NOT THE TYPICAL DOWN TIME by ST

After the Super Bowl I noticed a common theme among many sports fans around here. It's time for a lull in sports. Didn't really happen. Of course depending on what you enjoy or look forward to, it doesn't exist, especially in a Winter Olympic year. I've found the action in B.C scintillating. I preached the amazing entertainment value of the hockey tournament before the games and I'm happy to report many of you have told me how much you've enjoyed it. Now we get Team USA in the semi's against a pretty dangerous, defense minded squad from Finland. In the other bracket, Team Canada showed some resolve by bouncing back from their loss to the Americans to thrash the Russians setting up a go-round with the Cinderella of these games, Slovakia. We'll get into more detail on SportsTalk, but to quote Flounder in Animal House, "Oh boy is this great!".
I just read that the folks from Nike have finally come out and will maintain their relationship with Tiger Woods. Once the news hit of his Infidelity-A-Thon, I was adamant the swoosh people would not jump ship. The fact is, and golfers will back me on this, Nike did not exist on the golf radar until Tiger switched from his Titleist driver and began using Nike balls. What ever amount of money they've forked over to Woods as an endorser can't even start to approach the impact he's had making them a viable player in the equipment end of the game on an international level.
The Duck men hoopers get back to work tonight at USC. Here's hoping for some magic to end the gloom and doom angle from many fans who follow the program. Great piece in today's Guard by Rob Mosely on the dynamic duo of the women's team, Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks, both now members of the Oregon one-thousand point club. They're also great friends who came to Eugene at the same time from very different locales. Cocks is from New Zealand while Lilley hails from Newhall, California in LA County. I had the chance to meet & speak with them a few weeks back. Just terrific young women and a credit to the 'mostly' amazing scholar/athletes who represent this university.