The Olympic Channel has a new documentary video profiling Didier Dinart, the French Men’s National Team Coach and former player.  It’s a great documentary that chronicles his life from growing up in Guadeloupe, to moving to mainland France at age 16, to becoming the Rock of the French defense to becoming National Team Coach.  And, it does so with some great highlights of France’s Olympic failures and successes and how he worked to improve his defensive tactics.  It also goes full circle with his return to Guadeloupe and the christening of an arena named there in his honor.

If you were to ask me who my all-time favorite handball player is you might be a bit surprised with my answer:  Didier Dinart.

But, then if you thought about it a bit.  That I was a defensive specialist and lived in France for five years you probably wouldn’t be surprised at all.  Dinart redefined or maybe just simply defined what a defensive specialist was.  Seriously, the handball dictionary, if such a thing were to exist would have a little picture of Dinart next to the entry on defense specialist.

If one watches a handball match with a bigger picture view (i.e. not simply following the ball from pass to pass 100% of the time) Dinart’s greatness as a defender becomes obvious.  No one matched his combination of strength and quickness.  No one ever shut down (yes, shut down) a greater portion of the 6 meter arc.  It was almost as if France had 6 and a half defenders some of the time.  Yes, a lot of France’s domination in the 2000’s has been rightly attributed to Karabatic and Omeyer, but folks would be wise to add a 3^rd player who also played huge role: Dinart.

In my opinion, if you want to talk about who’s the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) defender the discussion begins and ends with Dinart.

The Olympic Channel has two versions of the documentary.

Short Version: Link (9 minute)
Extended Version: Link (27 minutes)

(Note: you can click on the icon at the bottom of the screen for English subtitles)

The Olympics are over and it was wonderful to feast on 16 days of Handball on TV; But, could this once every four year phenomena turn into a continuous a year round experience?  How about a digital handball channel with multiple viewing options.

NBC Does Handball TV Right

At times, I’ve been accused of being a cynical complainer always looking to find something wrong and to rain on people’s parade.  So, let me be unequivocal in stating that NBC did a phenomenal job broadcasting the sport of Team Handball at the Olympics.  Every single match was broadcast via live stream and was then made available for viewing on demand shortly after each match was over.  Every single match!  With a HD picture!  And, I could watch it on a Roku instead of lugging my laptop around with an HDMI cable.  I’ve never had a better TV viewing experience for a major Handball tournament.  Heck, I’m pretty sure no one in the world has ever had a better setup.  Whoaa, hold on a second:  Are you saying that we poor handball deprived Americans just had the best viewing experience, ever? Like better than what the Europeans get?

Yup, that’s what I’m saying.

And, that’s freaking almost impossible to believe.  Twenty years ago we got 2 minutes of TV highlights.  Now we get every second of every match whenever we want to watch it.  In High Def.  Holy crap!  What could I possibly complain about?

I’ll whine about a few things.

1. The Olympic Broadcast Service (OBS) live feed that NBC streams had only one knowledgeable handball commentator: Paul Bray. The rest…  Like I said OBS has one knowledgeable handball commentator.
2. The live stream dropped at times. Of course, there’s no way of knowing whose fault that is. My provider; my Roku, NBC, OBS, a glitch in the satellite, etc
3. It takes a while for the stream to load up. More likely a fault on NBC’s end.
4. There’s not much fidelity with my Roku remote when I rewind or fast forward. (OK. That’s not NBC’s fault, but it’s still annoying when you’re trying to replay a critical sequence)
5. Soccer and Basketball get their own TV channel on Dish/Direct TV and other platforms. Handball should have one too. (OK, I’m really reaching here, but heck maybe we will get one someday)

What about the Actual NBC TV Broadcast?

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that.  In fact, I did forget about it for much of the Olympics.  Not because it wasn’t a quality produced broadcast.  The team of Chris Carrino and 96 Olympian Dawn Allinger Lewis did a solid job mixing standard commentary with the educational commentary that is necessary for most Americans.  Better than most of the OBS commentary for sure.  But, while I generally prefer regular TV over streaming I just got use to my NBC Roku feed.  Always there, usually reliable, no commercials interrupting the action, and no other sports to contend with.  Why bother with regular TV?

