The Bear

Yesterday Don Haskins passed on. "The Bear", as he was known, was the long time coach of the University of Texas - El Paso or UTEP...the ultimate acronym team you did not your team to face in the NCAA Tournament. Back in the 1960's, UTEP was known as Texas Western, and in 1966. "The Bear" coached Texas Western to an improbable run to the National Championship against Adolph Rupp and the University of Kentucky. What was significant about this game was that Haskins started five African-American players against the all white UK team. Similar to the day Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in MLB, this championship by Texas Western was another monumental event in the history of our country during one of the most fractured times in our history. Yet, its a milestone that is not given the recognition it should receive. Haskins himself said it best:

“I just played my five best players,” Haskins once said in recalling Texas Western’s stunning 72-65 triumph over Kentucky. “In my mind, kids were kids, and I had some that could play. But Haskins pointed to more than the national implications of that victory. When he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 1997, he said: “Ten of the 12 players on the team got their degrees. And every one of the players have made successes of their lives.”

He didn't care what color their skin was. He cared about who gave his team the best chance to win. Haskins coached TW/UTEP for 39 years and had a winning record 32 of those years. He sent several players to the NBA including Tim Hardaway and Antonio Davis. But what was more important was how he molded his players.

If you get the chance, rent Gloryroad, the 2006 movie starring Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, and Jon Voight. It isn't the best sports movie you will see, but it does a nice job of documenting the significance of that victory.

Labels: basketball, obituary, sports

Asleep In Seattle

Recently it was announced that the Seattle Supersonics have moved to, of all places, Oklahoma City. (I won't even go into the shock that Keven Durant must be having, going from an energetic city like Seattle to, with all due respect, a sleepy plains city like OKC.) But come on, could they not have done a little bit of a better job with the new team name and logo? The Oklahoma City Thunder? Thunder? What Thunder?. The logo is terrible. The team name...eh...its up there with the Magic, Wild, and Thrashers as inanimate objects masquerading to be sports mascots. Come on folks of OKC, could you not have gone with Cowboys? Yes, its boring, but OKC is a cowboy town.

Labels: basketball, sports

Poor Sports

I was reading the NY Times Sports page this morning on the way to work and I thought I was reading something out of police rap sheet. In today's Sports section were stories about circus like congressional hearings, witness tampering by a 7 time Cy Young award winner, congressmen breaking federal laws by receiving autographs in the halls of Congress, coaches making illegal recruiting calls, commissioners and congressmen talking about illegal tapings, illegal payments related to a former Heisman Trophy winner and a lawyer and a security guard showing up at the hearing "packing heat", and an amputee being told by a court that he has a competitive advantage in the arena.

At least something is right in the world: a beagle won at the Westminster Dog Show

Labels: legal, sports

Sports Life Is Good

The Red Sox are in the World Series for the second time in four years, the Patriots are undefeated at 7-0 and looking like they are well on their way to a very special season, and (shudder) the Celtics are looking like a formidable team to beat in the NBA Eastern Conference. In fact, William C. Rhoden of the NY Times wrote a piece about how its such a good time to be a New England/Boston sports fan.

Now about that Syracuse University football program.

Labels: patriots, redsox, sports

RIP Buck O'Neil

Former Negro League player Buck O'Neil died this evening. A grat loss for baseball and beyond. If you have never heard of Mr. O'Neil, rent/buy Ken Burns' documentary Baseball and watch it. He was the star of the film. Its a crime that he was not inducted into the Hall of Fame this past summer.

Labels: baseball, sports

Yahoo Sports Beta?

Looks as though there may be a Beta release happening at Yahoo Sports. I was on the site checking out my fantasy football and baseball teams (I think their Fantasy sports suite is just fantastic. And my football teams were actually doing pretty well. Thanks for asking. :-) and saw this yellow banner just above the blue "Today in Sports" headline. The two links on the top right read "Beta Feature Index" and "Send Feedback". When I clicked through the "Beta Feature Index" link, it went to a Yahoo branded error page. When I clicked thorugh the "Send Feedback" link, it went to a feedback form. In navigating the site, I did not see any BETA features. I'll be interested to see what they plan on doing on the site and to see if its going to compete more directly with ESPN in look, feel and volume of information. No matter what they do, the site definitely needs an upgrade.

