2010: The best of Sports on TV

Here are my favourite non-live action television sporting moments from 2010. That doesn't quite work, does it. Suppose I'll try again.

Here are my favourite non-game television sporting moments from 2010. Crap. That sucks too.

Below are my favourite televised moments from 2010 that didn't primarily involve live-game coverage. Still awkward, but it'll have to do.

5. Gatorade Replay Series
Available on Rogers Sportsnet (though you'll have to stumble upon it to find it) this one hour program reunites rival highschool teams who had a memorable game cut short or finish in dispute, and then replay it. The games in question typically occurred in the late '90s so it is fascinating to see all these late 20 and early 30 year-olds trying to get back into shape so they don't embarrass themselves in front of the entire community. The producers develop storylines with a few key players from each team and Gatorade brings in a couple of their big-time endorsers (Dwyane Wade, the Mannings, etc.) to serve as honourary coaches. I've seen hockey, basketball and football episodes and all were definitely worth watching.

4. HBO 24/7 Penguins Capitals
The other day I read where someone said that the Oil Change documentary series following the rebirth of the Edmonton Oilers was just as good as the Pens/Caps HBO series, and that it was done on a sliver of the budget. I could not disagree more, aside from the budget of course. The Pens/Caps series is wildy entertaining and offers a real glimpse of behind the scenes action in the life of an NHLer. Oil Change so far has been 15 guys sitting around a boardroom twiddling their thumbs and staring blankly at each other while Kevin Lowe or Steve Tambellini talk in circles so as not to reveal any meaningful or interesting information.

3. Friday Night Lights
Now in it's fifth and final season, and in my opinion, the best sports television show ever. If you've never watched this series, season one is amazing, push through season two, and then prepare to be inspired in every aspect of your life by listening to and watching Coach Eric Taylor, who strikes a perfect balance between tough and fair. Well, maybe not inspired, but thoroughly entertained. The football is Sportscentre worthy and the drama is 90210 level (the original, not the remake). Just watch it.

2. Ken Burns "The Tenth Inning"
The two-part follow-up to Burns' original and epic "Nine Innings" baseball documentary, which outlines the history of the game from the very beginning, is excellent. The Ninth Inning left off in 1990, just prior to the official launch of the steroid era as well as the lockout (1994) that killed baseball in Montreal. Burns weaves his way in and out of stories and topics managing to cover every issue the game has faced over the last 20 years and recreating each historic moment. A must-watch for any baseball lover.

1. ESPN 30 for 30 Series
These 30 documentaries, one for each year in ESPN's existence, are nothing short of superb. Each directed and creatively owned by a notable filmmaker, the 30 riveting stories began airing on TSN in the fall of 2009 and just recently completed their initial run. They aren't necessarily the 30 biggest sports stories from the last 30 years, but rather a look at many that have either never been told or not fully explained and every single episode has something to offer. The most notable in my mind were King's Ransom, Without Bias, The Two Escobars, Once Brothers and The Best There Never Was.

HBO's 24/7 Pens/Caps Series

Before I watched last night's premiere episode of HBO's "24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic", my friend Frosty emailed and asked if I thought Bruce Boudreau might get fired during the show?

I quickly dismissed the possibility. Here was a coach who had led his team to three straight division championships and even with the playoff underachievement Washington had experienced the last two years, they still appeared to be building towards something bigger. I assumed that Boudreau would at the very least get the opportunity to coach the Caps into the playoffs, and then if they faltered again in the post-season, that would be the time to make a swap.

Now that I've actually seen the show, I can't change my mind quick enough. Naturally, I thought that watching the show would offer an insider's view of coaching in the NHL as well as a deeper look into the overall dynamic of a professional hockey team, that it would be something of a free clinic into the strategising and skill building, the people management, and all the day-to-day details.

And it did. But it all came from Dan Bylsma.

The Penguins coach comes across as intense but intelligent. Demanding yet rewarding. He met with the GM to go over player grades, came up with the "moustache boy" shootout game, and made an effort to get everyone involved. His captain paid him compliments and the entire roster seemed to be confident they had the right man in charge.

All Boudreau did was drop a thousand "F" bombs and address the team with his hand in his pants. Seriously. The look on his face during the third period of the Rangers game when his Caps got shelled 7-0 said it all. He might as well have peed his pants right there on the bench.

Obviously the perception shown on screen of each team was going to be different, what with Pittsburgh riding a lengthy winning streak and Washington a lengthy losing streak. But it shouldn't have been that drastic.

Some other thoughts on a terrifically entertaining show:

• Interesting to see that while Sid's home locker is in the middle of the room, accessible to everyone, Ovechkin was tucked into a corner with only one stall beside him (belonging to Semin), basically cutting him off from the rest of the team.
• Seeing Ovechkin shirtless at two different times with multiple gold and diamond studded chains around his neck wouldn't make me feel all that great about his desire to win a championship if I were a Caps fan. Rocket Richard trophies? Yes. Stanley Cups? No.
  
• Winning and losing streaks aside, it definitely seemed as though the Pens players liked each other a whole lot more than the Caps did. Hearing Marc Andre-Fleury call Max Talbot a "douche" on the team plane and then everyone, including Max, laugh at the joke was very telling.
• In the GM department we had one team sitting down together to go over the recent grades for each players performance (Penguins) and another basically throwing up their arms when it was revealed that they were going to be short-handed due to illness and injuries (Capitals). George McPhee didn't quite wave the white flag, but the image of Michael Scott managing Dunder Mifflin did enter my mind.

Fixing Major League Baseball

After hearing about the Red Sox swooping in to sign Carl Crawford to a $142 million deal only days after trading for Adrian Gonzalez, I quickly went into yet another doomsday level of panic on behalf of Toronto Blue Jay fans everywhere.

Totally unfair. Ridiculous. What's the point?

It was the same old storyline: How can the Blue Jays ever realistically expect to compete when a maximum of two teams from one division make the playoffs, and the Jays reside in a division with the two biggest spenders in the sport?

Of the last 27 AL East teams to qualify for the playoffs, 24 of those births have gone to either the Red Sox or Yankees.

When the inevitable finally occurs and Cliff Lee accepts somewhere around $160 million from the Yankees in the next few days, the two Evil Empires will have spent around $530 million on five players (Crawford, Gonzalez, Jeter, Rivera, Lee) over the last two weeks. (The Red Sox have agreed to an extension with Gonzalez for about $154 million but won't announce it until opening day in order to save money on the luxury tax.)

In an attempt to have another baseball geek console me and remind me that the Rays have managed to sneak past both Boston and New York and into the playoffs twice in the last three years, I turned to my friend Marshall and quickly began texting up a storm. After several exchanges, neither of us were particularly hopeful that things would get better.

And that's when Marshall came up with gold.

Rather than luxury tax payments going into a pool that is then evenly divided between all the non-luxury taxed teams, why not have all (or at least the bulk) of luxury tax payments stay within the division? Why should the Pirates or Padres or Marlins get an equal amount of Boston and New York's luxury tax dollars when it's the Jays, Rays and Orioles who have to compete with them?

And wouldn't this model actually potentially curb the spending of these teams? If the Sox and Yanks knew that going into luxury tax territory would mean directly financing their AL East counterparts, wouldn't they think twice about their next big acquisition?