So now we’re in 2010, and already the first huge debate has erupted – on how to say it.
Look, we went for a long while saying eighteen-this and nineteen-that, and it seemed to work just fine. Yet I hear a lot of people saying Two Thousand and Ten. Wait, did we say One Thousand, Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine?
Twenty-ten is short, snappy, and once we get in the habit, we’re fine for the rest of this century. And the year promises some big sports events in some special locales.
And we don’t waste any time with it. Ideally, the college football championship, BCS or (ideally) a playoff, would be settled every year in Pasadena, for the Rose Bowl Stadium has an aura no other place can match. Alabama and Texas fans, savor this one.
The Feb...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: 2010, sports, venues, attractions, preview

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So we're left with Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets and Ravens on one side, Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers and Eagles on the other.
And the NFL playoffs could not start in a weirder manner. You had the top seeds all but surrendering, even at 14-0 (see Indianapolis), and a last week of one-sided bores, three of them setting up direct rematches in this weekend's opening round.
What to make of it all? Well, maybe Roger Goodell is right in trying to force teams to at least be honest about their effort down the stretch...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: NFL, playoffs, first round, analysis

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Some things are certain in the coverage of sports in America - such as the head-shaking once the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots are revealed in the first days of the new year.
We've already lived for years with the complete outrage of no Marvin Miller in Cooperstown(though Doug Harvey and Whitey Herzog got overdue props by the veterans), but, as usual, the writers go a few steps further.
Today they gave the nod to Andre Dawson, who was really good, though not overwhelming, in his days with the Expos and Cubs. True, Hawk was an MVP..on a last-place Cubs team in 1987.
Yet Bert Blyleven stays out. He's still fifth all-time in strikeouts, way up there in shutouts, and fell just short of 300 wins despite playing on a lot of lousy teams...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Baseball Hall of Fame, voting, controversy, analysis

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Colt McCoy hurt his shoulder, which was startling enough – and decisive enough – in the Alabama-Texas showdown for what college football bigwigs claim is a national championship, protests from potato country notwithstanding (more on that later).
Then something more amazing happened, once the game was over. Nick Saban smiled.
It only lasted a moment, or two, and then Saban was grim again, no doubt considering the next recruit, the next page to add to a playbook, or some other potential crisis that could derail the Crimson Tide machine, now restored to full force.
Alabama claims a lot of national championships. Eight of them are even official...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Alabama, national championship, Nick Saban

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Just about every high school basketball team in the area has sped past the midway point of the regular season, so it's a good time to assess the scene, boys and girls.
The boys Class AA race is absolutely torrid. No one is unbeaten, but there's a whole lot of quality. Half a dozen teams can reasonably think they can win this thing.
Corcoran started out as the hot item, and CBA was right with them, but right now it's Utica Proctor on the best roll, especially after beating the Cougars on Friday...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Section III, season, midway point

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Admit it, football fans - through most of the first round of the NFL playoffs, you mostly yawned.
Jets beating Cincinnati? Didn't that just happen, like, six days ago? True, and though the rematch was closer, Carson Palmer still couldn't throw much, and the combination of stout defense, stouter defense and Shayne Graham's pulled kicks made sure that the J-E-T-S would inch closer to making Rex Ryan's bold predictions a reality.
Dallas crushing Philadelphia for the second time in a week didn't stir the soul, either, unless that soul lived in Texas and had not seen a playoff win for 13 years...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: NFL, playoffs, recaps, second-round preview

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Last night, while attending yet another game on yet another winter's night here, we might have carped a bit about the slick roads.
Then came news that made our silly little struggles with the pavement seem very, very trivial.
An earthquake. Strength 7.0. Epicenter right next to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The entire city destroyed. Rubble, rubble everywhere. The power out. Phone service out. Maybe 100,000 dead. Just plain staggering.
It's absolutely impossible, amid our creature comforts, for any of us to even begin to comprehend this disaster, but here's a very lame and simple attempt to do so.
Remember 9/11, or Katrina. Multiply it a few thousand times, and you might get a small idea of how bad this is...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Earthquake, Haiti, relief

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Whatever else must be said, the Mark McGwire admission of his steroid use Monday was riveting in one regard.
The centerpiece of his confessions was an interview given to Bob Costas on the MLB Network. It was done live. No editing, no re-takes, just the raw spectacle of a baseball idol emotionally confessing to at least some of his sins.
Naturally it wasn't enough for Ken Rosenthal, Tom Verducci and the rest of the MLB Network Panel of Virtue who started dissecting, diminishing and deconstructing McGwire's words mere seconds after the interview finished...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Mark McGwire, steroids confession, aftermath

