Sports
June 10, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Former NFL star Chad Johnson (known as Chad Ochocinco for a time during his playing days) was sentenced to 30 days in jail for a probation violation in a domestic violence case (he head-butted his wife). Johnson was set to serve no jail time, thanks to a plea bargain. But the judge rejected the deal after Johnson slapped his attorney’s backside when the judge asked him if he was satisfied
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June 6, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens visited President Obama at the White House. The reports I read noted that a few members of the championship squad were unable to attend because they were practicing with a new team. But I saw no mention that any member skipped the event as a protest. It turns out, however, that center Matt Birk did just that. Birk, who retired after
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May 24, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Most of us read a newspaper’s sports pages for a respite from the generally depressing news of the day, and there was once a time when we could even expect a conservative outlook from most sports reporters. But those days are long gone. For some reason, today’s sportswriters are, if anything, farther to the left than their brethren in the news room. Moreover, some of the most obnoxious, far-left news
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May 9, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Being a reserved sort of guy, I tend to disapprove of social pressures to do things like kiss your girlfriend or wife. Or whoever that woman to your left might be. Still, I’ve gotten used to the Kiss Cam, which is a fixture at Target Field and most sports venues. At this point, if I saw myself on the screen along with my wife, or someone else who looks reasonably
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May 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
A new Associated Press-GfK national survey finds that 79 percent of the public believe the Washington Redskins name should not be changed. Only 11 percent think it should be changed. Some Redskins fans have criticized the Washington Post — which has championed a name-change — for delaying its posting of this result on its website, and then putting up a story that seems to bury the poll results. However, the
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April 30, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
In case you have been vacationing in Outer Mongolia, let me be the first to inform you that NBA player Jason Collins has disclosed his sexual orientation — gay. I have no interest in the sexual orientation of Collins or anyone else, and I doubt you do either. At the same time, it is easy to imagine that Collins has had a rough time of it in “the closet”. So
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April 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Aquille Carr is a 5’7″ (maybe) high school point guard. He’s nicknamed “the Crime Stopper” because during his games in a tough area of Baltimore, Carr’s must-see play was said to bring a halt to crime. Today, in a less impressive feat, Carr was “the blog stopper” as far as I’m concerned. That is, I put blogging and all other pursuits aside to watch Carr play in a high school
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April 18, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Pat Summerall died earlier this week. Football fans will remember him as “the voice of our Sundays” — an understated, easy to listen to CBS play-by-play man, who brought us many of the NFL’s biggest games for almost 30 years. Football fans of a certain age will also remember him as a clutch placekicker for the New York Giants. In 1958, his game-winning 49 yard field goal in terrible conditions
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April 5, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
We complete our trip down NCAA basketball memory lane by selecting the very best players in Louisville history. Of this year’s Final Four, Louisville is the only team that has won more than one championship. They claimed the title in 1980 and 1986. They might have also have won it in 1975. In the semifinals, the Cardinals led mighty UCLA (in coach John Wooden’s last season) and just needed to
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April 5, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
We continue our look at the all-time best basketball players for the schools paricipating in this year’s Final Four. Syracuse is now up, and with all of its great stars, we’ll need to select three teams. First team Sherman Douglas (1986-89) Lightly recruited until late in his senior year at Washington D.C.’s Spingarn High, went on to become Syracuse’s all-time leader in asists and number 6 all-time in points (he
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April 4, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Jack Pardee died earlier this week. I remember Pardee not just for his great play for the Washington Redskins and his solid stint as our coach, but also for his remarkable football life — as rich as any I can think of. That football life began playing six-man football for a small Texas high school (Pardee also worked in the oil fields throughout high school to help support his family).
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April 2, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Let’s continue our look at the top players in the history of this year’s NCAA Final Four teams. Today, Wichita State is up. In recent years, the Shockers, who play their home games in Charles Koch Arena, have been a high-quality mid-major team. But back in the day, they were, at times, indisputably a national power house. During the 1964-65 season, for example, Wichita State was briefly ranked number 1
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April 1, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Is there a more overrated sporting event than the NCAA basketball tournament? Maybe soccer’s World Cup, but I doubt it. This year’s brick-fest was also a rout-fest, as the tourney failed to produce anything close to the number of dramatic contests one would expect from so many games between alleged quality teams. To relieve the boredom, and to remember better times, I thought I’d come up with all-time all-star teams
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March 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The World Cup qualifying campaign of the U.S. soccer team gained a big boost this week from a 1-0 victory at home over Costa Rica and a 0-0 draw against Mexico. Although we are still early in the campaign, qualification seems likely. The U.S. need only finish third in a six team group to advance, and a fourth place finish would enable us to qualify if we can then beat
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March 21, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Adrian Dantley is among the three best basketball players (along with Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing) ever produced by Washington, D.C., and the best high school player our area has seen in the past 50 years. As a pro, Dantley average 24.4 points per game over a 15 year career. He stands 25th on the NBA’s all-time points scored list. Dantley scored most of his field goals from the low
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February 28, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Normally, a mid-season NBA game between the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards would be unworthy of comment, even by my offbeat approach to what’s interesting in sports. But there’s a lesson, albeit an unsurprising one, in last night’s game between these two lowly teams. With the Pistons leading 96-95 and time just about expired, the Wiz’s Trevor Ariza took a potentially game-winning shot from the corner. The shot tickled
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February 20, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Last summer, I posted with approval a critique of the report by Louis Freeh regarding Penn State’s actions related to the sexual abuse committed by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The critique was written by a friend of mine — a top-notch lawyer and former federal prosecutor. Our conclusion was that the Freeh report is badly flawed and that the case against Joe Paterno is weak to
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