Category: Sports

You have to be a long time reader of this blog to know I’m an Indiana University alum (School of Music for those scoring at home). Indiana has always been a basketball school, but we’ve gone through a long dry spell.

I’m old, so I was there for Bob Knight’s last national championship. I was at the final game (in the worst nose bleed seats possible) when Keith Smart hit the shot to beat Syracuse in ‘87.

But the past few years there hasn’t been much to cheer about. Last year the hope began, and suddenly this year Indiana is the real deal again.

Tonight’s win against Michigan State was huge. We haven’t won at Michigan State in ages. The team is fun to watch, and coach Crean has done a fantastic job pulling the program back to national prominence.

And I can be a college basketball fan again. Life is good.

Well not in New York, but there is no better picture for a Yankee fan than Mariano Rivera smiling at spring training.

While Mo isn’t talking about his retirement plans, we have to assume this is the last year we will get to watch him pitch. He’s been my favorite Yankee since 1996 (pre-closer). He’s always been classy and so incredibly consistent. When he blows a save, he talks to the media, blames no one and comes back the next day.

Everyone is closely watching his comeback from ACL surgery. From today’s New York Daily News:

So there he was, playing some long toss with bullpen coach Mike Harkey, throwing back and forth from 30 yards, then 40, 50, backing up until he was 80-90 yards away. Rivera was covering the distance easily with high-arching throws, and then, just for the fun of it, he sent a few baseball writers scattering by overthrowing Harkey by another 10 yards.

Intentionally, no doubt.

“No,” a grinning Rivera said later, “that one got away from me.”

Here’s to one more season with Mo. Hopefully a season of shattered opposing player’s bats…

This is probably the most honest thing I’ve read about sports and performance enhancing drugs. Some key quotes:

NBA:

Of all the running-and-jumping sports that feature world-class athletes competing at the highest level, only the NBA hasn’t had a single star get nailed for performance enhancers … you know, because there’s no way hundreds of overcompetitive stars with massive egos would ever cheat to gain an edge with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

Boxing:

for the record, Keith Richards in 1978 after a night at Studio 54 could pass one of boxing’s drug tests

NFL:

I believe that Ray Lewis cheated. I believe that to be true based on circumstantial evidence, his age, his overcompetitiveness, the history of that specific injury, and the fact that his “recovery” made my shit detector start vibrating like a chainsaw..

At the beginning of the NFL season some folks were predicting a Super Bowl with Eli and Payton Manning competing. But now we have John and Jim Harbaugh coaching against each other.

Last week all four team I wanted to win lost. This week both the teams I wanted won. I’ll take it.

I’m not even sure who I’ll root for in the Super Bowl. Normally I’m an NFC guy, but the “win one for Ray” idea is compelling.

As long as the Patriots can’t win, I’m happy…

I just put Victoria to bed and then checked how the Yankees are doing. I don’t have high hopes given the past few days. I saw two innings and no hits. So I checked play by play on ESPN.com. And totally on instinct I saw the first six batters listed and said to myself, “well, where is Jeter batting?”.

Oh yeah, duh. It’s still hard to imagine a post season game without him in the lineup.

As a Packer fan, there’s really not much to say about last night’s game.

Some of the better tweets:

BREAKING: Seahawks QB Russell Wilson becomes first NFL QB to throw game winning interception.

Green Bay is the first team in #NFL history to start the season 1-1-WTF

The NFL owners have done the impossible. They have made Chicago Bears fans feel bad about the Green Bay Packers.

GREEN BAY IS IN FLAMES! And it smells like delicious fried cheese.

From Mark Cuban:

I would love to see what my reaction would be if a Mavs game ended like #MNF. #Expensive #NBAtime

Simultaneous catch:

Well, they are clearly lame, but Bill Simmons does it best.

Roger Goodell has lost control of both his marbles and the 2012 NFL season when fans are seriously debating things like “Which fan base is going to riot over the referees first?” and “How easy would it be to bribe a replacement ref and swing a game?”