Sports Takes Category

It’s Time. Wimbledon. The French Open held relatively true to form on the men’s side, but will Wimbledon cooperate? To answer this, we must analyze the draw (and make some lucky but ‘educated’ guesses).   1st QUARTER It’s easy to say who will likely emerge from this grouping, and his name rhymes with Movak Smoshevidge. But his opponent in the quarterfinal is not so simple to predict. Tomas Berdych usually plays well at Wimbledon (made the Final in 2010), but his path to the quarters is not edged with roses.Read More

Art Briles is running something pretty special in Waco, Texas. Baylor football has been the laughing stock of the Big 12 pretty much since it’s inclusion in 1996. From 1996 to 2009, Baylor did not record a single winning record. In these 13 years, the Bears total record was 43-101 including an abysmal 14-85 in Big 12 play. Something changed after that. Since 2010, the Bears have been on a magical run with their four best seasons in school history. They have gone 36-16 over these four years including 22-13Read More

I could call it “situation”, but really it’s a debacle.  A horrible and confusing predicament that we have been put in as a nation.  The World Cup has begun, and there has already been a lot of drama around upsets, bad calls, dramatic finishes, and the like.  The United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) has almost completely been thrown to the side and discredited as one that has zero chance of making it past their group play into the elimination stages.  As we officially begin to wade into the CupRead More

As a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and a fan of sports in general, I would like to begin this letter with a heartfelt and resounding thank you to one of the most influential players to have been a part of the still-young Thunder franchise.  Derek Fisher, even though you were only a part of the program for a few years, your leadership and poise have helped to bring the program through some tough situations and have worked wonders for a club that needed those elements to bring itRead More

The San Antonio Spurs are giving Miami a reality check this year. They ran away with game 3 of the NBA Finals and did it again in game 4 to go up 3-1 heading back to San Antonio. After back-to-back NBA championships, it appears the Big 3 are human after all. Miami, with the combination of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, won 2 straight titles. A win this year would make it a 3-peat, but it seems out of reach. The Spurs “big 3” …or 4 or 5Read More

Defending US Open champion Justin Rose tees off alongside Phil Mickelson Thursday at Pinehurst. The Open is the one major championship that has always eluded Mickelson. If he can pull of a win this weekend, he would be the sixth player ever to complete a career Grand Slam. Gary Player is the only golfer in history to complete his career Grand Slam at the US Open. Mickelson is looking to join him. Phil Mickelson has a record 6-time runner-ups at the US Open, including finishing second to Payne Stewart in the historicRead More

If you had read my preview about the French Open, then watched the tournament unfold, you probably think I’m a hack who hasn’t the slightest clue what I’m talking about. And you might be right. So I’ll try again. But this time I’m going to analyze what makes Rafael Nadal a French Open winning machine. And it begins and ends with his psychological make-up. Please stay awake…. Putting Nadal’s Run In Perspective On Sunday, Rafael Nadal extended his French Open champion streak to nine. This gives him a comfortable leadRead More

Men’s Final Novak Djokovic entered Sunday No. 2 in the world. His opponent for the French Open title was none other than the world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. On top of being No. 1, Rafa is an 8-time French Open champion. Djokovic was looking for his first title at Roland Garros. The first set went 6-3… Djokovic. The second… 7-5 Nadal. Rafa roared back for a hard fought second set win and brought that energy right into the third set taking five straight games in the stretch. The roles reversedRead More

No. 1 and No. 2 in the world face one another Sunday at Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal is 22-19 in his career against Novak Djokovic. The reigning French Open champ will be facing the opponent with the best chances of beating him. The only other player to win double digit matches against Nadal is Roger Federer, and he’s won just 10 over Rafa. Current Wimbledon champ Andy Murray came close to the finals Friday in a tough straight set loss to Nadal at 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Murray came out hot in theRead More

In honor of New York’s first shot at the Stanley Cup since ’94 and my good old Brooklyn roots, I’ve spent the majority of my weeknights this playoff season plopped in front of three or four unnecessarily large televisions at the bar across the street from my apartment (I don’t get NBC). My Ranger-fan friends believe strongly in ju-ju (urban dictionary: Gypsy word for luck). In other words, they believe in watching the game where you watched the last win (and will make you stay in the kitchen if theyRead More

“I’m gonna fight ’em off A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back” – White Stripes (Seven Nation Army)   A seven nation army, you say? How about nine? The defending NBA champion, Miami Heat has used Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes as a theme song for the last few years. Admittedly, they weren’t the first to do it, but they are the most popular. For the second year in a row, we have the Heat playing against the San Antonio Spurs.  The Spurs have players who wereRead More

After the usual 5 month hiatus following the Aussie Open, springtime in Paris has arrived. But a breeze of intrigue and uncertainty has befallen this French Open. The perennial favorites are still the favorites, but where they will finish remains a mystery. Let’s examine these perennial particulars and make some fun predictions…. Roger Federer Whether the year is 2004, or 2014, Federer is always a favorite to win a tournament. If you type in ‘longevity personified,’ you will see his image next to Ron Paul and Jesus. And it isRead More

Former NFL players are a mess. Whether their plight is due to too many concussions, poor financial choices (2 years after retirement, an absurd 78% of NFL retirees are bankrupt or in debt), or now, painkiller addictions, the NFL stars of yesterday seem destined to spend their elderly years in poor physical, mental, and financial health. This week, it came to light that a group of eight former NFL players are suing the NFL, alleging that the league “illegally supplied them with risky narcotics and other painkillers that numbed theirRead More

Two nights ago the NBA Draft Lottery took place. With the exception of one team, the lottery ended up going chalk. Here are a list of winners and losers of the night.   Cleveland Cavaliers – Winner Cleveland ruined it for everybody.  Before the lottery, I said that there was no way that Cleveland would win. Now, they have the number one pick for the 3rd time in 4 years. One one hand, it means that the ugly tanking of Philadelphia and other teams was not rewarded by the ping pongRead More

In case you’ve been living under a rock, on Jupiter, then you know the NFL Draft happened last weekend and a defensive player from Missouri got drafted by St. Louis in the seventh round. He was really good in college, played on a really good team in a really good conference, and was the defensive player of the year in that conference. He’s a tad undersized for his position but he makes up for physical deficiencies by playing with maximal effort all the time. He attacks the quarterback with frequency,Read More