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If you spent this weekend yawning through the second round of the NFL playoffs, then you had company. It took until the end for the surprise to occur - or did it?
Remember what they were saying just a couple of days ago? Arizona's offense could not be stopped, and look, New Orleans hadn't won in a month. Look out for that Baltimore D, they're just what rusty Indianapolis didn't want to see. Dallas is playing better than anyone, so Minnesota won't get in the way. And San Diego is the clear AFC favorite, so forget any chance the Jets might have.
Well, not exactly - on all four counts.
Healthy, at home, and primed, both the Saints and Colts breezed on Saturday in varying ways...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: NFL playoffs, Saints, Vikings, Colts, Jets

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A talented, unique and idiosyncratic man hosts a television program on NBC that starts well past the midnight hour. Over time, he picks up plaudits from nearly everyone in the TV industry for his daring and originality.
By doing so, he has richly earned the right to take over the most coveted seat of all – that of the “Tonight Show”, an American institution for decades. He will take over, and add his own stamp to NBC’s late-night dynasty.
Of course we’re talking about Conan O’Brien, right? Well, no...

CATEGORY: Television

TAGS: Late Night, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, NBC

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To anyone with a healthy love of democracy - avoid television, radio, the internet, and any form of media in the days and months leading up to the 2010 midterm elections, and maybe beyond.
Not because any party, or any candidate, in any state or congressional district, threatens the fate of America. It's because the companies will overrun the whole bloody process.
They've got free rein to do it now. The Supreme Court, in a supremely insane 5-4 decision, overturned a century of sound law and basically said that corporations can spend whatever they want on federal campaigns, House or Senate.
Oh. My. Goodness...

CATEGORY: Government

TAGS: Supreme Court ruling, elections, campaigns

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How long do you think Pat Conners had waited for this moment? And how sweet do you think if felt when it finally came to pass?
Conners, by most standards, has been sensational as head coach of the South Jefferson wrestling team. The only way Pat falls short is in comparison with older brother Mike, who coaches at Fulton and whose dynasty includes 462 victories against just 38 defeat.
Then there's the matter of the Section III Dual Meet, the annual gathering of the 16 best teams in the area for some single-elimination drama.
Going into this year's Dual Meet, held Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse, Fulton had won 17 previous titles, to South Jefferson's goose egg...

CATEGORY: Wrestling

TAGS: Section III Dual Meet, wrestling, South Jefferson, Fulton

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As masterpieces go, it wasn't too pretty to view. Fumbles, interceptions, long delays for reviews, two teams doing everything possible to give away their ticket to the promised land.
But then Garrett Hartley stepped on the field, belted that 40-yard field-goal try through the uprights....and you could hear the roar all the way to Baton Rouge. Maybe even Biloxi.
The long wait of the New Orleans Saints is over. No more 20 straight losing seasons. No more paper bags. No more Aints. No more battered, weather-beaten Superdome serving as a symbol to the world of a battered, weather-beaten and downtrodden city that, in the eyes of so many, wasn't worth saving four and a half years ago...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Saints, Vikings, NFC Championship, epic

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Boy, it wasn’t fun to hear those jokes in the old days. All those people lining up to take potshots at you, pointing and laughing and duly noting the fact that your favorite basketball team got beat by a Division II opponent. At home. By the team from just down the road. Yeah, those old days were tough.
Wait a minute - it wasn’t so long ago. It wasn’t even three months ago.
The night of Nov. 4, and the aftermath of Syracuse’s stunning exhibition defeat to LeMoyne College, were indeed unpleasant times for Orange partisans after the Dolphins made national headlines and earned bragging rights for a lifetime.
There was nothing else to do for SU but to recalibrate expectations...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: SU, men's basketball, hot start, expectations

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Every year, high school sports coaches enter or leave the stage without one shred of publicity, or anybody really finding out until long after the fact. Though it might sound shady, it does make for some peace of mind for those, coaches and administrators alike, making the changes.
But that's not the case with the new varsity football coach at Skaneateles - one Tim Green.
At initial glance (especially to outsiders), the skepticism is boundless. Is this real? Or is it just another way for Green - athlete, author, TV personality - to earn some ink for himself?
Judging by the reaction to the Skaneateles School Board hiring Green over Laker coaching legend Ron Doctor, you'd have thought some hideous crime had taken place...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Tim Green, Skaneateles football coach, challenge

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