The owners and players that make up the National Football League only need to do one thing to keep the fans from completely deserting them. They need to keep talking. It’s a very simple concept, really. It’s obvious that major differences remain between the two sides, and I still have not examined their positions closely enough to form a real opinion, as far as on whose side I am. It is clear to me, though, that as long as they keep talking, I can believe that there will be a normal NFL season this fall. What is clear to me must not be clear to them, though. On Wednesday, the two sides announced that talks would be adjourning until May 16th. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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If you attend youth sporting events, you’ll see a familiar sight: A red-faced parent or coach shaking his head, frustrated, after a child competitor fell short. “She knows all the [insert things that one can know about sports],” the befuddled adult says. “But if only she’d listen!” [Read more →]

Tags: sports, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
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As a sports fan who sometimes dislikes certain athletes for no real reason, I always feel validated when one of those guys screws up and shows the world that my disdain may have something legitimate behind it. Kobe Bryant is one such athlete. Just a few months after angering the fans of the Denver Nuggets by calling them stupid for booing Carmelo Anthony, Bryant has made a much larger splash. On Tuesday, he was given a technical foul by referee Bennie Adams late in a Lakers game against the San Antonio Spurs. He responded by using a gay slur against Adams, which was caught on camera. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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Once a cheater, always a cheater. Right, Manny? In 2009, Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games after failing a test for performance-enhancing drugs. This week, a mere two years later, it was announced that he again tested positive during Spring Training. Rather than face the 100-game suspension that comes with a second positive test, Ramirez announced his retirement on Friday, effective immediately. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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One of my least favorite things in sports is the bizarre tendency for athletes and commentators to cry racism when there is simply no evidence of it. It happens with such regularity that it has become a cliche of sorts. The NFL, in particular, seems to be a hotbed for claims of prejudice and bigotry, especially when it comes to discussion of African-American quarterbacks. This week, it was Warren Moon, former signal-caller for the Houton Oilers, who was accusing the public and the NFL draft experts of criticizing Cam Newton, soon to be NFL player out of Auburn, simply because he is black. This was completely misguided. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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Back on Selection Sunday, a wide array of basketball analysts and supposed experts argued the merits of the various teams that had been chosen for the NCAA tournament, and lamented the fate of the teams that were left out. The most common complaints seemed to center around large conference teams being overlooked in favor of smaller conference teams. In particular, I heard a lot of talk about the fact that Colorado, out of the Big 12, was not chosen, while Virginia Commonwealth, out of the CAA, was. VCU finished 4th in the CAA, and was the third team chosen from that conference this year, after George Mason and Old Dominion. Surely the Big 12 team was more deserving, right? Maybe not. With a ten-point victory over perennial powerhouse Kansas on Sunday, VCU made it to the Final Four for the first time in school history. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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This has been a trying week for people with the initials L.T. The former acting giant Liz Taylor is dead, but at least she’s gone to a better place (as a friend of Michael Jackson, she’s guaranteed immediate admission to that big Neverland Ranch in the sky). The former New York Giant Lawrence Taylor is alive, but he has to cope with being a registered sex offender, and all because he made sweet love to a prostitute who happened to be underage. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
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As often as we are reminded that not all professional athletes are rocket scientists, it is amazing that they can still surprise us with various kinds of idiotic pronouncements. Jalen Rose, a basketball analyst for ESPN and a former NBA player, most notably with the Indiana Pacers, provided our example for this week in a documentary that aired about the “Fab Five,” a group of star freshman, including Rose, that started together for the University of Michigan in the early 90s. In the film, Rose was asked about the Duke Blue Devils, the team that defeated them in the 1992 national title game, and he stated that he felt that Duke only recruited black players that were, in his words, “Uncle Toms.” [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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I don’t need to tell you … a national college basketball tournament is well underway, and we’ve already seen some great action on the court. I’m really looking forward to one of tonight’s semi-final games, when the Chaparrals of Midland College (Texas) take on the Blackhawks of Southeastern College (Iowa).

