Sports

Shootings spoil hometown Thunder celebration

For the record, I’d like to address briefly the shootings that followed Monday night’s NBA game in Oklahoma City. Eight people were shot on the street in a downtown area where I’ve been many times, although only reluctantly after dark. More to the point, two of my siblings and their families were at the game … Continue reading »

73-year-old woman conquers Everest

Suddenly I don’t feel quite so old. After all, I’m a mere 69. Saturday morning a 73-year-old Japanese woman, Tamae Watanabe, reached the summit of Mount Everest. At 29,035 feet (still officially 29,029 ft), Everest is the highest point on earth. Men die there every year, four just last week. Watanabe is the oldest woman … Continue reading »

London’s new tower not my cup of tea

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a roller coaster? No, it’s the “ArcelorMittal Orbit” observation tower in London, focal point of this year’s Olympic park. CNN has posted a photo gallery and story, if you want all the details. Now Europe’s tallest sculpture, the tower is 22m taller than the Statue of Liberty and … Continue reading »

Once I was a runner

Here’s a little video of an early spring run in Boulder, CO. I used to do this sort of thing, thirty years ago. Even now, this brings back a lot of the old feelings. What ever happened to the young woman who used to get such a kick out of braving the elements for her … Continue reading »

R.I.P. Junior Seau

Nobody should die at 43. Especially not a successful athlete. Especially not from suicide. I couldn’t tell you anything about Junior Seau except that I always enjoyed watching him play and he was well known and well liked enough for me to know who he was. That’s more than I can say for the majority … Continue reading »

The Final Four

I’ve mentioned to several people recently that I’m not a basketball fan. My interest faded pretty quickly after I finished school. That was back when the Big 8 was still the Big 8, before the conference ever imagined the changes that have occurred since then. However, there’s nothing else on TV tonight so I couldn’t … Continue reading »

Pat Robertson, good Christian sports analyst

America’s favorite sports commentator, preacher Pat Robertson, has weighed in on Denver’s recent trade of Tim Tebow to the New York Jets. You heard about that little trade, didn’t you? The Denver Broncos had the temerity to trade away wunderkind quarterback Tim Tebow. The Tebow of “tebowing.” The Tebow who all but walked on water … Continue reading »

But of course there’s a Tebow song

I wrote recently about Cee Lo Green changing John Lennon’s “Imagine” lyrics. Now it seems there’s another case of lyrics-changing making headlines. Only this time, the original artist has made the changes, so it’s legit, if a bit corny. Artists are allowed to take liberties with their own work. British musician John Parr, whose “St. … Continue reading »

Football fashion is serious business

I have failed utterly to get Vodpod to work and embed this video. If I ever succeed, it will be added. However, I promise if you care anything at all about football and football uniforms (the design thereof), you’ll find the take by Mo Rocca very entertaining. You can read the story or watch the … Continue reading »

Wherein I apologize to Tim Tebow

I owe Tim Tebow an apology. Even before he got to Denver to play football, I bashed him for his “pro family” Super Bowl ad. All the hardcore Christian fans in the area went berserk when he got here, as though he were some sort of savior come to raise a lousy Broncos team from … Continue reading »

How to do Black Friday

I don’t have anything to say, really. But I’m tired of looking at that turkey photo on the front page. As noted previously, my son and his family went skiing on Thanksgiving, but we got together yesterday to have a wonderful time and thumb our noses at the Black Friday lunatics who were jamming the … Continue reading »

Feet of clay

Last night Penn State University trustees fired head coach Joe Paterno for his seeming complicity in and indifference to a child molestation incident in 2002. The university president was also fired. The firing came just hours after Paterno announced his intention to retire at the end of the season. In 2002, then–graduate assistant Mike McQueary … Continue reading »

‘Tebowing’? Really?

I’m a number of years past my fanatical football fan days. But through attrition, distance, and a general shortening of my attention span, my interest has waned considerably over the last ten or fifteen years. For that reason, I didn’t know or care who Tim Tebow was when he was drafted a couple of years … Continue reading »

Manly men

Was it Old Spice ads that used to talk about manly men doing manly things? Anyway, I’ve decided the most manly men doing the most manly things are the New Zealand and France rugby teams playing in the 2011 Rugby World Cup right now. I’ve watched a lot of different sports, but rugby takes the … Continue reading »

Nice flag, not so nice uniforms

Ugly as they are, those new University of Maryland football uniforms are not unique. The Charm City girls roller derby team did the helmets first, almost. The similarity is unmistakable. But when both teams incorporate the same state flag, it’s inevitable. Makes you glad your favorite sports team isn’t in Maryland … unless it is. … Continue reading »

‘This ain’t no uniform,’ this is a train wreck

I’d no sooner gotten home from an appointment with my ophthalmologist than an IM from my son popped up on my computer screen: “Want to see the ugliest football uni ever?” Of course I did. We talk about team uniforms a lot and have very strong opinions about what looks good and what doesn’t. We’re … Continue reading »

Denver heating up — and it’s not the weather

We can all use a little news on the lighter side these days, and that’s what’s coming out of Denver next week. We are hosting … drum roll, please … the International Pole Dance Championship! Although associated with seedy strip clubs, competitive pole dancing requires a great deal of strength and athleticism. Think acrobatics rather … Continue reading »

Congratulations, Japanese women, winners of 2011 World Cup

Women’s World Cup championship – Nothing but winners today

With the women’s World Cup championship match about to begin in Frankfurt, Germany, I find myself thinking there will be no losers today. I’d love to see the U.S. win, but there’s no way I can root against Japan. After what happened to their country earlier this year, I’m amazed they could even field a … Continue reading »

NBC and its ‘godless’ U.S. Open

Had I watched the U.S. Open over the weekend, I might have seen the little patriotic montage that NBC ran. But I doubt I would have noticed what seems to have upset a lot of people — the scenes were pieced together in a way that skipped the phrase “under God” when the Pledge of … Continue reading »