The Sporting Life category archive

A golf cart fights back.

Five people were injured Friday at the US Open when one of several boxes being loaded onto a golf cart fell onto the accelerator and sent the cart into spectators.

The California Highway Patrol says a vendor parked the cart near the 16th hole at Pebble Beach and was walking away when a box fell onto the gas pedal, moving it forward as it circled at full speed.

Sportswriter extraordinaire Bob Molinaro catches the irony:

Maybe hustling is overrated. The Mets’ Robinson Cano, a chronic loafer, was criticized last weekend for failing to run out a pair of ground balls. So Wednesday, he ran hard on a grounder to shortstop and pulled up lame with tightness in his left quadriceps. He’s on the injured list.

According to the bright lights sportscasters who did the pregame show before last night’s Phillies-Nationals game, this is a (not-to-scale because I had one ear on the game) diagram of the “quadrants” of the strike zone.

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire, asks the question:

If you were a 31-year-old Triple-A rookie hitting .149 with no power and 25 strikeouts and only six base on balls in 67 at-bats, how fast would you be released or demoted if your name wasn’t Tim Tebow?

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire, in case you still wonder why I’ve lost interest in college sports (emphasis in the original):

Fake sentiment: I thought it made for a nice sentiment the first time I saw a college basketball team wearing T-shirts that read “Family.” But then I realized that these were Nike creations handed out to all of the company’s intercollegiate business partners. “Family” was simply another corporate scheme. Should have known. Nothing in big-time sports is organic.

I think that the phrase, “intercollegiate business partners,” is quite telling.

In the lead up to the Super Bowl (which I shall honor by watching a mystery show or two*), Peter Certo points out that those who bemoan the “politicization” of pro football conveniently forget who promulgated said politicization.

Here’s a bit from his article; I commend the rest of it to your attention:

But it wasn’t the “social justice warriors” who politicized football.

In fact, professional football has been deeply politicized for years. Maybe you didn’t notice before Colin Kaepernick took a knee, but the fact that one guy on one knee sparked a national firestorm highlights the politics of the stage on which he acted.

It wasn’t until 2009, for example, that NFL players were even required to leave the locker room for the national anthem, much less stand for it.

That year, the Pentagon was gearing up for a major troop surge in the Afghan war, which even 10 years ago was already old, unpopular and largely forgotten. It needed recruits, and it needed a compliant public.

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*I’m not sure what turned me off first: the blatant corruption of the NCAA or the brutality (think CTE) of the NFL. Whichever it may be, I can no longer enjoy watching large men run into each other at high speed.

Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:

This news item appeared before the holidays, but I can’t fail to mention that retiring Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer will stick around campus to teach a course titled “Leadership and Character.” Some jokes write themselves.

Susan Estrich comments on the Washington Redskin’s decision to pick Reuben Foster, who has a history of domestic violence. A snippet:

Justice Kavanaugh must be cheering in the stands.

I remarked to someone the other day that there is only one hope for the Washington Redskins, who have fallen far since their glory days under Coach Joe Gibbs and owner Jack Kemp Cooke.

They need to trade for a new owner.

Afterthought:

Jack Kent Cooke was a class act. When he wanted a new arena for the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards), he didn’t come begging to local governments for taxpayer money.

No, he just built it.

Addendum, the Next Day:

H/T to Walden for correcting my hazy recollection. See the comments.

What a game.

Joe Patrice is amazed the Urban Meyer keeps getting away with it.

Sporting twits.