Why Bother with Regular TV?

Wow.  Think about that statement and the implications that go with it.  I know millennials are “cutting the cord” for their TV viewing, but, it’s not something that old timers like me are considering much.  For me, there are a couple of reasons.  First, I figured it would be a hassle dealing with an unreliable interface.  Rokus, Apple TV, Amazon Fire are OK , but it’s not as convenient as my Dish network TV interface.  Do I really want to figure out for every show I’m interested in whether it’s on Hulu, Netflix or Amazon. And, then there’s the sporting events which are mostly on the major networks and not always readily available for streaming although that’s changing.

And, my recent viewing habits during the Olympics are an indication of how it’s changing.  For 16 days I watched a lot of handball and I didn’t use old fashioned TV very much.  Certainly, didn’t need beIN Sports and honestly I didn’t really need NBC (in a traditional sense) all that much.  The times they are a changing…

Handball TV: Why Just During the Olympics?

So, now I’m wondering why does this awesome handball viewing experience only get to occur for 16 days every 4 years?  Why can’t it be a year round experience?  Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a Handball Channel very much like the Olympic channels NBC provided?  But, instead of choosing between Judo, Rowing, Handball and other sports it was set up like the picture accompanying this article with multiple handball viewing options.

• Click on the little HBL logo. Who is Rhein-Neckar playing in their first match as they look to defend their title in the German Bundesliga.
• Click on the little LNH logo. When does Paris Saint Germain play Montpellier?  (Shouldn’t PSG go undefeated if they’ve got most of the best players from Gold and Silver Medalists?)
• Click on the little EHF CL logo. Every Champions League match is available (I know I can already sort of do that with efhTV, but I want it on my Roku.)
• Click on the 2017 IHF WC Logo. The World Championships are in January.
• Click on the PATHF logo. That’s neat, they’ve got the matches from this past June’s Pan American Championships.  (I never saw Greenland’s upset win over Argentina.  That should be interesting)
• Click on the USATH logo. What do you know; they’ve got last year’s collegiate championship match available.

I think you get the picture. Such a channel would be awesome and one that I would gladly pull my credit card out for. I’m a huge fan, though.  How many fans world-wide would be willing to pay for such a channel? How much could they be charged?

How Long Will the Old TV Rights Model Last?

And, so now we come to the dilemma that every sports entity is going to eventually face.  Right now TV rights fees are a major revenue source, if not the biggest revenue source for most sports entities.  These entities see the potential of web streaming, but fear that fully supporting this new revenue stream may kill their cash cow.  These fears stem around the pirating of video transmissions and the uncertainty as to whether viewers will be willing to pay prices to fully support this model.  And, when they do allow streaming, does it then cheapen the value of TV rights deals?

These fears, for sure, are legitimate where significant TV rights deals are to be had.  For U.S. sports it’s not clear how everything will shake out.  The NFL for instance is signing huge TV rights packages because traditional networks see the NFL as the one thing that viewers will watch live, commercials and all.  But, one can also see how the NFL could set up a Direct Ticket like package on Rokus and other devices that could be sold directly to consumers, cutting out the middle man entirely.

With handball, the situation is similar, but on a smaller scale.  And, with only a handful of nations having big TV rights contracts the practicality of a digital Over The Top (OTT) channel would seem to increase.  Why not go direct to the handball consumer if there is no big contract waiting?  Further, with handball struggling to get on a good TV network in markets like the U.S. a quality digital handball channel would immediately sidestep that problem.

The Future

Indeed some niche sports like pro wrestling and mixed martial arts are already doing this.  Although, if the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is being sold for $4 billion it’s hard to call it niche.  And, success like that makes me think that a high quality digital channel that consolidated handball telecasts and provided that product worldwide just might be a valuable property.  One that could take handball to another level.

LeBron with a Gold Medal. Why it’s unlikely he could be convinced to take the handball challenge. And more realistically, why it will be hard to convince and train the would be LeBron Lites.

In part 1, I just assumed that LeBron decided that becoming the best handball player in the world was his new mission in life.  In this part, I address the impossibility of that ever happening for LeBron and the unlikelihood it will happen for the would be LeBron Lites out there.

