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Shani Davis is an American trailblazer–who will follow his lead in the political landscape?

Silent Ice

In 2006, I heard of something only seen on a basketball court. A young 6′3″ African-American participating in the Winter Games, with a twist, speed skating. It was odd but interesting watching the fleet of foot twenty-four-year-old, like watching a surgeon’s scalpel motions executing each cut better than the first. Turin, Italy, and the world was witness as Shani Davis won the 1,000m in 1:08.89 and 1,500m in 1:46.13, capturing gold and silver medals in those Winter Games. Shani Davis has eight gold medals since skating in the world championships and two world records (in the 1,000m and 1,500m), a remarkable feet for a sport that stays in shadows until the Olympics. This journey was well-documented but seldom heard until February 2010. 1:08.94 of pure gold you could call this mechanical cutting of ice speed, sharp blades wielding accurately around the Richmond Olympic oval to start the men’s 1,000m speed skating. Shani Davis would not disappoint even when he needed to be next to perfect in time to capture gold in the 2010 Olympics. The second turn was zephyr gashing, sights set on shattering the clock and his opponents, calm and calculated mechanics invisible like air taking the lead and inside lane to make history… taking the gold not for the game or glory but for the doubters and nay-sayers who thought he was out of his league and not ready for the sport.
Continue Reading Shani Davis – 2010 Winter Olympics

Sports Bright story about the US-Haiti qualifying match for the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championships.

US and Haiti Leave It All on the Field

Read this great story a couple days ago on Yahoo! Sports about sportsmanship in the first qualifying match for the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championships in Costa Rica between the United States and Haiti:

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/sow_experts/post/U-S-U-17-women-beat-Haiti-9-0-then-offer-hugs?urn=sow,227662
Continue Reading Sports Bright: US Haiti U-17 Women’s Soccer

Jesus Christ, Tiger Woods and comparative celebrity Google hits.

Tiger Googles the Mind

Ever been part of a sports conversation wherein you and friends discuss the day’s events, controversies, and the people involved in or affected by them, and then share opinions as to the cosmic meaning or those events?

Usually, after about half a minute, the subject matter has been as well covered as surface conversation will allow and one of the participants blurts out something meant to be pithy, but, more often than not, amounts to just another lame attempt to exit a boring conversation gracefully.

Something like…

“John Elway? Dude, he has a better arm than God.”

“Lebron James has more game than God.”

“Ron Jeremy, fuggedaboudit, he has a bigger–”

Well, I’m sure you get the idea.
Continue Reading Tiger Woods, Jesus Christ and Google

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel shows another side in his answers to an Outlook Columbus interview.

Rethinking Jim Tressel

I may have to rethink my opinion of Jim Tressel. I’ve never been shy in my criticism of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Year in, year out, I believe they are the most overrated team in NCAA college football. I also think serious eyebrows have to be raised at any program that would recruit and sign the likes of Maurice Clarett, perhaps one of the most corrupt players in college football history–even though he was eventually dismissed from the team.

Although no direct knowledge of Clarett’s dealings has ever been connected to Tressel or the Ohio State program and thus no actual accusations can be made, it is hard to believe that the writing was not already on the wall that Clarett equalled trouble when Ohio State was recruiting him. At best it seems Tressel and the Buckeyes were willing to look the other way in order to sign a player who could bring home a championship (which Clarett did in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl over the Miami Hurricanes); at worst, there may have been tacit consent of Clarett’s violations until the negative side-effects of his criminal activity devolved to such an extent that they outweighed his contributions on the playing field.

That having been said… Continue Reading Jim Tressel Outlook Columbus – NCAA College Football

The 2009-2010 NCAA College Basketball regular season is drawing to a close, and Deep Into Sports takes a look at the best and worst from this past year.

NCAA College Basketball: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

With the NCAA Men’s Basketball regular season wrapping up this weekend and the madness before March Madness about to begin, I thought it worth taking a glimpse at the best and worst of the 2009-2010 campaign. After all, anything can happen in the Big Dance–the NCAA Tournament is not a great basis for individual team comparison.

Best Conference – Big East

Once again, the best conference title goes to the Big East. Five teams in the Top 25, with the possibility of sending eight or even nine to the NCAA Tournament. No one else comes even close.

Worst BCS Conference – Pac-10

Not a single team in the Top 25? Hard to conceive of for a BCS conference, and yet that has been the case for the Pac-10 for several weeks this season. When you consider how many national championships have been won by this league–admittedly, mostly by UCLA, but Arizona, Cal and Oregon all each have one, too–it really leaves one shaking his head. The Pac-10 may only be a one-bid conference. Wow.

Most Surprising Conference – Mountain West Conference

That pesky Mountain West Conference which has dared to challenge the Big Six on the gridiron is now making a name for itself on the hardcourt. Although currently only two teams are in the Top 25, the league at one point had three ranked teams this year and should land at least that many NCAA Tournament berths… maybe even four.

Most Surprising Teams – Butler, Cornell

Yes, Butler has been ranked all season and, after several successful runs in the Tourney, is no underdog. But kudos do the Bulldogs for not faltering under the weight of raised expectations. Butler could very well end up in the Top Ten in the final regular season poll, which would be a major accomplishment for a Horizon League school.

As for Cornell… when was the last time that you can recall an Ivy League team being ranked? The Big Red accomplished just that, spending two weeks in the Coaches’ Poll earlier this season. As last year’s Ivy League champ, conference success was to be expected, but to be ranked was still quite an honor.

Most Disappointing Teams – Connecticut, North Carolina, Texas, UCLA

Take a look at that list–there’s a lot of national championships among those schools (18, to be exact). Connecticut hit a mini rut that snowballed into a large one once the Huskies’ confidence was shaken. Losing coach Jim Calhoun to health problems for a few games at that critical juncture didn’t help, but is no excuse; that team has too much talent to struggle like it has. North Carolina has been similarly flat, mirroring UConn’s fall from grace. Texas started the year off highly ranked and playing very well, rising all the way up to the #1 ranking… from whence they have plummeted ever since until they are now out of the Top 25. And UCLA… abysmal. All year. Losing multiple games to teams for whom a single loss by the Bruins would be noteworthy news.

Unless one or more of these teams runs the gamut of their respective conference tournaments, the only one likely to make the NCAAs is Texas.

But then, that’s college basketball in a nutshell!