World Cup fever. I’ve got it.

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=World+Cup+and+cap&iid=9085627″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9085627/fan-waves-mexican-flag/fan-waves-mexican-flag.jpg?size=500&imageId=9085627″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /] For the past several days I’ve been swept up in quadrennial World Cup madness, expressed rather equisitely by these Mexican fans above. The spectacle of the games is awesome, even if it is drowned out by the constant din of the vuvuzelas blown incessantly by the fans […]

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. […]

New batting helmets in minor leagues getting high marks for safety

Here’s a story from today’s Modesto Bee about the new batting helmets being used in Minor League Baseball. The specs from Rawlings say their S100 model is built to protect a batter struck by a pitch thrown at up to 100 mph. The Bee story says the helmets are getting rave reviews for their safety, […]

Major League Baseball can do the right thing and give Galarraga a perfect game

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”false” link=”term=Galarraga&iid=8821298″ src=”2/e/3/5/MLB_Red_Sox_a16f.jpg?adImageId=13084662&imageId=8821298″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /] Due to a unique set of circumstances, Major League Baseball can overturn the horrible call that cost Armando Galarraga his perfect game and do so without jeopardizing the integrity of the game. The replay evidence is overwhelmingly conclusive that umpire Jim Joyce made the wrong call. Joyce […]

The Tour of California – and how hard it is to shoot cycling

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Amgen&iid=8856400″ src=”0/8/b/2/CYCLING_2010_c80d.jpg?adImageId=12932403&imageId=8856400″ width=”234″ height=”134″ /] For Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California, I played a small part for my news organization’s coverage, staking out a turn in downtown Modesto with a couple of cameras. If I learned anything, it was how hard it is to shoot the fast-moving sport of cycling. […]

The Habs have it

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Montreal&iid=8774278″ src=”3/7/4/9/Montreal_Canadiens_Win_6b81.JPG?adImageId=12837698&imageId=8774278″ width=”234″ height=”187″ /] Why are these men smiling? They’re fans of the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Pitsburgh Penguins 5-2 tonight to advance to the Eastern Conference finals in the NHL playoffs. The Habs will play either Philadelphia or Boston, who play tomorrow night. I haven’t paid much attention to […]

Great baseball rivalries: Yankees and Red Sox

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Babe+Ruth&iid=4606837″ src=”f/d/d/8/New_Yorks_dfce.jpg?adImageId=12802092&imageId=4606837″ width=”500″ height=”356″ /] It all goes back to the Bambino. Once Babe Ruth moved to New York from Boston, the die was cast for the greatest baseball rivalry of them all. The two franchises have battled venomously ever since, and only in the last decade have the Red Sox (this […]

RIP Ernie Harwell, the Tigers’ announcer extraordinaire

One of the greatest voices from baseball history went silent today as Ernie Harwell died at age 92. For 42 years, he was the voice of the Tigers. As a kid in the Midwest, I spent many evenings listening to him and partner Ray Lane on WJR radio booming out of Detroit. My all-time favorite […]

Great baseball rivalries: Giants and Dodgers

For some time I’ve been debating how to categorize and present the top rivalries in Major League Baseball. I’ve contemplated rankings, countdowns and the like in an effort to stoke some traffic on this blog. If I were a more savvy blogger, I’d probably start tying these posts to whenever the teams start their next […]