Sports Then and Now

Novak Djokovic will look to return to the form that helped him win the 2008 Australian Open.

If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score? ~Vince Lombardi

If you pay attention to the rhetoric emanating from the tennis world and note all the speculation about the upcoming “season”, you will hear endless debates about which player will survive the ATP or WTA 2010 scheduled obstacle course to wear the No. 1 mantle.

The irony is, of course, that even after a whole year of competition in 2009, when Roger Federer emerging with the No. 1 ranking, there is no consensus that he is the worthy recipient of that well-earned entitlement.

Consider Dinara Safina’s reign at No. 1, for example.  Regardless of the stats pronouncing the unequivocal bottom line, the debate continues to rage about who is “the best”.  Is it safe to assume that “No. 1” and “best” even equivalent terms?

Who should be No. 1 appears to be quite subjective. Is it a mark of greatness that you can hold the No. 1 ranking even if you have never won a “major”—like Dinara Safina, on the women’s side?  Winning isn’t enough apparently—you have to win majors.

On the men’s side, there are few besides Federer and Rafael Nadal who have accomplished that.  Then how many majors are enough to appease the perfectionists amongst us?  What criteria should be examined to determine the designation of No. 1?

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Marco Sturm etched his name in Boston Sports lore with his Winter Classic clincher.

The Winter Classic lived up to all the hype and then some. It truly was a spectacle and made hockey relevant in this country again. It was a needed shot in the arm for a sport that has been taking up the rear behind baseball, football, and basketball for years.

Personally, I was very excited just to WATCH this game. I watched the Winter Classics in Chicago and snowy Buffalo, but now it was in my backyard at Fenway Park.

I was down at Mohegan Sun and MGM at Foxwoods for New Years. My whole departure was planned around this game.

One of the cashiers at the MGM said to me after seeing my Bruins cap, “I hope you make it home before the game.”

Me too, but those one armed bandits put their magical spell even over the most die hard Bruins fan.

My girlfriend said, “It’s 11:30am.” I told her to give my version of the two hour warning, but I didn’t listen.

I was going to miss some of the game!

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I woke up one morning in 1996, and it was clear to me. I’d never been more sure of anything in my life.

I didn’t want to play anymore.

In a span of three months or so, which may have even been a bit longer, I stopped caring.

I had lost my wife and my two daughters to divorce, lost my job, lost my house, and, more importantly than any of that, lost my desire to live.

What did I have to live for? Things will never get better. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. No place to live, no place to go, and virtually nothing to live for.

I looked in the mirror that day and asked God the most basic of all questions. A question we’ve all asked at various points in our lives. Why me? Why me, God? I’m a nice guy. I feel like I always think of others before I think of myself. I do unto others. Why me, man? Why me? Read the rest of this entry →

Rafael Nadal and the other tennis elite have hit the ground running in preparation for the 2010 Australian Open.

In case you missed it, December was technically the “off-season” for the elite of the tennis world.

It was the month when those sore, tired limbs and flagging hearts took a well-earned holiday.

The sun and sand of Florida, the coral islands of the Indian Ocean, and a paradise of Caribbean hideaways beckoned players and their partners before December rushed headlong into Christmas.

But downtime seems to be in short supply. As the rest of the world decks the halls, roasts the chestnuts on an open fire, and stuffs greetings cards into letter boxes, the tennis world is already winding up to the first tournaments of the ATP year in the very first week of 2010.

Whether the players launch their campaigns in the Middle East at Doha, in India at Chennai, or down under in Brisbane, all the courts will be hard and all the temperatures will be high, because all the focus is on the first Grand Slam of the year: the Australian Open.

The contenders want to hit the ground running, and that doesn’t mean turning up on New Year’s Day for a couple of days’ practice before the tournament gets underway. Indeed, it doesn’t even mean getting back into harness straight after Christmas. So intense is the competition, so demanding is the opening month, that most of them were pounding the Plexicushion well before December ended. Read the rest of this entry →

Wobbly ankled youth's like Todd played hockey on frozen ponds long before indoor rinks were the norm.

The following is a repost of a story, I wrote in April of 2009. In honor of today’s game from Fenway Park between the Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, I decided to brush it off and resurrect it from the portals. I hope you enjoy. Happy New Year and Go Bruins! Todd

My daughter, Erika, and I recently spent a couple hours of Daddy/Daughter time at the Worcester Sharks hockey playoff game against the Providence Bruins. We took our seats behind the Sharks bench and waited for the singing of the National Anthem.

Before the first note of “O Say Can you see” Erika asked me if I ever played hockey. I laughed. Then I cried a bit and told her the story of my brief life on skates. Read the rest of this entry →

Wilbert Montgomery

As we prepare for the NFL Playoffs, we remember as the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month a running back that enjoyed a tremendous playoff run to lead his team to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance.

Though only 5-foot-10, Wilbert Montgomery was a workhorse running back during his career playing primarily for the Philadelphia Eagles. Read the rest of this entry →