Mark McGwire will never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame because 1.) He took steroids and 2.) He wasn't honest about it. People as a rule are a pretty forgiving bunch. We forgive crooked politicians, philandering celebrities, drug-riddled athletes and all sorts of crimes committed by people in the news. But, if you aren't honest and contrite after being caught or exposed for a wrongdoing, folks will hold it against you for life. Some prime examples of this are Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson and Richard Nixon. Pete Rose lied about gambling until he thought he had a shot at being in the Hall of Fame... Read More

I read the other day where the LA Dodgers are going to be offering $40 all-you-can-eat seats in a special section of the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium. 3,000 fans will have the pleasure of consuming as many hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and sodas that their bellies can hold. Beer, ice cream and candy will not be included in the deal, most likely so that drunks and diabetics won’t kill themselves in a free-for-all eating/drinking frenzy. Personally, I am in heaven. I know that I’ll be one of the first fans to try and turn it into an eating contest. Eating contests are something... Read More

O.K., I lied. No free tickets. It's just a cheap ploy to try and introduce you to ice hockey -- the greatest game on the planet. Trying to drum up interest in hockey here in L.A. makes me feel like an 18 year old Mormon kid sent on a mission to Botswana. But, it's a mission I've voluntarily undertaken to get you -- yes you -- to start watching hockey. (Because if you do, maybe the NHL will make its way back to ESPN and I won't have to buy the satellite feed from Manitoba to get my weekly fix of puck!) Let me cut to the chase and tell you what you're missing. Watching hockey is like... Read More

Everyone knows that football heroes like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning make a fortune through lucrative salaries and endorsement contracts. But how does the Superbowl treat the bank accounts of the nameless majority of players that achieve their life’s goal in relative anonymity behind muddy facemasks every year? According to the official site a player on the winning team of this Sunday’s event will receive a whopping $73,000 in prize money. Furthermore, a player on the losing team gets a generous parting gift of $38,000, up $1,500 from last year. That’s over $3,000 more than the most... Read More

With academic and athletic powerhouses such as UCLA and USC in the area, the athletic accomplishments of Occidental college are often overlooked. For those of you who do not know, Occidental college is a selective liberal arts institution in the Pasadena/Eagle Rock area. With a total of approximately 1,800 students, the population at Occidental college does not even come close to rivaling USC or UCLA, but the quality of entertainment can be just as good. Although Occidental is known as an academic before athletics college, its accomplishments on the fields are just as impressive as its accomplishments... Read More

2006 saw Canadian athletes achieve unprecedented feats in a variety of sports, however, only Speed-Skating's Cindy Klassen, Baseball's Justin Morneau, and Basketball's Steve Nash deserve consideration to be considered Canada's best, and after further analysis, Cindy Klassen triumphs over her competition to skate away with the honor. Cindy Klassen made her pitch for the award on the world's grandest stage. She was not flashy and did not garner much attention outside Canadian media outlets, and in just over two weeks, her efforts were all but forgotten. Yet, her dominance in Turin, Italy was... Read More

Game 5 of the 1997 and Game 3 of the 2006 Clippers regular season have almost nothing in common. Well, actually they have nothing in common for everyone, save me. And truth be told, the connection is tenuous and mostly born of my delusions of granduer, so if that sort of thing seems more self-aggrandizing than poetic to you, you'd best stop reading here - which is not to say that I've nothing more than an anecdote and a poorly-contemplated similie to provide... I think there's something here - but as writing is as much catharsis as it is attempting to be entertainment for the reader - you're... Read More