Sportscolumn - Stories by Newbear

[College] Will the real Brady Quinn please stand up?

Pressure busts pipes. An ESPN Instant Classic in East Lansing defined the difference between rebuilding a fallen program and the pressure of great expectations.

[College] College Football: Week One Remix

It began with a "did that really just happen" moment on August 31 and ended (mercifully) around the twilight hour on Labor Day.

Here's what stood out from college football's opening week:

[NFL] Surprised Why Athletes Do Stupid Things?

On your current sporting calendar, you won't see a championship event in any of the big three (sorry, Hockey, but you've got to earn your spot back).

As the pages of the calendar year turn and we build toward the preclusion to the World Series, the kickoff of the world's greatest game, the basketball World Championship and Tiger's world domination, I want to talk about reasons.

The reasons why athletes do things.

Stupid, ridiculous "can-you-believe-he-did-that" things.

Especially lately, giving me the feeling that the world's just a crazy, mixed-up place. And that most of the athletes listed below have been listening to Brad Paisely's "Celebrity" on loop.

[College] Pac-10 Preview S-W

Round 2: Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State.
*Note: specialists are counted as returning starters.

[College] Pac-10 Preview A-O

2006 Pac-10 team breakdowns for: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon and Oregon State.
*Note: specialists are counted as returning starters.

[Other Sports] Lost in Translation

Tomorrow, I'm going to Best Buy and picking up a microphone. I've got to start practicing five minutes ago.

[Other Sports] World Cup Fan of the Week

It's summertime. I'm American. Baseball is my nation's pastime, gearing up for the 77th installment of its midsummer classic and my hometown heroes, the Chicago White Sox, appear fit to defend their title.

But soccer is the world's game. And I'm finally beginning to understand why.

[MLB] Home-Field Disadvantage

Place your votes and punch your ballots. Right into sheer lunacy.

I'm guilty. I just max-voted for A.J. Pierzynski on MLB.com.

25 times, I clicked on the circle next to his name and hit the "Vote Now!" button at the bottom of the page. You can also count 13 votes for Nomar Garciaparra and 12 for Billy Wagner on the National League side of my online ballots.

After all, I'm a baseball fan, and the All-Star game is my chance to point and click my way to the definition of fanatical support for my hometown team and favorite players across both leagues.

[MLB] Barry Back When

Remember when Barry Bonds could hit -- and that was all that mattered?

Even he forgot how he got there.

[College] Heartbeating 2006

They say death smiles on us all; all we can do is smile back.

We all missed the greatest storyline of 2006.