Frank Deford

No. 1s: The Latest Greatest Of All Time

Frank Deford — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:32:00 +0000

The Great Gatsby is on the screen again, re-opening the perennial debate about whether or not it is the great American novel. Or was that Huckleberry Finn? Or are we still waiting for the great American novel? Is the title vacant, like most recent Tour de France championships? In the arts, the argument over the great American novel is a rather unusual great fuss about the greatest. In most disciplines there simply doesn't seem to be a passion to constantly assess who's No. 1.

Ladies, Want Women's Sports To Get More Attention? Pony Up

Frank Deford — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Fans of women's sports often maintain that female athletics get short shrift from the media, so it had to be something of a surprise gift when ESPN presented the start of the WNBA's draft live.

This happened as it was announced that after two abject failures in the past decade, yet another professional soccer league for women will dare venture forth in the United States.

Not to excuse the media, but the reality is that most attention is given to team sports, where there is an identity with the community –– and, by extension, with the local newspapers and broadcast outlets.

Get Off My Lawn! And Other Grumblings About Sports Today

Frank Deford — Wed, 01 May 2013 02:03:00 +0000

My friend the Sports Curmudgeon called me the other day: "Hey, Frank, I got a few things to get off my chest." He was about to take off on a Fantasy Fan cruise, where devoted sports buffs are drafted as fans for desperate losing teams, but he promised to text me his complaints once the ship got out to sea.

Sure enough, here came the Sports Curmudgeon's latest rants.

First, he asked, why do all newspapers and websites print so-called attendance figures, when they are abject lies?

The Pitch For More No. 42s

Frank Deford — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:55:00 +0000

Yet another movie about Jackie Robinson arrived as baseball held its annual commemorative celebration of No. 42, but officials of the game are fretting over the fact that only 8 1/2 percent of current major leaguers are black.

Given that African-Americans only constitute about 13 percent of the U.S.

Tiger At The Masters: The Juncture Of Exhilaration And Peril

Frank Deford — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:03:00 +0000

Let us now ponder the exquisite status of Tiger Woods, who has clawed back to the top of the charts thereby to proclaim, with the help of his Nike mouthpiece, that his ragged and raw past few years never really happened because — ta-da –– as his ad says: "Winning takes care of everything."

And yes, indeed, he is No. 1 in the rankings again. And, too, he has a beautiful new girlfriend, although, of course, I will not mention her name here, so as not to be a member of what he calls the "stalkerazzi."

And yet, that is why his position is so much more intriguing than ever.

Baseball Isn't Dead; It Just Takes More Work To Appreciate

Frank Deford — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 02:03:00 +0000

It being the start of baseball season, that means we've been inundated by predictions — who'll win the divisions and the pennants and the World Series? We know two things on this subject. In every sport, at the start of the season, the experts are bound and determined to make these long-range predictions. And second, they are invariably wrong.

In baseball, there is always one other long-term prediction, namely that baseball is dying. The non-baseball experts have been bleating this for years, because, they say, baseball is too slow and doesn't appeal to young people.

It's Been An Ugly Year For College Basketball

Frank Deford — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:03:00 +0000

There once was a wise old basketball coach named Arad McCutchan who led the Evansville Purple Aces to five national championships in the small-college division, dressing his Purple Aces in bright orange T-shirts. I've been reminded of this recently as a number of grubby athletic directors have sold out to the sporting goods companies, allowing their teams to be costumed in the most hideous outfits.

For openers: Whoever decided that basketball uniforms should have a camouflage motif? That makes as much sense as attiring the Navy SEALs in tutus.

What's The Score On Spirited Sports Banter At Bars?

Frank Deford — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 02:03:00 +0000

The more I travel, the more I see sports bars. They've been around for years, usually in obvious places, like in college towns or near arenas.

But now they're everywhere, even in airports and hotels, places where you'd expect generic bars. Sports bars are becoming ubiquitous and ordinary — merely, as my wife calls them, public man caves.

All bars, of course, have forever been places where men talk about sports. Other prime saloon subjects include women, the traffic and the weather.

But what made sports so perfect for bars is that they encourage argument.

School Bands Should Not Be Entertainment Adjunct For Sports

Frank Deford — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:53:00 +0000

Several years ago I gave a speech in which I mentioned that athletes tended to be the only college students who were awarded scholarships for what is an extracurricular activity.

Afterward, Myles Brand, the late president of the NCAA, told me I was wrong, that many music extracurricular scholarships were awarded at colleges.

Brand and I seldom agreed on much of anything, but I've always found him to be a gentleman. So, I expressed surprise at this claim.

Oh, no, Brand said, many colleges award music scholarships to members of the band who march during halftime at football games.

Catholic Universities See True Path To Salvation: Basketball

Frank Deford — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:21:00 +0000

I've always felt it's no coincidence that some basketball powerhouses — let us say, off the top of my head, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Indiana — get a few better players because those hoops museums don't do very well with football.

I mean, if I were a big-deal high school recruit, I might very well say to myself, "You know, I'd rather be a Hoosier or a Wildcat or a Jayhawk than I would go someplace where I'm just gonna be a lounge act for the glamorous Mr.