A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
This serves as the seventh post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (All prior editions can be accessed here.) After five days of ballparks and thousands of miles, it’s possible we saved the best stadium for last. Following 10 twisty, [...]
This serves as the sixth post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (Prior editions can be accessed here.) Whereas recent reviews focused on the Texas League’s ballparks in large, prosperous Heartland cities with big attendance numbers, we also journeyed to Jackson, [...]
This serves as the fifth post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (All prior editions can be accessed here.) The Arkansas River, our nation’s sixth longest at nearly 1,500 miles, separates Little Rock from North Little Rock. And whereas [...]
The wave of elation that overcame me after Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook scored the game winning goal in overtime of Game 7 against the hated Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night could not possibly be measured.
Sixty years ago Wednesday, Tenzing Norgay of Nepal and Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain. In honor of this historic anniversary Post’s Grape Nuts cereal is running this commercial: Do you see the problem with this 30-second television spot? The [...]
This serves as the fourth post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (All prior editions can be accessed here.) Just a few days before visiting the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, I was in the Queen City of [...]
Thankfully it only happens somewhat sporadically, but racism reared its ugly head in sports again this week.
It started with the Sergio Garcia versus Tiger Woods tiff, which began when the two were paired together during the third round of the Players Championship. The twosome accused each other of making distracting actions during swings. After play concluded, Garcia made a remark during the interview that Tiger “is not the nicest man on Tour.”
The media and rival competitors taking issue with the prickly personality of Tiger Woods is nothing new. And the spat between the two was actually considered in some ways good, because rivalry sells. To me, Sergio v. Tiger just seemed like a tiff straight out of NASCAR world that would go away quickly.
That was until an event this week in advance of a European Tour event. The emcee jokingly asked Garcia if he would have Tiger Woods over for dinner during the United States Open.
This morning Brian Urlacher announced his retirement after 13 years with the Chicago Bears. The Bears decided not to re-sign Urlacher after last season when a reasonable contract deal couldn’t be met. It was an emotional moment for the organization and its fans, but it was a decision I supported and thought necessary for the Bears to stay [...]
This serves as the third post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (All prior editions can be accessed here.) Memphis sits fewer than 300 miles down the Mississippi from St. Louis and might as well be its baseball sister city. [...]
Sports is often a family business. We’ve seen the sports gene at work in the Manning, Earnhardt, Hull, Griffey, and Andretti families. We’ve even seen families like the Hills (Calvin and Grant), Larkins (Barry and Shane), Halls (swimmers Gary Sr. and Gary Jr.), and Joneses (Popeye and Seth) where junior has excelled in a different [...]
This serves as the second post in my third season of a series called “Down on the Farm” that chronicles visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2013 campaign. (All prior editions can be accessed here.) It’s hard to fathom that the beautiful city of Corpus Christi, Texas didn’t have professional baseball until the past decade. But [...]
Success in Chicago seems to have come with a price. For the fourth time in six years, the Chicago Blackhawks are raising season ticket and single-game ticket prices. As of writing this, no specific price details have been given on how much single-game tickets will rise, but you can find out the specific price details on [...]
With only 64 spots, it takes much more than a yellow jacket from Canton to make the cut, especially as an at-large entrant. Even if I were to expand the field to 128 I would be honestly still be leaving a lot of all-time greats out. Only if I were to expand to 256 I would be covering most whom are currently enshrined in Canton.
As an at-large, it would take an RPI number of about 50 or lower to realistically make the list. As is the case with the NCAA Tournament, the number 15 and 16 seeds comprise of players who would not be on the list if not being given the crown as their team’s UFP. Three of the 15 seeds would rank borderline top-100 while the 16s are ranked between 230 and 300 per Pro Football Reference.
As might be expected, quarterbacks have by far the greatest representation – comprising nearly 25 percent of the field, eight of the automatic bids and 15 players from the position overall. 19 of the overall bids and 35 players overall are from the skill positions. In all, 39 players are on offense, 25 on the defensive side of the ball.
Experts always say defense wins games, but that’s especially true in hockey. If you have goaltending, especially in the playoffs where it matters most, you will win games. That’s exactly how the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings completely dominated last year’s playoffs and en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
The final writing determines the Washington Redskins UFP over 80 years of franchise history. Since I decided to go with a 43-entrant field in my recent Titans/Oilers piece since Jerry Glanville dabbled with the stock cars, then I definitely got to do another list for Coach Joe Giggs – who is the Bo Jackson/two sport legend of management. Gibbs has been in the NFL Hall of Fame since 1996, I would expect him to make the NASCAR Hall as well in the near future.
And besides, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been known to ask for Redskins scores to his crew chief during races. No word on whether Robert Griffin III has ever asked for the up to the minute running order of the Helluvagood 400 during the two minute warning.
Here is my final UFP countdown, does that second defensive back get in, or do I go old, old, school…
