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Sports
October 23, 2006
Divine Providence for Detroit
The Tigers' remarkable turnaround—from a near-record 119 losses in 2003 to a still-terrible 91 losses last year to this season's World Series—wasn't easy to predict. In fact, Gelf could find only two people who can claim prescience. The first one, Sparky Anderson, managed Detroit to its last World Series championship, in 1984. The second savvy prognosticator is God Himself.
Sports
October 20, 2006
Where There's Smoke, There's a Sportswriter Taking Notes
Kids, don't start smoking. At least not now. Wait until you're an old baseball manager. Then it will confer instant credibility and create a colorful lead image for profiles of you. Just ask Tigers skipper Jim Leyland.
Sports
October 20, 2006
Brings Out the Tiger in You!
Outside of fans in Detroit and St. Louis, the only people who should be truly happy about this year's World Series matchup are editors from around the country. The teams, after all, have some of the easiest mascots in the world to use as headline fodder. "Not in the Cards," AM New York declared today. "Tigers maul Athletics," The Guardian quipped a week earlier. Surely editors had to be rooting against the Metsso they wouldn't have to beat gems such as "All Mets are Off" for the next week.
Sports
October 16, 2006
Racist like a Fox, or Crazy like a Lyons?
Fox baseball analyst Steve Lyons was fired after Game 3 of the ALCS on Friday. The crime: saying something so weird on air that Fox officials decided it must be racist. Various reporters and bloggers have tried and failed to explain the meaning of the exchange between Lyons and Lou Piniella (it has something to do with Spanglish and a wallet), and have come to two different conclusions about Lyons's intentions.
Sports
October 12, 2006
Some Players Never Forgave Lidle
Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle died Wednesday after a small plane he was flying crashed into a high-rise on Manhattan's east side. The media today remembers Lidle as outspoken, a lover of flying, and a family man who was liked by his teammates. But when Lidle last made headlines, as part of a trade bringing him from Philadelphia to New York, it was a different part of his life that dominated: His one inning of spring training in 1995, during the baseball players' strike. That inning marked him as a replacement player—rendered less politely by some teammates as "scab"— and caused him years of grief.
Sports
October 11, 2006
The Spreading Myth of Wally Pipp
Wally Pipp lost his starting job as Yankees first baseman to Lou Gehrig, who went on to star in that position for the next 2,130 games. The oft-repeated story behind the switch—that Pipp benched himself due to a headache—is an urban legend (it seems that manager Miller Huggins replaced lots of starters once the 1925 season went down the tubes; Pipp would hit just .230 that season), but that hasn't stopped many in the sports media from repeating various aspects of it as a cautionary tale for today's athletes. Here are some recent examples:
Sports
September 29, 2006
Who Cramped in Here?
"The doctors said there's nothing wrong with my brain, but I'm having brain farts out there," Ben Roethlisberger said about his poor start this season, after an offseason motorcycle accident in which he wasn't wearing a helmet. But thanks to the press, our children have been protected from flatulence in the sports pages: The Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette both rendered "brain farts" as "brain [cramps]," as spotted by Dave's Football Blog. The media better stay extra-vigilant with some of these methane-fueled athletes:
Sports
September 24, 2006
Sportswriters Say the Darnedest Things
Sometimes the pressures of writing passionate screeds about games can make otherwise calm journalists go batty. Consider a few recent examples:
Sports
September 21, 2006
React First, Read Later
Pro athletes have a reading problem. Perversely, they'll talk at length publicly about a published article without having read it. Or worse, they're claiming not to have read it, only they really have, but failed to understand. Exhibit A: Sports Illustrated's cover story this week about Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
Sports
September 14, 2006
Freedom of the Press to Promote Superstition
Chicago White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia retired the first 23 Angels batters he faced Wedensday night, putting him four outs from the majors' first perfect game in more than two years. Then, his bid ended—not, as you might think, because of the bat of Adam Kennedy, who lined a base hit. No, the culprit sat in a broadcast booth above the field, and swung no bat. Instead, he spoke words Garcia never heard.
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