DEARBORN, Mich. — The clock reached midnight as Sunday ticked into Monday and someone yelled, “It’s go time!” Football season could officially begin. New balls appeared and players at Fordson High School prepared to do what had long been done in this hometown of Henry Ford, build something with assembly-line precision and reliability. … Read More
via NYT
Even before Clay Travis’ new site came online this summer, 2011 already had seen the unveiling of an even bigger sports blog. The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, brought his ESPN Page 2 act above board and began directing an ESPN.com side project called Grantland, named for Vanderbilt University graduate and early 1900s sportswriter Grantland Rice.
In May, the New York Times declared Simmons “the most prominent sportswriter in America.” I remember being pretty surprised to read those words, and then thinking, well, maybe that’s right. Sports Illustrated Rick Reilly would’ve had something to say about that a few years ago. Mitch Albom probably is part of a generation being supplanted– or at least his hair is. Simmons had seized the internet and the kids’ attention thereby. He had a popular web column and podcast, and a bestselling book. The NYT declaration probably was correct, but it was strange to read it in print for the first time.
Grantland would find Simmons in a new role, or more accurately, an additional role. ESPN wanted him to keep up with his podcast and column, migrating that content to the new site. In addition, he was to serve as editor in chief.
It’s been over a year since “The Decision.” Thirteen months since Miami’s “Big Three” hit South Beach. Two months since the Heat lost in the NBA Finals. One month since the NFL lockout ended. In other words, it’s time for the media to reprise the dream team motif that paid their bills through the NBA season. NFL free agency, though compressed, has been slow, with one exception. Keep reading…
As promised, here is my report from a recent stop on the Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers/Béla Fleck and the Flecktones tour.
Last Friday, I had the fortunate opportunity to hear these two bands, lead by two masters, share a stage. It was hot and pretty humid, but the sun was out and there was no threat of rain. Concertgoers snacked on picnic dinners before the show began.
I’ll leave the traditional review to a professional and offer some reflections of my own. Keep reading…
On Friday night in San Francisco, the Giants’ pitcher, Ramon Martinez, hit Phillies CF Shane Victorino, which, in short order, caused a bench-clearing brawl for the forty-seven-thousandth time in MLB history. Martinez’s pitch apparently was no accident; rather, it was some sort of response to the decision by Philly’s previous batter, Jimmy Rollins, to steal second after his two-RBI single put the visitors up 8-2 in the sixth.
I don’t know whether this episode is dumber than the Angels-Tigers spat about which I wrote last week. It’s a tough call: benches didn’t clear in the Detroit incident (hardly an “incident” by that town’s standards), but the unwritten rules supposedly violated– admiring a home run and bunting during a no hitter– were much tougher to justify in the circumstances; in SF, benches did clear, but stealing second up six in the sixth at least is closer to jerk-move territory. Keep reading…
Bloggers at The Midnight Yell, a Texas A&M site, have made public the contract between the University of Texas and ESPN for The Longhorn Network. One of their friends obtained the document through a successful open records request.
The full report highlights a number of notable terms of the agreement. To me, the most interesting provision is the one granting Texas editorial control:
In the event that UT reasonably determines that any on-air talent does not reflect the quality and reputation desired by UT for the Network based upon inappropriate statements made or actions taken by such talent and so notifies ESPN, ESPN will cause such talent to be promptly replaced (and will in any event no longer allow them on air following such notice).
There isn’t much to add to that, except to say that I don’t know whether clauses like this are common or becoming common with the rise of these sorts of networks (which now exist, to varying extents, in the Big Ten, SEC, and Pac 12), but, common or not, they have to raise questions about the integrity of the host network.
If you’re interested in the money involved, Texas’ ability to leave the ten-team Big 12, or any other aspect of the relationship, read The Midnight Yell’s thorough coverage.
Things got off to a good start here last week. Readers especially enjoyed an early assessment of Clay Travis’ new website, OutKick The Coverage, a retrospective on the newly expanded “27 Club,” and a closer look at Justin Verlander’s comments after Angels-Tigers. We also celebrated Jerry Garcia’s birthday and featured Chris Osgood as the subject of the first Weekend Interview.