Say, what?
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Tags: sports by Jeff McDonald
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It didn’t take long for the rhetoric swirling around the current NFL/NFLPA tiff to remind me of how fast and how tired I became of the rhetoric that accompanied their 1987 tiff. It also emphasized that some players would be better off to let their actions on the field do their talking, rather than engaging their mouth. Back then, it was Tony Dorsett in the parking lot at Cowboys Stadium … this time it’s Adrian Peterson in a Yahoo Sports interview.
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Tags: sports, trusted media & news by Jeff McDonald
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It has begun. The battle of the billionaires vs. the millionaires. That’s what it all boils down to, doesn’t it? The National Football League is currently out of commission, and regardless of all of the excuses being thrown out by both sides, it really comes down to the money. On Friday, after a week delay that gave some cause for optimism, the NFL Players Association officially de-certified as a union, and were subsequently locked out by the team owners. The real losers, of course, are the fans. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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If only I had vision, I would have bought stock in some company manufacturing anything that holds or displays athletic awards. Because even years ago the writing was on the wall that ten-year-olds from Trophy Club, TX to Silver City, CA would be assembling piles of competition-based bling, and they would need some way to store it. [Read more →]

Tags: sports, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
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Even if you are not a fan of auto racing, you have likely heard the name Danica Patrick. She began racing in the Indy Car series in 2005, and then became the first woman to ever win an Indy Car race in 2008, winning a race in Motegi, Japan. In 2010, Patrick began racing stock cars in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series on a part-time schedule. This weekend, she finished 4th in the Nationwide race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the highest finish for a woman in NASCAR history. Despite these accomplishments, much of what I read about this weekend’s race involved people finding ways to diminish her accomplishment. I find this very disappointing.

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Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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Holy Family University, a small Catholic college in Philadelphia, is an unknown in the world of major college athletics. It competes in Division II in most sports, including basketball. Rarely does the school’s name come up when it comes to sports news, but that changed this week. Head basketball coach John O’Connor resigned Thursday after a controversy stemming from his treatment of one of his players that became public the way so many things do these days:  Youtube. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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While once we may have contemplated the merits of the philosopher king in human society, now we focus on a humbler, but quite common role: The parent coach. So many of us spend hours coaching our own kids, and I will start by stating the embarrassingly obvious: It is challenging. [Read more →]

Tags: sports, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
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Why was I wearing an Eddie Bauer fleece vest this weekend and listening to songs like “Far Behind” by Candlebox? Well, it was because this past weekend I had the opportunity to go to a basketball game at my alma mater – Mount Saint Mary’s University in the bustling metropolis of Emmitsburg, Maryland. And since I still can’t really let go of college even after almost thirteen years after graduating, this was a very special occasion to me. It was just what I needed, another reason to get outrageously nostalgic.   [Read more →]

Tags: Marty digs, sports by Marty O'Connor
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A couple of weeks ago, Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was quoted as saying that he and his wife had been rooting for Michael Vick to get hurt during the NFL season. Now, my feelings on Michael Vick have provided much fodder for this column over the last couple of years. I can not claim to have never had a similar thought, regarding Vick’s playing health, if we’re being completely honest. I certainly have little interest in being in a position where I need to defend Michael Vick. I have had to do my best to focus on the positive things he is doing off the field, rather than think about the abhorrent things he did to those dogs. As a fan of the Eagles, and with him clearly sticking around for a while here in Philadelphia, I either needed to look on the bright side or get a transfusion to replace my green blood with the more traditional red. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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The world has changed. The rise of social media has affected many aspects of our lives, giving us the opportunity to reconnect with many people we might have never otherwise encountered again. There are people who would argue that there is a reason you lost touch with certain people, and see no benefit in hearing about the daily minutiae of someone they haven’t seen since fourth grade. Although I am a fan of sites like Facebook, I do think that there are people who overshare. A number of professional athletes have been fined by their respective leagues after posting things on Twitter that violated rules or simply angered someone. This week, a man who had been hired to a football coordinator position at a major university ended up having the job offer rescinded after the hiring was revealed on his Facebook page. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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As I write this week’s installment of BSGS, I am watching yet another Eagles-free Super Bowl, this one being held in Dallas, the home of the Eagles’ biggest rival. Despite my favorite team’s continued non-presence, I have been able to enjoy a bit of schadenfreude this week, as I can’t imagine this was what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones envisioned when he won the right to hold the big game at his new pleasure palace. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
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10. Players unsettled by Brett Favre constantly sexting them

9. Under the mistaken impression there was going to be a fifth quarter

8. Players constantly getting creeped out by their weird-looking mascot, Steely McBeam

7. Never recovered from the disappointment of Christina Aguilera singing “The National Anthem” instead of “Genie in a Bottle”

6. Going in, they didn’t realize it was a contact sport with lots of pushing and shoving

5. Players crestfallen they weren’t up against the Chicago Bears; they really wanted to meet Obama

4. With no cheerleaders, team was unsure whether or not they should “Push ’em back, shove ’em back, way back!”

3. Players were so excited about seeing The Black Eyed Peas, they completely lost their focus

2. Thought, with six games to go, there was still plenty of time to win the series

1. Players creeped out by Rex Ryan constantly texting them asking if they want to play footsie
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: art & entertainment, Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, sports by Bob Sullivan
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