Most of my involvement with sports over the course of my life has been as a spectator. I spent several years playing Little League baseball when I was a kid, and I used to play football, baseball, basketball, and hockey with other kids in my neighborhood on a regular basis. Since then, though, other than some intramurals in college, I have experienced very little in the way of first-hand athletic activity until I started running last summer. The rest has all been watched from the comfort of my sofa, along with occasional attendance at live sporting events. I have great respect for the athletes who regularly put their safety on the line so that I can enjoy a nice afternoon in front of the television. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

In this age of instant communication and an extraordinary number of sources of distraction, sitting down to watch an entire sporting event on television is a commitment. For some, it is only done for big games, where something is on the line beyond the mundane won-loss record. For others, myself included, it is an activity that occurs a number of times a week. I can’t say that I spend an entire baseball game, for example, focused on nothing but the game, though. I have a family, and I also have a laptop that is rarely off. Other things are grabbing at my attention, but I still manage to watch most of any game I set out to enjoy. Rarely does the game end with me feeling any kind of regret for having spent the time, even if the result was not to my liking. Tuesday night, I would bet that any Pittsburgh Pirates fans who made the six-and-a-half hour investment in the team’s game against the Atlanta Braves were pretty unhappy at 1:50 AM, when the game finally ended on one of the worst calls I have ever seen. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
3 Comments »

10. The Green Bay Groinpulls

9. The Utica Underachievers

8. The San Diego Chickens

7. The Boston Beibers

6. The Albuquerque Herky-Jerkies

5. The Seattle Steroids

4. The Fightin’ Amish

3. The San Francisco Prissies

2. The Major League Assholes

1. The Washington Weiners
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, sports by Bob Sullivan
1 Comment »

Each week, I sit down to watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Some of the time, I turn on the broadcast too early and subject myself to the variety of useless things that the track promoters choose to bring to us, from hideous renditions of the Star Spangled Banner to some wildly unnecessary and expensive flyovers by the military. I am not anti-military by any means, but I am pretty sure there is a better use of the money it costs to run those planes than to fly over some mid-season race that means little in the long run. Save it for the big races, guys. Anyway, part of the pre-race routine always includes some sort of religious (read: Christian) prayer. I find it totally bizarre that not only is this still done, but it is almost always broadcast by the television network as well. This is a practice that should be changed. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

I may have mentioned before that I am not much of a soccer fan. If you watched the final of the Women’s World Cup on Sunday, though, you could easily tell how even a non-fan could get sucked in. The second half of that match, including extra time and the penalty kicks, was pretty damn riveting. Even though the Americans lost in the end, it was a great match to watch and the culmination of a great run for the U.S team, while an underdog Japanese team came away with a huge win. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

There is nothing quite like attending a professional sporting event. The live experience brings something that you just can’t get on television. I attribute much of that to the feeling you get from being a part of the crowd, a collective excitement that magnifies the impact of any positive or negative occurrence in the game. Baseball, in particular, takes on a whole different dimension when you’re watching it in person. This week was a tough one for baseball fans, though. First, three fans were injured in San Francisco on Tuesday when a bat, formerly held by Pablo Sandoval of the visiting San Diego Padres, went flying into the stands, hitting three people, one of whom required hospitalization. That was nothing to what happened on Thursday in Arlington, Texas, though. A man fell to his death when reaching for a ball tossed to him by Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
3 Comments »

I was going to start this week’s column by saying that I have as much testosterone as the next guy, but that may not be true. I probably have an average amount, which means that roughly half the population of men has a higher reading than I do, if someone were measuring. Today, my wife and I went to see Miss Saigon, a musical that I have seen before and for which I have a great fondness. Now there are some that would say that the previous sentence proves that any reading of my manliness that showed a level above minimal was invalid, but that’s a discussion for another time. I bring this up because sitting behind me was a gentleman, a term I use loosely, that not only did not understand that the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia was not his own living room, but that also took offense to my request, made quite respectfully, I might add, that he please be quiet. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

There is something about sports fandom that makes us feel like kids. After all, childhood is when few things meant more than the results of one game or another. When we become adults, we are expected to focus on more grown-up matters, like jobs and money. In our hearts, though, the true sports fan knows that the games mean more than any of that. That’s why we get so worked up about a bunch of men chasing a ball. I am all for hanging on to that child-like focus, but there are limits. One area about which I struggle to know how I feel is college football recruiting. I follow it and read about it regularly, but I often feel like I should spend a lot less time on it. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
3 Comments »

Vancouver is a beautiful city. I was only there once, and it was a very brief stay, but it made an impression.  My first moment seeing it was on a bus from Whistler, where I had been skiing. As we first came within view of the city, I was amazed at just how gorgeous it was. Beyond that, everyone there seemed so friendly. I have never spent much time in Canada, but I certainly have the idea that it is a generally peaceful place filled with nice, decent people. When it comes to sports fans, though, it appears that Vancouver is right up (or down) there with many other cities, as far as having a bunch of crazed lunatics rooting for its teams. The Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. The scene on the streets of the city that night was horrifying, with rioting, fires, looting, and general lawlessness. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
1 Comment »

