Throughout professional and amateur sports, a lot of attention is paid to each sport’s Hall of Fame. Every year, there are ceremonies and announcements to celebrate the newest inductees. In theory, the people being inducted are the best of the best, deserving of their permanent place in the sport’s history. For years, I have felt that the standards that were being applied to this selection process were being lowered, particularly in the major professional sports (football, baseball, and basketball). This week, though, I encountered something that really made me question the point of the whole endeavor: official public voting for the NFL Hall of Fame. [Read more →]

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

If you’re not cheating you’re not trying hard enough, it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught, if you know how to cheat start now. Bending the rules has long been a celebrated part of athletics, yet there comes a point where it leaves the territory of competitive advantage and enters the realm of pro wrestling. One such moment occurred recently when France defeated Ireland to reach the World Cup thanks to a goal that involved two handballs, which is bad since soccer allegedly is not played with one’s hands (I thought a French player was offside as well, but once the ref ignores two handballs that’s no big deal, just like once police overlook a bank robbery you can’t expect them to notice the getaway car’s double parked). [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
No Comments »

For many years, the University of Mississippi band has played “From Dixie With Love” at the school’s football games. The song includes the lyric “the South will rise again.” In October of this year, the Ole Miss Associated Student Body voted to discontinue this chant and replace it with a taunt at LSU, one of their rivals. The change was meant to avoid the negative connotation of the chant, with regard to slavery and segregation. Sounds like a good choice to me. [Read more →]

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

It is very easy for those of us who longed to play professional sports but didn’t have the talent to think that those who have reached those heights are indestructible. Beyond that, I think we naturally think that those people are the luckiest people in the world, and must love their lives. Sadly, that is often not the case. [Read more →]

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

“Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all become respectable if they last long enough,” Robert Towne wrote in the screenplay for Chinatown. He could have added, “Also, monstrous sports owners become figures of sympathy.” Many people have decided it isn’t enough the New York Yankees beat the hell out of everyone; now you have to like them while they do it. So not only does Yankee owner George Steinbrenner get another World Series title (his seventh); this time he deserves to have it. Having gone through similar experiences with my own family, I’m very sorry that rumors suggest George has slipped into senility, but the fact remains for most of his life he was the loudmouth jerk who earned countless millions while threatening to cut the dental plan for his janitors. Somehow the Boss having to get by on a mere six championships doesn’t seem too cruel to me. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
No Comments »

For a lot of years, I was a big fan of Allen Iverson.  To me, no one in the NBA was more exciting to watch. The Sixers didn’t always win, but Iverson rarely failed to excite. It was always clear, though, that he was a selfish player who cared more for his own statistics than he did about winning. Now, at 34 years old, his skills have eroded, but his attitude has not. That makes for a bad combination. [Read more →]

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

Phillies @ Yankees. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania versus New York, New York.

The world fuckin’ champions with their backs to the wall as greedy Gotham gloats. The wisest minds in the universe of baseball expect the coronation of a new emperor tonight, a title seen as inevitable as a birthright, like a Charlamagne succeeding the occasional Pippen.

The odds are long and the venue is hostile and the smart money is on the most monied team on earth. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Clark DeLeon
1 Comment »

I am a big NASCAR fan. I may have mentioned that here before. The season is nearly over, and Jimmie Johnson has dominated the Chase, which means he looks likely to win his 4th consecutive Cup championship, which is something that has never before been done. You would think that Sunday’s race, with so much on the line, would have been exciting. Au contraire, mes amis. Four times a year, at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR foists a wildly inferior product on us, the fans. Sunday’s race was a complete waste of time. One of these days, I may have to listen to my wife and just not watch, rather than sit and complain for four hours. [Read more →]

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

Manny Ramirez is everything that is bad about sports. I could substitute his name for “Bad sports” in the title of my column, and people would still know what I meant.

