Sports
January 22, 2020 — Paul Mirengoff
Margaret Court is the greatest Australian female tennis player ever. In fact, she’s one of the very best female tennis players ever from any country, having won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other woman. Fifty years ago, Court accomplished one the most remarkable feats ever in women’s tennis — a calendar year “grand slam.” In other words, she won the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the
»
January 19, 2020 — Steven Hayward
While we await the start of today’s conference championship games, I came across a story from a few months back that just makes you want to stand up and salute our armed forces even more than usual: US troops drink Iceland capital’s entire beer supply in one weekend More than 6,000 soldiers were in Reykjavik for four days participating in the Trident Juncture 18 – a NATO-led military exercise. After their drills, the
»
January 14, 2020 — Scott Johnson
President and Mrs. Trump attended the LSU-Clemson national championship football game at the Superdome in New Orleans last night. LSU prevailed 42-25 to complete its historic season. The crowd roared when President and Mrs. Trump were announced. White House social media director Dan Scavino tweeted the video below. President Trump and First Lady Melania attend the #NationalChampionship at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana…. pic.twitter.com/zsS8ofdhNi — Dan Scavino (@DanScavino)
»
November 16, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Paul noted a couple days ago the very public “workout” publicity stunt of Colin Kaepernick, which was scheduled to go off at 3 pm eastern time today at Atlanta Falcons stadium. But suddenly this morning Kaepernick complained that the media were being overly restricted, and suddenly moved the event to a local high school and delayed the start time. ESPN reported about an hour ago: Colin Kaepernick’s NFL workout is
»
November 11, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Catching up with my accumulated hard copies of the Wall Street Journal over the weekend I came across Elizabeth Winkler’s excellent profile “Boston Celtic Enes Kanter Calls Foul on Repression in Turkey.” Subhead: “The outspoken NBA center has been labeled a ‘terrorist’ by his native country’s government for his association with an exiled cleric.” His family is trapped in Turkey and he has had to disavow them as they have
»
October 13, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Americans may be ill-informed about many things, but they know a lot about sports. So, ironically, it could be the NBA’s enforcement of Red China’s strictures on unapproved speech that, more than anything else, educates Americans on the nature of the Chinese regime. This happened on Wednesday, but I just saw it via InstaPundit. At an exhibition game between the Washington Wizards and the Guangzhou Long Lions at Capital One
»
October 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I learn from the 10-point guide to today’s Wall Street Journal by Matt Murray that “The NBA’s carefully plotted strategic emphasis on China was jolted off course by a tweet Friday night” (WSJ story posted here). Murray’s email newsletter condenses the WSJ story: The league scrambled to contain an escalating crisis in China after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong’s mass protests against Beijing’s authoritarian
»
September 6, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump honored NBA basketball legend Jerry West by awarding him the Medal of Freedom. If athletes are to be given this award, and presidents from both parties have done so, then West clearly deserves it. West is underappreciated. When folks talk these days about great guards of the 1960s, the focus is always on Oscar Robertson. Robertson is an all-time great, but so is West. He averaged 27.0 points
»
August 21, 2019 — Scott Johnson
The Cleveland Indians are in an intense divisional race with our Minnesota Twins. The Indians seem to have helped themselves by adding right fielder Yasiel Puig to their roster. Puig is a recently acquired power hitter who solidifies the middle of the Indians’ lineup. Having come over to the Reds after six years with the Dodgers, Puig was traded again to the Indians in a three-team deal just before the
»
July 20, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
For years, ESPN indulged in left-wing politics. I wrote about this here and here. But John Skipper, under whose direction ESPN took this unfortunate turn, is no longer running the network. It turned out that he had an addiction problem. Also, ESPN was hurting financially. ESPN’s new head, Jimmy Pitaro, issued a directive — stop doing politics. To my knowledge, it has been followed. Earlier this week, however, an ESPN
»
July 6, 2019 — Scott Johnson
We waited out the rain in Minneapolis to watch the Twins play the Rangers at Target Field last night. Getting into the stadium was a miserable experience. We stood in the rain in a line with no visible movement for over half an hour to make it into the stadium. Once the game got underway, however, the Twins made it worth the wait. They beat the Rangers 15-6 and played
»
May 2, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
I doubt that English Premier League soccer generates many hot takes on American sports gabfest shows. But the second tier of English soccer garnered some recently after a bizarre match between Aston Villa and Leeds United presented an outbreak of good sportsmanship. Aston Villa and Leeds United are two of English football’s blue bloods. Villa, the preeminent team in the Midlands, won a European championship in the 1980s. Leeds, the
»
April 30, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, the NCAA champion Baylor University women’s basketball team visited the White House to be honored by President Trump. Unlike their male counterparts from the University of Virginia, and various other sports championship teams, the “Lady Bears” were willing and, it seems, happy to accept an invitation from Trump. Coach Kim Mulkey is no stranger to the White House. She took championship teams there during the George W. Bush and
»
February 22, 2019 — Steven Hayward
I’m not much of an NBA fan (I prefer college hoops) but I did always enjoy watching Charles Barkley—”the round mound of rebound.” At only six-foot-six, Barkley always played like he was 6’10” around the rim. I even more enjoy listening to him talk. I remember when he was on the US Olympic “Dream Team” in the early 1990s, and a TV reporter asking him about their first round opponent,
»
February 4, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Everyone is complaining about yesterday’s supposedly boring Super Bowl game — that would be Super Bowl LIII, if you’re counting in Latin. With the rules of the game having been recalibrated continually to favor never ending offense, I appreciated the return of defense. If the halftime show was concededly a lowlight, the singing of the national anthem must be deemed the highlight. Out strolled Gladys Knight to sing the anthem.
»
February 3, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This morning, the Washington Post’s sports page featured an article called (in the paper edition) “The inexperience advantage.” The sub-title was “Rams’ 33-year-old McVay embodies national trend of unseasoned leader bringing fresh ideas to job.” Sean McVay’s success as a 33-year-old NFL coach is a remarkable story. The fact that his Rams lost the Super Bowl tonight doesn’t diminish it. But the claim by the Post’s Kent Babb that McVay
»
January 20, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Is there any corner of our lives into which politics does not intrude? It doesn’t seem so. Now it’s high school basketball. The Star Tribune reports: Jordan [High School] has pulled out of an invitational basketball event scheduled for Monday — Martin Luther King Day — being hosted by Minneapolis Roosevelt. Why? The fallout continues from last week’s dispute over a Donald Trump re-election flag being displayed by fans of
»
