It's really dismal writing. The bar seems to be set very low for professional sports journalism.
Still, there are some entertaining nuggets, like this:
"To be honest, of course, in our popular culture, the Russians make for excellent villains. Think only of Ivan Drago in 'Rocky IV,' or the bad guys in James Bond movies, or even Boris and Natasha from 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.'"
I've never seen "Rocky IV," and I hate James Bond movies, but I agree that Boris and Natasha were excellent villains on "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show."