"And I'll follow that up with a checkmate!"

The Thinking Man's Sport

The sports world is always in search of the next “big” game. It’s a television thing. With so many sports networks now fighting for viewers eyes, they are willing to spend some serious dollars trying to get fans addicted to their brand of “must see TV.”

Sports networks have created many of the games that you now watch semi-religiously. An ESPN marketing guy invented the X-Games. Wrestling became gianormous not because of the steroids, but because of clever television promotion. Other sports have caught on much to everyone’s surprise. betED.com has poker now, and the reason for that is television. The explosion of that sport over the airwaves has turned all of us into players.***

That has inspired others to try to catch poker’s lightning in a bottle. Every week you can check the listing for sports trying to make their mark. Today on my sports network for example I found two such niche products trying to grab an audience: something called Killerspin Table Tennis and Polo.

I don’t like their chances.

Occasionally however there is one that catches the eye, and appears to make that lofty “must see” benchmark.

Like this one:

Reuters reports that Bulgarian boxer Tihomir Titschko's punishing right hook and fancy footwork were not enough to defeat his opponent. Instead, the stocky fighter’s mastery of knights and bishops proved decisive in his successful bid to become the first European Chess Boxing champion.

Yes. Chess boxing.

Contestants start with a four-minute chess round, then it's into the ring for a two-minute boxing round. A minute's break for the cut men to work - and more importantly to remove the gloves - and they sit down at the chessboard again. It goes on for 11 rounds.

The World Chess Boxing Organization (WCBO), which trains several dozen chess boxers twice a week near its headquarters in Berlin, (where else?), says combining the "No. 1 intellectual sport" with the "No. 1 fighting sport" offers a unique challenge. No kidding. You try to concentrate on the board while counting your teeth with your tongue.

Their motto is: "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board."

You can win either by knockout, or by checkmate. If neither of those happens, a panel of judges decides on the winner.

Would you tune that in? I would. And you can bet that TV execs somewhere are already planning to see if and when they can get it on the air.

Something that could be a broadcast hiccup is - it’s gotta be tough to call. It would take a special kind of sportscaster, now that Howard Cosell is no longer with us, to know the ins and outs of boxing and chess.

“Rook takes queen’s pawn four. He’s got him in check…and a there’s a left, then a right. Down goes Titschko! Down goes Titschko!”

Is it the future of sports on Television? Boxing fans and uber-nerds hanging out together, talking trash and advanced game theory?

The marketing possibilities are enough to make a television executive weep.

Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch

*** By the way, my nickname on betED’s poker system is Couch. You’ll love playing me since I am, without a doubt, the worst poker player on Earth and, for reasons I have yet to explain to myself, will be more than happy to give you my money.

Remember to drop us a line at rants@betED.com to voice your opinion on one of McDougald's articles or on anything else you read at betED.com!

PITTSBURGH -- AP -- Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger not only doesn't have a serious knee injury, as the team initially feared Monday night in San Diego, he could play again as early as Sunday.

After an eventful 24 hours in which the Steelers rallied to win 24-22 after blowing a 14-point lead, lost their star quarterback to what looked to be a frightful injury, and flew all night, coach Bill Cowher was more relieved than happy. And he was very happy.

Roethlisberger sustained a hyperextended left knee and a bone bruise after being struck by Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo's helmet with 1:05 remaining in the game -- but nothing else. No ligament tears, no tendon or cartilage damage, all of which the Steelers feared after Roethlisberger was removed from the field by a cart.

"I think we'll all have a deep sigh of relief in regards to the diagnosis," Cowher said Tuesday after Roethlisberger had an MRI exam not long after getting off the plane from California. "I guess the dire situation we thought we had coming in here this morning doesn't appear to be that right now."

When they left the field Monday night, some Steelers players were contemplating what it would be like if they needed to play weeks, if not months, without the quarterback who is 16-1 as an NFL starter.

Another cause for worry was that backup quarterback Tommy Maddox, the starter at the beginning of the 2004 season, sat out Monday with a calf injury that occurred Friday in practice.

But there was a favorable medical report on Maddox, too; instead of being out 3-4 weeks, he could be ready as soon as Sunday, too. Still, to protect themselves, the Steelers signed former Pitt and Carolina Panthers quarterback Rod Rutherford to their practice squad.

Despite the much better than expected medical news, it seems unlikely the Steelers (3-1) would rush back Roethlisberger to play Sunday against Jacksonville (3-2), especially after a short week of preparation.

For now, Cowher said, "Charlie Batch is the starter by default until I see more. ... We'll see how the week progresses."

Batch, the Lions' starter from 1998-2001, has thrown only eight passes in four seasons since signing with his hometown Steelers, and the team debated whether to keep him at the end of training camp. But he secured his roster spot by throwing two touchdown passes in the final exhibition game against Carolina on Sept. 1, and Cowher is thankful the team kept a third veteran quarterback - something most NFL teams don't do.

Barber fined $30K