For those who expected the Green Bay Packers to reach the Super Bowl this season, last Sunday night in Atlanta might have been a rude awakening. But as one of those observers who considers Green Bay a decisive favorite in the NFC and a slight favorite to win it all, the 34-23 loss to the […]
The baggage of October failures is all around the Washington Nationals. It’s their own recent past, with Division Series losses in 2012, 2014 and 2016, all in situations where they either had the series by the throat or were the more talented team. You might say it’s an inherited gene—the Montreal Expos, the organizational forerunner […]
After Notre Dame’s 20-19 home loss to Georgia on Saturday night, the media vultures have been out and swirling around head coach Brian Kelly. The reaction of the fan base seems to be along the lines “we let another one get away.” I understand the reaction—heck, I wrote a blog post before the season saying […]
The Cleveland Indians’ win streak hit 18 games on Sunday. After a year in which the focus has been on either the Astros or the Los Angeles Dodgers, are Terry Francona’s Indians the team to beat as we head toward the postseason? Las Vegas has a split verdict. The Dodgers are still THE team to […]
The Washington Redskins had a tough offseason. General manager Scot McCloughan was chased out of town in a power struggle. The team couldn’t make a decision on Kirk Cousins and continued to overpay him on the franchise tag. And while it was assumed the ‘Skins wouldn’t be able to keep both Pierre Garcon and Desean […]
The media tendency to overreact to whatever happened more recently has now come to this—Aaron Judge, who was anointed the MVP at the All-Star break, plays for the Yankees, electrified the country in the Home Run Derby, has now—thanks to a rough month and a half—actually managed to be underrated in the push for the […]
The Indiana football team made a noble run at upsetting #2 Ohio State last night in Bloomington. The Hoosiers outplayed the Buckeyes in the first half and led 21-20 into the third quarter. Raw talent took over and the final ended up 49-21. That leaves Indiana to ask the question of how good they can […]
It’s a race that begins with 62 teams and only one survives. The schools of “The Little Five” conferences (American, Mountain West, MAC, Conference USA & Sun Belt) get one bid in college football’s big bowls, The New Year’s Six. Anointing any one team as a prohibitive favorite in a field this large is dicey, […]
Third base has been a trouble spot for the Boston Red Sox ever since Kevin Youkilis was chased out of town by Bobby Valentine in 2012. Will Middlebrooks, a highly touted prospect, got first crack at the job and was last seen falling all over himself in a bizarre end to Game 3 in the […]
My summer review of college football and the NFL is complete and I find myself standing on the threshold of picking Alabama-Ohio State to meet in the College Football Championship game and Green Bay-New England to square off in the Super Bowl. Could anything be more chalky? Could any predictions be less noteworthy? I don’t […]
If you drive to Soldier Field they make you pay a toll For cripes sake they only won one lousy Super Bowl Still we wouldn’t mind seeing Ditka run over by a truck ‘Cause the Bears…Still…Suck Those are lyrics to a polka song that makes its way around the radio where I live in Wisconsin, […]
The trade rumors are hot regarding Justin Verlander, with the Houston Astros as the primary suitor for the 34-year-old Detroit Tiger righthander. The consensus in baseball media is that Houston needs to acquire Verlander. I’m not so sure. This is how I see the pros and cons of getting the Tiger veteran. PROS *Houston does […]
