Q: What two things do the following athletes have in common? A-Rod, Chris Benoit, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, Marion Jones, Ben Johnson, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettite… (and I could go on). A: Yes, they all used steroids and the second thing… they all denied it to the end. According to teammate Tyler Hamilton, seven-time Tour de...

In the sports film, Blue Chips Pete Bell is a college basketball coach with an abiding integrity for the game he loves and a passion for his student players to succeed in life. But he’s got one problem – losing. For Coach Bell, losing is a four-letter word that he cannot, will not tolerate. Coming off a losing season, he hits the road to...

“Sparky”… now that’s a name that could only be tagged to a baseball player, except he didn’t play the game, he managed it. Anderson died last week at 76. “Sparky was, by far, the best manager I ever played for,” saidCincinnati Reds Pete Rose. “He understood people better than anyone I ever met. His players loved him, he loved his players,...

Does anyone listen anymore? When I was in school we went to class, listened to the teacher, had a discussion about what we thought, listened some more, thought some more, then prepared for the test. The great lesson for me in all this was to listen, gather and read relevant information, think, discuss with friends, listen some more, think some...

Cindy Boren’s sports column in Thursday’s Washington Postcaught my attention.  She begins by giving us a refresher from the now famous Seinfeld episode where Elaine makes an unexpected confession to Jerry. (Go ahead, take a look. I’ll wait.) Boren’s column concerned Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter who – judging by the photo – was hit by a pitch from a Tampa Baypitcher in Wednesday’s game.  » Read...

Baseball is a game obsessed with the number nine: nine players on each team; nine innings; ninety feet between the bases; and if you’re a pitcher with “stuff,” three strikes against three batters total nine and you’re out of the inning. Think of the players that wore the number 9: Roger Maris, Bill Mazeroski, Minnie Minoso, Enos Slaughter, Reggie Jackson...

Q: How many egos does it take to screw things up? A:  In the case LeBron James’ recent decision to leave theCleveland Cavaliers and play for the Miami Heat, three: James, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and Reverend Jesse Jackson. After The Decision, it didn’t take long for majority owner Gilbert to post an open-letter addressed to “Cleveland Fans” regarding James’ choice: “As you now know,  » Read more about: Stupid...

Is there a national championship collegiate athletic program anywhere in the country that can truthfully say all of its recruiting was done entirely within the official guidelines? That’s how Roger Ebert began his review of the 1994 Nick Nolte film Blue Chips. It’s a question that inhabits practically every frame of the film; a film that, sadly, bears too much resemblance...

Basketball Coach John Wooden died last week. While Wooden was remembered for his spectacular coaching career at UCLA, what I remember most is his letter to me in 1999 for my book, What Do You Stand For? I had asked Wooden and others to respond to this questionnaire:  What do you stand for; what principles have you lived by?  Describe a ‘moment of...

Perfection doesn’t happen every day, but last Wednesday, June 2nd, we saw a splendid example. Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, bottom of the ninth, two outs, and Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was facing Cleveland Indians’ Jason Donald. He was also facing one of the most elusive of baseball’s achievements – A Perfect Game: 27 batters up, 27 down, no hits, no walks;...