Cliches are a way of life. They’re unavoidable. Listen to any sports broad­cast or interviews with coaches and athletes, read any sports stories or columns, and you’ll hear or read the inevitable cliche. I tend to empathize with those in the profession, because there are only so many words in our vocabulary. In this day of 24/7 sports, why shouldn’t […]

You may think sports is at its best when your team wins it all, whatever “all” is. Or, you may think sports is at its best when an underdog rises up and slays the giant in a huge upset. Or, you may think sports is at its best when two teams battle it out on the field or the court […]

It’s the exception and not the rule when high-profile athletes take a stand against a perceived wrong in society. Beginning in the 2004 baseball season, Toronto first baseman Carlos Delgado decided not to stand for “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch of Major League Baseball games. Instead, he would stand silently in protest in the dugout. Delgado felt the […]

Many changes have occurred in secondary education during my lifetime, but perhaps none greater than the number of teachers who have added coaching to their resume. It’s not incompatible or inconceivable for teachers to coach and coaches to teach. After all, a good coach is usually good at teaching the aspects of a particular sport to student-athletes. However, it’s not […]

The Summer Olympics captured much of the world’s attention, with far more stories than any columnist has time to share. But if you missed them, here are a few highlights and lowlights from this year’s extravaganza. The United States is still king in terms of overall team success. While there are always disappointments, the U.S. team excelled in swimming, gymnastics, […]

The major goal of every team playing a team sport is to win the game. Before you respond, “Well, duh,” let me assure you there’s more to that statement than first meets the eye. Athletic competition, at least at the professional and collegiate level, is a combination of trying to win games and entertaining the fans. If stretching the spirit […]

Who can blame Kevin Durant for abandoning the Okla­homa City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors? Well, a lot of OKC fans, for starters. It’s not easy for a city to lose an icon and one of the best players in all of basketball, and go from contenders to pretenders. Durant had a good gig going with the Thunder. During […]

Somewhere along the way, 100 pitches in Major League Baseball became a magic number to exceed at the pitcher’s own risk. But there’s nothing magical about 100 pitches any more than there is in limiting the number of innings a pitcher throws. At the lower levels of baseball, the number of pitches or innings a pitcher throws is predicated on […]

Back in the day—OK, way back in the day—when I pitched Little League and college baseball, no one kept track of the number of pitches I threw. In those days, a pitcher kept throwing as long as he was reasonably effective at getting hitters out, or because there was no relief in sight due to a shortage of pitchers on […]

Sports provides so much fodder for columnists. So many stories; so little time. In an effort to touch on some of the more diverse aspects of sports, here’s a synopsis of some things you may have missed or simply ignored. • On May 16, Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus was a bit perturbed after a strike call, resulting in sharing […]