Labels: sports, web

Giving Away The Farm

I am not a terribly big fan of Murray Chass, the sports writer for the NY Times, primarily because it appears from the tone of his writing that he takes great pleasure in bashing and belittling the Red Sox and Red Sox Nation. However, in an article in today's Times, he hits home a point about the Sox and the Sox management that I too have been contemplating since Anibal Sanchez threw a no-hitter for the Florida Marlins on Wednesday September 6th.

Sanchez's no-hitter got me thinking because he, along with several other highly talented and productive players (including the Marlins' starting shortstop Hanley Ramirez) have been traded by the Red Sox over the past few years. In fact, the amount of talent and production that has been traded by the Sox is actually quite alarming, especially when you consider the state of the Red Sox current pitching staff and their place in the standings. As a fan, you have to really start to question the "cybermetric" decision making being done on Yawkey Way these days. To quote from the article:

Care to consider some other moves the Red Sox made?

After letting Johnny Damon go to the Yankees as a free agent, they needed a center fielder and acquired Coco Crisp for Andy Marte, the young third baseman they obtained from Atlanta for shortstop Édgar Rentería. Crisp, a .300 hitter for Cleveland last season, has turned into Rice Krispies for the Red Sox, hitting .266.

The night before Sánchez pitched his no-hitter, Bronson Arroyo, the pitcher the Red Sox traded to Cincinnati because they thought they had enough pitching, pitched a three-hit shutout against San Francisco for his 12th victory to go with his 3.33 E.R.A., the fifth lowest in the N.L.

The same night that Sánchez pitched the no-hitter, Cla Meredith was the winning pitcher in San Diego’s 2-0 victory against Colorado in 11 innings. Meredith, a 23-year-old reliever, went to the Padres on May 1 when the Red Sox were desperate to reacquire Doug Mirabelli to catch the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

In three relief appearances with the Red Sox last season, he gave up seven runs in two and a third innings. With the Padres this season, he has allowed 3 runs in 36 innings over 33 games for a 0.75 E.R.A.. He has given up no runs in his past 29 innings over 25 games.

Through Wednesday, the Red Sox bullpen ranked 10th in the American League with a 4.30 E.R.A.

Because it was Sánchez who pitched the no-hitter, we are reminded of Freddy Sanchez, whom the Red Sox, desperate for pitching then, too, traded to Pittsburgh at the trading deadline in 2003 for Jeff Suppan. For good measure, the Red Sox included Mike Gonzalez in the deal.

Gonzalez has become the Pirates’ closer (24 saves in 24 opportunities this season), and Sanchez, hitting .344, is on his way to becoming the N.L. batting champion.

I acknowledge that the National League is a bit weaker than the AL these days, and many of the players noted above are playing in the NL which may make their numbers seem a bit inflated but that arguement only goes so far.

It is highly unlikely that the Sox will come back and make anything of this season. And the Sox brass keeps on saying that they are building for the future. But if they are building for the future, then they need to commit to that and not try to compete with the big boys at the same time. That's an equation that will not work. Have they been so focused on protecting their young players that they have unknowingly mortgaged a great deal of their future already?

Labels: baseball, redsox, sports

Sox vs. Yanks

Big weekend up on Yawkey Way in Boston with the Red Sox and Yanks holding a 5 game series.

Great article in the Friday 8/18/2006 NY Times, where writer John Branch tried to define the physical border across Connecticut, NY State, and Massacusetts between Red Sox Nation and Yankee Country (I won't go into how "Red Sox Nation" sounds so much cooler than "Yankee Country"...). And be sure to watch the accompanying video as that is also very entertaining.

Labels: baseball, redsox, sports

World Cup

I just wanted to say that I'm very excited for the upcoming 2006 World Cup in Germany. I am very encouraged by the prospects for the US Soccer team, even though Claudia Renya injured his hamstring in a "friendly" vs Morocco. My understanding is that the injury is not as serious as first thought, however it is still a point of concern with his importance to the team. My fallback is England, who should also have a good showing in the tournament.

Labels: soccer, sports