Sports Then and Now

Despite violations, Terrelle Pryor and four teammates will be able to play in the Sugar Bowl for Ohio State.

So let me get this straight, five members of the Ohio State football team committed actions deemed severe enough to warrant suspension for five games during the 2011 season, but not severe enough to suspend them from their bowl game for this season? I guess it just proves the old adage that the truth is stranger than fiction.

If you haven’t yet come to the realization that college football is a business, maybe this latest action will help you see the light.

Instead of suspending the five junior members of the Ohio State team (including the starting quarterback, leading runner and second leading receiver) from the high profile Sugar Bowl for which Ohio State and the Big Ten is being paid $17 million to participate, the NCAA postponed the suspension until the 2011 season. Of course it is highly likely that most, if not all, of the offending players will never serve even one game as this decision has probably ensured that they will be NFL bound following their bowl game.

I can’t really decide which part of this situation bothers me more: that the NCAA is being so blatant in ensuring the quality of the Sugar Bowl despite acknowledging that some of the participants broke known rules or that in a college football landscape where billions of dollars of revenue is being generated these players are being punished because they collected between $1,000 and $2,500 for choosing to sell items given to them during their college careers.

The NCAA and university leaders are always spouting off about the sanctity of college athletics out of one side of their mouth while seemingly doing everything they can to cash in on the other side. Read the rest of this entry →

Tom Brady and Michael Vick are the leading MVP candidates for 2010

The battle for the 2010 NFL MVP award between Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles is the latest example of just how quickly things can change in the National Football League.

It was just two short seasons ago that the football future of both players was in significant limbo.

As you will recall, Brady missed the entire 2008 campaign after suffering a knee injury during the first half of the first game of the season. Though he was expected to return, many doubted if he could ever regain his MVP form from 2007.

Michael Vick also was out of football in 2008, but instead of spending the season rehabilitating an injury, he was spending it behind bars as a result of his conviction for participating in a dog fighting ring. At this time two years ago no one knew if Vick would ever wear an NFL uniform again and few expected him to ever again be an NFL starter, much less an MVP candidate.

But here we are in December 2010 debating which of these star quarterbacks deserves to be labeled as the MVP of the 2010 NFL season.

They have contrasting styles that makes comparisons difficult, but there is no question that both players have taken their games (and teams) to a higher level this season. Read the rest of this entry →

The Connecticut women's basketball team raised their winning streak to 89 games with a dominating victory over Florida State.

Much has been made of the Connecticut women’s basketball team passing the 1971-74 UCLA men’s basketball squad for the longest winning streak in college basketball history.

It is truly an amazing accomplishment and one that should be celebrated and given significant publicity.

However, instead of simply recognizing the greatness of coach Geno Auriemma and the Connecticut program, many (including Auriemma himself) can’t get away from the gender issues related to this being women’s basketball.

Some former UCLA players, sensitive to the legacy of their beloved coach John Wooden, said in advance that they hoped UConn would lose. Other have been quick to assert that since this is women’s basketball, UConn hasn’t been challenged every night the way I guess they think UCLA was.

While I can understand the first reaction by UCLA players, it reminds me of the members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins who crack open  a bottle of champagne every year once all NFL teams have lost a game. Much like the 1972 Dolphins, the legacy of Coach Wooden’s Bruins is secure and not in doubt just because another team has broken one of their records.

The argument that really frustrates me is the one about the Connecticut record not being as meaningful because they are playing against women. Read the rest of this entry →

No. 5: Serena Williams Fights Off the Henin Challenge

Serena Williams defeats Justine Henin: 2010 Australian Open Final

Serena Williams defeats Justine Henin to win the Australian Open in 2010.

Was there ever a  more anticipated final in women’s tennis than this one?

Perhaps in the past when Chris Evert met Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graf met Monica Seles before the 1993 stabbing.

With the exception of the French Open, in recent tennis history Serena Williams loomed as a juggernaut with her stranglehold on slam trophies.

