USD not blameless in betting scandal

I started out this week trying to come up with a way to defend Brandon Johnson. I didn't intend to necessarily defend his actions, but I felt like the school was just kind of throwing him under the bus. After all, this is America, where you are innocent until proven guilty, and nothing has been proven yet.

Looking into USD baseball’s struggles

Apathy is the most unacceptable emotion in all of sports. Ask any coach what the only thing worse than losing is, and they will answer that it is when the players don't care about losing.

NCAA hypocrisy rampant

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the NCAA. HBO and PBS both criticized it for the way it exploits student athletes and makes money off of their likenesses without repaying them.

Status update: the Super Bowl

Because you haven't already read 78,974 post-Super Bowl columns, allow me to write another.

The roller coaster ride of sports

Sports is a rollercoaster ride with more ups and downs than the Belmont Park Giant Dipper. It has the ability to make all of your problems go away in one second then bring your entire world crashing down the next.

Lowering expectations

As sports fans, we treat each new season the same way we treat a new girlfriend or boyfriend (how's that for gender neutrality). We overemphasize every positive and overlook every negative. We also disregard our past experiences and blindly assume that even though we have been burned in the past, everything will work out the way it is supposed to this time around.

The greatness of Manny Pacquiao

Great athletes are hard to come by,

but should you ever be fortunate enough

to witness one play, you would be welladvised

to do so. I was not alive to see

Muhammad Ali, too young to appreciate

Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan and

too uninfluenced by Southern California

culture to believe that Kobe Bryant was

really and truly great.

Philip Rivers is the hands-down MVP

There are a lot of travesties in the world. The "Saw" franchise is still a moneymaking machine, "Two and Half Men" draws some of the biggest ratings on TV, Adam Morrison has two World Championship rings and Soulja Boy is still allowed to make music. But one of the biggest travesties of late is the lack of respect for the man who should be the hands-down favorite to win NFL MVP, Philip Rivers.

The World Series has lost its mojo

The World Series isn't exciting anymore.

Obviously, Giants and Rangers fans would disagree, but to fans of every other team, it has become clear that this spectacle is not what it used to be.

The roller coaster ride of sports

Sports is a rollercoaster ride with more ups and downs than the Belmont Park Giant Dipper. It has the ability to make all of your problems go away in one second then bring your entire world crashing down the next.

College athletics’ paralyzing effect

Rutgers' junior defensive tackle Eric LeGrand will likely never walk again because of the game of football.

In a game against Army last weekend, LeGrand made a tackle on a kick off play and never got up after it.

Homecoming lament

There are few things more embarrassing than being out-cheered at your own homecoming game. But last Saturday at the USD homecoming football game, that is exactly what happened.

MLB Postseason predictions

Last season I made an attempt to predict the outcomes of every series in the postseason for this very same publication. I only picked two of the four Division Series winners correctly (Yankees and Phillies), and my prediction for a Yankees-Cardinals World Series was only half right. Still, I took comfort in the fact that my choice to win it all, the Yankees, actually came through. 

When sports drops the ball

At what point does responsibility to society trump responsibility to the fans?

In the "TMZ" era of sports, when an athlete's actions off the field become just as scrutinized as those on the field, it is easy to understand the argument that perhaps society has become too informed on the culture of athletes. 

Count me in on women’s soccer

I make a lot of jokes about women's sports and that likely upsets some people. But the truth is, I have nothing against women playing sports.

In fact, I have a confession to make.

The end is near?

I didn't want to write this column. I was all set to write about the addition of BYU to the WCC. It was supposed to be easy. I would explain BYU's credentials, make a few Mormon jokes, talk about how the addition would increase the notoriety of the conference and then wrap it up. Full story

Let the games begin

The thing about high expectations is that they are very rarely actually met. In fact, studies show that higher expectations mean more pressure. More pressure means higher self-awareness, and higher self-awareness means more probability for mistakes. And on and on. Full story