Sports ~ All
Posted Sun, 08/05/2007 - 19:15 by Michael J Smith
While MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was on his contractual obligation tour of west coast venues, waiting for Barry Bonds to hit his 755th career home run, I have been blissfully distracted by a division-leading Red Sox team, a return to relevance for the Celtics with the Kevin Garnett trade, and the opening week of Camp Belichick. Lately though, I have begun to feel a bit like the Commissioner. Whether I wanted to or not, I have seen every Barry at bat replayed on SportsCenter.
Posted Thu, 10/28/2004 - 16:04 by Michael J Smith
ESPN’s SportsCenter played one of their instant music videos this morning, Red Sox highlights set to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ "The Waiting (Is the Hardest Part)." Like most of their efforts in this regard, it was well done with clever edits of sound and image, but I couldn’t help thinking, where’s "Tessie" and the Dropkick Murphys?
Posted Thu, 02/19/2004 - 00:45 by Michael J Smith
First, let’s get the sane stuff out of the way. Spring training hasn’t even started. They haven’t played a game that matters, yet. And it’s a long season. A lot can happen. And really, there’s no reason for Red Sox Nation to get all worked up anyway. Because, you see, because this is not the year.
Posted Thu, 06/19/2003 - 23:41 by Michael J Smith
Roger Clemons has won his 300th game and struck out his 4,000th batter. In my heart I knew it was only a matter of time. Sure, I chuckled when the Yankees kicked away the game with Detroit, but it was hard to believe that Clemons would contract Steve Blass Disease inches short of such magical milestones—though it was tempting to entertain that possibility during the three-game skid that preceded his career-defining win.
Posted Wed, 02/20/2002 - 20:13 by Michael J Smith
The Olympics are fixed. Getting caught shaving points on the Figure Skating - Pairs competition is the kind of thing that really blows your credibility. Not that giving out two gold medals solves the integrity problem. I don't think they're saying that the Canadian and the Russian couples tied are they? They're just giving both of them gold medals. Aren't they? Huh. So Sale & Pelletier got screwed. So what?
Posted Mon, 02/04/2002 - 22:14 by Michael J Smith
To everyone who said the Patriots never had a chance, I just want to say one thing…
Good call.
Okay, I wrote the above and most of what follows before the game. I know, I know. I picked the Patriots to win, but I’m not a total idiot. A 14 point line is tough to beat. Nobody, but nobody, was giving them a chance.
Posted Mon, 02/04/2002 - 20:41 by Michael J Smith
Terrell Owens is a man who knows there is no off-season. If you want to be Whack-Daddy #1, you've got to pay the price. Owens, the talented, outspoken, enigmatic wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, reportedly had harsh words for his employers when he found out that he had not been made available in the expansion draft.
Posted Fri, 01/25/2002 - 20:21 by Michael J Smith
Loyal readers know that I am a Patriots fan, as any self-respecting resident of Grover’s Corners is. So, you can understand if I lack a certain objective perspective on the fumble/incomplete pass controversy in the Raiders-Patriots game. So let me get the basics out of the way…
- The rule may be flawed—it may even be changed as a result of this game—but the officials got the call right according to the way the rule is written.
- The Raiders were still ahead and had the opportunity to stop the Pats.
Posted Thu, 01/24/2002 - 20:37 by Michael J Smith
Picking a name for your professional sports franchise can be tricky, knowing there’s a good chance that someday, you might "Pull an Irsay," pack your bags and truck everything across several state lines to a much better stadium lease in another fine city. Don’t get me wrong. I think franchises should be named—in some way—for their home city. They just shouldn’t take that name with them when they move.With the Charlotte Hornets about to become the New Orleans Hornets, we have a chance to right one of the many wrongs that have occurred as sports franchises from one city to another.
Posted Sat, 01/19/2002 - 19:48 by Michael J Smith
George Will, political commentator for ABC News, has weighed in on the Strahan/Farve sack controversy, taking the position that these shenanigans imperil the "moral seriousness" of sports. Will went on to name several other examples—some a century old—of such perfidy. (I’ll be interested to see if he takes a similarly hard line when the "Enrongate" indictments start coming down.) In my Doppler view of the really real world, Brett Farve has a better sense of what’s right or wrong for the sport of football than some Poindexter in a bow tie, but who knows?
Posted Sat, 01/12/2002 - 18:51 by Michael J Smith
The Wife’s explanation for the popularity of football is that it provides a primeval, ritual function with specialized roles that strikes a resonating chord with our ancient tribal memories. Plus, it allows us to sublimate our arrested, adolescent ids in a relatively safe manner, as opposed to an actual exchange of tactical nukes with another nation state. She notes, however, that this is not the reason why she hates football. In fact, she maintains that she does not hate football; she hates the sportscasters calling the games.
Posted Mon, 10/22/2001 - 15:40 by Michael J Smith
Michael Jordan is back. Again. He's like some mythic Icelandic champion who keeps coming back from the dead. A guy who would get his arm cut off, and then come back to life and beat his enemies to death with it. He'd come back to life because of some curse, or maybe he was really a demigod fathered by Odin. Whatever, each time he'd come back, even if he couldn't hit .200 in Double A, no matter how dismembered he'd become. Somehow he would rise to the challenge and overcome dragons of evil aspect, defending fair maidens or defenseless villagers.
