Sports Then and Now

As far as trends go with something happening, it is said that one time could be by chance, two times could be a coincidence, and three times could be a legitimate pattern. Then again, it is also said that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place. So even doing the same thing the second time, either consecutively or in a short time frame, could be a sign that things happen repeatedly not by mistake, but by skill or a method that really works.

The Cornell men’s lacrosse team has been trendy much of this season, especially recently. The Big Red has been playing some back-and-forth games of late in which they have seen their late leads evaporate in both losses and wins. This has made what has seemed at times to be sure Cornell wins interesting, before players like Max Feely, Ryan Hurley, and Ivy League Player of the Year Rob Pannell have made clutch plays to win games.

Go back to their third game of the year on March 6 when the Big Red hosted

Senior midfielder Austin Boykin, shown here in a faceoff against Princeton during the Ivy League Tournament Championship Game on May 9, leads Cornell with a 56.4 percent faceoff percentage (158-for-280), this season.

Army at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca. Although Cornell won 12-11, they needed overtime to do it. The Big Red lead 11-8 with 10:56 to play in the fourth quarter. Army stormed back with three straight goals to force an 11-11 tie. Hurley scored the game-winning goal with 41 seconds left to play.

Was this by chance? Especially considering Cornell has a young team this year after graduating so many key players last year. This included 2009 Tewaaraton Trophy winner Max Seibald, the aggressive midfielder who lead the Big Red with 120 shots last year. Defender Matt Moyer, who had 33 ground balls last year, was a fixture on defense and joined Seibald as a first team All-American.

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Sunday will be the biggest game between the Colts and Jets since Super Bowl III.

Okay, be honest. How many people had the New York Jets reaching the AFC Championship Game in their preseason predictions? Other than maybe ESPN’s resident Jets cheerleader Mike Greenberg, I seriously doubt there were many folks giving the Jets much of a chance.

The general consensus is that their improbable playoff run will end this weekend in Indianapolis, but the more I look at this Jets team the more I think they might have karma on their side.

First off, can you pick a more appropriate opponent for the underdog Jets to beat and earn their first Super Bowl trip in 41 years?

When the Jets beat the Big, Bad Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III it forever changed the game of professional football.

A win by the current Jets over the Indianapolis Colts wouldn’t have quite the impact to the history of the sport, but it would certainly make the short-list of all-time playoff upsets.

That game represented the changing of the guard with young and boastful Joe Namath taking the reins from aging veteran Johnny Unitas.

In the quarterback battle of 2010, Jets youngster Mark Sanchez is not as loud and glamorous as Namath, but he has the same kind of dark good looks that made Namath a star. Sanchez has yet to display the same kind of passing ability as Namath, who was the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season, but he has made a great start and has time on his side. Read the rest of this entry →

Tony Romo has earned star status in the NFL despite being undrafted out of Eastern Illinois.

In this era when multi-million dollar contracts are often lavished on players and coaches who have done little to justify such riches, there are still examples out there of people who are enjoying success after paying their dues.

Below are the stories of a player, coach and a broadcaster who are all now enjoying the fruits of success after taking the tough road to glory.

Wearing The Star

There are some that think because Tony Romo is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys and received lots of recognition long before he won a playoff game that he has been handed success.

In reality, that perception couldn’t be further from the truth.

I would argue that there have been very few superstar quarterbacks in NFL history who have overcome as many obstacles to success as Romo.

Consider that of the eight quarterbacks still in the NFL Playoffs, four were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, two were selected in the second round and the other two (Warner and Romo) were undrafted free agents.

Warner is the ultimate underdog story and his tale has been told many times over the last decade, but Romo’s rise from obscurity to stardom also deserves to be recognized.

A three-time Division I-AA All-American at Eastern Illinois (not generally recognized as an NFL hotbed), Romo went undrafted during the 2003 NFL Draft. Read the rest of this entry →

Zach Greinke had the lowest ERA by an American League pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 2000.

This week we look at the transition that has taken place in what voters consider important in selecting the Cy Young Award winner. We also look at a former star athlete who now is really shooting for the stars.

Remember When Wins Mattered For Starting Pitchers?

Zach Greinke’s distinction of sharing the record for the fewest number of wins by a Cy Young winning pitcher (16) didn’t last long as the record is now solely in the hands of Tim Lincecum (15).

In fact, it shows how times have changed to consider that the 31 total victories between the two 2009 Cy Young Award winners equals the total number of wins that Denny McLain registered when winning the American League Cy Young Award in 1968.

It used to be that the number one criteria for a starting pitcher being a serious Cy Young Award candidate was how many victories he recorded in a season. Sure, other factors like strikeouts, ERA and winning percentage have always been important, but the top prize for a pitcher usually was reserved for a hurler who either led the league or came close to leading the league in wins.

The voting for the 2009 Cy Young Awards clearly illustrates that is no longer the case.

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The NFL network began their fourth season broadcasting games on November 12th.

Like the proverbial question about the sound of a tree in the forest, I have a similar question about the NFL.

If they play an NFL game in prime time and half the people in the country can’t watch is it still considered an NFL game?

That is my question following the game Thursday night between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, which was broadcast on the NFL Network.

Like many others across the country, my cable company, Bright House Network, is embroiled in a long-running disagreement with NFL Network over channel placement, pricing and other such things that seem trivial to me, but important to television executives.

Overall, seven of the top 10 cable providers in the country do not offer NFL Network.

Considering that the NFL Network started broadcasting just over six years ago on November 4, 2003, you would think these companies would have settled the disagreement by now, but unfortunately, it looks like many of us will be enduring another year of missing out on some exciting NFL matchups. Read the rest of this entry →

Power and Greed seem to be running rampant in sports.

In a week in which the New York Yankees claimed the World Series title it seems fitting to look at greed and power in the world of sports. Unfortunately, it isn’t very hard to find, even in the case of college athletics.

It’s All In The Shoes

Given that his father is synonymous with the company, it is likely that Marcus Jordan had a Nike swoosh on his pacifier as a baby and certainly grew up wearing shoes and clothes designed by the famous sports apparel company.

Now a freshman basketball player at the University of Central Florida (UCF), the young Jordan has become a central figure in a “shoe war” even before playing his first college game.

Seems that UCF has a long-term relationship with adidas and recently agreed on a new 6-year, $3-million deal that called for all UCF athletic teams to wear adidas apparel and equipment.

Evidently, at the time Jordan was being recruited to UCF, he asked if he would be able to wear a Nike shoe endorsed by his father instead of the adidas shoes provided to the school. According to all accounts from UCF, the regional adidas representative gave approval for Marcus to wear Nike shoes during games. I’m willing to bet it was an important component of why he ultimately chose UCF.

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