Hockey Hall of Fame ghost revealed at last: The Hockey Hall of Fame moved into the historic building that had been a Bank of Montreal branch for close to 100 years. For more than 50 years a ghost known only as "Dorothy" has haunted the Hockey Hall of Fame. In the early 1990s, Toronto musician Joanna Jordan saw a female ghost looking down on her from a second-floor ceiling. Jordan, who was playing the harp at an event being held in the building's Great Hall, was unaware at the time that a ghost purportedly haunted the space. "I remember it so vividly," she says, "because it's one of those things you'll never forget." Jordan refused to go up to the second floor by herself when she played at the Hall, which opened in 1993. "It was just too spooky up there."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 12:57 PM - 2 comments

Yankees yank Ronan Tynan from lineup after anti-Semitic remark: First the Yankees told Challenger the Eagle to take a hike after almost divebombing Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi during the '03 World Series. Now the team is telling another Yankee Stadium postseason tradition that he'd be better off staying at home for Game 1 of the ALCS. ....the team has canceled the appearance of singer Ronan Tynan after the Irish tenor made an anti-Semitic remark to a Jewish doctor who was looking at an apartment in his building on Manhattan's East Side.
"The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center."The agent told Tynan, 'Don't worry, they are not Red Sox fans,' according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson. "I don't care about that, as long as they are not Jewish' was Tynan's reply."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 04:29 PM - 42 comments

FlipFlopFlyball: is designer Craig Robinson's collection of the sports graphics he does for fun. Mostly about baseball, these range from whimsical to silly to interesting to simple. He also has a baseball flickr set.

posted by rumple to culture at 02:10 PM - 3 comments

NBA Referee Lock-out: Julie Davis, wife of NBA ref Mark Davis, wrote a letter to the National Basketball Referees Association executive board to give them the perspective of a referee's family.

posted by lilnemo to culture at 03:02 PM - 40 comments

Ravens' Foxworth Is Building Home Museum to the Civil Rights Movement : With each step down his basement stairs, Domonique Foxworth descends into his own private bomb shelter. Above ground, he earns millions covering the N.F.L.'s top receivers for the Baltimore Ravens. Below it in his cellar, he seeks different company. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a dream in the cover of an autographed memoir. Malcolm X defies a detractor in a typed letter from 1963. Rosa Parks sits, Tommie Smith clenches and Thurgood Marshall reasons in framed and signed artifacts that form Foxworth's growing museum of the civil rights movement. "Other players around the league, their basements are all jerseys of themselves and friends in the N.F.L. and the N.B.A." "I feel more comfortable with these people around me." "When this player shoots from the hip, it ain't with a Glock in a nightclub. Foxworth's passion for civil rights will inform his handling of the league's coming labor negotiations, in which he will participate as a member of the union's executive committee. "This is the Little Rock Nine," Foxworth said, pointing to an autographed print of the black students who in 1957 were blocked from attending a segregated school in Arkansas. "All this stuff is really powerful to me. It motivates me. Football and community work and just day to day. To not waste."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 10:46 AM - 10 comments

How Not to Write a Sports Column: Everybody has bad ideas. The trick is to forget them before you publish them in a newspaper.

posted by yerfatma to culture at 04:06 PM - 47 comments

Four Letter Stress Relief: One of the more outstanding and often overlooked aspects of the sports viewing experience is the art of the curse word. A good use of a 4 letter word can relieve many a stresses, and when executed properly, always makes for some good old fashioned laughter. Some of our favorite sporting luminaries have become synonymous with their choice dialect, and so today, we salute and celebrate those sons of batches of cookies via everyone's online friend, Youtube. (NSFW)

