If you’re desperate for something to fill your Friday afternoon, and not the comment-leaving sort, you could do a lot worse than spending an hour and a half (give or take) with Chuck Klosternman and Bill Simmons in their two part ESPN podcast. It’s nominally about sports, but they spend a good bit of time… Continue reading MJ, Fame, Writing, and More
Category: Sports
A Day at the Races
I’m watching Pardon the Interruption after work, and they’re talking about the Belmont Stakes. They show a clip of horses running, and Emmy pipes up: “I like horses!” She does this when she feels I’m not paying her enough attention. “Horses are okay,” I say. “Okay? Horses are really neat!” She thumps her tail on… Continue reading A Day at the Races
The Physics of NASCAR by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
When this first came out, I didn’t pick it up, despite a glowing recommendation from Jennifer Ouellette, because NASCAR is one of the few things on ESPN that interests me less than baseball. I didn’t really think I’d be interested in reading a whole book on the subject. I saw Jennifer and Diandra on Bloggingheads… Continue reading The Physics of NASCAR by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
For reasons that don’t really matter, I learned yesterday that there is a marathon in Antarctica: On December 12th, 2009, the fifth Antarctic Ice Marathon will take place at 80 Degrees South, just a few hundred miles from the South Pole at the foot of the Ellsworth Mountains. This race presents a truly formidable and… Continue reading Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
This Isn’t Basketball
It’s that time of year when I check in to the giant methadone program that is the NBA, to help ease my way from college basketball season into the long, dull, summer when nothing worthwhile happens, sports-wise. Thus, I watched the second halves of most of last week’s playoff games (I didn’t get back to… Continue reading This Isn’t Basketball
There’s No Escaping Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell has a number of public responses to the sort of thing I ranted about the other day— not to me specifically, mind, but to the same general points– on his own blog and on ESPN’s Page 2. It’s pretty much the same argument others made in the comments to my post. Taking a… Continue reading There’s No Escaping Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell Is No Charles Barkley
I’m never quite sure what to make of Malcolm Gladwell. Lots of smart people seem to be favorably impressed by his writing and ideas, but whenever I actually read anything by him, there doesn’t seem to be much there. Take, for example, this New Yorker piece on basketball as a metaphor for innovation. As seems… Continue reading Malcolm Gladwell Is No Charles Barkley
Congratulations to the Tar Heels
Between the sleep deprivation caused by being home alone with the baby, and the new Jim Butcher book, I realized that I almost forgot to mention North Carolina’s defeat of Michigan State for the NCAA basketball championship. I’m glad to see it for two reasons: their victory let me win two of the basketball pools… Continue reading Congratulations to the Tar Heels
Final Four Thoughts
Last week, the more annoying yelling heads on ESPN and its affiliates were all making a big show of brushing off the complaints of NCAA fans who felt the tournament was missing something due to the lack of a “Cinderella” team from a small conference making it to the round of 16. This was just… Continue reading Final Four Thoughts
First Round Thoughts
The good news is, I’m solidly ahead of Barack Obama in my NCAA pool. The bad news is, the success rate of my serious picks is distressingly close to that of the Physics Grad Programs backet… Various and sundry thoughts on the first two days of NCAA tournament action: — Not that many big upsets,… Continue reading First Round Thoughts