NOTE: I’ve never been been one for blogging while on family vacations, not wishing to publicize how far I was from home, and how empty said-home was. So my ‘cruise posts’ over the week ahead – mockumenting the adventures of a West Texas desert-dweller in the middle of the biggest dang lake he ever saw – will be appearing one week after-the-fact.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 12 –The port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is slowly slipping from view, and we are now getting a chance to explore what will be our home over the week ahead. Plenty of topics for discussion among our new-found friends and acquaintances aboard the good ship Carnival-Freedom … “Where you from?” … “Is this your first cruise?” … “Do you get seasick?” … and, “Who’s going to win the NBA title?” Carnival Cruise Lines offered what I though was a splendid way to show our support, and I was sure to show my support for the Dallas Mavericks, early and often. [Read more →]

Tags: sports, travel & foreign lands by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

To start, I’d like to congratulate LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and the rest of the Miami Heat for doing something that only a few generations ago would have been unthinkable: making the world root passionately for an unstoppable German. That said, as the Dallas Maverick’s star Dirk Nowitzki celebrates his first NBA Championship and revels in confirming his place as one of the league’s greats it’s also worth taking a moment to think of Robert “Tractor” Traylor. Traylor was drafted in 1998 and immediately traded for fellow draft pick Dirk (Traylor was drafted higher, so Pat Garrity was thrown in to balance the scales). [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
1 Comment »

For a country that prides itself on the fact that its citizens enjoy freedom of speech, there seem to be a lot of instances where speech seems far less than free. In the world of sports, we are regularly reminded of the fact that speaking one’s mind can have all kinds of consequences. Whether it is criticizing refs, celebrating touchdowns with a bit too much gusto, or throwing gay slurs at fans, there are many different ways that an athlete can end up on the dark side of this basic freedom. Occasionally, the penalty for one of these violations has a direct result on the outcome of the event, which really puts a focus on the fairness (or lack thereof) of the punishment. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

The foundations are shaking in the land of the Buckeyes. The Ohio State football program, which has dominated the Big Ten and been a regular member of the top ten rankings over the last decade, is facing an uncertain future. Jim Tressel, head coach at the school since 2001, has resigned his position, effective immediately, after the tattoo scandal he certainly hoped was behind him continued to make news in new and fascinating ways. Sports Illustrated had a story that came out on Monday that revealed that the issues went far deeper than had been previously believed. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

Some people just like to hear themselves talk. I have been accused of this myself on occasion, and I can’t say that it has never been the truth. With this column, I at least try to make sure that I have something of value to impart to anyone who chooses to read my weekly missive. In the world of sports, particularly in this era, when there are so many outlets for just about everyone to make his or her opinion known, this problem seems to be particularly prevalent. This week’s example comes from the mouth of Scottie Pippen, the former NBA star who won a bunch of titles alongside Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls in the nineties. While appearing on the Mike & Mike show on ESPN radio on Friday, Pippen made the statement that Lebron James might be the best player to ever play the game of basketball, rather than his former teammate Jordan, who is widely considered to hold that title. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
2 Comments »

The skies are looking ominous for cycling champion Lance Armstrong. One of the world’s best known athletes, Armstrong has long been dogged by accusations of doping during a career that produced seven victories in the Tour de France, cycling’s most prestigious event. He has firmly denied any wrongdoing, and has never failed a legitimate drug test. For some reason, I have always been inclined to believe his denials, even going as far as to defend him here when his disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis spoke out against him a year ago. Now, though, several more of Armstrong’s former teammates have claimed that he not only used performance-enhancing drugs, but that he encouraged them to do so as well. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

Is it me, or did the soccer world rumble this weekend? Aficionados of the beautiful game have confirmed, that something strange and extraordinary did, indeed, rock their world this week, and have pinpointed the trembler’s epicenter to a large urban/industrial community in northwest England. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Jeff McDonald
No Comments »

It’s hard to believe, but Donovan McNabb is under fire yet again. In an offseason dominated by labor strife and the question of whether or not there will even be an NFL season this year, we are somehow still talking about the supposed failings of McNabb. His antagonist this time is a familiar one: boxer and Philadelphia native Bernard Hopkins.  [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
No Comments »

After several years in which bigger and bigger penalties were being handed out for a variety of infractions, NASCAR decided that they were going to be a looser bunch in 2011. The sport’s governing body stated that it would allow the drivers to essentially police themselves, hoping that things would be kept under control without NASCAR having to play the heavy all the time. It is pretty clear to me that this new philosophy is not working. I know the crowds go crazy when they see one driver go after another, but it is totally unacceptable, from my perspective, and someone is going to get killed if it’s not brought under control. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
2 Comments »

I write this from my sofa, where I have been pretty firmly planted for the last week since back surgery on Monday. Although it is a bit of a reach, my surgery and what led up to it has given me a bit of an insight into the challenges faced by athletes everywhere. I have none of the same stuff riding on it as the professionals, as far as money and fame, but I am starting to understand the difficulty in recognizing that there are things that you may not be able to do anymore. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
3 Comments »

10. Runs Like A Girl

9. Papa’s Got A Brand New Nag

8. Lackluster

7. Sassy Sashay

6. Last Chance Harvey

5. Dances with Gluepots

4. Newt

3. Runs Sideways

2. Push ’Em Back! Shove ’Em Back! Swayback!

1. Limping Biscuit
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: animals, Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, sports by Bob Sullivan
No Comments »