He had thought he was bigger than the college president, a mistake one of his former Texas Tech counterparts had made on an early stop in his career. But just like Bob Knight at Indiana, Mike Leach misread his...
Blog: Justice is Served: December 2009 Archives
To drug test or not, that's seems to be the nettlesome question that's threatening what should be the fight of this century: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.A childish dispute over drug testing looks like a lousy excuse for delaying...
Sports editors called steroids the biggest story of 2009. Theirs, of course, was an intriguing choice last week, but it was a choice that, frankly, seemed out of step with the prevailing trend.For the steroids story is as passé as disco dancing...
His biggest play last Sunday was his last big play of the season. Sure, Brady Quinn, the Notre Dame poster boy, finished out the game, turning his 24-yard bootleg into what would be the game-winning points. But Quinn also hurt his right foot...
Milton Bradley can find men -- other black men like himself -- who have taken the same trails in life, run into troubles and then got to the end of the trail to confront some unintended, often horrific, consequence.Maybe Bradley's...
Not sure what to make of the Browns these days. Now, I can't see this team as among the league's elites, regardless of how many games it runs off as this season of disappointment staggers to a conclusion.But these Browns...
Talking about a shocking trade that didn't help anybody: look at the Milton Bradley-for-Carlos Silva deal Friday that the Mariners and the Cubs agreed to.One (Bradley) is a bad actor; the other (Silva) is a bad pitcher. Both carry heavy-duty contracts, which...
My friend has grown weary of the Tiger tale. He's weary of how everybody from the media to the paparazzi to people who don't know golf from Ping-Pong has obsessed over the world's greatest golfer.He's unwilling, of course, to pardon Tiger's adultery....
"Hey," said Ellis Burks, waving his hand to catch my attention. "Let me talk to you about something that's been bothering me."Burks was in the Indians dugout as I walked over to the where he sat. I plopped down next to...
It was a gigantic step.Of course, the Cavaliers had made bold moves like this before. Two years ago, they had stepped into the global world when they played three exhibition games in China.LeBron James and the Gang exposed the country...
This is the Shaquille O'Neal that coach Mike Brown and the Cavaliers were hoping they would get. This Shaq, all 325 pounds of him, proved an indomitable force inside; this Shaq scored points; this Shaq guarded the paint like a...
THREE UP ...1. Can't wait to see middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik back in the ring. His absence hasn't helped the sweet science -- nor Kelly's bank account. There are big-money paydays out there for good fighters, and tough guy like Pavlik (aka "The...
I came late to the party. The legacy of black baseball had been cemented long before I was drawn to its lore. I didn't make that love connection until 2002, the year I first visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum...
THREE UP ...1. No mistakes this time. Notre Dame seems to have it right, even if school officials aren't holding a broad search that would be more inclusive than this one was. But the ready candidate the Irish and their...
THREE UP ... 1. Not that Tony Dungy's criticism of the NCAA had a bearing on it, but let's applaud Louisville for its decision to hire Florida defensive coordinate Charlie Strong as its head coach. Strong had played a central role in Urban Meyer's success with the...
He might be the best candidate Notre Dame can take a serious look at, because in Brian Kelly, the university has a possible hire with the makings of a blue-chip coach.All the people who have met Kelly, who has created so...
The crawler across the bottom of the ESPN broadcast Saturday claimed Notre Dame was going to announce its next football coach today.The report had its roots in The Chicago Sun-Times, and football fans figured the newspaper got the story straight.I didn't.I...
You can almost see Manny Pacquiao's smile.Check it out.There his smile is in front of you -- a toothy grin that turns the Pacman's features into a cartoonist's rendering, a wide and exaggerated visage that indicates he's comfortable with his...
On the floor in the middle of the locker room, a Cavs trainer pulled and bent and rubbed to loosen King James' muscles. While the trainer worked on his body, the King, a set of gold-colored headphones atop his head,...
I needed a full day to sift through the mixed feelings I had about what happened Monday to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. In my lifetime, few coaches have been as tied to a football program as Bowden had been...
