How bad a guy is Lawrence Taylor? Over the years, the former NFL great has done a lot of bad things. Most of his documented problems have involved drugs, particularly cocaine. This time, though, he appears to have hurt someone other than himself. Taylor was arrested last week and charged with third-degree rape and patronizing a prostitute. The victim is a 16-year-old girl who ran away from home at fifteen. [Read more →]
NFL teams try to be very thorough when checking out players that they are contemplating drafting. A big part of that process involves interviews conducted by members of the front offices, asking the players a variety of questions intended to help the teams determine whether or not to invest a pick and a lot of money in a player’s future. The Miami Dolphins made news last week when Jeff Ireland, the team’s general manager, apologized to Dez Bryant, a Dallas Cowboys draftee, for an inappropriate question he asked Bryant during that pre-draft interview. It seems that Ireland was wondering if Bryant’s mother had ever been a prostitute. [Read more →]
Injured Cincinnati Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez has been suspended by Major League Baseball for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancing drugs. He claims that the failed test was due to medication he was taking as part of fertility treatments to assist him and his wife with their efforts to start a family. Even if this is true, his actions were incredibly irresponsible. [Read more →]
It’s not every week that the major sports websites mention vomit right on the front page. We were just that lucky this week, as a baseball “fan” in Philadelphia provided us with such an opportunity. I know the national media was aching for yet another reason to badmouth Philadelphia sports fans. They now have one. [Read more →]
Have you ever paid to watch a baseball umpire? I didn’t think so. Someone needs to get that message to Joe West, as he has never seemed to understand that during his long career calling baseball games. [Read more →]
Hey, College Football, it’s me, Alan. I was wondering if you were paying attention to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. If so, I imagine you have noticed that the Butler Bulldogs are in the final. They got there by playing and beating some really good teams. There was no voting to decide who should play in the final. If there had been, there is no way Butler, who ended the season ranked 11th, would be lined up to play Duke for all the marbles. Seems like maybe the basketball people are on to something here. [Read more →]
The big news in the NFL this week involved the Philadelphia Eagles and Donovan McNabb. The team appears ready to trade its 11-year veteran quarterback and move on with young Kevin Kolb. According to Stephen A. Smith, this is apparently a crime of some sort. [Read more →]
The Ivy League is known for many things. Most of them have to do with very smart people being very smart. Rarely are the member schools known for their athletic prowess. They don’t even give athletic scholarships. Despite that, the Cornell basketball team spent the weekend proving that sports really do exist in the Ivy League. They have made it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. [Read more →]
You know what’s amazing? Sometime this week, almost everyone you know will fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket. Male, female, young, old, basketball fan, non-basketball fan, it doesn’t matter. The numbers are staggering. I don’t have the research on this, but I have to imagine that it is the sporting event that pulls in the most non-fans this side of the Super Bowl. [Read more →]
Sometimes you know there just has to be more to a story. Guy Morriss, who played for the Eagles when I was a kid, is now the head football coach at Texas A&M-Commerce, a Division II school. Recently, a couple of his players were arrested on drug charges. The school paper wrote a cover story about it last week. Early in the morning on the day of publication, some of the players went around campus and took every copy and disposed of them. When asked about the theft, Morriss stated that he was proud of his players. [Read more →]
The Olympics are over. To me, that is Good Sports at its best. Not the games…the fact that they are over. I’ll admit it. I don’t like the Olympics. There was a time, back when I was in college, that I liked the Winter Olympics, I suppose, but that was a long time ago. I just don’t enjoy the whole thing. I have reported on good and bad sports involving the Olympics over the past few weeks, as the sports world certainly includes these games, and I figure it is my job to talk about them. I just don’t enjoy them. [Read more →]
I really didn’t want to write about Tiger Woods this week. I dislike everything about this story, and don’t enjoy the thought of piling on to the already massive amount of coverage this story is getting. Still, there is no avoiding it. Clearly, people are fascinated, and to an extent that I find highly distressing. [Read more →]
I am a big NASCAR fan. Much to my wife’s chagrin, the 2010 season began on Sunday with this year’s running of the Daytona 500. I am always excited for the new season, but my enthusiasm is always tempered by two things: restrictor plates and misplaced hype. [Read more →]
The Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver on Friday, and I can hear many of you sighing with boredom. Who cares, right? And then there are the cynics amongst us who may believe that a pursuit of excellence is a worthwhile endeavor, but who are disgusted by how the athletes are exploited – they make the sacrifices, but corporations, governments, and the IOC reap the rewards. [Read more →]
Everyone watches the Super Bowl, right? I guess I don’t need to ask. Last year’s game fell just short of 100 million viewers. That’s a big number. From the endless pregame show to the commercials to the game itself, it’s all quite a spectacle. I usually enjoy it, although I enjoy it more if I have some kind of rooting interest. Since the Eagles have only made it to the Super Bowl twice in my lifetime (I’m 41), my rooting interest is usually borne of a dislike for one of the teams, as opposed to an actual affinity for anyone. Still, I enjoy the Super Bowl as much as the next guy. You know what I don’t enjoy, though? The halftime shows. [Read more →]
The NFL Pro Bowl is a waste of time. This is not a revolutionary statement, by the way. Most All-Star games are less than thrilling events, but the Pro Bowl is the worst of the lot. The rules are different, there is very little real hitting, and the game is at the end of the season, when no one really cares anymore. Even the players don’t seem to care, judging by the number of players that beg out of the game every year. Still, being selected to the game is an honor, and it is fair to expect the players to show at least a little bit of interest in the festivities. That message does not seem to have made it to Bryant McKinnie of the Minnesota Vikings, who was dismissed from the Pro Bowl on Saturday. [Read more →]
Wow, did I enjoy Sunday night’s NFC championship game. It was a back and forth game that went to overtime, with the New Orleans Saints outlasting the Minnesota Vikings, 31-28. The best part of it for me was late in the 4th quarter, with the game tied and Minnesota driving for what would have been a game-winning field goal. Less than 30 seconds remained, and the Vikings were at the New Orleans 38-yard line after a bad penalty for 12 men in the huddle. Favre rolled to his right after being flushed from the pocket. He could have run, improving the Vikings’ field position. Hell, he could have just fallen down. Instead, he remembered he was Brett Favre. [Read more →]
There are many things I love about sports. I started watching at a very young age, and have been hooked ever since. Of course, with anything you spend a whole lot of time observing or experiencing, there are always things that you don’t like as well. Cheating is one of those things. This week, Mark McGwire openly acknowledged for the first time that he used steroids throughout a large portion of his baseball career. This came as a shock to virtually no one, I have to imagine, as most people have long been convinced that McGwire was dirty. [Read more →]
In 2003, the NFL instituted a policy called the Rooney Rule, that would require teams to interview minority candidates before hiring a new coach or senior front office person. On the face of it, this would seem like a good rule, at least in its intent. The percentage of minority head coaches in the NFL has increased in the years since 2003. This weekend, though, I started to question not the rule itself, but the interpretation of the rule by some teams. [Read more →]
I am going to start this week’s column by saying that I am going to hold off on writing about the Mike Leach/Texas Tech story. First, the amount of coverage of this story is way over the top at this point. Also, I am still unsure where I stand on the whole thing. I will wait for more actual details on both sides before weighing in. [Read more →]
