Sports
January 22, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
In his first day as president, Joe Biden had something for almost everyone in his far-left coalition. For the climate alarmists, he signed an executive order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. For the radical LGBT crowd, he signed an executive order that I read as calling on schools across the country to allow transgender athletes to participate in the sport of their gender identity. (It says, “Children
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January 18, 2021 — John Hinderaker
I haven’t followed sports much since everything shut down, but last weekend, not being busy, I checked in on all four NFL games. Apart from the 60 Minutes commercials, it was a fun experience–excellent games and not much politics. I have been a Tom Brady fan since 2006 (I think), when I was participating in an event at the Kennedy School and staying at the Charles Hotel, and we got
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January 8, 2021 — Steven Hayward
Growing up in the LA area in the 1970s, I bled Dodger blue and loved Tommy Lasorda, who was a welcome upgrade in enthusiasm over the somnambulistic Walter Alston (though I gather Alston is considered to have been a great baseball manager—I’ll leave it to Paul for the final verdict). That was back when baseball offered continuity from season to season before free agency ran wild and scrambled lineups every
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December 28, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Even if you hate the NFL and its woke corporate stupidity, you have to love J.J. Watt. While the malleable personas running the NFL have the backbone of an overripe banana, Watt is a man of character. He has proved it in a variety of contexts. Yesterday he showed it in comments directed to his underperforming teammates. I love watching professional teams getting blown out. As a long-time Vikings fan,
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December 17, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
They are, according to this article in the Washington Post. And why wouldn’t they be? As a result of shutdowns and lockdowns, teenagers are not going to school, not playing sports, and not hanging out with friends. That’s a formula for depression and, in too many cases, suicide. The Post’s article, which appears in the sports page, focuses on the denial of opportunities to participate in sports: For many teens
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December 14, 2020 — John Hinderaker
The Cleveland Indians baseball club has announced that it will change the team’s name. This is the team’s statement, on Twitter: Statement from the organization.https://t.co/IHa68yEQGA pic.twitter.com/gGS6xutSOy — Cleveland Indians (@Indians) December 14, 2020 Here are my thoughts on portions of the statement: Since July, we have conducted an extensive process to learn how our team name affected different constituencies and whether it aligned with our organizational values. The purpose of
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October 18, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
California’s constitution provides: The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, and public contracting. Less controversial language is difficult to imagine in a nation or a state that hasn’t lost its way. That’s why Proposition 16, the left’s attempt to repeal California’s ban on
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October 15, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
As a sports fan, I read almost every day about current athletes and coaches who test positive for the Wuhan coronavirus. Yesterday, for example, I learned that legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban has tested positive. Twenty-one members of the University of Florida football team reportedly have, as well. From Italy comes word that the Napoli soccer team was required by local authorities to be quarantined due to a couple
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September 11, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
As I write this, the New York Yankees are pounding the Baltimore Orioles like it’s 2019. Nothing special about that. What might be noteworthy is that the Yankees players are wearing “NYPD” or, some cases “FDNY,” on their caps in place of the team name. The message isn’t political. Rather, it’s in honor of what the City’s police and fire departments did 19 years ago on 9/11. No serious person
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September 11, 2020 — Steven Hayward
Paul writes immediately below about the limitless racial politicization of professional sports going on at the moment, and it turns out the Gallup Poll people have just issued some bracing news for professional sports in their latest survey of public attitudes toward various industries. Here are the key findings regarding sports: The biggest slide, however, has been for the sports industry, with its positive score falling 15 points — from
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September 11, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
I didn’t watch the NFL’s opening game last night between Kansas City and Houston. However, I’ve read several accounts about the players’ approach to the National Anthem and related activity. Apparently, the NFL decided to play both the National Anthem and a song called “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is sometimes referred to as the black national anthem. The idea of a black national anthem should be offensive to
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September 10, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
This Spring, Sean Doolittle, the left-wing, left-handed relief pitcher for the Washington Nationals, said that America doesn’t deserve the “reward” of having spectator sports because Americans didn’t stay on lockdown as long as we should have. Or something. Deserve them or not, we have spectator sports. All of the ones I follow, and some I no longer do, will be in action this weekend. It seems, though, that a growing
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September 2, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Professional sports are acting in unison to close the exits and force their politics down our throats. The latest news involves the NFL: On a conference call on Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will imprint “End racism” and “It takes all of us” in the end zones at each stadium during the 2020 season. “The NFL stands with the Black community, the players, clubs and fans confronting
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August 11, 2020 — Steven Hayward
I’ve been tempted to tweak my liberal friends with the mischievous thought that COVID-19 is actually a Trump five-dimensional chess plot to destroy universities, unionized K-12 public education, and Hollywood (since TV and movie production is largely shut down too). Colleges and universities were already facing mounting financial pressure because enrollment is steadily declining and certain to get much worse in the coming decade (the result of falling birthrates back
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August 4, 2020 — John Hinderaker
My friend Clark Griffith was involved for many years in major league baseball. His family owned the Washington Senators, then the Minnesota Twins, for close to a century. Clark at one time more or less ran the Twins, and he played a major role in marketing Major League Baseball as well. Some say that the concept of standardizing team logos and making money by putting them on hats, shirts and
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August 3, 2020 — John Hinderaker
I never understood why pro sports leagues thought that buying into a far-left, anti-American narrative would ingratiate them with their fans. At the moment, it looks like my skepticism (shared by many, of course) was justified. Breitbart reports: “Ratings crash for NBA, MLB after protest-filled debuts.” As the NBA and MLB return from their coronavirus-imposed hiatus, it appears TV viewers are not interested in what the increasingly woke leagues have
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July 27, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Positive coronavirus test results are disrupting the major league baseball season, but there is good news from the National Hockey League. The NHL administered 4,256 tests to more than 800 players last week. None came back positive. During training camps, there were just two positive tests. During an earlier phase of the restart, dating back to June 8, the league reported 43 positive test results. All told, there have been
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