By Seth Rivello
Being an NFL fan, I never really hated Sundays. Sitting down for 10 hours and watching sports all day was never a problem from September through February. Now, fans have hit a large speed bump.
NASCAR fans were probably excited this past Sunday watching Austin Dillon win the Super Bowl of racing, the Daytona 500. Dillon raced in the no. 3 Chevrolet, a number that hasn’t been placed on a car since Dale Earnhardt Sr. passed away on that same track exactly 20 years ago.
The race lasted close to three and a half hours due to a crash which forced the remaining drivers to move into extra laps. The normal 200 laps raced turned into 207 and the normal 500 miles increased to 517.5. No matter if you hate the sport, love the sport or don’t think racing is a sport at all, you have to respect the no. 3 on the side of Dillon’s car.
Some sports fans might have enjoyed the NBA All-Star festivities that took place in Los Angeles last weekend. The festivities included Team World vs. Team USA, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest.
Team World destroyed Team USA by 31 points. Spencer Dinwiddie, a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, won the very pointless and unimpressive Taco Bell Skills Challenge. All you do is dribble, throw a chest pass through a net, make a layup, then finally make a three-pointer.
The Three-Point Contest was entertaining as Devin Booker and Klay Thompson kept things interesting but a couple misses by Thompson lead Booker to a slim three-point (28-25) victory.
Then the Slam Dunk Contest was nothing different as Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers and rookie Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz advanced to the final round. Long story short, Mitchell wore a Vince Carter jersey, added a spin to a dunk and edged out Nance for a victory.
The final event on Sunday was Team LeBron vs. Team Steph. A new format allowed captains (LeBron James and Steph Curry) to draft their own teams. A horrible rendition of the National Anthem by Fergie and a twenty minute non-entertaining players’ introduction by Kevin Hart really set the mood. At the end of the day, injury-rattled Team LeBron took home a 148-145 victory.
As in years past, the game had no defense which would seem like a positive but it’s not. It’s understandable that no one wants to get hurt but seeing a hard fought battle is much better than watching players loafing down court and then chucking up a 40-foot 3-pointer. In the end, LeBron took home the MVP and is buddy-buddy with former enemy for about seven months, Kyrie Irving.
Even with all this fun, without the NFL, Sundays are still trash.
Some things to look forward to are the final day of the Winter Olympics this Sunday. March 11 is Selection Sunday for NCAA basketball fans plus a couple games will land on Sundays in March.
The Masters Tournament is slowly approaching and you can catch the final round on April 8; maybe Tiger Woods will be in one of the final groups but probably not. Then all you MLB fans, if you can’t make it to your favorite ballpark you can watch on TV and, if you can withstand that, much respect to you.