There is no hotter team in sports right now than the Boston Bruins. Since a December 14 loss to the Washington Capitals, the Bruins have reeled off a 17-game streak in which they have either won or at least gotten to overtime—meaning that’s 17 straight games with a point. They just completed a strange stretch […]
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the aftermath of the AFC Championship Game has focused on whether the officials stuck it to Jacksonville in their 24-20 loss to New England. But I still am. My reaction at the end of watching the game was that I just seen something special—a proud veteran team, holding […]
It was during the midst of ESPN’s Tuesday Big Ten game, with Purdue putting the screws to Wisconsin, that TV analyst Dan Dakich, began talking about the network’s next game, Kentucky-South Carolina. Dakich said that this was about the quietest Kentucky team in years. I pondered it and thought how little I’d heard about the […]
This is a year of great expectation for the Michigan State basketball team, even by the standards of a program that has become accustomed, under Tom Izzo, for having high expectations. But after three straight shaky games—two decisive losses and one narrow escape, it’s fair to ask why Sparty is struggling and if it’s a […]
There were a lot of fun things you could take away from the run of college bowl games that just completed last night and set the stage for next Monday’s national championship game, but none of them get at the gut-level issue tugging at the strings of college football’s postseason. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS Start […]
The city of Los Angeles has waited a long time for a Super Bowl team. The last time an L.A.-based team reached a Super Bowl was the Raiders in 1983. While the Rams made it a couple times during their St. Louis stay, they haven’t done it in their natural home of Los Angeles since […]
When I look at a quarterback’s stats, my eyes shoot to three categories—completion percentage, yards-per-completion and interception percentage. In those three stats, I can see quickly if they’re hitting their throws, how much damage their doing and whether or not mistakes are being made. This morning, I decided it was time to sit down and […]
The juice in the AFC race is being provided by the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. They’re the most accomplished teams in the conference. They have the two best records. And they have a marquee head-to-head game this week in the late Sunday afternoon TV window that will likely decide the #1 seed in […]
The concept of a conference championship game in college football was first introduced by the SEC in 1992. As the years went by and more teams started to play a title game, it seemed like an idea that had tremendous promise. The first Saturday of December was going to be known as “College Conference Championship […]
In the aftermath of Ohio State’s 31-20 win over Michigan, the Buckeyes’ 13th win in the last 14 years in this traditional season-ending showdown, I went to a college football text thread I’m a part of where all of us are Big Ten-centric. I asked the simple, yet provocative question—how much longer are we obligated […]
The College Football Playoff rankings are due out in a couple hours and they’ve taken on a certain clarity. There a number of things we know for sure, with a handful of teams needing chaos. Here’s what I would consider to be certain… *The SEC champion is going. Even if it’s two-loss Auburn, the winner […]
We’re down to two weeks left in the college football regular season, and then Championship Saturday on December 2. Here are some thoughts on how the College Football Playoff, the New Year’s Six and the Heisman Trophy race are shaking out… *I think one of the more underrated parts of the CFP rankings are the […]
