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October 12th, 2008
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A year in the American leagues of sport

Baseball, basketball and football — meeting expectations

January 3rd, 2008 issue

For much of 2007, regular season play in “American” sports seemed a sort of nuisance — an unnecessary interlude before the predestined teams met in playoff action.

Baseball’s perennial powerhouse, Draci Brno, entered the year as 12-time Extraliga champions and left with 13 titles. Just about everyone expected the Prague Lions and Prague Panthers to meet in football’s Czech Super Bowl (they did). And the Nymburks and Prostějovs of the basketball world romped, while USK Praha slumped along in the middle of the NBL pack.
American football
Although Panthers’ quarterback Jacob Shrum took home MVP honors, credit their 28-13 Super Bowl win to little-heralded Miroslav Dopita. The big defensive lineman/fullback stopped the Lions’ initial drive, scored on a one-yard plunge and broke the game open with an 80-yard fumble recovery.
The Panthers imported Shrum, along with coach John Srholic, mastermind of triple-option football, from Idaho in hopes of taking a ČLAF crown for the first time in three seasons. The veer option’s combination of speed, power and flexibility mesmerized opponents as the Panthers waltzed through the schedule undefeated.
Havířov, meanwhile, dropped its relegation game, sending B League’s Brno Alligators into the top division for 2008. But next season will open without the Bratislava Monarchs, who bowed out of ČLAF play to join the Central European League.
The Lions qualified for the pan-European EFAF cup for the second year, knocking off Austria’s Carinthian Black Lions, 17-14, before dropping a hard-fought elimination game in Winterthur, Switzerland.
Baseball
Despite Draci’s sweep of MZLU Brno, the championship series was not without dramatics, such as the “Heidi” moment when Czech television switched from game one to catch the A1 Grand Prix preliminaries — and missed Draci’s come-from-behind ninth inning rally.
Krč Altron clung desperately to a third-place finish in the regular season, beating back a late challenge by Ostrava. Along the way they lost Tomáš Cása (.313) to graduate school in Holland, but found a versatile young lefty hurler, Matěj Hušek (5 wins, 0.70). Prague’s other Extraliga squad, the Tegola Titans, staved off relegation after a dismal performance to remain in the top division.
The national team participated in a four-team Olympic test in Beijing just prior to the European Championships. Manager Arnošt Nesňal’s unit hung with Japan, losing 3-2 in extra innings but stumbled in later games.
Shortly after the national team lost its European Championship finale against Italy, the IBAF stripped the squad of earlier tournament wins after determining Jakub Hajtmar, Jakub Toufar and Petr Čech played in violation of contract agreements between U.S. leagues. After the incident, Nesňal stepped down from his national team post.
Basketball
Behind NBL player of the year Radoslav Rančík and his defensive star Ladislav Sokolovský, Nymburk cruised through the 2006-07 campaign, sweeping Prostějov in the championship series. USK Praha wandered home just out of playoff contention, with a 16-28 record.
For 2007–08, USK brought Ken Scalabroni over from Germany to direct a new group of youngsters and two American acquisitions, Lucious Wagner and Roderick Platt. But the team has struggled so far.
Nymburk, topping the league once again, also holds a winning record in the ULEB Cup’s group phase and seems certain to advance.
— Dave Faries


Other articles in Sports (3/01/2008):

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