But Justine Henin was a winner in her own right.

Henin, when ranked No. 1 in women’s tennis, abruptly retired from the game just prior to the 2008 French Open.

Now, the Belgian was back 19 months later, unseeded and unranked, to play the World No. 1 in the finals of the Australian Open.

The tennis world was abuzz at the Belgian’s rise from the ashes.

Henin, however, did not have enough weapons on the day––especially against the William’s serve to hold onto her advantage after the Belgian took the second set to even the match at one set apiece.

Henin earned break points against Serena in the third set, game two, but could only watch as Serena served rockets that skipped past her.  The Belgian’s spirit broken, Williams closed in out 6-2-3-6, 6-2.

Serena Williams equalled the record of Billie Jean King by winning this match, drawing her ever closer to legendary status.

Serena with 12 slam titles at this point was awarded her trophy by Margaret Court who leads all slam champions with 24 singles grand slam titles.

Read the rest of this entry →

Rafael Nadal's victory over Roger Federer in Madrid clinched his clay court supremacy in 2010.

2010 proved to be an exceptional year in tennis, as the No. 1 mantle changed owners in the men’s and the women’s game.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams who both entered 2010 ranked No. 1 dropped out of the top spot.

Roger will end the year with the No. 2 ATP ranking while Serena will end her year as No. 4 in the WTA.

But many significant performances––some for a match and some for a season––shaped a very controversial, entertaining year on the tennis courts of the world.

The ranking of these respective performances is subject to interpretation. Perhaps even attempting to put them in any particular order is a waste of time.

Regardless, all 10 are significant in assigning superlatives to the 2010 season.

Preamble: A Toast To the 2010 Tennis Match That Refused To Die

John Isner defeats Nicholas Mahut, first round, 2010 Wimbledon

2010 gave us the longest match in the history of the game of tennis.

Normally a first round match is nothing more than a formality for seeded players during a grand slam––but not always.

A case in point––American John Isner seeded No. 23 had little expectation concerning the full-scope of this match as he met his opponent Frenchman Nicholas Mahut on Court 18 to contest this opening round match.

The match, however, extended over three days lasting 11 hours, five minutes, and ended at 70-68 in the fifth and final set.

Wimbledon, you see, does not allow for a tiebreak to determine a winner if the match extends to five sets.

After this epic, there was a concern expressed regarding this tradition because these two players suffered physically for a long while after the match concluded.

The world became mesmerized by this drama unfolding daily on an obscure outside court at the All-England Club.

In fact, the match drew vast numbers to watch––people who otherwise would not have spent a moment of their busy lives watching tennis.

Therefore, the networks, and in this case ESPN, loved it.

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One of the NFL’s most bitter rivalries was taken up a notch in the 1991 NFL Playoffs when the Atlanta Falcons visit the Louisiana Superdome to take on their NFC West division rival, the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints won their first division title in 1991 with an 11-5 record for the team’s third playoff appearance and fourth winning season in five years, all under the helm of head coach Jim Mora.

The Saints were lead by their defense, the famed “Dome Patrol”, a linebacking corps that consisted of Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughn Johnson, and Pat Swilling, which allowed the fewest points and forced the most turnovers in 1991.

The Saints had failed to win a game in their first two playoff appearances, but were favored to beat their division rivals from Atlanta.

The Falcons went 10-6 in 1991 for their first winning season and playoff appearance in a full 16-game season since 1980 (Atlanta made the playoffs in 1982 with a 5-4 in a strike-shortened season).

The Falcons were lead by head coach Jerry Glanville who was in his second season as head coach from the Falcons after coaching the Houston Oilers for four seasons and leading them to three straight playoff appearances.

Glanville’s Falcons reflected his personality; a brash, outspoken team that featured classic trash talkers such as wide receiver Andre Rison and cornerback Deion Sanders. Read the rest of this entry →