Month: February 2011

It has long been accepted — and for good reason — that the worst choice ever for Gold Glove was Rafael Palmeiro in 1999. To argue against Raffy is to be arguing for belligerence sake … the man played 28 games at first base that year and 135 games as a designated hitter. A blunder…

I wish I could say I spent the last week or so recharging my batteries and getting myself ready to go for spring training. But the truth is I probably did as much writing the last week as I usually do, maybe more. But, for whatever reason, most of it was fruitless writing. I have…

So, here’s something fun: I broke down the pitchers in the Hall of Fame by the year they were born. This idea was loosely based on a comment made by Brilliant Reader Disco*. *Talk about a great name for a band … Brilliant Reader Disco. My idea, though, was more to get a sense of…

My colleague and friend, the excellent Joe Sheehan, has an article up at SI making a Hall of Fame case for Andy Pettitte. My sometimes colleague, the excellent Tim Marchman, has as an article up about why Andy Pettitte absolutely is not a Hall of Famer. I have been mired in Super Bowl hype the…

DALLAS — Let’s start with a few numbers: Over the last 20 years, there have been 46 quarterbacks taken in the first round of the NFL Draft. Of those, the majority (28) were Top 10 picks. And 12 of those 28 were No. 1 picks overall. Which is to say something you already know: Teams…

A few people have asked me to every now and then write a little bit about writing. So, I’ll try to do that, and I’ll begin with my favorite movie line of the last year. * * * “Don’t provoke me. You will find yourself in that pit.”“Lucky Ned Pepper has warned you that if…

Got into a minor but annoying little Twitter snit after my story on Pittsburgh ran. The large point of the Pittsburgh piece (I hope) was not that the Steelers run the ball a lot, but that they stand for the same things that they’ve always stood for, one of these things being a power running…

Think about the Pittsburgh Steelers for a moment. Close your eyes if you like. What do you see? It’s a pretty clear image, isn’t it? You see those black and gold uniforms. You see howling defense. You see a running back powering through the middle, maybe led by a bruising fullback. You see a big…

Tuesday, we got hammered with one of those biblical snowstorms that was so awesome I saw the spirit of Bullet Bob Hayes running around with his hands in his pockets. And the snowstorm got me thinking about getting a few new books. I used to rummage around bookstores several times a week, and must admit…

With the Midwestern blizzard doing its thing outside — and this is the worst I’ve seen since I was a kid in Cleveland — I find myself yet again thinking about golf. It’s better than thinking about how my efforts to clear the driveway have been made utterly pointless by another wave of blizzard. Gary…