Apologies — what is so hard about them?
Either you get it and you’re sorry, or you don’t. But they don’t come with clauses and conditions.
I had a friend at ESPN who had a sign in her office that said, “Don’t ruin a good apology with an explanation.”
That pretty much sums it up. Either you’re sorry or you aren’t.
The producer for my radio show at ESPN calls 2007 “The Year of the Scandal.”
It is hard to argue with him.
We had Michael Vick and dogfighting, an NBA referee betting on games he officiated, former Tour De France winners voluntarily giving back their trophies for doping, and Marion Jones not so voluntarily giving her titles back for doping.
Also, we had more and more evidence stacking up to lead to an indictment against Barry Bonds for steroid use, the Patriots being levied the largest fine in the history of the league for “Spygate,” and top tennis players accused of throwing matches.
By beating Ball State last Saturday, they are bowl eligible. But I fear there will be a lot of six-win teams left home. The tiebreaker could be how well the teams travel (bowl games, after all, are first and foremost about making money), and IU is not known as a great “travel” team when it comes to football.
We are used to seeing angry posts on sports Web sites. This, above all, seems to be the modus operandi of sports and sports coverage now.
My brother Jim used to like to tell this story.
When he was about nine years old, he and our older brother Nick, who was about 12 at the time, went to Yankee Stadium for one of the first times by themselves (I can't imagine the same woman, who raised me under such scrutiny in the relative hinterlands that was Long Island at that time, allowed my two brothers to take the subway from our home in Queens to the Bronx — by themselves — to see a baseball game, but she did.)
There are many reasons I like living here in Southern Indiana and I just got one more on Monday, and a memorable experience along the way.
Many golf fans know the name Pete Dye. He is one of the premier golf course designers in history, and at 81 years of age, is still a single digit handicapper.
There are plenty of situations in life that seem to call for posing. You can’t go to an art gallery and simply blurt out, “I don’t get it.” You can’t listen to the obscure references of a Sheryl Crow or the late Jim Morrison of a generation ago, and openly point out that the lyrics make no sense.
OMAHA, Neb. — I used to wonder why there seemed to be such a cynicism from people who cover sports for a living. I mean most of them would tell you they got into it because they loved sports, perhaps played them growing up, and yet seem so jaded once they got “inside.”
Last week, I told you about the many lessons I learned during the experience of kicking in an actual Arena League Game for the Louisville Fire.
I once made the comment that I think there are truly only about 200 people in the world. They just move around a lot. It seems that if you take about 10 minutes to start a discussion, or do some research, you find links that seem to defy odds, which can only be explained by my theory.
My relatives used to tell me, before I was born, that it wasn’t unusual for members of the Brooklyn Dodger baseball team to be seen in the local establishments, perhaps the grocery or the drugstore. These players were far from millionaires and often conducted their business in an everyday manner — just like the fans who watched them play.
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
It is the late 1960’s and the college coach gets a call from his brother, who is a high school coach. The call concerns a player the high school coach has seen and thinks might make a good college player.
If you are like most of the free world, you are pondering over your bracket, contemplating last second changes, or just getting ready to fill it out altogether. They key to a “winning” bracket is knowing some trends, and as importantly, knowing what types of teams can spring early upsets. Here are some helpful trends and types of teams to look for:
I remember a political science professor I had in college who taught me the radical viewpoint was the easy one. All you do is point out how conservatives and liberals are both wrong. But you don’t have to come up with a viable plan for what actually to do.
Parents need practice everywhere
I got this e-mail from Brian Largent, in response to one of my previous columns about youth sports and the overall long-term damage I think it may be doing to sports in general in this country.
“I guess the question is, with the “slide down the hill” in farther than midslide, how does a society get the situation back under control? And when does it all start?
One of the great gifts my father gave me was the ability to enjoy life at whatever stage you were in. He never feared nor relished getting older. He simply went on to the next things, and embraced them, enjoyed them and treasured them.
He enjoyed being a competitive athlete in his 20’s. He equally loved being a recreational athlete in his 60’s.
He loved being a dad. He equally enjoyed being a granddad.
Kids today are generally nicer, don’t get into as much serious trouble, and are more concerned with the academic side of things. But, they have no idea how to deal with challenges or adversity because their ability has enabled them to escape close scrutiny of their actions. They had the power at a very young age.
Five columns into this, I have a question.
Do we know each other well enough yet for me to ask your help? I hope so.
But before I do that, let me tell you why I think you might want to help.
Here are the reasons:
1) Cancer has probably affected someone you know and you want to help fight it.
2) The V Foundation for Cancer research was just given another 4 star rating by Charity Navigator — the highest level rating they give for the prudent management of nonprofit organizations.
3) You would like to see the money stay locally.
4) You like golf and fun.
When I was younger I had so many answers. Now, I find it difficult to simply categorize all the questions.
For example (and credit to this pet peeve goes to my broadcast partner Paul Rogers, who pointed out the absurdity of the whole thing to me), a team works its whole year to achieve the right to play in the big game, perhaps against a ranked team, maybe one in the top 10 or even top five.
They have planned, drilled, worked, brainstormed, everyone working toward that one goal — to topple the mighty opponent.
The day comes, a game the fans have waited for all season…and it is a dream. The home team plays great, all the hard work and effort paying off, and minutes from the payoff, when all should be celebrating the home team’s great fortune, the chant begins: ”Overrated!”.
I learned a long time ago, largely from my brother Jim, that the size of your stage, your “arena” if you will, isn’t nearly as important as doing something within that arena to positively impact the lives of those around you.
By that measure, two coaches with Indiana ties more than meet that yardstick for success, even though the size of their arenas is markedly different. While both coaches are to be celebrated as difference makers, it is easier for this ex-coach to access the “feel good” part of the achievement of the coaches on the smaller stage.
Bob Valvano is the father of a young athlete and lives in Sellersburg and can be reached via e-mail at bobvshow@yahoo.com. He is a former college basketball coach and current radio show host on ESPN Radio.
