Thursday, September 27, 2007
I suppose we should never underestimate the NHL's ability to screw up hockey. One of the cool things about the sport are the team sweaters. Expansion introduced teal, and purple, but that wasn't enough: now they have gone to technical fabrics that cause moisture to accumulate in the players' gloves and skates (among other problems). So ugly wasn't enough?
This has fiasco written all over it-- a bigger debacle than the NBA's experiment with the plastic ball, probably.
This has fiasco written all over it-- a bigger debacle than the NBA's experiment with the plastic ball, probably.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
This piece, by David Halberstam, nicely captures what it must have been like to like football when, as he puts it, "the NFL came of age as a national sport, roughly from 1957 to 1960". Recommended to friends of Freddy Exley.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
It's been a funny sort of baseball season-- the Yankees were out of it early-- I'm sure not even Joe Torre thought they'd see the post season back at the All Star break, and now who would bet against them winning the division?
Cleveland, 92-63 as of this writing, the best winning percentage in baseball. I can't figure out how they have done it.
And my Metropolitans. This was supposed to be their year, but they are hanging by a thread. The good news is that if they make the post season, I don't think there's anybody else in the league that can beat them. The bad news is that nobody else will have to-- the Mets are completely capable of finding a way to beat themselves. I think I feel the worst about Willie Randolph-- I've been pulling for him to get a managing gig for years, the Mets should be a perfect fit for him, and if they screw this up I'd have to say that the lion's share of the blame will be his.
Cleveland, 92-63 as of this writing, the best winning percentage in baseball. I can't figure out how they have done it.
And my Metropolitans. This was supposed to be their year, but they are hanging by a thread. The good news is that if they make the post season, I don't think there's anybody else in the league that can beat them. The bad news is that nobody else will have to-- the Mets are completely capable of finding a way to beat themselves. I think I feel the worst about Willie Randolph-- I've been pulling for him to get a managing gig for years, the Mets should be a perfect fit for him, and if they screw this up I'd have to say that the lion's share of the blame will be his.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Mets are having a hard time slamming the door shut, but there are still positive things to say about them. For example, Ron Darling's taste in music: "I can listen to jazz from just about any period, but my favorite is the era from 1946, a year after the war, to the mid-'60s. I like a lot of avant-garde jazz, like Coltrane and Miles Davis. To me, that music never seems nostalgic. It always sounds current."
Sunday, September 16, 2007
"Gettin' into the official's face". What a stupid, stupid penalty.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Looks like I picked the right year to start following Indiana football: the Hoosiers are 2-0 heading into this weekend's big match-up against Akron. A dispirited Illinois, mourning the end of the Chief Illini tradition comes to Bloomington a week after that, then the Crimson and Cream travel to Iowa (2-0 as of this writing) before returning home to be pasted by the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. They'll be on the road against Michigan State, then at home against a pretty good looking Penn State team. They close out October in Madison, then finish out the season at home against David Letterman's alma mater, on the road versus Northwestern, and at home against cross-state rival Purdue. Can't you feel the excitement?
No? Well, there's always Rugby World Cup action.
