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So Luke Fickell, age 37, was introduced as Ohio State’s interim (for how long?) football coach today. I watched a few seconds of the press conference, and was immediately turned off. Not by the university or the man himself, but by the machismo; the bluster; the mind-melting cliche (the big advice he received from Jim Tressel: “Be yourself.” Wow.)…

Anthony Weiner insists he will not resign. No way. No how. He’ll fight. He’ll battle. He’ll …

Gimme a fucking break.

The egos of politicians amaze me. Outside of, oh, 200 New Yorkers, nobody gives a shit whether Anthony Weiner stays or goes…

A couple of weeks ago I returned to a major league clubhouse for the first time in, oh, a year. It was nice being back, the comfortable rhythms of a life I once knew very well. Players dodge the press. The press congregates. A star goes to his locker. The press follows. Ah, like home.

Yet whenever I long for a true comeback to covering baseball, [...]

Just learned that Robert Traylor, aka The Tractor, is dead.

He was found in his apartment in Puerto Rico (he was a player for Vaqueros de Bayamon). The presumed cause is heart attack—he’s long had problems with his ticker. Traylor was just 34. Heartbreaking.

We tend to remember mediocre professional athletes by the highest moments of…

So I was intrigued by the backlash directed toward Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers running back, after his Tweets of a few days ago. Specifically, he wrote:

What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…
To begin with, I was thrown…

I love Princeton 6, Kentucky 2.

I love Bucknell 10, UConn 3.

I love the first few minutes of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, when teams with seemingly no chance believe they have a chance. It’s the most magical part of the magic. That singular moment, when you slip a backdoor layup past a guy you’ve seen…

When I was but a lad of 8 or 9, my mother offered some advice I’ve never forgotten.

“Boy,” she said, “if you’re ever a mediocre NFL cornerback who gets burned every third play …”

Yes, mother?

“… and if you position yourself significantly…

Because my take clearly isn’t very popular here, I’ve invited one of the dissenters, Gregg Ferrara, to offer his counter. Gregg is a good guy, and I appreciate him taking the time …

After a few emails back and forth today with Jeff, he asked me to say a few words on here. I am the furthest thing in the world from a writer, I am in the IT field by trade, but I will take a stab at it. Prefaced, I am sick of the steroid talk…

If there is a Baseball God, Cliff Lee returns to Texas and the Yankees sit and watch Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and the best pitcher on the market go elsewhere.

I don’t know Lee, but I hope he’s enough of a smalltown guy to ignore the seventh year of the Yankee contract and stick with the [...]

Just wanted to remind people of the second-annual Casey Pearlman Holiday Toy Drive. All donated gifts go directly to the Blytheadale Children’s Hospital, an amazing place that gives everything directly to children in need. Contact me (anngold22@gmail.com) if you’d like to donate a toy. I’ll be happy to send you a signed copy of The [...]