Larry Brown Sports

The NFL has finally wised up and realized the current overtime system is flawed. Nearly 70% of teams that win the coin flip preceding the extra quarter elect to receive the ball and wind up winning the game in sudden death. Does that sound like a fair way to determine a winner of a game that was played to an equal tie for 60 minutes prior to the flip? Not at all. Of course it’s taken years to finally get to this point, but it looks like the NFL is exploring the idea of modifying and improving the current overtime system.

The proposal says that each team will have at least one possession. If the game is tied after each team has it once, then they keep playing in a sudden-death fashion. Now all of a sudden, the same issues that govern the four quarters of a full game apply in overtime — turnovers, field position, offense, defense and special teams. In the current system, all you need is to win a toss, go about 45 yards, and make a field goal to win. The only flaw in the new proposal is that the system would be solely applied to the postseason; it should be applied to all games. I’m pleased the NFL is listening to criticism and looking at ways to improve what already is the country’s most popular sport. Let’s see them enact it now.

UPDATE: I didn’t realize that the current proposal doesn’t guarantee a possession for each team if the first team scores a TD. That’s an improvement, but not completely what I’m looking for. I want to see each time have it once.

Jason Kidd had a one-of-a-kind type of day on Friday night in Atlanta. He scored 19 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and dished 17 assists. That was one of only six 15, 15, 15 games in the history of the NBA, one of which was accomplished previously by Kidd, the other four were accomplished by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (two each). If you were watching, Kidd’s play was just as special and elite as those numbers make it sound. He hit three three pointers in a row in the fourth quarter to give his team the lead and he grabbed a couple of key steals. But Kidd’s best play of the night may have been this heads up move with his team down by two and just over a minute to go. Kidd spotted Hawks coach Mike Woodson standing on the floor and ran into him:

A technical foul was called on Woodson allowing Dirk Nowitzki to hit a free throw and make it a one point game. The Mavs sent it to overtime and won 111-103. They really can thank stellar play from Kidd, Dirk, Marion, and Terry for the win. Kidd talked about his genius play after the game:

I thought from there, mentally, we took control of the game. That play just presented itself. It’s just a reaction and just understanding what the team needs. Rules are rules. The coach isn’t supposed to be on the floor.”

Woodson accepted the blame for that play and later tipped his hat to Kidd. Thinking of smart plays like that is just another reason why at 36-years-old, Jason Kidd can still get it done at a high level. Very high level.

The amount of sexual intercourse that goes on in the Olympic Village every two years is legendary. In fact, they even encourage it by providing 100,000 condoms for free. If that’s not enough, the 2012 Olympics in London have a sexual logo. We touched on the reason two years ago by saying, “The Olympic Village is like a summer sleep-away camp but worse — you’re sticking a bunch of sexually deprived world-class athletes all in closed quarters, with nothing but raging, competitive hormones pumping through their veins.” That’s why it’s no surprise to read that they almost ran out of condoms in Vancouver this week. From the National Post via Sports by Brooks:

Health officials in Vancouver have already provided 100,000 free condoms to the roughly 7,000 ahtletes and officials at the Games. That’s about 14 condoms per person. But as of Wednesday, those supplies started running dangerously low.

So naturally, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS research decided to step and make sure there were no hitches in Olympic action.

Three boxes of about 8,500 condoms were sent in as relief. Any wonder why Lindsey Vonn’s husband serves as her manager? Dude’s no dummy. It’s just a shame that the Winter Games don’t have as many good looking girls as the Summer Games in Beijing. The same can probably be said for the men.

One of the stranger videos to hit the web has hit the web. It features MMA fighter Chuck “Iceman” Liddell working out at what appears to be a private (home?) gym along with his girlfriend Heidi Northcott. While it’s curious that someone filmed the two of them working out naked, it’s equally curious that the couple works out in the nude! Anyway, here’s the Chuck Liddell nude workout video via The Big Lead:

If Northcott looks familiar, it’s because she is — she used to be Jose Canseco’s girlfriend. And believe me when I say that body looks familiar because I saw it working out at my local 24 Hour Fitness plenty of times. Nice pull, Chuck!

