A day in the world of sports

Assuming I have no pressing needs when I come into the Daily Journal office, one of the first things I do is scan the Associated Press wire to see what is going on in the world of sports. It gives me an idea of what to run for the next day's sports section. Sadly, due to space constrictions, I can't always get all the interesting stories that come across the wire into the paper. But that doesn't mean we don't have spirited discussions about some of the stories. Today I give you a handful of stories that were on the wire Wednesday as well as my opinion about those stories. I know, I know. You probably don't care what I have to say, but I get paid to write this stuff. o The opening of the Winter Olympics are just over a week away and I can't tell you how excited I am. It's an event and like many sports fans, I'm into sporting events. There was a file on the wire that broke down what events will be on which channels and at what times. All the times listed were Eastern Standard Time but if you back it up three hours, you have our time. I'm praying NBC does the right thing and broadcasts live events on the West Coast. After all, Vancouver, Canada -- site of the Olympics -- is on West Coast time. o England soccer captain John Terry gets a vote of confidence from assistant national team coach. For those that don't follow English soccer, Terry -- a standout for Chelsea as well as the national team -- is embroiled in controversy after it was discovered the married Terry was allegedly having an affair with the girlfriend of a national team teammate. People have wondered if he deserves to be captain after this fiasco. It just shows how much soccer means to England that the national team would be willing to put aside a battle between two teammates for the sake of the national team. It came out earlier this week that a similar incident happened to the U.S. team leading up to the 1998 World Cup, when captain John Harkes was mysteriously left off the team. Now, then coach Steve Sampson went on record as saying it was because Harkes was having an affair with the wife of Eric Wynalda -- who happened to be the team's best striker. I have a whole lot more respect for Sampson now, who fell on the sword to protect the privacy of his players. It may have cost the U.S. team a last-place finish in that World Cup, but he prevented some major embarrassment for his players. o Race car driver Danica Patrick begins her foray into NASCAR when she races in an ARCA series race this weekend. If NASCAR is the big leagues and the Nationwide (formerly Busch) series is Triple-A, ARCA would be Double-A. Patrick has said her success in the race would not be the deciding factor in whether or not she races NASCAR's Daytona 500. If you ask me, she's couching her decision in case she flames out this weekend. o The WEC -- World Extreme Cagefighting -- the lower-weight little brother to UFC, announced Wednesday it will be offering its first pay-per-view card. Unlike the UFC, WEC has built its reputation on offering high-level fights on basic cable channel Versus. I don't know if this is the smartest move. I think the biggest draw to WEC -- besides the fighters -- is the fact it's essentially free. I'm curious to see how well it does on PPV. That being said, the WEC waited until it had one of the strongest cards in its history to offer to PPV: "The California Kid" Urijah Faber, the former lightweight champion, take on current champ Jose Aldo. Another former lightweight champ, Mike Brown -- the guy who took the belt from Faber before losing it to Aldo -- is on the card. As is a rematch from one of last year's best fights: Ben Henderson and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. At 45 bucks, I might be tempted to buy it. I've actually seen Faber, Aldo, Brown, Henderson and Cerrone fight in the past, and they put on a good show. It's much easier to fork over my hard-earned cash for a known quantity. Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.