posted by BoKnows to culture at 04:45 PM - 8 comments

Eunice Shriver, Founder of Special Olympics, Dies : A sister of President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy and the mother-in-law of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Mrs. Shriver never held elective office. Yet she was no stranger to Capitol Hill, and some view her work on behalf of the developmentally challenged, including the founding of the Special Olympics, as the most lasting of the Kennedy family’s contributions. “When the full judgment of the Kennedy legacy is made — including J.F.K.’s Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress, Robert Kennedy’s passion for civil rights and Ted Kennedy’s efforts on health care, workplace reform and refugees — the changes wrought by Eunice Shriver may well be seen as the most consequential,” U.S. News & World Report said in its cover story of Nov. 15, 1993. Edward Kennedy said in an interview in October 2007: “You talk about an agent of change — she is it. If the test is what you’re doing that’s been helpful for humanity, you’d be hard pressed to find another member of the family who’s done more.” As an example, Mr. Kennedy cited the opening ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, where a crowd of 80,000 cheered as President Hu Jintao welcomed more than 7,000 athletes to China, a country with a history of severe discrimination against anyone born with disabilities. The first Special Olympics brought together 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada for competition. In December 1968, Special Olympics Inc. was established as a nonprofit charitable organization. Since then, the program has grown to almost three million athletes in more than 180 countries.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 11:11 PM - 7 comments

Beyond Sport: What can athletes do to make the world a better place? Olympian Ian Thorpe tells it like it is, and exposes Australia's dirty little secret.

posted by owlhouse to culture at 10:40 PM - 10 comments

Was the 1970's Boston Globe Sports Page the Greatest of All Time?: "Ryan would write about umpires,Gammons would write about wars and symphonies, and you'd need a third f----- guy for game talk."

posted by yerfatma to culture at 08:12 AM - 4 comments

As Economy Stumbles, the Zamboni Glides On : Charlie Brown once said there are three things in life that people like to stare at: a flowing stream, a crackling fire and a Zamboni clearing the ice. Car and Driver recently test-drove one, finding that “the vague steering is totally ’70s Cadillac.” At least one well-known American vehicle manufacturer is rolling out vehicles as usual. But before a Zamboni can take the ice, it hits the pavement on Colorado Avenue. And, in this day, it may be comforting to know that Frank J. Zamboni & Company, still family owned and operated, is not asking for a government bailout.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 08:22 AM - 1 comment

Is Manny Ramirez Really All That Bad?: Randy Cohen, writer of The Ethicist, takes on doping in sports and suggests a different method of handling it.

posted by apoch to culture at 10:49 AM - 8 comments

Two can't misses, who missed. Todd Marinovich: a familiar story, compellingly told with a new interview, and Mike Harrington: drafted 5 times, turned down a 5 million dollar contract, changes tires at Costco.

posted by rumple to culture at 08:38 PM - 4 comments

Sponsorship 'so surreal' for bus crash survivor: In January, 2008, Bradd Arseneau faced an uncertain future after surviving the bus crash that killed seven of his high school basketball teammates in Bathurst, N.B. "I didn't even know if we'd have a basketball program, let alone whether I would take part," he said. Fourteen months and a provincial championship later, the 17-year-old found himself in a downtown Toronto studio, filming a commercial for Gatorade. On Friday, after having breakfast at the condo of NBA star Chris Bosh, the drinks company unveiled Mr. Arseneau as one of the faces of its Canadian campaign, alongside other athletes such as Paralympian Chantal Petitclerc and hockey legend Gordie Howe. Between breaks in the commercial shoot, Mr. Arseneau explained that the No. 7 shirt he wore in the final and the shoot symbolized the seven players who died in the crash, including his mentor Nathan Cleland, who wore the jersey last year. Grinning to himself, he remembered some of his friend's skills.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 03:26 PM - 2 comments

Because we're all suckers for athlete bloggers: Leon Boyd, the closer for the Netherlands in the '09 WBC, and recently signed to a minor league deal with the Blue Jays, has a blog. Worth it alone for the account of his save against the Dominican Republic.

posted by DrJohnEvans to culture at 11:00 PM - 2 comments

In the Buff: A worldwide event that is underway gives motorists multiple reasons to stop and think about the impact of pollution caused by burning fuel. You may have questions, if so, here are some answers.