There have been a lot of bad people in sports during my lifetime. Some are criminals. Some are drug addicts. Many are spoiled babies. Manny Ramirez is in a special class, though. [Read more →]

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

I love Halloween. In fact, I think I may have more fun getting dressed up than my kids. And since Halloween is on a Saturday this year we’ve decided to head down from New York to the suburbs of Philadelphia, so my kids can trick-or-treat with their 7-year-old cousin. My daughter is going as a rock star, my son is going as a T-Rex, my nephew is going as a ninja, and I thought I would go as a New York Yankee. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, sports by Amy Boshnack
6 Comments »

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford had a magical redshirt sophomore year. He led the Sooners to a 12-2 record, winning the Heisman Trophy in the process. The NFL scouts loved him, and he was projected by most to be a high pick in the draft, if not the first overall. Instead, he chose to return to school, hoping to lead the team to a National Championship. Instead, his junior year has turned into a nightmare for him. [Read more →]

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

The woeful St. Louis Rams are for sale. It says something about the money-printing power of the NFL that there are at least six different groups interested in purchasing the Rams, despite the fact that they are very clearly the worst team in the league, and have not been good for several years. One of these potential ownership groups includes Rush Limbaugh, the outspoken, controversial, and ultra-conservative talk show host. The NFL Players Association is displeased at the prospect, and has made it known to the league. [Read more →]

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

Winning excuses everything. And so Brett Favre’s ceaseless I’m-going-to-play (no, I’m not!) (yes, I am!) act, capturing and then breaking the hearts of Jet fans in less than a season (usually players have the courtesy to take two or three years to inflict this kind of pain), and somehow in the twilight of his career becoming a bigger story than the rest of the NFL combined — and that counts Tom Brady and Gisele — doesn’t matter, because with his ridiculous last second touchdown pass against the 49ers and then leading the Vikings over his former Packers, the undefeated nearly-40 QB won and looked good doing it while earning a reported $10 million this season. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
No Comments »

Over the past few years, the NFL has made a lot of rules aimed at protecting quarterbacks. A quick look around the league shows that there really aren’t enough good quarterbacks to go around, and so protecting them does make some sense. Late hits and helmet-to-helmet hits rapidly draw penalties and fines, these days, as they should. However, I believe the NFL has gone too far in its attempts to protect its players. This is still football. Tackle football. Unless they are going to start putting flags in players’ back pockets, they need to ease up on the ridiculous penalties being called in games this season. [Read more →]

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

Have you ever attended a sporting event and been thoroughly disgusted with the performance of your team? Sure you have. It’s happened to me many times. It’s a bad feeling, made worse by the fact that you likely spent a significant amount of money to attend. After tickets, parking, overpriced food and drinks, and possibly travel expenses, you are in the hole by a pretty good amount. [Read more →]

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

Delonte West, a guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was pulled over for speeding on his motorcycle in Maryland this week. The traffic stop became an arrest when police discovered that West had not one, not two, but three guns on him at the time. Apparently, he had a handgun in his pocket, another in his pant leg, and a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back. Seriously. I am not reading you the plot synopsis from Mad Max. [Read more →]

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

Chess is a game that requires the ability to think dozens of moves in advance. It also requires you to be conscious. Vladislav Tkachiev learned this the hard way, after the #58 player in the world was defeated during a match in which he repeatedly dozed off. (In Vladislav’s defense, he was drunk at the time.) [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
No Comments »

Serena Williams lost her U.S. Open semifinal match on Saturday after being penalized for a vicious tirade directed at a line judge after being called for a foot fault. Williams wasn’t playing terribly well, and had already been penalized once in the first set for throwing her racket. The venom she spewed at the line judge went far over the line, though, including threats of physical violence. Her behavior really jumps out as bizarre because tennis generally seems to be a pretty civilized sport. [Read more →]

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

The biggest story this week was not Joe Wilson raising funds by running naked in the aisle on national television (while President Obama spoke to save the collective ass or at least the availability of an affordable colonoscopy for said single-paying, non-optional body part); it wasn’t even a long, tedious, low-scoring opening night of the NFL season.

In fact, the larger story was the culmination of the summer’s drama; Allen Iverson signed a contract to play professional basketball for the Memphis Grizzlies. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Alex Kudera
No Comments »

Shawne Merriman, of the San Diego Chargers, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly choking his girlfriend, Tila Tequila, of MTV fame. Merriman, who has been named to the Pro Bowl three times, was released after a few hours and charges are pending. [Read more →]

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