Steve Nash is taking some heat for not being a part of Canada’s national basketball team. We placed badly enough at the FIBA tournament of the Americas that we have no chance of qualifying for the Olympic games in 2012 (prompting coach Leo Rautins to relinquish his role).
But really speaking of heat, Qatar is hoping to grow flowers in the desert. Well, actually, the plan is to build a carbon-neutral, air-conditioned wonderland consisting of outdoor solar-powered soccer stadiums designed to stay below 81 degrees (Fahrenheit), and a rapid transit system to get fans to and from games in complete comfort (you know, like the TTC only rapid and comfortable). All of this is for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so that the tournament might not have to be moved to be played in the winter because summer heat in Qatar is so extreme.
But while we’ve been mulling all of that over, figuring out the logistics and so on, I hate to say it, but there were some noteworthy losses on the playing fields of sports this past week. We have Roger Federer and Serena Williams on the courts of Flushing Meadows, the Colts and Cowboys on the newly mowed grasses of the NFL, and even the Japanese Rugby team (probably) in the week’s highlights:
1. Peyton Manning is charting new territory. His streak of 227 straight starts has been snapped (although impressive to note that while it’s Peyton’s third neck surgery in 19 months, that means he underwent and recovered from 2 neck surgeries without missing a game, regular season or playoffs). Peyton has also become the NFL’s first ‘figure head’, or maybe spiritual leader, to be making a ‘playing’ bonus of $3 million. Sunday saw his team, the Indianapolis Colts, get dismantled by the Houston Texans 34-7 (and don’t overlook this less than thrilling and charismatic exchange about whether Texans’ quarterback Matt Schaub is truly the 8th best quarterback in the league or not).
2. Sunday night lights. The Cowboys hadn’t lost a game in which they were winning by 14 points or more in the 4th quarter in franchise history (that’s 243 games they’ve been up by 14 or more in the 4th quarter). But the comedy of errors that was the end of Sunday night’s game against the New York Jets, culminating in Dallas quarterback Tony Romo not being ready for the snap on pretty much the last play of the game, saw history made. The New York Jets stormed back to score the final 17 points and win in front of the New York faithful.
3. Serena gets dusted. Out of nowhere, Serena Williams got thoroughly outplayed in the Womens final of the US Open, the match she has been counting down to since injuries first derailed her season so many months ago. Samantha Stosur, 2011 US Open Women’s Champion, played some absolutely inspired tennis on a day that Serena did not. And then we get this little reminder of just what happens when Serena Williams thinks someone is trying to get in the way of what she wants. Of course it’s the umpire Williams targets as the obstacle, not Stosur, her deserving opponent. As in professional wrestling when the wrestlers act out their grudges by getting in the ring and fighting against their boss, Serena should maybe stick to playing against the chair umpire.
4. Cheat code. The US Open saw him play nearly flawless tennis (dropping only one set on his way through the quarter final). But then, right when it mattered the most, it was over. It’s not that Roger Federer stopped playing, but as soon he was properly threatening to beat Djokovic and advance to the final, it all seemed to be in vain. Like Djokovic all of the sudden had access to a cheat code that made him invulnerable to Federer’s attack. Consider this return of Federer’s serve (Federer serving for double match point, no less). Djokovic makes no realistic play, puts up no legitimate defense. Is the match already over in Djokovic’s mind here? It looks almost like he’s conceded the match to Roger, just sticking his racquet out with blind hope. But the return ends up a textbook winner. Once again (and keep in mind that Federer will have no grand slam championships to his name for all of 2011) Federer will have no answer when it counts. Whatever is happening to him is serious. He’s beatable.
5. The Rugby World Cup kicks off. Everything is underway for the World Cup of Rugby in New Zealand. Efforts have been made, however, over the past few years to improve the parity within the competition so that there are fewer teams being served up as sacrificial outs to the perennial powerhouses, but we’re still a few days away from the real test of that. On Friday Japan is going to get its rematch with New Zealand. Sixteen years ago the national rubgy teams of New Zealand and Japan met for the first and only other time in history. New Zealand came away with a 145-17 victory. Decisive.
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Kyle Buckley is the Toronto Standard’s sports critic.
