Sports Then and Now

If you are going to watch Michelle Larcher de Brito play tennis, then you better not forget your ear plugs.

According to her detractors, while playing, 16-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal emits full-bodied screams that register 109 decibels or the noise level of a racing car revving to full speed.

During the 2009 French open, Aravane Rezai complained to the umpire about the noise emitting from the teenage Portuguese girl.

Larcher de Brito was so loud at the French Open that the crowds there booed her. Well, you know the French—it takes a great deal for them to turn on a fine looking female!

The full impact of her noise level focused the media once again on the issue of grunting because Larcher de Brito was really bellowing. She makes no apologies saying, in effect, “get over it!”

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Bob Feller enlisted in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor and missed nearly four full baseball seasons.

The names Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Bob Feller conjure up images of greatness on the baseball diamond, but a lack of overwhelming career statistics often hurts these superstars when the discussion turns to the greatest players in baseball history. What is generally forgotten is that all three missed significant time in the prime of their careers while defending our country.

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Johnny Robinson was selected to seven Pro Bowls and earned first team All-AFL honors six times.

Our position-by-position look at the best eligible players not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rolls along with a look at the top defensive backs that have yet to earn a bust in Canton.

The role of the defensive back has changed over the years as defenses have adjusted coverage schemes to account for offensive innovations.

Defensive backs are often measured by their interception totals. However, that can often be a misleading statistic.

Top defenders can disrupt the plans of a quarterback and basically take part of the field, or a particular receiver, out of the game plan simply through their presence.

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Ilie Nastase was the original tennis "bad boy."

Ilie Nastase permanently etched the template for tennis bad boys, setting the standard against which all are measured today.  His exploits on and off the court are legendary.

The most staggering feat credited to the romantic Romanian is that he slept with over 2,500 women.

What colossal stamina! This pure speculation is based on comments from Maxim Magazine when they accorded him the sixth spot on their top ten “Living Sex Legends” list. To say Nastase was outrageous is a vast understatement.

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Michael Schumacher

Or Deus…or Allah, Ishvara, Mother Mary, Yahweh, Vishnu and any another Godly entity that may have reached down and awoken the sleeping giant that is Michael Schumacher…yes, including even you Bernie…if you had fingers in this pie, God bless you, even if only for a moment.

This season would have gone down as the absolute worst in the storied history of Formula 1 if not for this devine intervention breaking the suffocating bonds of the FIA vs FOTA media frenzy and the sad resignation that Brawn GP is running away with the points title.

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