Editor’s Note: The latest from my Smackcaster.com featured video channel.
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Editor’s Note: A new FierceAndNerdy.com cross-post.
With Gary’s analysis (Part 1 & Part 2) of who is the greatest all-time golfer, Tiger or Jack, on my mind and with both the men’s and women’s college basketball championships having just been decided, I figured I’d raise the question: which is the greatest NCAA women’s basketball team of all time?
In men’s basketball, one school of course stands out: UCLA. Love them or hate them, the Bruins’ dominance during the ’60s and ’70s was so thorough that three decades later, no other school is even remotely close to their eleven titles, ten of which came during the twelve season stretch of 1964-1975. Although UCLA has only added one to their tally since (in 1995), it doesn’t matter–the Bruins are still easily the best.
But in women’s basketball, it’s another story altogether. Two teams have owned the sport, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers and this year’s national champion, the 39-0 Connecticut Huskies.
Continue Reading Fierce And Nerdy: Connecticut vs. Tennessee
For anyone who didn’t catch the highlights on ESPN, Mike Ribeiro of the Dallas Stars made an amazing shootout goal last night against the Avalanche:
Most memorable stories have a character overcoming impossible odds to achieve an ultimate goal. John Elway finally winning a Super Bowl became a storybook feat only because he had smelled the promised-land roses twice before but couldn’t find entrance into the Garden. The Boston Red Sox’s dramatic ’04 playoff victory over the Hated Stankees was made infinitely sweeter because a century of failure and a fateful curse was about to be obliterated.
In golf, Ben Hogan won six majors after a near fatal car accident. Paul Azinger beat cancer to play on the Tour.
Our examination of the legendary careers of Eldrick Woods Jr. and Jack W. Nicklaus—and trying to determine who is the all-time greatest—begs the following question…
How did adversity shape the careers of Tiger and Jack?
Given his last major win and his recent triumph at Bayhill, we know Tiger can overcome the adversity of injury. The guy is a beast, benches 350, lifts everyday, and still has the flexibility of Gumby.
Nicklaus had a chronically achy back before the age of 30. Forty years ago, there were no nutritionists or personal trainers, or arthroscopic surgeons. In fact, if Jack had sustained the 2008 knee injury Tiger did forty years ago, his career would have been over.
Continue Reading Tiger vs. Jack, Part II
One game, that’s all it took for the Yankee faithful (the term is loosely applied here) to hit the big red panic button once again. Or maybe it’s just more over-exposure from their un-official network, ESPN (the same one that offers T.O. coverage far more than his relevance as a player should ever be allowed). And to think, all that money spent on players (okay, three guys) could have been used to pay down the debt on that new stadium in which they play. Oh, the opportunity cost!
New York Yankees
Before we shed too many tears for the free-spending and the not-quite deserving, let’s remember that this is a 162-game season and everybody (even Monday’s Yankee-beater, the hapless & poorly-operated franchise that wears the jerseys of the once-proud Orioles) still have hope. Heck, even the Rays could surprise (oh wait, that’s already happened).
I have to understand how extremely valuable TV airtime, radio spectrum, Internet bandwidth, and ‘media pipe’ can be used to scream ‘The Sky is Falling’ after only the first game of a 162 game-season. Is this simply because the mega-paid (some would say ‘over paid’) players didn’t live up to the hype & salary? It was inevitable.
Continue Reading Panic in the Bronx (or, The Soap Opera Continues)
