Spring training begets baseball, followed soon by lawyers and lawsuits: Cubs rooftops, A-Rod, Pete Rose, Josh Hamilton, and even Ernie Banks from the grave are all ushering in the 2015 season.
On July 15, 2008 the final All-Star Game to ever be played at the original Yankee Stadium provided a sentimental House-that-Ruth-Built farewell and a decent, if not brutally long game, but baseball should say good-bye to this All-Star boondoggle.
Did America just witness the end of the baseball steroid era, or was that simply Moe, Larry, and Curly sucker-punching each other on national television?
NFL misconduct penalties for the 2007 season flagged players like cannon fodder. Now the suspended league miscreant Pacman Jones is trying to get back in, but league commissioner Roger Goodell has dug deep into the NFL soul to reveal the true source of declining league imagery: neck ties.
When Robert Horry rudely decked Suns point guard Steve Nash into the courtside press tables during Game 4 of the Suns-Spurs 2007 playoff series, he ignited a firestorm of debate over the application of NBA Rule VII(c) that prohibits players from leaving the bench area during altercations.
This sixtieth anniversary season of Jackie Robinson’s 1947 appearance as a Brooklyn Dodger will inspire many deserved accolades, but some praise may actually sell Jackie short.
Sports violence has become a part of our culture from a long line of hostilities that include a 1977 headline punch thrown by the Lakers’ Kermit Washington, Mike Tyson’s ear biting episode, and a 2006 cleat slashing of an NFL player’s face.
What do Barry Bonds, Roger Maris, and Pete Rose have in common? None is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and all are saddled by a good ol’ boy approach to revisionist history.
