As the Boston Celtics celebrate a long-awaited championship, we shouldn’t let their present victory suppress the disturbing questions that still linger from Finals past. Once again, the issue of the integrity of the NBA is in question. This should not be particularly surprising to anyone who watches much basketball, and especially NBA basketball. Tim Donaghy, the [...]

“Spanning the Globe to bring you the constant variety of sport; the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat; the human drama of athletic competition.” Each week, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” opened with the host, Jim McKay, doing this voiceover. McKay died Saturday at age 86. He was the ringmaster for The Olympic Games [...]

Big Brown’s victory at The Preakness on Saturday has set the stage for a possible Triple Crown winner. At Belmont Park on June 7, and in the three weeks leading up to it, there will be much excitement and speculation in anticipation of Big Brown’s big race. Ten horses have made it to this stage [...]

This is always a difficult time of year for me. I am never sure which leaves me with a greater numbness of the brain — the NFL draft or grading final exams. This is a question that will have to be resolved by greater minds than mine, particularly in my current mental state. The NFL draft is [...]

Americans may not have realized it before, but Pope Benedict XVI (did the NFL steal this number thing from the Pope?) is a baseball fan. The reason for his U.S. visit is obvious: He came to commemorate the 100th anniversary of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” On Thursday the Pope went to the Nationals’ [...]

When dealing with the NCAA, you can be certain that there will never be a shortage of hypocrisy. As March Madness gives way to April Sadness, two wonderful examples came flying out of the NCAA cupboard. The NCAA has, over the years, condemned the practice of scalping tickets at their events. Now the folks at the [...]

Those who experience historic events directly have their own unique memories of those events. As a historian I know the limits of memory and am wary of it. For what its worth these are my memories of Memphis at the time of troubles that reached a climax with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. ————————————————— It [...]

Have you caught March Madness? The television ratings thus far indicate that there is a greater chance this year than last that you have not. I have. I always do. I can’t help myself. No matter how much I loathe the hyping of March Madness, no matter how mentally disturbed I find many basketball coaches, no matter [...]

It has been about two weeks now since the news came that Ereck Plancher, a University of Central Florida football player, collapsed and died following a grueling conditioning workout leading up to spring football practice. He was 19 years old and had been an honor student in high school. He was just starting his second year [...]

“Nothing succeeds like success.” “Nothing exceeds like excess” (except perhaps avarice and greed). Or in the case of the National Football League: “Nothing succeeds like excess.” As we enter Super Bowl weekend we are reminded of these self-evident truths. Here we are once again at America’s mid-winter festival, the national holiday for the national pastime, Super Bowl XLII, where [...]