Posted on 09/25/2013 3:13:34 AM PDT by Jacquerie
It is Tuesday evening, September 24, 2013, and earlier today the United States representative, Oracle Team USA, tied the New Zealand team in the America’s Cup to create a tiebreaker scenario for whomever will be the 35th victor in the ultimate sailing competition.
And one aspect of this cup series has become glaringly evident: members of the United States sports media should be ashamed of themselves due to their lack of coverage of this event (and I am speaking directly to the major players in that profession such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN—both electronic and print, AP, and Yahoo).
If weather allows, tomorrow will see one team go home with the cup, but even if the United States loses its defense this time, all of those sailors can leave San Francisco with their heads held high because I doubt there has ever been a more thrilling series of heats for this trophy, and that means in terms of both the vessels themselves as well as the way the competition played out.
Here is why sports reporters everywhere should be forced to recite a mea culpa.
First of all, there is the way the series went. After demolishing all other challengers, New Zealand looked invincible. In the semi-finals against Italy, the only loss Team Emirates suffered was the heat in which the boat was, literally, dead in the water. In other words, the Italians could only win a race in which they were the only boat. And the Italians were not bad sailors.
To make matters worse, the Americans were penalized two points before even starting the nine-point contest, so they started two in the hole.
New Zealand certainly lived up to its reputation, taking the first three heats before the Americans were even able to register a win. Then, the Kiwis went on to win another three heats, so that when the Oracle USA boat won another, it was 6 – 0. That appeared insurmountable: the U. S. boat needed to win nine more while New Zealand could coast to victory simply by winning every third race, a more than expected goal given their previous record.
Then—and this is no hyperbole—Team Oracle USA began perhaps the greatest comeback in sports since the 2003 American League series, when the Yankees, trailing three games behind Boston, were able to get to the World Series. Without going into details, they have now tied the series 8 – 8 and put “sudden death” on the table of a sailing competition.
Yet there was barely any coverage either before, during, or after each race. Okay, NBC broadcast the first day of racing, but then it was nothing but golf from then on out on that network. This leads to the second reason the sports media should be ashamed. They can no longer hide behind the excuse of “well, these are sailboats, and watching a sailboat race is as exciting as watching paint dry.”
Anyone who has seen these new vessels or watched them in operation knows that this is definitely not the America’s Cup of any age prior, even though multihull craft have been used before. These AC72s scream along, sometimes exceeding 50 mph in a 20 mph wind. That is some serious torque—or whatever you want to call it. Think of a sailboat flying past many drivers on the freeway, and you get an idea of what watching this cup has been like (when you can actually see it).
And the word “flying” is entirely appropriate. These new designs have blades (called foils) that can be submerged and allow the boat to literally sail above the water once it attains the right speed, and during many of the legs of each race, the sight was every bit as thrilling as any NASCAR event.
Instead of this, you televised golf?
I have no idea who will walk away with the America’s Cup, but I know that sailing enthusiasts in the United States can feel great about their representative boat. One thing I do know, however, is that the members of the sporting media should hang their heads in shame for allowing this year’s event to go virtually uncovered and unseen.
Just like Indy car, right? Or NASCAR? Nobody watches that.
If they’d be dressed in pirate outfits (avast there matey!!!), firing smoothbores at rival ships, and swinging cutlasses as they boarded the ships, I might just watch.
Please tell me - how is the very highest level reachable IN ANY SPORT for the common man? The very nature of the top level is that very VERY few can participate at that highest level. How is this any different?
Most sports exclude based on genetics. Willie shoemaker would have had trouble on an NFL line. Neither could Reggie White have successfully ridden in the Kentucky Derby. But if you watch any sport you watch what is even more inaccessible to the common man than sailing.
Oh, the top level you say? America's cup? Well, what is the limiting factor? What is the nature of the exclusion?
Good luck with the response. In hold-em I believe this is called "the nuts". You may want to fold.
They don’t even resemble boats any more!
No more nor less than an F-22 resembles a Boeing 707.
WE WON!!!!
WE WON!!!!
WE WON!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Greatest comeback in the history of sports!!!
Never seen anyone come back from behind like this and take it all!!!
The official score is Oracle 9-8 but, the real story is they won by 3!!!
After being penalized by two races Oracle’s actual win is 11-8!!!
And! They scored a new world record for completing the race today.
Just Amazing!!!
The multi-hull "catamaran" design has been around for so long we don't even know when it began; possibly prehistory. A written description of one goes back to 1697. Modern catamarans have certainly been around for our entire lifetime.
The faster the boat travels the faster a crew must act and react in a race situation. So long as the rules are adhered to, technology should be allowed to provide as fast a sailing vessel as possible. These are exciting competitions IMO, and even more so with the upgrade to this design.
I have no interest in horse racing and think the term "horse racing industry" is absurd. The only tangible thing this "industry" produces is road apples. I lived 40 minutes from Pimlico in Baltimore for a number of years. I also lived 30 minutes from Saratoga’s race track for even more years. I have seen one race in my life but it wasn’t at either of those tracks. I'm aware that one must ordinarily be well-heeled to participate, but consider that irrelevant. I understand and appreciate the hard work that goes into the sport, the beauty of the animals and the drama of a good race. I have never placed a bet, but the same goes for those who study the statistics of betting on those horses; they understand race conditions, and how to “wheel”, for example, to increase the likelihood of a payout.
There will always be those who are ignorant of what they are seeing and don't want to spend the time to find out. Others may know about it but still don't like it. That is their choice. OTOH, visiting a discussion thread of fans to scoff a sport is something else entirely. And it seems to happen too often on FR.
How many people play golf? How many people own and race AC72-class yachts? There's your answer.
I don’t own a nascar quality auto either.
Yours was among the most vacuous comments.
In the most vacuous of vanity posts.
The author displayed his bias...big time. I would have thought the Sox comeback against the Yankees the following year would have been considered a bigger comeback, as the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit. IIRC, that's the only time that's happened in baseball history.
Yes, as you said, AWESOME!
Were you close enough to hear the boats fly by?
Yeah, you’re right about the baseball comparison, but Bill Cushing was right about ESPN/golf/America’s Cup.
Before the first race, I was wondering about the starts. It was smart to modify typical regatta rules so as to avoid 75+ mph closure rates.
You are so wrong - I desuscribe to all things he doesn’t care about - I want to know everything that he thinks I shouldn’t know about so I can jump off-board properly.
To hear them? Probably not over our engine noise but both of them tacked at the boundary line in front of us. I got to see many of the races and it was really exciting.
Yes, they were smart, the crossings were sometimes close enough to pass the Grey Poupon.
Not my vanity, but it was apparently good enough for you to read a few dozen comments and give it a bump. Thanks.
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