Sportscolumn - Stories by mw2828

[MLB] Rebutting the D.Y.F.C.[Dumb Yankee fan Contingent, Northeast Chapter]

There is, of course, a mind-bending level of stupidity entailed when jeering your home team's best player. The reasons are often varied, and always retarded. Maybe you're angry he makes more money than you, even though you could never do his job, not in a million years, which is why, of course, he makes more money than you. Maybe a jilted sportswriter told you not to like him, and you followed like a trained seal, clapping for a biscuit, [Do seals eat biscuits?] overwhelmed by the titanic brainpower of literary heavyweights like Woody Paige. Maybe he had a rough playoff series and made you cry, emotionally scarring you for two whole days. Whatever... the reasons are secondary, anyway.

[MLB] Dog Day Requiem: Analyzing the American League

The momentum builds now, we can practically touch and taste the heightened tension, as Mike Lowell's rage literally lifts him skyward, and Ryan Braun icily eyes down a game deciding moon shot, preening as he plays an action movie assassin. Oh yes, the merciless dog days have arrived.

God bless us, everyone.

For there are trades to celebrate, executives to excoriate, victories to relish and heinous losses so hellish... prepare for sensory overload, a hypnotic season's mysteries unwinding by the inning. In Spring Training, the contenders and pretenders gathered, surrounding palm trees swaying, whispering the impossible. Reality intervenes in April, the distilled winter chill slicing and dicing through the Opening Day pomp and circumstance, delivering winners and losers, preparing us for the grind ahead. What has happened to the thirty elite? Who rises or falls, disappoints or enthralls?

Shall we consider:

[College] The Pursuit of Happiness

Ah, the paradoxes presented by capitalism.

Here we are, America, set for a penultimate debate regarding the true nature of our society, source material provided entirely by basketball. What kind of discourse could crystallize us so clearly? Is it David Stern's secret obsession with prestige fashion? Unfortunately not, though the commissioner is a key player in the correct answer. No, this article will attempt to analyze an issue affecting far more lives than a dress code ever could... or should.

[MLB] Diamonds are Forever

Not sure if I was ever meant to play baseball, but, for a time, if felt perfectly natural. I sometimes wonder if we are assigned dreams before birth, impossible missions never meant for completion, just so we could learn something from the failure.

[Other Sports] Everybody must get stoned....

I am equal parts fascinated and repulsed by human behavior. Looking back on it, this guy may have been better served pursuing a degree in psychology, as opposed to journalism.

There exists an intangible, and often irrational, tendril implanted in every single human decision, and my own thought processes are hardly excluded. All too often, our well-furbished facades and fortified insecurities are precisely what land us in intellectual quagmire, where rationality has long departed from the breakfast menu.

Buzz Bissinger, a superb writer by any measure, apparently stepped into a phone booth before appearing on an HBO Special examining American Journalism, transforming from Pulitzer Prize winner to indignant minister, preaching a fiery sermon denouncing blogs.

[Journals] On the Buzz Bissinger Blog Fiasco

I find it amusing that Bissinger and others cling to this strange idea that intelligence in the area of analyzing sports can only be certified with a degree in journalism. It really is outside the confines of logic. Good writing beats access any day of the week. It is the reader's digression in determining whether or not a particular blog has quality content, but the merits of the content should never be disqualified because the writer doesn't have access. Yeah, Alex Belth [of Bronx Banter] wasn't visiting the clubhouse before writing his game reports back when he churned them out on a daily basis, but nullifying the analytical, and emotional, content of his posts because he was watching the games at home is an utterly backward notion.

Bissinger's point of view comes off as simplistic. And it's disappointing, because I thought Friday Night Lights was a masterpiece. Excellent writing and commentary supported by even better reporting. So I was disappointed by Bissinger's performance on HBO, to say the least.

[MLB] The American Game

Picture this. You're twenty three years old, a third round draft pick, skipped school to grab that bonus, nothing to fall back on. This competition is fierce, and you've been left behind, lapped in fact. In an idyllic youth, a minor celebrity in a small town, you were the special one. Gifted. Bigger, stronger, faster, beloved by all, took pride in the popularity, destined for greatness.

[MLB] RANKLED RICE FINDING FEAR FINAL RESORT

The North Pole- The latest controversy over Baseball's Hall of Fame voting took a bizarre turn last night, as Jim Rice, former American League MVP, intentionally petrified five to ten sportswriters in an apparent attempt to scare up some votes... the good old fashioned way.

[Journals] My drunken Jets solution

Trade Vilma and a second round pick for McNabb
Draft McFadden

Presto!

Who agrees?

[NFL] Five telltale signs that your NFL team sucks this year

As a Jet fan, I've been through enough down seasons to recognize certain enduring characteristics of losing, echoing through the smelly, lonely halls of defeat. I present my data. Feel free to compare and contrast your experiences: