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Published Tuesday, February 09, 2010 in Sports

End of football season cuts down on TV opportunities

Sports Column by Stuart Crosby

stuart@newnan.com

When Drew Brees took a knee Sunday to bring an end to the 2009 football season, the question came to mind of what is available to take up our time in the sports consciousness of the grand world plan.

I could tell you to watch a replay of the game on NFL Network or the combine which will be in a week or so, but you need to take a rest from the game and concentrate in other areas and hopefully I can be of some assistance.

Those of us who are prone to watch anything that has a ball or involves running, tackling, etc. will not have to wait long as the Winter Olympics will begin in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada this weekend featuring many events including skiing, hockey, curling and snowboarding.

Before anybody takes a poke at snowboarding being an Olympic event, one needs to remember only in the last Olympiad where Shaun White and his X Games pals not only helped the ratings, but actually made the games fun to watch.

The "Flying Tomato" and crew will be in Canada this weekend to compete for Olympic gold

provided White doesn't crash and perform a quarter-pipe instead of the half-pipe.

If the Olympics doesn't get you in the mood then how about the "NBA All-Star Weekend" that will be in Dallas this weekend with the big game being played at Jerry Jones' playhouse or Cowboys Stadium on Sunday.

The usual list of suspects with LeBron, Kobe, Shaq along with Joe "get this guy signed" Johnson and Al "who is not a center" Horford of the Atlanta Hawks are expected to play.

Theywill have the dunk contest, skills challenge, three-point shootout and other events plus downtown Dallas will be the party capital of the world this weekend.

If you aren't a believer of the NBA where anything happens then maybe you are into NASCAR which will hold its event where anything can and probably will happen.

The Daytona 500 has the top two positions settled with Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning those over the weekend and the other 41 spots to be determined.

While she won't be in the big race, Danica Patrick is expected to make her NASCAR debut with her JR Motorsports number 7 car in Saturday's Nationwide series event.

She does have a certain "wow" factor to get noticed, but she will need to do more in vehicles that are bigger than the ones she has been piloting over the last few years.

Just win baby! Patrick has finished in first place once since she started her career several years ago, so the pressure will definitely be on her this weekend.

Well folks, if the Olympics, the NBA or NASCAR doesn't make you want to witness sporting events then you can always go for the local teams that will be in one event or another in the coming days.

The race for seeding in basketball continues tonight for East Coweta, Newnan and Northgate while the teams from the Heritage School are playing in the GISA Region 5-AAAA tournaments at LaGrange Academy.

There are some preseason soccer matches this weekend as well with the teams getting ready for the upcoming season.

I don't know who will be willing to sit through the events this weekend, but there is something that can be a certainty on the minds of the local sports aficionado.

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about three weeks down in Florida or out west in Arizona, but somehow I don't believe that will help some of you so I have one more alternative.

Spring football begins in a little over a month and preseason practice starts in five months so keep that handy, otherwise just punt.

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