Steve Leblang 
When Joe Burrow went down with a season-ending injury two weeks ago, conventional wisdom insisted that the Cincinnati Bengals’ chances to return to the post-season were all but over. And less than two years removed from a near-victory in the Super Bowl on the Los Angeles Rams’ home field, they would be in the inglorious … Read more
And you thought the reality TV seasons were winding down? Au contraire. Because yesterday, ESPN, via its stooges known as the college football selection committee, announced its casting for what will thankfully be the final four-team College Football playoff. Michigan–and don’t anyone out there even THINK of putting an asterisk anywhere NEAR their name–is number … Read more
There’s actually a significant post-season football game taking place in Los Angeles this fall, despite the fact that at this moment the Rams and Chargers are both sub-.500 teams, likely not even to get a home playoff game even if they somehow make the last third of their season count, and, sorry, for either of … Read more
To be a fan of the New York Rangers has historically been difficult. Older fans will remember an era of the six-team NHL, especially the 40s, 50s and early 60s, when more often than not they’d finish without an appearance in the playoffs, difficult considering two-thirds of the league did so at the time. And … Read more
Sorry, B10 fans, both the Victors/Victims triumphant and the consternated and agitated Buckeye faithful. Because for as exciting as your more playoff-relevant game may have been yesterday, it may have been the Game of the Century, but it arguably wasn’t even the Game of the Day. Because what happened at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium was positively … Read more
Unless you’re one of the few sports fans that honestly don’t give a whit about football, you’re probably aware that Michigan will be hosting Ohio State in a matter of hours for what will undoubtedly be the Game of the Year. Suffice to say, they won’t be rolling out a red carpet, or even a … Read more
This was supposed to have been a seminal event for the National Football League. For the first time in its history, it was making a land grab for yet another opportunistic day and time to galvanize a national audience for a game. Despite the fact that it has played on Thanksgiving Day since the 1930s … Read more
It turned out to be a fairly great night on the Las Vegas Strip for the growing global cult that adores Formula 1 racing. For only the third time in its storied history, a championship event was staged on American soil (well, blacktop) and it produced a storyline that was more than apropos for a … Read more
It wasn’t easy to become a college sports fan growing up in the heart of New York City. By the time I came of age, there was no truly significant major football program within a 75-mile radius, and if you happened to go to Columbia games at the tip of upper Manhattan at what was … Read more
I like to think I’m a fairly passionate football fan, and I know my colleague Gaurav is most definitely one, particularly if it involves the colors scarlet and grey and the work Buckeye. But I would contend neither one of us could hold a candle to anyone who really loves the sport in the state … Read more