Colt McCoy hurt his shoulder, which was startling enough – and decisive enough – in the Alabama-Texas showdown for what college football bigwigs claim is a national championship, protests from potato country notwithstanding (more on that later).
Then something more amazing happened, once the game was over. Nick Saban smiled.
It only lasted a moment, or two, and then Saban was grim again, no doubt considering the next recruit, the next page to add to a playbook, or some other potential crisis that could derail the Crimson Tide machine, now restored to full force.
Alabama claims a lot of national championships. Eight of them are even official...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Alabama, national championship, Nick Saban

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Some things are certain in the coverage of sports in America - such as the head-shaking once the Baseball Hall of Fame ballots are revealed in the first days of the new year.
We've already lived for years with the complete outrage of no Marvin Miller in Cooperstown(though Doug Harvey and Whitey Herzog got overdue props by the veterans), but, as usual, the writers go a few steps further.
Today they gave the nod to Andre Dawson, who was really good, though not overwhelming, in his days with the Expos and Cubs. True, Hawk was an MVP..on a last-place Cubs team in 1987.
Yet Bert Blyleven stays out. He's still fifth all-time in strikeouts, way up there in shutouts, and fell just short of 300 wins despite playing on a lot of lousy teams...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Baseball Hall of Fame, voting, controversy, analysis

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So we're left with Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets and Ravens on one side, Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers and Eagles on the other.
And the NFL playoffs could not start in a weirder manner. You had the top seeds all but surrendering, even at 14-0 (see Indianapolis), and a last week of one-sided bores, three of them setting up direct rematches in this weekend's opening round.
What to make of it all? Well, maybe Roger Goodell is right in trying to force teams to at least be honest about their effort down the stretch...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: NFL, playoffs, first round, analysis

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So now we’re in 2010, and already the first huge debate has erupted – on how to say it.
Look, we went for a long while saying eighteen-this and nineteen-that, and it seemed to work just fine. Yet I hear a lot of people saying Two Thousand and Ten. Wait, did we say One Thousand, Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine?
Twenty-ten is short, snappy, and once we get in the habit, we’re fine for the rest of this century. And the year promises some big sports events in some special locales.
And we don’t waste any time with it. Ideally, the college football championship, BCS or (ideally) a playoff, would be settled every year in Pasadena, for the Rose Bowl Stadium has an aura no other place can match. Alabama and Texas fans, savor this one.
The Feb...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: 2010, sports, venues, attractions, preview

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As these last minutes of 2009 slip away, it might be a good time to take one more look back at the sports journey of the last 12 months..what worked, what didn't, what was and what might have been.
January - Sure, Florida got the crystal football, but it was Utah that went a perfect 13-0 and merited the national championship. Dismissed at 9-7, the Arizona Cardinals erased six-plus decades of playoff futility by winning the NFC title, and Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in a five-set Australian open final. Surely Federer was done, right?
February - An extrarodinary Super Bowl in Tampa saw James Harrison, Big Ben, Santonio Holmes and the Steelers snatch the crown from the upstart Cardinals in the final seconds...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: 2009, Sports Year, recap

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So Urban Meyer changed his mind. Is that a crime?
It's not even unique to big-time athletics at the University of Florida. Billy Donovan, in the wake of leading the basketball Gators to back-to-back NCAA titles, accepted a higher payday and a jump to the professional ranks with the Orlando Magic - then backtracked within hours. The Magic, with Stan Van Gundy, coped just fine, and Donovan settled for less money - but more happiness and peace of mind.
What, then, to make of Meyer? One moment, he'd had enough, was scared about not getting enough quality time with his children, and wanted out...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Urban Meyer, Florida, Colts, beaten

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Upon hearing the stunning news that Florida head coach Urban Meyer was stepping down at age 45, concerned about his own health, all that came to mind was a press conference 27 years ago, in the professional ranks.
There was Dick Vermeil, coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, just turned 46, a hero to everyone in green for transforming the long-suffering Eagles into NFC champions...and he was quitting?
Sure, the strike-shortened 1982 season had been a disaster in Philly, but no one wanted to get rid of Vermeil. And the fact that he was just going away, not running off to another coaching job? Simply preposterous.
But it wasn't crazy to Vermeil. What was crazy was what his life had become - nothing but coaching, 24/7, 12 months a year, nights spent sleeping in his office...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Urban Meyer, Florida, resignation, Dick Vermeil

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