Visits to two Holy Houses of college athletics

There’s no more storied venue in the history of college basketball than the Palestra in Philadelphia, and I was privileged to make my first visit there Saturday. My friend Jerry and I drove to the University of Pennsylvania campus to watch a men’s game in which the home Quakers dominated the Harvard Crimson for an […]

Great Baseball Books: ‘How to Star in Baseball’ by Herman L. Masin

An avid reader and aspiring ballplayer as a kid, I had one book in my hands more than any other: “How to Star in Baseball” by Herman L. Masin. That book was the Bible of Baseball to me. I studied its pages for hours and hours, reading up and memorizing the fine points of how […]

Hank Aaron to be Marquette University’s graduation speaker

Via an alumni newsletter I learned today that Hank Aaron will be the commencement speaker at Marquette University on May 20. Aaron is a wonderful choice for the Milwaukee campus, which this time of year is preoccupied with basketball. Aaron spent much of his Hall-of-Fame career in Milwaukee with the Braves and even returned there for the […]

It’s baseball season. Enough of these other sports.

I turned on the car radio this afternoon hoping to catch a baseball game only to find a couple of NBA playoff games. I found that a bit depressing – not because I don’t like the NBA, but because it’s April 16 and these are just the first games of the first round. The hockey […]

RIP George Steinbrenner, one of the last great black-and-white figures

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=George+Steinbrenner&iid=2183905″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/2183905/yankees-mets-steinbrenner/yankees-mets-steinbrenner.jpg?size=500&imageId=2183905″ width=”234″ height=”315″ /] As the world knows by now, George Steinbrenner died today. The longtime owner of the New York Yankees was 80 and leaves behind a legacy of championships. This afternoon I put together a gallery of Associated Press photos showing Steinbrenner over the years. What struck me was […]

Bye, Bye, Lebron

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Lebron+James&iid=9312354″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9312354/file-photo-cleveland/file-photo-cleveland.jpg?size=500&imageId=9312354″ width=”500″ height=”319″ /] Lebron James has bid adieu to Cleveland and the Cavaliers, choosing to take his quest for an NBA championship to Miami and the Heat. The tales in the leading newspapers of the two cities are as expected. There’s joy in Miami, where the Herald’s lead sentence tonight is […]

Another Lakers-Celtics classic

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Lakers&iid=9143951″ src=”http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9143951/los-angeles-lakers-kobe/los-angeles-lakers-kobe.jpg?size=500&imageId=9143951″ width=”500″ height=”355″ /] Twelve times the Lakers and Celtics have met in the NBA finals, and the Lakers got the victory last night. And of course some residents of the City of Angels had to set a few cars on fire and bust a few heads. Violence is never right, and […]

The Big 10, the Big 12, the Pac 10 and our way of life

We all know the recent machinations realigning some of the major conferences in college athletics are all about money. We take cherished “amateur” sports associated with our institutions of higher learning and milk them for every dime. How quintessentially American. I don’t actually have any particular beef with finances driving universities to seek a better deal. […]

Spike Lee sports a special Yankees championship cap

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=NBA&iid=7939913″ src=”5/d/7/0/NBA_All_Star_165a.jpg?adImageId=10325689&imageId=7939913″ width=”234″ height=”294″ /] Check out the slick New York Yankees cap that Spike Lee wore to the NBA All-Star game last night in Dallas. I hadn’t seen this one before. It celebrates the Yanks’ recent World Series triumph — the 27th in franchise history — and notes the years of […]

Don’t bother Tiger Woods, officer. He’s sleeping.

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Tiger+Woods&iid=7029112″ src=”9/9/1/c/2009_Australian_Masters_8b90.jpg?adImageId=7920619&imageId=7029112″ width=”234″ height=”150″ /]Before the Tiger Woods story erupted this Thanksgiving weekend, I’d been ruminating on the differences between elite athletes and us mere men and women. Highly paid pro athletes like Woods in golf or Alex Rodriguez in baseball or LeBron James in basketball exist on a plane at which most of us mortals […]