In today's paper, there is an AP photo of Evander Holyfield training. Evander looks a lot like the present day Iron Sheik. (This picture is from some guy's AOL site that I found on google.)
Late last night, Team Japan beat Team Cuba 10-5 in the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Although the lopsided score doesn't seem so close, the game was actually really competitive and exciting. The international teams were very impressive, and the determination of the teams, and intensity of the competition rivaled the MLB post-season. The games were definitely more exciting than spring training games! Even though the tournament was exciting, there are certainly some things to impr...
Kirby Puckett died yesterday as a result of a stroke. He was only 45 years-old. That's pretty young! Like most Minnesota Twins fans, I have good memories from Kirby Puckett's playing career. Game six of the 1991 World Series against the Atlanta Braves was the most exciting game that I have ever been to (or seen on television for that matter). -The next night was pretty fantastic too by the way. Puckett's catch and home run, coupled with Scott Erickson's extra-gutty pitchi...
Yesterday I received a late Christmas present from my sister in Hawaii. She sent me a WWE produced DVD titled: "The Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s". I had seen this video at stores over the last few months, considered it, but gave it a pass. I figured that the DVD would just be a bunch of profiles on the wrestlers. I usually don't expect to see what I want on those "retrospective" packages. Fortunately for me, the WWE really came through. Besides profiles, ther...
Today as I was checking up on my favorite baseball team, I found a link to The World Baseball Classic. The Classic is an international, sixteen-team baseball tournament beginning in Japan on March 3rd, and ending in San Diego on March 20. This baseball tournament is scheduled to include the world's top professional players representing their home countries. Looking at the teams, it seems that the favorites from their respective pools will be: Japan, the USA, Venezuela, and The Domi...
This time of year is fun for baseball fans. Lots of speculation on (and actualization of) trades and free agent signings. So far this winter, the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians have acquired some high-end players. Chicago has just picked up Jim Thome (ouch!), and the Indians have recently acquired starting-pitcher Paul Byrd. In order to compete in the rapidly-improving American League Central Division, the Twins really have to upgrade a few positions. Last week, the Twins fille...
The most recent Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo has been interesting. After day 10, new Sekiwake Kotooshu leads the field with a 10-0 record, followed closely by Yokozuna Asashoryu at 9-1. I am looking forward to their eventual showdown when the Yokozuna will have a chance to pull-even en route to his attempt at a perfect calendar year (winning every tournament.) I heard that Kotooshu's 10-0 record is the best record in the modern era for a rikishi debuting at his rank. His s...
One of the more prominent sports-related stories recently has to do with the NCAA's banning of Indian team nicknames. Link This is a really interesting issue. One can understand that schools have a long-standing tradition of using (or maybe "honoring") indian archetypes as mascots. Also, one can see that objectifying a race as a mascot can have the effect of trivializing intricate cultures which are still observed. I doubt that any institution (or fans of a team) t...
This topic isn't my own. The other night on the radio I heard a guy pose a question to the listeners. The question went like this: What's your favorite sport (to watch), and what caused you to like that sport so much? I thought that was good "food for thought", and I decided to write a weblog article about that. For me, my favorite sport is baseball. I think that I can trace my love of baseball back to the Saturday afternoon games on NBC when I was a kid...
Today as I was driving home from work, I heard the news on the radio: Minnesota Twins' setup man Juan Rincon has been suspended for ten days for violating baseball's substance-abuse policy. I was disappointed to hear that one of my favorite ball players failed a drug test. Losing this guy for ten days will hurt the Twins' chances of holding on to late-inning leads. Now it wasn't reported which drug he had been caught using. (He will hold a press conference tomorrow.) I...
As I write this I am watching the Twins/ White Sox game on television. Tonight's game is the fourth between the two teams this year. Early on, the White Sox lead the season series 2-1. This year's Sox team is said to be built on speed and defense more than previous teams. There has been a big turnover of personnel, and so far it seems that it is paying off. (The White Sox are among the best teams early-on.) (Thank goodness Jose Valentin is gone to Los Angeles. He'd always hit a few ho...
I have my calendar (figuratively) marked for Monday's start of the baseball season. The Twins and Mariners will be playing game one (for me) beginning at 4:00 Central Time on Monday. That means that I will be able to catch most of the game after work on that day. I don't mind when the Twins play on the West Coast during my summer vacation; but during the school year, it is pretty tough to stay up for the night games in Seattle. Twins are looking good this year. The s...
Recently the amateur sumo association in Japan has encouraged the use of sumo shorts. Article from bbc.uk In order to encourage teenagers to participate in sumo, the amateur sumo association has advocated ridding the sport of the traditional mawashi (sometimes referred to as "loincloths") in favor of something resembling bicycle shorts. Competing in shorts apparently makes the youngsters less self-conscious than competing in the traditional sumo near-nakedness. Fortunately in ...
Bob Casey, the 44-year veteran PA announcer for the Minnesota Twins died today at 80. The most famous announcements of my lifetime probably came with how he called Kirby Puckett's name. Casey was a fixture with the Twins, and his absence will definitely be felt. As a teenager I didn't really care for Casey's over-the-top announcements. As I approached my current age, I began to appreciate the unique charm that Casey brought to the Twins. He added a little bit of atmosp...
I heard today that Barry Bonds arrived at training camp on crutches after knee surgery. After blaming the media for "getting to him", Bonds indicated that he will be out for at least the first half of (and possibly the whole) baseball season. The timing of the surgery and the announcement are a bit fishy. Inactive players don't show a performance dropoff since they're not playing. Do injured players have to take drug tests? If this knee injury ends up being "career threateni...