Identifying and Recruiting the Cross-Over Athlete

Unsaid, but obvious in the hypothetical question of LeBron James becoming the best handball player ever is that convincing James to take on such a task is pretty much impossible for a number of reasons.

1. Money. Fresh off an NBA title James resigned with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a 3 year, $100 million contract.  The entire USA Team Handball annual budget is currently around $500,000. Athletes training with the U.S. currently even have had to pay some of their own travel expenses.  That wouldn’t be a problem for James, but why would he walk away from $100M?
2. Desire. James has been playing basketball all his life and it’s still his primary focus.  He surely wants to win some more NBA titles and he hasn’t even ruled out a return to Team USA for the 2020 Olympics.  Why would he give that up?
3. Life Issues. The rigors of an NBA career are hard enough, but transitioning to handball would be pretty disruptive.  Right now that could mean a move to Auburn, AL to train with the U.S. National Team or a move to Europe.  Pretty disruptive on family life.  It would also probably get in the way of other career goals like his reported desire to own an NBA franchise.

It’s pretty hard to envision a scenario by which LeBron could be convinced to take up handball. But, if the U.S. can’t get LeBron, what about LeBron Lite?

Well, the answer to that question depends on how “lite” you want to get.  For those thinking that other NBA athletes or other professional athletes might be available, think again.  Money, desire and life issues will preclude just about any professional athlete from making such a leap.  And, we’re not just talking about U.S. based professionals, but Americans playing in Europe as well.  Just about any player with D1 basketball talent can play professionally in Europe at some level.  They aren’t making NBA money, but they are making a living.  Plus, as any professional athlete knows their sporting career can only last so long.  Many will be looking to cash in on their skills before they have to go get a “real job.”

What about other sports?  American football is a good candidate, but players have options like the Arena and Canadian Leagues. Baseball players have multiple minor league opportunities and will hold on to the dream of making the major leagues as long as possible.  There are other sports, of course: Lacrosse, volleyball, etc.  But, with those sports there’s a smaller athlete pool and accordingly you’re going to draw athletes that clearly won’t overwhelm those Euros athletically.  And the same can be said for the talent that will come out of the lower collegiate divisions in hoops and football.  You’ll find pretty good athletes, but a notch below are best pros.  That’s why they’re not pros.

What about the pro that had a decent career, made a little money and now wants to chase an Olympic dream?  All good in theory, but you’ll need to factor in desire and life issues.  If you’ve played on a big stage toiling away learning a new sport in obscurity might not be so appealing.  And if you’re a 20-something year old adult, life issues such as getting married, having kids and contemplating what you’re going to do work-wise the rest of your life will become more and more important as you start getting closer to being a 30-something.

Bottom line:  The LeBron lites will be decent athletes, but not NBA level.  Hopefully, not too much below, but recent recruiting suggests otherwise. Yeah, if we’re lucky we might get athletes comparable to the athleticism of the Croatian handball squad.  So much for overwhelming the opposition with superior athleticism.

For more on recruiting challenges in the US, read the “Moneyball Handball” commentaries at this page: Link

How exactly are you going to train the cross over athlete?

Another element left unsaid in the whole concept is just  how exactly LeBron would become the best player in 6 months.  The original quote is from the U.S. Men’s National Team Coach, Javier Garcia Cuesta, so one could imply that Coach Garcia Cuesta would take on the task.  Currently, he is running the U.S. Men’s residency team program at Auburn, AL so one could further imply that LeBron would head to Alabama for 6 months of intense handball training.  The team practices 5 days a week on the court and has additional strength and conditioning training.  The number of athletes currently training isn’t clear, but for the last couple of years it seems to have fluctuated between 7 to 20 athletes.  Most of these athletes are relatively new to handball and this past summer some didn’t even make the U.S. team that competed at the Pan American Championships.  Further, in the competition the key backcourt positions were primarily filled by non-residency athletes.

So, if LeBron was to head down to Auburn, there would really be no one for him to observe and play against to learn how to play at the highest level.  Now a lot can still be learned from a knowledgeable coach in a vacuum so to speak.  Just learning 3 steps and how to properly shoot a jump shot for instance.  But, becoming a world class player in essentially a vacuum?  Sorry, it’s just not going to happen.

