Tampa Bay Lightning TV analyst Chris Dingman probably wishes he could get a mulligan after this line coming out of a feel-good community heroes segment on last night’s Sun Sports telecast of the game against the Flyers.

Michael Black has a different weather perspective in this timelapse video of the northeast blizzard on Vimeo.

Swamped today, but I wanted to get these things out there:

• Yes, the USA got hosed on hosting the 2022 World Cup. It happens. Jeff Bradley nails it in that this wasn’t going to be The Thing That’s Going To Make Us (no one thing is). This is how the game works now, boys and girls. Sepp Blatter wanted to remain in power, someone who was going to run against him next election was Qatari, you head off that potential threat by giving his country a World Cup. Along with all the other political backscratching and graft that goes on whenever there’s huge money to be won or lost. I do know this, and you can file this away for when the 2026 World Cup is up for bid: your actual bid doesn’t matter, your actual presentation doesn’t matter, the visit by the FIFA people to see your country and your plans doesn’t matter, how well you could potentially host a Cup doesn’t matter. None of that matters. And you never have to listen to US Soccer again when they tell you that signing petitions or texting your vote matters, either (not that it ever did). The worst part? I had the best headline for a post all ready if the US had been selected.
• Nothing like finding out at the last minute, but I’m calling a high school football playoff game tonight on AIA365.com at 7pm MT (9pm ET). It’s the Class 5A Division I semifinal between Hamilton (who’s 13-0 and looking for their third straight state title) and Mountain Pointe (who’s 10-2). It should be fun. Tune in.
• Here’s why we can’t send people to Mars: Our best and brightest are coming up with stuff like this. (It might be mildly NSFW, depending on where you work, so beware.)
• News anchors are so much fun.
• This woman lives in Phoenix. Of course she does.
• The first half of the ASU/U of A game last night was crap, but it had a thrilling ending. If you’re a special teams coach, send your resume to Mike Stoops, c/o the University of Arizona. Do it today.
• Finally, the Bucs will wear the creamsicles Sunday against the Falcons. Good times.

Now this is how you avoid being a chatterbox. My man AJ Sturman gets in and gets out.

The United States Football League played its last game ever 25 years ago today – July 14, 1985 – at Giants Stadium as the Baltimore Stars defeated the Oakland Invaders 28-24.

The history of the USFL has been well-documented. If you were around back in the day and paid attention, you know that the league was a lot of fun but had a lot of flaws. We all tend to romanticize things from our youth, but let that not diminish how much fun it was to have fun, high-quality football year round. And while we all would like to go back to simpler times, I’m not optimistic about these folks, who I’m sure are well-intentioned but are overmatched. You can’t do high-level football in competition with (or even as a complement to) the NFL anymore without expending unbelievable amounts of money. I just don’t see it happening. If the Tampa Bay Bandits return as a part of this new league (again, not optimistic), I’ll wish them well. But it won’t be the same.

By now you may have seen this video of a Fordham University baseball player diving over the top of the catcher to score. Nice play. Huge degree of difficulty, because he didn’t touch the catcher on his way over.

But almost 20 years ago now, as a one-man sports band at a TV station in Florida, I shot this video of a similar play in a women’s junior college softball game. Had we had the Internet in those days, it would have been all over YouTube. As it was, it only made CNN Sports Tonight’s Play of the Day.

This video of a high school quarterback should be making the rounds today. Will Briscoe of Central High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana completes a two-point conversion pass behind his back:

Impressive. It didn’t end up mattering in the grand scheme of things (Central beat Zachary – which may be Doug Williams‘ alma mater – 58-0), and this did come after Central’s second touchdown in a 29-point first quarter, so it wasn’t quite as unsportsmanlike as it might have seemed.

But I wouldn’t go making a habit out of it. Someone might take your head off the next time.

At least, “Auf” is what I said when I saw this:

I like women in football jerseys. Just not when they’re drunk and belligerent.

(From World of Isaac.)

EDIT: The original video has been taken down, the new video is embedded above, for however long THAT lasts. Story here.

Sick of team handball yet? Check out this goal from Chicago’s Jolanta Kunickite in the women’s gold medal game of the 2009 USA Team Handball Club National Championships. She was the tournament’s leading scorer – not surprising, given all the ways she can score.