The Big Hurt hangs up the spikes

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=%22Frank+Thomas%22&iid=4838747″ src=”d/c/5/e/Frank_Thomas_35_b9e3.jpg?adImageId=10255067&imageId=4838747″ width=”234″ height=”359″ /] Frank Thomas announced his retirement Friday after an outstanding career with the Chicago White Sox. He split his last few seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics, but in the public eye he was and always will be a member of the White Sox. The […]

Sacramento NBC affiliate gets a tin medal for delaying opening Olympics ceremony

With the Winter Olympics taking place in Pacific time, we residents of the West Coast could at last look forward to television coverage in real time. So it was with astonishment and incredulity I learned this evening that the Sacramento NBC affiliate, KCRA TV, would delay broadcasting the opening ceremonies from Vancouver. I left work […]

Great moments in radio: Drew Brees on ESPN

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Drew+Brees&iid=7837401″ src=”c/d/a/5/Super_Bowl_XLIV_adb4.jpg?adImageId=10057853&imageId=7837401″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /] What a kick it was this morning to drive to work and hear Drew Brees on the ESPN Radio show The Herd with Colin Cowherd. This was not your ordinary morning-after interview with the winning Super Bowl quarterback. A few minutes into the interview, Cowherd asks Brees […]

The incomparable Jerry Rice nominated to the football Hall of Fame

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Jerry+Rice&iid=2932495″ src=”b/5/3/8/Super_Bowl_XXIV_afcd.jpg?adImageId=9973428&imageId=2932495″ width=”234″ height=”355″ /] Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith head the class of seven NFL players who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame at Canton, and I write today to lavish praise on Rice. He was incomparable, the dominant receiver of his era. He played superbly in […]

Don’t look back

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=satchel+paige&iid=6251079″ src=”e/8/0/f/Feller__Paige_0079.jpg?adImageId=9058614&imageId=6251079″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /] It’s the middle of the winter, roughly midway from the World Series to the opening of spring training, and I need some baseball inspiration. I found it in this photo of Bob Feller and Satchel Paige, from Oct. 15, 1946. Feller led an All-Star team of American […]

Mark McGwire comes clean

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Mark+McGwire&iid=7520370″ src=”2/e/7/0/FILE_PHOTO_Mark_0cd9.jpg?adImageId=8935258&imageId=7520370″ width=”234″ height=”350″ /] Mark McGwire finally admitted publicly today that he used steroids and human growth hormone during his brilliant yet tarnished Major League Baseball career. He’s a pitiable figure. I vividly recall the night he overtook Roger Maris for the single-season home run record, how he circled the bases […]

Ravens peck the Patriots in the NFL playoffs

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=Patriots&iid=7510690″ src=”d/0/d/8/Baltimore_Ravens_v_20b2.jpg?adImageId=8910284&imageId=7510690″ width=”234″ height=”162″ /] The Baltimore Ravens thrashed the New England Patriots today in the NFL playoffs 33-14 in a lopsided game in frigid Foxboro, Mass. I’m having a hard time getting interested in the playoffs, and runaway games don’t do much to lure me in. It’s obvious that the Patriots’ […]

Alabama defeats Texas to win the national championship

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=*&iid=7483370″ src=”9/9/5/f/BCS_National_Championship_d3f2.jpg?adImageId=8854749&imageId=7483370″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /] The final: ‘Bama 37, Texas 21. Did I watch? Not a play. But I listened to the last several minutes via ESPN’s streaming radio feed.

Tres bien: Andre Dawson elected to the Hall of Fame

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Andre+Dawson&iid=7473497″ src=”1/2/4/6/ANDRE_DAWSON_2172.JPG?adImageId=8829023&imageId=7473497″ width=”500″ height=”330″ /] Andre Dawson was elected to the Hall of Fame today, a rich reward for the speedy outfielder. He’s pictured above with Expos teammate Vance Law. Dawson only experienced the playoffs in two of his 21 years in the big leagues, so he didn’t get as much network […]

A tip of the cap to the Big Unit, Randy Johnson

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Randy+Johnson&iid=3277461″ src=”3/6/3/9/Randy_Johnson_51_421b.jpg?adImageId=8809165&imageId=3277461″ width=”500″ height=”336″ /] This is how I’ll remember Randy Johnson – snarling, defiant, dominant. His long hair a tangle, his facial hair prickly, his fastball hurtling menacingly toward the plate from that lanky 6′ 11″ frame. I’ll remember him most in a Mariners’ cap as above, for it was in […]