This guy, whose net worth is over $500m, has a huge following among young sports-minded men. He has won over $2m picking the winner of the last two professional golf events. You can take this to the bank—his recent, short-term luck will translate into hundreds of millions more lost by sports gambling addicts.
From ESPN.com.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency on Saturday confirmed reports that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned drug before the Tokyo Olympics but that it accepted the country’s findings it was due to substance contamination.”
A name change may be in order. . . The Pro-China Doping Agency or The Who Are We To Judge Anti-Doping Agency.
THIS is the example to use when teaching alliteration in fourth or fifth grade.
Verne Lundquist, 83 year old sportscaster extraordinaire, who just called his last Masters, exited at the top of his game. I forget which player it was that was getting chewed up by the Augusta, Georgia winds and glassy greens. Not holding back, Lundquist said, “The wheels aren’t just falling off, the rims are too.”
Postscript: More alliteration. This morning, as the trial gets underway, Trump is said to have scoffed, smirked, and slept.
Breuer teaches entrepreneurship at a Texas high school and coaches sophomore Elizabeth Leachman, the most talented female high school runner in the country. And it’s not particularly close.
The whole Leachman story is so countercultural, meaning tremendously upbeat. Leachman seems unusually grounded for her age in part because her parents know Breuer has their daughter’s long-term interest at heart.
Meaning Breuer is not overdoing Leachman’s training like too many other coaches would.
From Runner’s World:
“The coach and the runner sometimes challenge each other. Leachman wants to do more. Breuer wants her to stay healthy and develop over time. ‘I’m always pulling her back,’ Breuer said. ‘Err on the side of caution.'”
Also of note in this day and age, you won’t find Leachman on Instagram.
“’I think if it was fully up to me, I probably would have it,’ Leachman said. ‘But my parents don’t want me to, and I’m okay with it. I haven’t really fought it.'”
Breuer again:
“’We talk a lot about external expectations, and just because you’re good at running doesn’t mean that it’s everything that defines you,’ Breuer said. ‘That’s what’s really hard, I think, for a 16-year-old to remember sometimes when the spotlight is on. I try to remove that pressure as much as possible and remind her that this is supposed to be fun.'”
This story makes me think maybe the world is not going to hell in a handbasket after all. Just outside of view, there’s excellent parenting going on coupled with thoughtful/caring coaching; resulting in a happy, healthy, and scary quick young athlete.
As in a 9:44 two mile. . . 5:03, 4:41. And a 15:25 5k.
The Coach of the Year one more time:
“’She has a really good perspective. Her parents have done a super job.’ And also, I say, ‘I want you to be an amazing college runner, I want you to be an amazing professional runner, if that’s what you want to do. We don’t want you to peak in high school. That’s not the goal.’”
Postscript—hard not to root for this dude.
The steady expansion of legalized college and pro sports gambling coupled with the free flow of “Name Image and Likeness” money in big-time college sports is rapidly changing the sports landscape.
Reporting on these trends continually refers to all of the “unintended consequences” of the changes. Which is laughable. Most, if not all, were entirely predictable. . . a marked increase in the number of people addicted to sports gambling now that it’s damn near “frictionless”, the mind-numbing non-stop use of instant replay leading to interminably long games, players being compromised by gambling interests, coaches being threatened by “monied interests”, college players steadily switching teams annually to maximize their “NIL” opportunities, etc.
It’s unlikely that this toothpaste will ever be put back in the tube so what’s a lifelong sports fan like me to do? Be more selective and watch even less? Follow poorer nichey sports more closely whether women’s golf, cycling, triathlon, or track and field? Or stop watching altogether and use the saved time to talk a walk, hit golf balls, swim across that lake, anything that doesn’t require video replay and gets the heart rate up.
Post swim, sitting in the jahjahcuzzi stretching while reflecting on the meaning of life.
Dude asks, “Where did you get your gloves?”
Inner dialogue. “Gloves? What on earth? Oh, he meant paddles.”
“SwimOutlet.”
“Where’s that? Around here?”
“On-line, swimoutlet.com.”
“Oh, okay, thanks, they’re cool.”
Inner dialogue. “I haven’t heard anyone trip over basic sports terminology that badly since talking to the Good Wife.”
ESPN describes its “How Alabama moved from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer in 49 hours” as “the inside story”. That’s Trumpian-like self promoting. Say it enough and maybe some of the knuckleheads will believe it.
This knucklehead is calling bullshit. A close reading of the “inside story” suggests DeBoer was Alabama’s second choice. An “inside story” would establish that fact more definitively.
A much more problematic example of superficial analysis is accepting at face value that DeBoer hit the ground running at the University of Washington after returning from the National Championship game. That while he guessed some programs would be interested in him given his success, he wasn’t thinking about any other job. If that’s true, why did he turn down $9m mid-season, $4.8m more than his $4.2m salary? Rule one, don’t insult the reader’s intelligence.
The most laughable part of the “inside story” is the fact that DeBoer openly admits to texting his players about how he feels about them while on the plane home from the National Championship. Maybe DeBoer just looks 49, maybe he’s really 19?
His texting of feelings fits perfectly with his sprinting out of town immediately after the Alabama offer. The final chapter for the University of Washington players that was left out of the “inside story”.
LeBron recover from his third-quarter career malaise. Damn near as consistent as LeRon, your humble blogger.
One group of friends doesn’t know and doesn’t care. They have a wonderfully whacky Super Bowl tradition that appeals greatly to the nonconformist in me. Each year they compete to see who can go the longest without knowing the outcome. Especially in a year like this one where I don’t have a rooting interest and the Dad and Daughters Club has committed February 11th to watching “Killers Of The Flower Moon.”
Truthfully, I am too plugged in to do very well. I mean, it’s kind of hard to find out who won the golf tournament without stumbling upon the Super Bowl winner.
Alison says when she doesn’t want to know the score of a Chelsea women’s game, she goes “full Amish”. That is prob what it takes. Who is in with me?
May the most Amish among us win.
“Alas, the end of Camelot came quickly. Since that moment, none of Minnesota’s four major pro sports teams — MLB’s Twins, NBA’s Timberwolves, NHL’s North Stars (later the Wild) and the NFL’s Vikings — have advanced to a championship series or Super Bowl, much less won. The span of 32 title-free years, extended at times via comically unlikely scenarios, is the longest active streak among the nation’s 13 markets with all four leagues present. It’s a decade longer than the next-most starved market in Arizona.”
The whole sordid story is here for your reading displeasure.
Not to mention having to endure Michelle Bachmann, mosquitos, and constant Canadian cold fronts.
I know what you’re thinking. . . how ’bout Ant and those Western Conference leading Timberwolves. Not so fast says Whenesota who says he can’t stop thinking about the league’s 1994 season — when the No. 1-seeded Seattle SuperSonics lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.
“I can totally see that happening,” he said. “You don’t want it to happen, but you can totally see it and you’d be like, ‘That’s Minnesota sports.'”
Thoughts and prayers for Dan Whenesota and the nice people of Minnesota.
Pressing Pause 