Sports

246 posts

If You Cannot Be an Athlete, Be an Athletic Supporter

What is the deal with Texas and cheerleading controversies? 

First there was Wanda Holloway who hired a hit man to kill the mother of her daughter’s cheerleading rival.  Who the eff has a cheerleading rival?  I cannot fathom what that could possible mean.

Then there was a Silsbee, Texas cheerleader who refused to cheer for an athlete who was indicted of raping her.  The superintendent, his assistant and school principal told the cheerleader that if she didn’t cheer for the alleged rapist, she had to go home.  Can you imagine? Continue reading →

I Ran the Peachtree Road Race

The alarm went off at 5:45 AM and I immediately bolted out of bed. Despite having to get up at the early hour during a) my vacation and b) a federal holiday, I was excited to run this race. My parents ran the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race every summer we lived in Atlanta (1987-94) and it’s a city tradition. Just like any other race, I had carefully laid out my race clothes the night before. We had planned to leave at 6:15 AM, but we were actually out closer to 6:25 AM. Not too bad considering I was mentally aiming for a 6:30 AM departure time. My parents and an elementary school friend I met with on Sunday warned me that MARTA (Atlanta’s public transportation system) would be crazy. I would gauge that most people in the Atlanta metro area use their cars to get around and MARTA is simply an afterthought. Continue reading →

NBA Owners Lock Out Players, Life Loses All Importance

In a stunning turn of events that shocked no one besides viruses because they are not living organisms and aren’t concerned with such matters, the NBA owners and players union could not come to a new agreement before the deadline today. The players are now locked out and a long summer of uncertainty and rumors and arguments between millionaires and even bigger millionaires await.

Unlike the NFL and their labor crisis, the NBA is not a league in great shape where the biggest problem is how to divvy up the billions of dollars in profits. Coming off a record season in terms of TV ratings and overall fan interest, the thirty owners lost a collective $300 million this year. According to commissioner David Stern the league has lost money in every year of the latest collective bargaining agreement. The league had to purchase the New Orleans Hornets so they wouldn’t be moved. Make no mistake, while LeBron James and his crew of flunkies ignited one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory the league is in trouble. The majority of small market teams seem completely inept at competing in an unbalanced market while the Lakers and Mavericks seemingly run through any speed bump by throwing a barrel of cash at it. Continue reading →

The Best Wimbledon Final Ever

Being that I’m very excited that this is Wimbledon week (ok, 2nd week), I thought it would be fun to go back and revisit what is considered one of the greatest moments in tennis ever,…ever: The 1980 Wimbledon Men’s Singles final between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. In my book there might’ve been a few more but for today at least, this one is it and it is historical. Continue reading →

Riverplate Soccer Relegation Sparks Riots in Argentina


One of the most storied soccer clubs in South America, River Plate of Argentina, a club which has won the Argentinian league 33 times in its 110 year history, was yesterday relegated to the 2nd division for the first time ever.

River Plate fans did not take this well. Their final match was stopped a minute before the appropriately-named injury time as irate fans, obviously not believing in their team mounting a comeback from 2 goals down, began to charge the ground and throw objects at the players and referees.  Opposition fans were forced to stay for hours in a closed off section of the stadium surrounded by police, while River Plate fans set things on fire, smashed shops, threw rocks at the police, and generally behaved like soccer hooligans. Continue reading →

Broons Players Throw $156,000 Party

I like to party, you like to party, we all like to party.  But do you party as hard as these six ballers?

Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, and Shawn Thornton know how to do bottle service correctly. Their bar tab totaled over $156,000 from one night at the Foxwood’s Casino. I’ll grant you $100,000 was spent on 1 30 liter bottle of Champagne, but here’s a list of six other things they could have bought for $26,113.29 (each person’s share of the tab.) Continue reading →

Why I Fell in Love with Soccer

If you love soccer, or you love sports, or loves someone who loves either (or you just love shirtless pictures of Carlos Bocanegra, manmeat defender for Saint-Etienne and Team USA), do yourself a favor and go pick up Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. The book details how a young Hornby first discovered soccer growing up in England and examines how the game has affected every part of his life. It’s my all-time favorite book, and I have a habit of reading it every summer when the European soccer season is gearing up. I also have a habit of buying used copies and sending them to people, always with the same quote transcribed on the inside cover:

“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.”

Continue reading →