Several months ago, news came out that the Major League Baseball team that has a lifetime contract with Satan, the New York Yankees, reached a deal to play host to a bowl game in the new Yankee Stadium. Already, the Yanks had been brokering deals to bring in regular season games with teams like Notre Dame and Army, in a desperate attempt to get Beano Cook to return their phone calls (they love you Beano — they didn’t mean what they said about 1950s Syracuse).
ESPN, the main generator of the out-of-control growth of bowl games in the past 20 years, has signed on to broadcast this massive mistake. Dec. 30, outdoors, a bowl game in New York City. Between the No. 3 Big East team and the No. 6 Big XII team, after BCS selections. RATINGS BONANZA!
And, oh, did you know what the official name of this steaming pile? It’s the..
Future generations will look back at such an abomination and rightly call us all idiots.
We kind of like Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. But with the hats, we never realized he looks like an everyday dude — an older everyday dude. The irony is that we’re older than he is. That’s what happens when you go bald early. He does act like a guy in his mid-20s, so that should have been a tip-off. Really — he’s totally into “Call of Duty.”
Well, Pedroia does this video for Boston station WEEI. If he was at any gym in Columbia, you’d think he was just another guy getting in his workout. But he is a former Rookie of the Year, American League MVP and MLB all-star. He won a World Series title. He has a Lebanese chef that cooks Tex-Mex. And like Over The Monster mentions, the best line is, “This shows I’m a man of fucking biceps.”
A while back during the NBA Finals, there was quite a Twitter debate among some South Carolinians about who was the best coach of all time. The lean was on L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson, but now The Sporting News has delved into that discussion and come up with its Top 50 coaches in American sports.
SN used a panel of 118 people, and — w00t — former Alabama, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Maryland head coach Bear Bryant beat out Jackson for the No. 3 spot. UCLA’s John Wooden, whose teams thoroughly dominated college basketball, claimed the title as best coach ever, followed by Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Don Shula and Red Auerbach were fifth and sixth.
Knute Rockne, who despite our bias against Notre Dame, we believe was the most influential coach in college football, came up at No. 10.
The lineup of voters was rather distinguished, with the exception of (gag) former Tide coaches Mike DuBose and Ray Perkins. Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier was one of those on the panel, but it’s unknown whether he filled out his own ballot or he had a staffer do the task. Former Carolina quarterback and legendary NFL coach Dan Reeves was in the group, as was former NFL coach and potential U.S. House candidate Sam Wyche.
The Sporting News Top 50
1. John Wooden, college basketball
2. Vince Lombardi, NFL
3. Bear Bryant, college football
4. Phil Jackson, NBA
5. Don Shula, NFL
6. Red Auerbach, NBA
7. Scotty Bowman, NHL
8. Dean Smith, college basketball
9. Casey Stengel, MLB
10. Knute Rockne, college football
11. Pat Summitt, women’s college basketball
12. Paul Brown, NFL
13. Joe Paterno, college football
14. George Halas, NFL
15. Chuck Noll, NFL
16. Bob Knight, college basketball
17. Joe Gibbs, NFL
18. Tom Landry, NFL
19. Mike Krzyzewski, college basketball
20. Bill Belichick, NFL
21. Adolph Rupp, college basketball
22. Joe McCarthy, MLB
23. Eddie Robinson, college football
24. Bobby Bowden, college football
25. John McGraw, MLB
26. Bill Walsh, NFL
27. Woody Hayes, college football
28. Connie Mack, MLB
29. Bud Wilkinson, college football
30. Pat Riley, NBA
31. Pete Newell, college basketball
32. Joe Torre, MLB
33. Bill Parcells, NFL
34. Tom Osborne, college football
35. Walter Alston, MLB
36. Bo Schembechler, college football
37. Toe Blake, NHL
38. Sparky Anderson, MLB
39. Al Arbour, NHL
40. Amos Alonzo Stagg, college football
41. Tony La Russa, MLB
42. Geno Auriemma, women’s college basketball
43. Dick Irvin, NHL
44. Ara Parseghian, college football
45. Chuck Daly, NBA
46. Bobby Cox, MLB
47. Hank Iba, college basketball
48. Tommy Lasorda, MLB
49. Gregg Popovich, NBA
50. Herb Brooks, NHL
In 2004, before the Boston Red Sox completed the most remarkable comeback in American sports, the team had this quote uttered by then-Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, “They beat me. They’re that good right now. They’re that hot. I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.” Fortunately for fans of the team that plays at Fenway Park, that’s turned around in the early 2009 season, as Boston has run off a streak of eight straight wins against the New York Yankees, not the least of which was Thursday’s 4-3 win at home.
The Sox went up with an early 1-0 lead courtesy of designated hitter David Ortiz’s second inning solo shot, but gave up three runs to New York in the top of the seventh in what looked to be a late-inning collapse. For Boston fans, this was probably another glance at a decades-long scene — the hometown boys getting screwed by the Evil Empire just when you think they might pull off the win. But, something has changed in recent years, especially this one, and the Red Sox came back with a brilliant three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to sweep the Yanks and take the lead in the AL East Division.
It should have been a chance for New York to break the hold the Red Sox have had on the team this season, and return to the Bronx with some sort of respect. After all, when one looks at a pitching matchup between C.C. Sabathia and Brad Penny, it should be a pretty easy bet on the Yankees to win. However, in the modern era, a team’s bullpen is pretty damn important, and New York simply doesn’t have an answer, according to columnist Dan Shaughnessy.
If there’s one thing that’s been established in these beatdowns, it is the undeniable fact that [Boston general manager] Theo [Epstein] and the minions have assembled a bullpen far superior to New York’s. It makes for a nightmare matchup. Night after night. Sabathia was the only Yankee starter to finish three innings in this series, and when the call is made to the pen, Boston wins every time.
Of course, this is still before the All-Star break, which every Sox fan knows is almost pointless. How many times has Boston set the woods on fire, only to fall apart as the regular season segues into the playoffs? How many times have the Yankees looked like crap, only to turn it around? Bad memories have a tendency to linger.
But hey, but hey, according to a number of commentators, the 2004 ALCS changed everything. The only remaining question is how long this Boston reign is going to last.
