Champions League Preview, Part One
Few sporting events in the world can match the majesty of the Champions League, and now that the Round of 16 is here, we're watching the best of the best. Part one of our preview kicks off with Man...
View ArticleRaising NFL Pregames' IQ?
The hiring of Tony Gonzalez for CBS's <em>NFL Today</em> (replacing Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe) hopefully shows that the network understands it's not about how many people are behind a...
View ArticleTottenham struggles
Last weekend's loss to lowly Norwich has all the feel of the final nail in the coffin for Tottenham. Liverpool now has a six point lead on them, but even that margin isn't impossible to close. It's far...
View ArticleFall of the EPL?
Over the last couple of years, there have been winks and nods that the English Premier League is losing its claim as the best soccer league in the world. La Liga has become slightly more competitive...
View ArticleAntiquated Thinking
Fox could have hired someone who could speak to the statistical realities of modern baseball to replace Tim McCarver. Instead, it hired Harold Reynolds, who has proven to be stubbornly opposed to...
View ArticleGhost in the room
CBS and Turner executives met with the media on Tuesday to explain how they will extract the most value from the $770 million they spend on tournament rights each year. But there was a ghost in the...
View ArticleHow To Watch The NCAA Tournament
The annual three-week long power struggle known as the NCAA tournament is nearly upon us. Here's a primer to guarantee you won't miss a minute of the action, no matter where you are at game time.
View ArticleBucking The System
While a long-term contract is supposed to provide security, in the NFL big deals often mean little. So while Darrelle Revis' one-year Patriots deal may not be conventional, renegotiating every year...
View ArticleSelection Showmanship
CBS' Selection Sunday a relatively peculiar holdover from a different time -- and certainly appealing, in many ways. Unfortunately, all the unnecessary analysis and appeal to controversy after the...
View ArticleForgotten Four
The NCAA tournament tips off Tuesday night. Kind of. Er, not really. The actual tournament, with its 16-games-a-day insanity, doesn't begin until Thursday, but the four play-in games on Tuesday and...
View ArticleDouble Standard
When it comes to Jim Irsay's personal issues, the media tended to be humane. Unfortunately, the same sympathy is rarely extended toward NFL players, who are either condemned for their thoughtless...
View ArticleAssault to the Senses
Is it possible to pay attention to every single early NCAA tournament game at the same time? This writer set up a mini-command center in his room -- TV, desktop PC, laptop and tablet -- and parked...
View ArticleMisplaced Criticism
College athletes -- unpaid, amateur college athletes -- are increasingly being treated as though they are professionals by fans and media alike. As Doug Gottlieb's comments have shown, it's unfair to...
View ArticleInsult to Injuries
Arsenal spent longer at the top of the EPL than any club, yet few experts -- or fans -- seriously believed they'd stay there. Now that the team is crashing back to earth, turning on the team's coach...
View ArticleDifference Of Opinion
Whether or not you like Bill Raftery, Verne Lundquist or any other commentator depends on how you want to view the game. Do you want just the facts? Goofy gimmicks? Yet commentators have to please...
View ArticleDivergent Crews
Turner Sports aired three simultaneous broadcasts of each Final Four game, featuring home announcers for each team and the usual neutral crew. It's great to see networks trying something different,...
View ArticleMining the Past
If you're having a slow news day, why not bend the space-time continuum? That seemed to be the inspiration behind ESPN's awkward "live-blogging" of Hank Aaron's historic 715th home run. Let's hope this...
View ArticleRemembering The Whalers
When you root for a team that doesn't exist, wins are briefly sharing a memory with a random person. Losses are when you walk into the Official NHL Store in New York City and are greeted with a display...
View ArticleThe Doc Is In
The trick for any commentator is to capture a game's spirit and on this front Mike "Doc" Emrick -- NBC's lead play-by-play announcer for the NHL -- cannot be matched. Emrick's called thousands of...
View ArticleFollowing a Legend
When Sir Alex Ferguson, undisputably the greatest manager in English soccer history, named David Moyes his successor, there was nowhere for United to go but down. But how much of this season was really...
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