40 seasons ago, not long after the College All-Star game ceased to exist, ABC Sports decided to get an early start on showcasing their marquee franchise by pitting the number one college football team from the previous year, Nebraska, against Penn State (at the time, not their conference foe) in the first-ever Kickoff Classic, staged … Read more
My first paying job was a paper route delivering the afternoon Long Island Press door-to-door to homes in my neighborhood after school so communting husbands had something to lock themselves in their bathrooms with while they waited for dinner to be prepared, so as to avoid any idle conversation with their beleaguered wives. It skirted … Read more
I’ll preface this with the revelation I friggin’ detest the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, I respect how revered they are by their fan base, and their history is as rich and filled with Hall of Famers as any modern NFL franchise. Yet I detest how the Cowboys have consistently marketed themselves as America’s Team, choosing to … Read more
You ever see that trolling Family Guy meme where Stewie likens his disappointment with Halloween to that of being a Mets fan? It goes something like this: “Opening Day…And Here’s The First Pitch…Aaaaand The Season’s Over”. Stewie then tosses his Mets cap (carefully lacking the official team logo) into his lap in sheer disgust. The … Read more
When The Big 10 effectively became the Big 16 with the addition of USC and UCLA, making it a coast-to-coast conference, there was rampant speculation that it was a prime candidate for a streaming service, such as Apple or Amazon, to place a pre-emptive bid for its broadcast rights, especially its football games. Well, this … Read more
During a 13-year career with the San Francisco 49ers as a bruising defensive tackle, Bryant Young inflicted quite a bit of pain on opposing offenses. Nothing compared to the pain inflicted upon him by life in 2016. Let MSN pick up the story–frankly, I’m a bit too teary-eyed myself to continue for the moment: On … Read more
My new friends who live and breathe USC Trojan sports are over the moon today. Practice for the upcoming season began yesterday; the first time its retooled roster under its expensive new coach Lincoln Riley took the field. College football in 2022 is entering uncharted waters, as de facto free agency is now in effect … Read more
Two opening days in the span of 24 hours, on two different continents. Two interpretations of the word football. Two sure signs that ,despite the heat wave apocolypse that has befallen this mortal soil, cooler days may yet return and, short of that, excitement and drama are indeed on the way. Last night, the NFL … Read more
DeShaun Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins now have something else in common besides the fact they are both NFL stars and the first two letters of their first name. Both will now face six-game suspensions at the outset of this upcoming season. One of these gentlemen definitively violated his own body with PEDs. One of these … Read more
During one of the most oppressive summer heat waves in global history, two sure signs of hope for cooler days ahead arrived this week. One was the arrival of pumpkin-shaped Reese’s peanut butter cups, more than three months ahead of the actual holiday. Way too many empty calories for me, and besides chocolate tends to melt quicker … Read more