After taking time to reflect Randy Johnson’s retirement I can honestly admit surprise and relief. After 22 big league seasons, over 300 wins, over 4,000 strike outs, five Cy Young awards, and a world championship, Johnson has decided to call it a Hall of Fame career. Johnson played for five teams in his illustrious career (Mariners, Astros, Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Giants) but I will remember him most as an Arizona Diamondback, where he won his World Series championship teaming up with another future Hall of Famer, Curt Schilling, …

Galloping along the frozen trails of America’s heartland is a young man few outside of elite running circles are aware. I speak of a young man who, at midnight on New Years Morning, covered a snow covered, slippery four-mile surface in New York’s Central Park in a brisk 18:35; 18 seconds clear of second place. This same young man finished a very respectable second at the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day. I talk of course about former Notre Dame cross-country and track star Patrick Smyth. …

Long before midnight Monday morning, the NFL’s playoff picture was set and wild card weekend match ups were finalized. In the NFC we have week 17 rematches galore, with Philadelphia going to Dallas once more and Green Bay staying in the desert to play Arizona. One original game still exists, with Baltimore going to New England while the Jets and Bengals replay their game, this time in Cincinnati. With so many rematches in back to back weeks it makes me wonder how easy it is to beat …

In light of Purdue’s thrashing of sixth ranked West Virginia at Mackey Arena on Friday afternoon, I have started thinking about undefeated seasons. Who has the right circumstances laid out before them going in?
Two of my roommates (Kyle and Tony, who is my twin brother) make a wager every year around this time as to who will go undefeated in men’s college basketball. Last year Tony selected North Carolina who lost early in ACC to play to Boston College, despite the fact that they were running a poor …

You all know the expression “third times a charm”, well for Channing Frye that expression rings true. After being drafted by the New York Knicks in 2005, he showed great promise in his rookie season averaging 12.3 points per game while shooting 33% from three and 47% from the floor. In the three years that followed, however, Frye found struggles as his scoring dipped well under double digits, as he averaged 9.5, 6.8, and 4.2 in one more season in the Big Apple and two in Portland. …