posted by BoKnows to culture at 03:35 PM - 5 comments

Casino Host and Wingman to the All-Stars: Mr. Jones generally travels with a large group of friends as well as the athletes, and it frequently expands to 20 strong. Mr. Jones always elects one local friend to be his "chief of staff," charged with making sure everyone in the group is trustworthy and preventing stragglers from glomming on.

posted by dusted to culture at 11:37 PM - 1 comment

Pulling together: Blackhawks support their G.M.: The story that's been dubbed "Millionaires behaving properly" was written in a small town a few hours north of Toronto. It might have remained nothing more than local lore if not for the efforts of a few persistent e-mailers and fan message boards. In an era when it seems we can't get enough news about athletes, when every bar brawl, strip-club visit and parking-lot scrape merits a headline, the best story of the NHL season somehow managed to fly below the radar for nearly three weeks.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 12:06 PM - 12 comments

Video Shows Coach Shoving Young Player.: He(coach) says that action viewed on videotape was justified by some of the events that happened during the game.

posted by BoKnows to culture at 07:51 PM - 26 comments

High School Hazing Rears its Ugly Head Again: In an era when bullying and initiation/hazing rituals have supposedly been all-but-eradicated in high schools, colleges, and sports teams in general, six sodomized New Mexico footballers remind us that a blind-eye is still turned on this stuff if we're not careful.

posted by Spitztengle to culture at 05:40 PM - 23 comments

12 Athletes Leaving Brains to Concussion Study: "I'm not being vindictive. I'm not trying to reach up from the grave and get the N.F.L. But any doctor who doesn't connect concussions with long-term effects should be ashamed of themselves."

posted by BoKnows to culture at 02:39 PM - 8 comments

The Life And Death Of The English Football Song:: Popmatters explores, with examples, the history of the terrace chant, its sporadic forays into the recorded music world and the popular music charts, and its occasional (sometimes even successful) crossing into American culture, providing (among other high and low lights) the darkest moment in Walter Payton's storied career.

posted by chicobangs to culture at 11:20 AM - 9 comments

Don Haskins, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, Dies at 78 : ''Don got more out of his teams and players than any coach who has ever coached college basketball,'' Knight said.

Haskins, the Hall of Fame coach credited with helping break color barriers in college sports in 1966 when he used five black starters to win a national basketball title for Texas Western, died Sunday. He was 78.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 06:07 PM - 5 comments

Sticks and Balls: We were able to enjoy bowling as a thread to a previous existence. An existence that didnt involve struggling with even the simplest of communication attempts. Bowling was a way to feel less lost.

posted by justgary to culture at 04:03 AM - 0 comments

An Open Letter From Roger Ebert To Jay Mariotti: Mariotti is an easy target at the best of times, but his abrupt departure from the Chicago Sun-Times, right after they paid his way to China for the Olympics, left his most distinguished now-former colleague more than a little out of joint. And no one writes a screw-you letter like Roger Ebert.

posted by chicobangs to culture at 05:11 PM - 14 comments

Sandlot ball going the way of wooden bats : Sandlot baseball, a slice of American life enjoyed for decades by boys from coast to coast, appears on the verge of extinction. Nowadays, most neighborhood ball fields sit empty on summer afternoons, the idea of unsupervised play having gone the way of the rotary-dial phones kids once used to round up the fellas for a game.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 07:49 PM - 9 comments

Terrell Owens is a sweet, sweet man.: If you get mowed down by a Honda Civic, you'd be extremely lucky to have Terrell Owens nearby.

posted by BoKnows to culture at 03:01 PM - 28 comments

Not tonight, honey, I have a game tomorrow.: The notion of pre-game abstinence from sex to enhance athletic performance is a longstanding one. But is that notion as fictional as Rocky Balboa? Sean Cupp thinks so. Chris Byrd is the guinea pig. Tom Fornelli resents his high school coach.

posted by MrFrisby to culture at 09:35 PM - 17 comments

The Doping Dilemma: Scientific American contributer, and Skeptics Society Founder, Michael Shermer uses Game Theory to explain why doping has become rampant in cycling and other sports. He also uses the theory to outline some actions that can be taken to remedy the problem.

