Who’s the more aggrieved Bay Area athlete – Alex Smith or Brian Wilson?

There’s nothing “tender” in the dispensing of major league contracts to baseball players. San Francisco last week declined to offer a contract to Brian Wilson, the fierce and funky closer who in 2010 helped the Giants win their first World Series since the franchise bolted New York for the West Coast. Wilson has been rehabbing […]

New York vs. Boston again – but I’m OK with that

On these posts I’ve complained, whined and kvetched about how America’s major television networks and the media overall are obsessed with the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. Super Bowl XLVI is upon us, and we have another Boston-New York matchup with the Patriots and Giants. The network executives must be mighty pleased that those two big northeastern […]

The baseball season ends, and winter begins

It’s no coincidence: The baseball season concluded last night as the Cardinals knocked off the Rangers in St. Louis, and it’s snowing this morning in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York. What more do fans of the Phillies, Pirates, Yankees and Mets need to remind them that the 2011 season didn’t go their way? But what […]

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 […]

Labor troubles, the NFL and a bit of perspective

National Football League owners and the players’ union broke off negotiations today, and a whole lot of stuff I don’t understand will follow. What I do understand is that if the football season is delayed or scrubbed, I will survive and life will go on. That’s a lesson I learned from the long Major League […]

Peering past Super Bowl Sunday to the start of Spring Training

We have one more week of bread-and-circus hoopla leading up to the Super Bowl, and then we can shift our full attention to what really matters: baseball. Spring training is just around the corner. Knowing that pitchers and catchers will soon be breaking out the balls and mitts keeps us going through the cold months. […]

A great matchup for Super Bowl XLV

The best teams in football advanced to the Super Bowl today – Green Bay and Pittsburgh. On paper this appears to be an epic matchup between franchises with great legacies, and it’s likely to draw a huge TV audience in the U.S. and around the world. The pairing of the Packers and Steelers also underscores […]

Oakland Raiders cut Cable, and other musings on big-league coaching

Word is out tonight from the Bay Area that Al Davis has given the heave-ho to Coach Tom Cable, who guided the Raiders to an 8-8 record this season, their best in recent years. Evidently improving operations is not enough in Oakland, where it’s “just win, baby.” Or so it’s supposed to be. The Raiders […]

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 […]

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’ […]