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Let's talk America's Cup
Posted: Friday December 10, 1999 08:19 AM
Psst: Who do ya like in the America's Cup? Yes, sport's oldest world championship is under way once more in New Zealand, and for those of you otherwise occupied with the National Rodeo Finals or the National Football League, it's time to get acquainted with sailboats again. Now, a word of advice before you get all cynical and say, I don't care about a bunch of rich guys sailing their yachts. Consider this: In today's world of sports, the America's Cup has actually become a very modest, middle-class enterprise. The most expensive boat in the Cup this year is Prada, which is bankrolled to the tune of $70 million. Hey, chicken feed. Stephon Marbury of the New Jersey Nets -- a player you have never heard of on a team you didn't know existed -- has a more expensive contract. For the amount of money the Dodgers pay Kevin Brown, $105 million, you could almost match the total financing for all five United States syndicates. If J.P. Morgan were around today, what he would say is: "If you have to ask how much a shortstop costs to keep, then you can't afford one." O.K., now that we've established that the America's Cup has become chump change in sports, we get onto your next complaint: It's too complicated. Balderdash. Listen, great American sports fan, do you have the foggiest idea how the college football people choose their championship bowl teams? Of course you don't. By contrast, the America's Cup is as easy as playing a $5 Nassau. First boat home wins. And I know your next bone to pick: It's too sissy. Hey, there is more neat, violent action going on in the America's Cup than on Monday night TV wrestling. Four years ago, when New Zealand won the Cup from us, the races were sailed in San Diego, where the waters were as still as a schooner of stale beer. It was more boring than a nil-nil soccer game. This America's Cup, though, the boats sail out of Auckland Harbor, through a gorgeous little channel, into the Hauraki Gulf, where, essentially, they run into waves that have been growling since they left Antarctica. Boats have been getting blitzed like so many NFL quarterbacks. Moreover, Auckland is ga-ga about having such a prestigious event. Not since the Cup was in Newport, R.I., has it been so alive. The boats are docked smack downtown, right off the main drag. American Express has built a fancy floating restaurant opposite the marina, and -- the ultimate in luxury boxes -- a developer has run up a ritzy apartment building with balconies overlooking the docks, these flats going for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Understand, you can't see the races from these apartments -- just the boats drifting into their marina. But, Lord, they are beautiful, those sailing ships -- even if, like NASCAR racers, the America's Cup boats are now loaded down with advertising graffiti. Oh, yes, you will also feel comfortable because the America's Cup drags on even longer than the NBA playoffs. It's been two months already, and it won't end 'til March, when the home boat will square off against the top challenger -- probably either Prada or AmericaOne. The question is: Will the Kiwis be prepared enough for whomever their battle-tested challenger is? So look for the America's Cup to be headed off, either to Venice or back home to the U.S. of A. -- to San Francisco this time. Got it? The smart boat money says: Take the points and play the dog on the road. These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNN/SI.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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