posted by sic to culture at 01:42 PM - 15 comments

Judge Sides with Redskins: The Washington Redskins have won the latest round in a 16-year court battle against a group of American Indians, prevailing on a technicality that again skirts the issue of whether the team’s nickname is racially offensive. In a ruling dated June 25 and first circulated Thursday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the youngest of the seven Native American plaintiffs waited too long after turning 18 to file the lawsuit that attempts to revoke the Redskins trademarks.

posted by billsaysthis to culture at 09:52 AM - 26 comments

Dave Zirin interviews Ralph Nader: about the idea of a fan's bill of rights, the NBA referees' scandal, and the still-growing dangers of taxpayer-funded stadiums.

Before Ralph Nader was the guy no one wanted to be stuck talking to at the Presidential Election party, he was one of the most important consumer watchdogs the United States ever had. Here, the always-excellent Dave Zirin brings out the childhood Lou Gehrig fan in him, and lets the erstwhile politician get a few things off his chest.

posted by chicobangs to culture at 01:27 PM - 6 comments

Excavators find articfacts from the 18th Century buried below Rutgers Stadium.: The crew, working on the Rutgers Stadium Expansion Project (warning: embedded audio), has discovered thousands of artifacts among what are believed to be the remains of a tavern and a house built in the 1700's.

posted by Ufez Jones to culture at 10:12 AM - 4 comments

Stanley Cup arrives in Newfoundland: .......for the Harbour Grace, N.L., native, the first player from Newfoundland to win the Stanley Cup, the most important stop during his two-day celebration with the trophy was at a local children's hospital. "These kids aren't feeling great, but I hope that the Cup cheers them up for that one special moment. And that's really what it's all about."

posted by tommytrump to culture at 09:38 AM - 5 comments

Grey Cup arrives in Afghanistan: KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Canadian Forces Capt. Ryan Matthies stood back in disbelief, seemingly trying to comprehend what he had just done. "Dude . . . I just touched the cup!" the soldier said, staring at his hands.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 09:29 AM - 6 comments

Title IX, Curse or Blessing?: Title IX opened a door for women in athletics. Its impact has been great, and has led to more and more opportunities for women to excel. Particularly at the high school level, I have seen many young girls become confident young ladies from their participation in athletics. Many feel that Title IX has led to decreased opportunity for male athletes. In this article, the author raises many valid questions concerning the way in which Title IX is interpreted.

posted by Howard_T to culture at 02:39 PM - 38 comments

George Carlin: (Late) Sports Authority: Mourning the passing of the ultimate arbiter in the "Is it a sport or not?" debate. Also reference his famous comparison between baseball and football.

posted by TheQatarian to culture at 07:09 PM - 39 comments

AFI names its top 10 sports movies: Two boxing movies "Raging Bull" followed by "Rocky" at the top. Also two baseball movies in top 5.

posted by graymatters to culture at 12:23 PM - 41 comments

Brian Budd passes away: The Toronto-born, raised-in-Vancouver Budd was best known for his remarkable athleticism he displayed in outshining much higher-profile professional athletes in winning the ABC Sports World Superstars contests against NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and Olympic stars three consecutive times between 1977 to 1979. Budd, a striker and target man with Canada's World Cup soccer team, scored two goals in seven appearances for Canada, also had a lengthy career in the defunct North American Soccer League.

posted by tommytrump to culture at 11:47 AM - 2 comments

Why sports documentaries are no longer one-dimensional fan-fests.: A new breed of sports documentaries are receiving critical acclaim. Following in the footsteps of Hoop Dreams are films like Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and now, Tyson.

posted by Steve-o to culture at 02:30 AM - 4 comments

Harkleroad fulfils naked ambition with Playboy shoot: I had a hard time picking the category for this one, since it's not all that much about tennis, and spofi doesn't have a category for salacious. A 61st-ranked women's tennis player's who wasn't doing anything else at the moment further fuels the controversy of mixing court and camera.

posted by irunfromclones to culture at 01:45 PM - 115 comments