Buzz Level

Tweet Happy Valentine's Day. With a lot going on in the major sports lately (Super Bowl, NBA all-star game, college hoops) and the Winter Olympics kicking off, I thought I'd grade out my take on the current buzz level regarding some of the second level sports starting with......

HORSE RACING. Grade: A minus. It couldn't get much better right now with the announcement of the big race on April 9th between 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and the defending Breeders' Cup Classic champion, Zenyatta. Add to that the Road to the Roses is starting to heat up (a great prep on President's Day in the Southwest tomorrow)....I'm thinking we have a bit of a buzz going here. Don't call me a homer, we have good karma right now.

GOLF. Grade: D. Are they playing golf right now? Has any sport fallen into the doldrums quicker than PGA Golf. Mickelson and Woods are both skipping the Accenture Match Play tourney. They need oxygen (see Tiger Woods) stat.

TENNIS. Grade: C plus. Coming off a ho hum Australian Open. Who won the women's championship? No clue. Roger Federer is the only reason this sport gets an average grade from moi.

CURLING. Grade C. Who knew the Brits invented it? Could pick up this week with some prime time Olympic coverage. Not.

HOCKEY. Grade A. I'm not counting it as a major right now (mainly because it's my blog), but the buzz is huge here and the Canucks need to win to make up for the opening night malfunctions and to break the Great White North's gold medal jinx (when hosting). Looking forward to watching Buffalo's Ryan Miller between the pipes for the red, white and blue.

NASCAR. Grade B plus. Go Daddy.com. 'Nuff said.

SOCCER. Grade B. Are you ready for the Vuvuzela? Get ready to be annoyed. It's like watching a game in a bee's hive. Grade is B only due to fact it is a World Cup year.

BOXING. Grade D. Can you name the current heavyweight champ (without googling)? Me neither.

AMERICA'S CUP. Grade F. What happened to the days of Ted Turner trash talking the Aussies and Kiwis? News flash: The Kiwis won this morning and some New Zealander won his fourth cup!

BEER PONG. Grade B. Lots of buzz.

So I'd say we have as much buzz going out there in the minors as any of the others. Hopefully we can build on this over the next few weeks and there are no hiccups in either of the fantastic duo's prep races....