to fill Dawkins' spot. Krzyzewski promoted Chris Spatola, a former Army player and his son-in-law, as director of basketball operations. Former Duke player Chris Carrawell moved into Spatola's previous spot as graduate assistant/head team manager so Krzyzewski could "teach him how to be a coach."

Collins and Wojciechowski are part of the extended USA Basketball coaching staff. So bumping up James to an assistant coach will leave at least one of the Duke assistants back in Durham during the summer to oversee the program.
Once the Olympics start, Krzyzewski's family will go to China, leaving James and Carrawell behind to monitor the current players.

A year ago, that could have been a problem. The Blue Devils were a bit bruised mentally, coming off a first-round loss in the 2007 NCAA tournament to VCU. They were still a relatively untested and young team. But now, even though Duke lost in the second round of the NCAAs to West Virginia, its surprising 13-3 finish in the ACC and 28-6 overall record has Krzyzewski beaming about next season's team.

Sure, DeMarcus Nelson is gone. But the return of inside-out scorer Kyle Singler, potential breakout player Gerald Henderson and guards Jon Scheyer and Greg Paulus give Krzyzewski experienced leaders. That quartet, along with guard Nolan Smith, and forwards Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek and David McClure, and the expected contributions from Plumlee, shooting guard Elliot Williams and forward Olek Czyz in the freshman class, have Krzyzewski pumped about next season.

"I feel really good about the program, and me and Duke," he said. "I'm very excited. We finally have experience coming back. We'll have a deep team. We had a chance to be very good, and our kids were very good this year."

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Congratulations are in order for USA Basketball President Val Ackerman, a former colleague of mine at the NBA and WNBA. Read on from the official FIBA and IOC release with ne thing in mind: Val deserves the honor.

Valerie Ackerman, member of the FIBA Central Board and President of USA Basketball, has received the ‘Women and Sport Achievement Diploma’ from International Olympic Committee President Dr. Jacques Rogge in recognition of her outstanding contribution in promoting the development and participation of women and girls in sport.

“This is an extraordinary and unexpected honor, and I am deeply grateful to the International Olympic Committee for this recognition,” said Val Ackerman. “Women have made great strides in sports over the past few decades, and the IOC, through the unrivaled strength of the Olympic platform, has played a major role in showcasing the tremendous achievements of the world’s finest female athletes. With the sustained efforts of all concerned, I am certain that the contributions of women at all levels of sport, both in the playing arena and at the executive level, will only multiply, and I look forward to seeing the sport of basketball continue to help lead the way.”

In May 2005 Valerie Ackerman became the first female President of USA Basketball for the 2005-2008 term of office. Ackerman played professional basketball in France for one season. Starting in 1988, she served as a staff attorney for the National Basketball Association and as special assistant to NBA Commissioner David Stern. From 1995 to 1996, she was a driving force behind the creation of the historic USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team program that culminated with a 60-0 record and the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In 1996, Val Ackerman was named President of the WNBA. Over the course of her historic term, Ackerman would become the first women ever to successfully launch a women's team-oriented sports league in the USA.

Tough crowd up in the Buffalo-Toronto-Ontario region. Check out this item comparing the Sabres and the National Lacrosse league champion Buffalo Bandits:

St. Catharines (Ontario) Standard
Pro lacrosse gives fans bang for their buck
Posted By DAN DAKIN

Turns out Buffalo can win something. Who knew?
That's right, the Buffalo Bandits finally gave the oft-dejected
Western New York sports fans something to cheer about Saturday night
when they beat the Portland LumberJax 14-13 in the National Lacrosse
League championship game.
Did it make up for decades of losing everything there was to lose?
Probably not, but it was pretty exciting anyway.
Truthfully, the Bandits did win an NLL championship in 1996 and two
more in the early 1990s, but that was forgotten long ago in this city.
Maybe some day in the next 20 or 30 years the Bills or Sabres will win
something, but for now the Bandits will have to do. And you know
something? I'm almost happy it's the Bandits outshining their more
popular siblings.

Let's face it, they may play in the same building and share the same
owner, but the Bandits and Sabres are worlds apart.
The salary of one Sabres star would cover a year's worth of paycheques
for the entire Bandits team. Players in the NLL have an average salary
of less than $15,000 with the "franchise" players making less than
twice that and rookies only making half that amount.

And the fans? Again, a slightly different experience from the NHL for them.
Tickets for Saturday's game maxed out at just $41 US and were still
available to a limited extent on the game day. That's less than $50
for the best seats in the house for a league championship game.
And the NHL? If you're somehow lucky enough to find tickets to a game
in the Stanley Cup final, you'd better have a thick wallet.
Stubhub.com is already selling advance tickets to the championship
series with prices ranging from $330 to a whopping $4,045.