This week will bring reactions to two Philadelphia teams, a report on the Bruce Hornsby/Flecktones tour, and, hopefully, the introduction of some new contributors to the site.
Thanks for reading!
The first newspaper I read seriously and regularly was the Wall Street Journal. A test preparation company gave me a free print subscription, and I milked it as long as I could by doing things like stopping delivery when I was away, which had the effect of tacking more issues onto the end of the subscription. When it finally dried up, a friend on his way out at Dow Jones, the family driven organization that used to control the Journal before News Corp took over, lined me up with an online subscription, which carried me another year or so. By that time, newspaper websites were in full bloom, and a subscription really didn’t mean anything. When the family split and Rupert Murdoch took over, a digital lockdown followed closely on the heels of a substantial (if sometimes misguided) increase in content. No worry, though, as a free and easy workaround makes it simple to get behind the Journal’s paywall. All you have to do is…. Well, I don’t want my cell phone hacked, but, as Jimmy Cliff said, you can get it if you really want, and frankly, it isn’t even that tough.
Uh, hockey? Right. The WSJ has a regular feature called The Weekend Interview, a full-page study of one person, accompanied by an illustrated portrait by Ken Fallin. For reasons that make sense to me, Fallin inspired my photographic selection for this post, above. Because ALDLAND is neither the Journal nor The National Sports Daily, though, more often than not, the interviews are going to have to be imagined.
Chris Osgood is the right subject for this site’s first Weekend Interview. When the Detroit Red Wing goalie retired last month, my immediate reaction registered on the sadness side of the line. It wasn’t totally shocking, although I had thought he’d be around another year or two, especially given Captain Lidstrom’s decision to stay on. And Osgood is likeable, if not a perpetual fan favorite (but few goalies are). Osgood also is the type of player for whom the immediate hall of fame question is more than an element of the motions through which to go the media has obligated itself for every retiree; for him, it’s a real question, an interesting question, a debatable question, and possibly ridiculous that it is a question at all, and like Jim Gray, I promise I’ll promise you I’ll get to that question right away. Here goes… Keep reading…
I just received a copy of Rocket Science, the latest release from Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. I haven’t made it all the way through the disc just yet, but fans of the group’s previous releases will be right at home with this album.
Rocket Science marks the return of original Flecktone Howard Levy, who left the band in 1992. His piano and harmonica definitely are a noticeable (re)addition to the band’s sound, and they anchor the overall sound and provide it with a fullness missing on some thinner releases like Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, while keeping the band from soaring through vast soundscapes like they did on Live Art and Outbound.
Still, the sound is good and familiar. What struck me in the early listening was how apparent it was, perhaps for the first time (at least to this degree), that this is a jazz group. I never balked at their situation in the jazz racks at the local radio station, but listening to Rocket Science, it’s clear they belong there. Maybe it’s Levy’s piano, but more likely it’s the more cohesively rhythmic ensemble playing that populates the meat of these songs.
Longtime saxophonist Jeff Coffin– he was with the group from 1998 until he left in 2008 to fill in for Dave Matthews’ fallen parter LeRoi Moore– is missed, but like all of Fleck’s bands’ lineups, they constantly remind you of their diverse strengths, never letting you consider potential weaknesses. Looking at some full-album reviews, I and you can look forward to some masterful work by bass guitar master Victor Wooten in the later tracks, which isn’t surprising news, but it certainly is welcome.
I first saw the Flecktones in Michigan circa 1998, when they were opening for the band Coffin eventually would join, and I saw them on their own when I was in college in New York. Back in MI, I’m planning to catch them again tonight, when they’ll share an outdoor stage with Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers. It should be summertime sonic fun of the first degree, and I look forward to noting the results in the coming days.
Perhaps improbably, ALDLAND has survived its first week. I am happy with the content so far, and I’m looking forward to getting some more folks on board, hopefully starting next week. (As I’ve said from the beginning, if you’d like to be a part of this group, send me a note: aldland[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com. Would love to have you.)
Maybe not for every Friday, but definitely on the first Friday, I thought it would be good to start things off with a Friday-themed jam. Once I got the idea, there really wasn’t much choice as to which one to go with for the inaugural ALDLAND Friday groove:
ALDLAND 