The sports world has had a loud buzz over the past week, what with the 2010 Winter Olympics being in full swing, along with the NBA Trade Deadline, plus there was that speech from that golfer guy – yeah, him.  Yes, that means it’s time for another edition of Throwing Tomatoes.

There are plenty of stories to touch upon – and plenty of tomatoes to be thrown.  So let’s get right to it – here are this week’s targets:

Throwing Tomatoes: February 22, 2010

2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver

OK – let’s cut to the chase – I usually wouldn’t touch on athletes such as Olympians and their dreams to earn a medal for their country – but in a few cases, the tomatoes simply couldn’t be kept at bay.  So let’s see the “flying tomato” in action – no, not Shaun White – he’s so over that nickname anyway…

Evgeni Plushenko

…for disgracing the value of an Olympic medal – and the games too.

Is it me or does every Olympics wind up with some kind of judging controversy?  This year, it was Plushenko – discussing in interviews that performing a quad jump alone should have won him the gold medal.  But again, as a legend in the sport, show some class – be happy with the silver medal, and if you wanted the gold, maybe you should have skated flawlessly.

Scotty Lago

…for having someone put her pedal to his medal.splatteredtomato

Fresh off earning a bronze medal, the snowboarder Lago hit the town, but forgot to bring those racy party pictures with him.  After his premature Vancouver exit, it’s safe to say that no one gave him a kiss goodbye.

NBC

…for the way it handled the airing of the USA-Canada hockey game.

Tonight, NBC reported that 16 million watched the USA-Canada matchup, the most watched hockey game in eight years – since the last time these two teams met.  However, for most, this fantastic hockey display was broadcast on MSNBC in “low-def”, while curling and ice dancing were featured in HD on the other two NBC channels.

Normally, I wouldn’t harp on a network – but one can’t help but express disappointment in the way NBC handled the coverage of the game – arguably one of the biggest events of the Olympics.  If you don’t buy that, then look at twitter – where this game was all the talk.  In particular, here are a few examples from big names in sports:

Linda Cohn (ESPN)

“@lindacohn: Why in the world is NBC showing ice dancing and putting the best event of the entire Olympics on msnbc? Usa/Canada hockey!”

Rich Eisen (NFL Network)

“@richeisen: I know many women love hockey as @lindacohn proves. But ice dancing on NBC over US/CAN hockey is further proof that women control the remote”

Love the line, Rich – very much like The Wife Hates Sports byline, in fact – jackpot!

 

Marion Rolland

…for her five unfortunate seconds of fame.

It’s really a shame that an Olympic dream can end in this manner – well… oh, just take a look for yourself (below).  It just deserves a tomato – unfortunately.

Non-Olympic Sports

And now back to the regularly scheduled sports world events…

Tiger Woods

…for not creating a very convincing apology during his press conference.

Listen, this topic was touched upon by The Wife Hates Sports immediately following the press conference – so there’s not much else to say.  However, a few individuals in the media made an interesting point that I wanted to add in here: that one complaint was that Tiger may have been taking a backwards stab at Accenture, since they dropped him as a sponsor and he was stealing the show with this presser during the Accenture Match Play Championship.  That may be a little extreme – and I don’t believe this to be the case, but still thought it was worth mentioning.

Oregon Football

…for doing their best impression of the Cincinnati Bengals.

It seemed like a daily thing a few years back – or maybe an additional certainty alongside death and taxes – that being the Bengals having a player in trouble with the law.  Recently, Cincinnati has had a few issues again – but that’s nothing compared to the constant disciplinary problems by the Oregon Ducks players.

With all those jersey options that the Ducks have, it won’t be surprising to see a 2010 option with shackles or a neon jumpsuit.thebengalsequation2-1

Just think of the size of the electrical closet that Mike Leach would have to have had if he was coaching the Ducks – yikes.

Lane Kiffin

…for….well…for nothing.

It just felt right to toss Kiffin into the mix, because plain and simple – he’s due.  Hey, just trying to get ahead of the game here.

Eh, whatever…

This has been Throwing Tomatoes, where this posting won’t be displayed in HD.