There’s a fantastic story by Bryan Curtis on grantland.com about Marv Albert’s childhood preparations to become a sports announcer here. It’s essential reading for anyone who cares about sports media. I knew that Albert was quite young when he began calling Knicks games, but I didn’t realize he began when he was only 21! IContinue reading “Marv Albert!”
Tag Archives: sports
Thoughts on Chelsea-Manchester United: Reds Lucky Yet Deserving
Manchester United’s 3-2 win at Chelsea today involved some beautiful soccer and quite a bit of controversy in the second half. Here is my take on the three crucial officiating decisions midway through the second half when the match was tied 2-2: 1. Branislav Ivanovic’s red card for taking down Ashley Young was the correctContinue reading “Thoughts on Chelsea-Manchester United: Reds Lucky Yet Deserving”
The USA Continues on the Road to the World Cup
The USA advanced to the final round of qualifying for the 2014 (Men’s) World Cup last night with their 3-1 victory over Guatemala. The Yanks won their group, which was expected, though they put in several terrible performances along the way. The USA is still a favorite to grab one of the three automatic qualifying spotsContinue reading “The USA Continues on the Road to the World Cup”
Katie Baker on Mike Francesa
Katie Baker has a hilarious column on grantland.com about Mike Francesa’s show this past Monday: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8452270/the-jets-giants-mike-francesa-bad-weekend-nyc-sports. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of listening to WFAN, New York City’s all-sports radio station (the jingle comes into my head immediately: “Sports radio sixty-six, the FAN! W-F-A-N, New York!”), in the afternoon after coming home from juniorContinue reading “Katie Baker on Mike Francesa”
Some Random Sunday Thoughts
As I sit in front of my computer on this lazy Sunday morning that has now meandered into the afternoon, these are three of the things I am thinking about while I procrastinate working on revisions to an essay: I am glad that Manchester United finally converted a penalty kick after missing their last three, with RobinContinue reading “Some Random Sunday Thoughts”
Missing Chess
I had a vivid dream about playing in a chess tournament last night. I haven’t played in a tournament in nearly two years, which was the last time I even played a game. My life is much too busy these days to go back to playing chess because of the all-encompassing nature of my professionalContinue reading “Missing Chess”
Manchester United: Exciting But Inconsistent
Manchester United’s 3-2 victory over Southampton today was thrilling, but also troubling for United fans. New acquisition Robin van Persie showed his brilliance with a hat trick–including two goals in the last five minutes of the match–to give the Red Devils the three points. But on the whole United looked flat, creating few scoring chancesContinue reading “Manchester United: Exciting But Inconsistent”
Books Acquired Recently
Aldrich, Nelson W., Jr., ed. George, Being George: George Plimpton’s Life as Told, Admired, Deplored, and Envied by 200 Friends, Relatives, Lovers, Acquaintances, Rivals–and a Few Unappreciative Observers. New York: Random, 2008. I am fascinated by George Plimpton as a sort of public intellectual who was one of the last of his kind. However, this fascinationContinue reading “Books Acquired Recently”
The Best YouTube Sing-Along Ever
This is a video of Swedish Olympic handball star Isabelle Gullden (driving) and some other woman singing along (well, sort of–maybe “riffing on” is a better term) to Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” in the car, and it is hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bemIK39WmLA The video raises so many questions (perhaps all of which would be answered if IContinue reading “The Best YouTube Sing-Along Ever”
Rooting for the Knicks
With the latest news (it keeps changing! by the time I finish writing this post everything I say might be completely outdated) that the New York Knicks are going to let Jeremy Lin join the Houston Rockets, some people, most notably Bill Simmons, have asked whether it is justifiable for Knicks fans to switch theirContinue reading “Rooting for the Knicks”
Daniel Shank Cruz 