Headlines for January, 2008

Leaving Early

Last year, playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels, freshman forward Brandan Wright averaged nearly 15 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots a game. He played over 27 minutes a night and started every game for a squad that ended up in the Elite Eight. Wright was named Freshman of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference and was [read more...]

The Tweener That Roared

The label is 'tweener.' The recruiting services and NBA scouts throw it around with impunity in their attempts to separate five-star meat from two- and three-star gristle, lotto picks from journeymen and Turkish leaguers. Calhouns, Boeheims and Jay Wrights use it to give a kid a soft demur, a "We like you, but…" the old wait and see.Sometimes, however, there [read more...]

Coaching Cornucopia

The greatest basketball teacher of all time, UCLA legend John Wooden, once said, "A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."What the Wizard of Westwood - the proud owner of ten national titles in a 12-year span during the 1950s and '60s - meant is that the main goal of the person with the clipboard and whistle [read more...]

Bounce for the Buck

The story is an increasingly familiar one. Facing criticism from fans, alumni, boosters, and the media class, an athletic director capitulates to the most superficial elements of the peanut gallery, snow-jobs the president and the budget director, and makes a budget-busting hire that has glamorous curbside appeal.Down The Rabbit Hole Just as there is a certain species of American clown who [read more...]

Regular Seasoning

A college football season just ended, with two different prevalent trains of thought regarding who should be crowned national champion. Some would make a case that LSU, the team that won the official BCS title, is the best team because their performance over the course of the season. The Tigers were 7-1 against teams in the Top 20 of the [read more...]

Exacta-ly Right

I once knew a turf writing handicapper who refused to bet on favorites when the odds dropped below 3-1. The late Jack Slater - who has a stakes named for him at Gulfstream Park - did pretty well with this theory.However, my Miami Herald colleague for many years only bet to win. I realized that if you want to gain [read more...]

Kelly Tilghman: In Plain View

By now we know the words - in reference to how young golfers should attempt to stop Tiger Woods - that came from Kelly Tilghman's mouth."Lynch him in a back alley." Most of us also know that Tiger Woods called the incident a "non-issue." His response, through his agent, Leigh Steinberg, was this: "It is a complete non-issue. Kelly and Tiger are [read more...]

Giant Deer in Headlights

If you've ever driven through Wisconsin late at night, you know all too well to watch out for the single greatest danger to drivers on twisting, turning, single-lane roads. No, it's not drunken Cheeseheads bombed out of their sausage-lined skulls on Jaegermeister and Leinenkugel - though that is a real danger. Rather, it is the innocent deer that wanders into [read more...]

Somewhere, Bill Belichick is licking his fingers

Somewhere in a bunker-like war room in New England, Bill Belichick is licking his fingers. And it's not because he ate a great bowl of clam chowder.In what is regularly billed as the best weekend of NFL football every year, there certainly was little disappointment. Little disappointment, that is, if you're from Massachusetts or anywhere north. With Dallas and Indy [read more...]

Badger Showdown Day 2: Sometimes a Great Notion

Did you miss the Day 1 piece? You should probably go back and read that first... Getting to the game itself, the stadium was packed to the brims, despite only being a consolation game. Even if winning their own tournament was out of the question, the Badger players and fans certainly did not want to finish LAST. That would be like [read more...]

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