Russian star player Alex Ovechkin tanked big time in Russia’s horrific 7-3 loss to Canada in the quarterfinals at the Olympics Wednesday. Ovie was outplayed and barely got any shots on goal as his team feel behind early. Unhappy with his team’s performance, Ovechkin was clearly pissed after the game. In his TV interview with NBC, he was asked how he felt following the loss that sent his country home empty-handed. His response was curt, “How do you think I’m going to feel? We just lost.” He even took his anger and disappointment out on a Russian fan by knocking her camera in the hallway. Watch this video courtesy of Deadspin:

I look at this the same way I view LeBron not shaking hands after the Eastern Conference finals last year — it’s great that the player shows this much passion and is that disappointed with losing, but it’s unacceptable to behave that way. It’s an understandable reaction but you need to be more gracious in losses and you surely shouldn’t mess with the fans the way he did. I’m sure Ovechkin learned his lesson.

German speedskater Patrick Beckert might not be close to the top of his field but he’s good enough to be an alternate at the Winter Games in Vancouver. The poor guy hit some bad luck on Wednesday when he got a call to replace Italy’s Enrico Fabris in the men’s 1000m race. He apparently didn’t receive notice until 15 minutes prior to the race, leaving him too little time to make it to the hall. What’s the reason for the late notice? Beckert had his cell phone off. Beckert wasn’t the only skater with bad luck — he was the fourth alternate meaning they couldn’t get a hold of the other three!

I’m not saying Beckert would have come close to medaling, but you never know what can happen when people are racing in close quarters — falls happen. Americans Shani Davis and Chad Hendrick wound up winning two of the three medals in the event, from what I can tell meaning Beckert just recently revealed the sad news. At least he didn’t screw up as badly as Sven Kramer, and now he knows to keep that celly on like a doctor with a beeper. Thanks to Bild and NBC’s blog for the story.

One of the most anticipated matchups of the entire Winter Games in Vancouver turned into a blowout early on. It only took eight minutes for Canada to build a 3-0 lead against Russia in their quarterfinal matchup. The Canadians were up 4-1 after the first period before going on to win it 7-3. It was pretty clear to anyone watching the game that Russia’s starting goalie, Evgeni Nabokov, simply didn’t have it. I’ve never been a big Nabokov guy but I can’t deny his dominant regular season play, so I’m not complaining that he was their top option. What I don’t understand is how they didn’t yank him in favor of Ilya Bryzgalov after the first.

The Russians still had a shot at winning the game when they were down by only three. They stuck with Nabokov and he gave up a goal early in the second to Corey Perry where he was pathetically out of position (check out the picture above). Even with your chances dwindling at 5-1, you have to give yourselves the best opportunity to win and make that change. They didn’t. Shea Weber slapped one in to make it 6-1 before the Federation decided it was time to finally make the change. Nabokov’s final numbers were 17 stops on 23 shots. He left with the score six to freaking one.

Russia added two more goals in the period while Bryzgalov allowed a goal to make the score 7-3. While it may have been hard to come back from down three goals, the Russian coach owed it to his team to give them the best chance to win. Leaving Nabokov in only allowed Canada a chance to waltz into the semis. Despite all the commotion and second-guessing following Team USA’s upset win on Sunday, it looks like we’re in for a gold medal game rematch of Sunday’s contest. The Canadians have been dominating all their games in the shots on goal category and are scary.

Watching Pardon the Interruption on Monday, I was surprised that Tony Kornheiser was off while Dan LeBatard was in. There were no sports-related activities on Sunday that would have precluded Tony from being on the show so I was could not figure out why he wasn’t on. The reason, as The Big Lead tells us, is pretty weak. According to TBL, Kornheiser was suspended for his comments about Hannah Storm’s outfit last week on SportsCenter. That is wrong on two different levels.

First, ESPN should have addressed the wardrobe of Hannah Storm a long time ago (her pictured outfit is from last year). Short skirts and long boots have no place on TV where a professional appearance is emphasized. All the male anchors wear suits and ties; the females should be similarly dressed (Erin Andrews should take note). Secondly, ESPN is sending the wrong message to its employees by discouraging them from commenting on their coworkers. They’re so large as an entity that they should be challenging each other. While this should be limited to discussing opinions and reports for the most part, I don’t see where Kornheiser was wrong to discuss Storm’s poor choice of dress considering it’s a reflection on his company.

There should have been two outcomes of Kornheiser’s comments and a suspension is not one of them. Tony should have apologized to Hannah for invoking her age (whether Storm is young or old has nothing to do with the inappropriateness of her outfit). Tony has already done that. Next, ESPN should have realized they need to tell Storm to dress more professionally. I just want TK back on PTI!