No, the only way it would even begin to happen is if LeBron was added to a roster at one of the world’s top professional clubs, like Paris-SG.  In theory, he would be treated like an NBA “project player.”  He would have individual sessions with a top coach and also be allowed to practice with the team as he got up to speed.  With Hansen, Karabatic and Narcisse around he surely would pick up a lot and as I mentioned in part 1, I think he would become a pretty decent defender fairly quickly.  Learning how to play backcourt, though, that surely would take a while even in the perfect circumstances I describe.  This is pretty far fetched, but I bet if LeBron really wanted to pursue handball a top club would actually accommodate him.  The publicity for sure would be awesome.

But, again, it’s not going to happen so we need to talk about how the U.S. would train some LeBron Lites.  Right now, USA Team Handball seems to be locked into using the Residency Team model at Auburn University.  For the uninitiated the Residency Model seeks to find the best possible athletes, put them in a central location and then train them up with handball skills.  Further, the goal is to keep the national team together in preparation for national team competition.

For those new to handball or this website I’ve already spent quite a bit of time railing against the Residency Model. (Read the series of commentaries about the Residency Model and the Auburn Decision towards the bottom of the page: Link)  A model that I participated in and one that really helped me become a decent player.  Here’s the cliff notes version as to the major problems:

1. It was only modestly successful under far better conditions. S. teams achieved a measure of respectability, but still couldn’t beat the top teams in WC or Olympic competitions
2. European handball has become more professionalized. The Euros always had a technical skill advantage, but superior American athleticism could make up for that somewhat.  This is simply not true anymore.  Professional athletes will top amateurs almost every time.
3. Pan American competitors have improved substantially. A team of athletic Americans with limited technical skills could at one time win the Pan American ticket without too much trouble.  Now Argentina and Brazil are pretty athletic, plus have good technical skills.
4. Lack of resources. The USOC used to provide substantial support to residency programs.  Not true anymore.  The current programs are so austere that athletes are essentially provided nothing.  They are even asked to pay for travel to competition. Link
5. Lack of competition: Training in the USA means that the USA athletes would lack meaningful competition. You can’t get better unless you play top competition on a regular basis.  This would mean more costs to travel to Europe, but even then the professional club season limits the windows for meaningful competition.
6. The location (Auburn) is far from ideal. A college town in a rural Alabama really limits the opportunity to create a regional hub for the sport.
7. Athletes have more options. European opportunities have resulted in fewer athletes seeking an outlet like team handball.

Bottom Line:  We don’t have the money to do it right, we don’t have the athletes to get us there and even if we did have the money and athletes about the best we can really hope for is a team that doesn’t embarrass at a potential LA 2024 Olympics.

Worse, when you focus most of your time, energy and resources on a residency program it also detracts from everything else, particularly grass roots efforts.  The opportunity costs are immense.  I fear that we will again look back and wonder why we sought a quick short term fix.  And, yet again wonder what might have been if different strategies for long term sustainable growth had been considered.

Three years into the program little has been accomplished.  Neither the Men’s or Women’s team have come close qualifying for an Olympics or even a World Championship.  Ironically, the U.S. actually did better in 2012 qualification when no residency program existed.  The athletes are hard working, but none have yet showed world class promise or significant interest from a 2^nd tier pro team.

Honestly, it’s a bit frustrating to see newbies to the sport tweet that a bunch of D1 hoops players could win gold after a year of training.  Frustrating, but to be expected.  But, it is totally exasperating to hear our coach spout such nonsense, even if it is just to be a bit provocative to promote the sport.  To see Federation leadership march blindly down such a short sighted path.  I just don’t get it.

I keep thinking that a preponderance of evidence plus some thoughtful consideration of possible alternatives will inevitably result in a change of plans, but it hasn’t happened to date.  And really, I would be thrilled to eat my words; to watch Team USA march on the court in Tokyo and stampede through the tournament like a wrecking ball.  I really would.  But, I’m an analytical type guy and there’s just absolutely nothing to suggest such a miracle.  At least I’ve yet to read anything which made me stop and think that perhaps I’ve got it all wrong.  Again, the open invitation for someone to educate is out there for anyone willing to string a few words together:  Link