CRASH!!! Going Zero for the Final Four

CRASH!!!
That sound you heard was brackets breaking.
Been hearing it all weekend.
CRASH!!!
Things started out so well. Coming into the regional finals had three of four teams still alive.
Cookin’ with gal. Ready to rumble. Pedal to the metal.
Then it all came unraveled.
UConn’s win over Mizzou, no big deal. Had Memphis in this bracket, losing in the national [...]

Blanchard Was Johnny on the Spot for Yankees in 1961

Johnny Blanchard, right, Yogi Berra, left, and Elston Howard split catching duties with the World Champion 1961 New York Yankees.
In the long and storied history of major league baseball, no player has ever homered in five successive at  bats.
Johnny Blanchard, the former Yankee who passed away earlier this week, may have come the closest.
On July [...]

Ticked Off: Yankee Ticket Policy Sells Out Loyal Fan

The Yankees sent me a Dear John letter the other day.
It was sad. It broke my heart. No more pinstripe sweethearts.
The Yanks told me they had chosen others for their random single-game ticket lottery, They let me down easy with an option to buy any  remaining tickets online.
But outside from a pair of upper deck [...]

The Best of The SportsLifer: Top 10 Most Read Blogs

1. Woodstock: Better Late Than Never
“The thing the sixties did was show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn’t the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility.”
– John Lennon
Well, I finally made it to Woodstock, 39 years too late.
2. Empty Seats at Yankee Stadium
As the [...]

Gretzky Was The Great One, But Orr Was The Greatest

Bobby Orr soars after overtime goal gives Bruins the 1970 Stanley Cup.
On September 18, 1975, publishing heiress turned urban guerilla Patty Hearst,  victim of a bizarre kidnap by the Symbionese Liberation Party, was found by federal US agents following one of the most extensive manhunts in history.
That same afternoon, a cub reporter from the Fitchburg [...]

Cardinals Rule: Louisville Picked to Win NCAA Tournament

It says here, sometime around midnight on Monday night, April 6, Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals will be celebrating a win over the Oklahoma Sooners and cutting down the nets in the Motor City.
Pitino is due to join a select group of coaches whose teams have won at least two NCAA championships. And if Louisville wins, [...]

Once Upon a Time, Holy Cross Was King of Hoops

The Last Amateurs, John Feinstein’s highly acclaimed chronicle of a season in the Patriot League, talks about playing for glory and honor in Division One basketball — but not for NCAA basketball championships. That’s left to the big guys, the elite.
In fact, for the vast majority of the 342 Division One combatants — the small [...]

Free Falling Newspapers Making Wrong Kind of Headlines

The newspaper industry continues in full free-fall mode, with shutdowns, layoffs and cutbacks…and more rumors of impending doom every day.
On the heels of the Rocky Mountain News closing, the Seattle Post-Intelligencier is said to be next on the list.
TIME, a magazine in jeopardy judging by the lack of advertising and shrinking size of weekly issues, [...]

Madison Square Garden: House of Horrors for Locals

Madison Square Garden. It’s called the world’s most famous arena, but for its two prime tenants, the Knicks and the Rangers, it’s been a house of horrors.
For the most part, it’s the visitors who shine brightest at the Garden — from Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and the like on the hardwood, to Bobby [...]

When Great Is Not Good Enough

For some baseball players, being great just wasn’t good enough. Money, adulation and a lifetime legacy, nice but….these guys were greedy, and they had to have more.
In Biblical proportions, greed is the golden calf, one of the seven deadly sins, the Tenth Commandment.
The 18th Century economist Adam Smith theorized that capitalism itself was based on [...]