Sports

Fired North Texas Coach in Black Mood

My alma mater, the University of North Texas, made national news this past week when a booster for its football program threatened to withhold a $1 million donation after the team fired Coach Darrell Dickey. In nine seasons, Dickey led the Mean Green to four straight Sun Belt Conference championships and the first bowl trip since 1959. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in the school's modest football history, but two losing seasons and criticism over recruitment led to his ouster. He's ... (read more)

2006/11/21

If You Had Told Me in 1986 ...

Trying desperately to find a silver lining in the loss of the House and likely loss of the Senate, rabid Republican blogger Hugh Hewitt writes: ... if you had told me in 1986 that 20 years later there would be a Republican president facing a 20 seat Democratic majority in the House and a two seat Democratic majority in the Senate -- and that the Soviet Union had collapsed -- I'd have cheered long and loud. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. That's a very weird use of the "if you had told me x ... (read more)

2006/11/08

You Stay Classy, Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts punter Hunter Smith took a weird shot at the Jacksonville Jaguars after their game Sunday: Jacksonville is like a stand-up comic who can only use vulgarity and curse words because he lacks intelligence and lacks class. He really doesn't have anything to say. Our intangible is our class and our intelligence. A team that gets personal fouls the way they do, the roughing penalties, they just don't have any material. That may be the most haughty insult I've ever heard from an NFL ... (read more)

2006/09/26

SMU's Loss to UNT Its Worst Ever?

Covering last night's UNT-SMU game, Dallas Morning News columnist Gerry Fraley writes, "The alumni wanted coach Ray Morrison's head after the Mustangs lost the first game in school history -- at TCU in 1915." SMU had no alumni in 1915. That's the year the school opened. Speaking as a UNT homer, the rest of Fraley's commentary is equally sloppy. The North Texas team that beat SMU as a five-point underdog Saturday is one season removed from four consecutive Sun Belt championships. Though the ... (read more)

2006/09/10

That's the Reason I'm a Mavericks Fan

Sigh. ... (read more)

2006/06/21

In the second inning against the New York Yankees last night, Scott Baker was pitching for the Minnesota Twins when he felt something snap. "Joe Mauer is asking for Ron Gardenhire to come out. I don't know what ... Baker at the moment is walking off the field ..." ... (read more)

2006/04/15

Web Publishers Take Gamble with Casino Ads

I wrote an article for Wired News today about efforts by the U.S. government to go after web publishers who run gambling ads. One of the biggest losers is Sporting News, the media company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In January, the company surrendered $4.2 million in revenue to avoid prosecution for advertising gambling sites between 2000 and 2003 in its magazine, as well as on its website and syndicated radio network. Tune in Sporting News Radio today and you'll hear the other ... (read more)

2006/04/14

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I've begun following FC Dallas, the Major League Soccer team originally known as the Dallas Burn, as part of my embrace of all things soccer in the run up to the World Cup. My friend Wade Duchene has been after me for years to start following international football, which he discovered while stationed overseas during the first Gulf War, and I run a sports community weblog that has attracted a bunch of Premiership fans. Resistance was futile. Soccer in Great Britain is as huge as any pro sport ... (read more)

2006/04/10

Watch Out for the Guns

The Jacksonville Barracudas hockey team has been run the last several years by Ron Duguay, the former New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings player. Duguay was a '70s heartthrob who skated without a helmet, relying on big hair to protect his head. In a story about Duguay stepping down from the team, the Florida Times-Union included a photo of Duguay in his office, where he hung a bare-chested poster of himself showing off Ron Burgundy-like guns and a total eclipse of the hair. If you'd like Ron ... (read more)

2006/04/10

The Dodgers Will Never Forget Hiroshima

I attended Sunday's spring training game between the Dodgers and Nationals at Vero Beach, the first time I've seen a game at the legendary Dodgertown. There are no bad seats, the atmosphere is completely laid back and you're right on top of the players. I sat so close to Eric Gagne warming up along the third base line I could've made a beer run for him. The history of Dodgertown dates back to the years the team played in Brooklyn, and I found a very unexpected relic from those days in the ... (read more)

2006/03/20