Dante Randazzo
Damn Yanks
Two hundred dollars million just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Despite a phenomenal start from Alex Rodriguez, the rest of the New York Yankees have failed to pick up the slack, resulting in the team’s longest losing streak in two years. Twenty games into the season, the best baseball squad that money can buy finds itself in last place in the American League East. Are the New York Yankees becoming the Washington Redskins of Major League Baseball?
By Dante Randazzo April 26, 2007
Pay the man
Some have forgotten, others weren’t even here. But, as a senior, I remember all too well the humiliating loss to Duke and the last second heart-breaker against Syracuse during my freshman year.
By Dante Randazzo April 12, 2007
Interference
Basketball, basketball, basketball. An entire month, dedicated to a single sport? Against all odds, I managed to find a non-basketball story of more than minor interest when I came across a few comments made by 49ers coach Mike Nolan on what has always been a pet peeve of mine: the NFL’s pass interference rule.
By Dante Randazzo March 22, 2007
Pac Man J
Why can’t this guy stay out of trouble? Does the utter ennui of his off-season existence drive Adam “PacMan” Jones of the Titans to find ways to make his life more interesting, regardless of the costs? Don’t they have a bowling alley or something in Nashville?
By Dante Randazzo March 1, 2007
What a Rush
Today, I salute a real American. A man who isn’t afraid to speak the unfettered truth. A man willing to stand up to the mainstream media that runs this country and tell them that at least one journalist is going to stick up for the little guy. I speak of a man who has overcome vice and addiction and emerged from the wilderness. I speak, of course, of Rush Limbaugh.
By Dante Randazzo February 15, 2007
NHL Recount
Rory Fitzpatrick is the kind of hard-working journeyman that is becoming harder and harder to find in the National Hockey League today. He doesn’t have the stats of your typical all-star player. In fact, he isn’t on the official all-star ballot at all. Fitzpatrick has exactly one assist this season and only nine goals after a decade in the league. But that didn’t stop Steve Schmid of New York from starting what has now become a national movement: the Vote for Rory campaign.
By Dante Randazzo January 25, 2007
BS in BCS
I didn’t watch last week’s Fiesta Bowl in its entirety. I did, however, watch the last 15 minutes. That thrilling ending was enough to point to one conclusion: college football needs a playoff system. I had actually tuned in a bit earlier in the game, when Boise State had built up an 18-point lead. Assuming that things were wrapped up, I changed the channel. The next time I flipped back to check the score, Oklahoma had the lead 35-28 with only one minute and three seconds left in regulation. The luck of the underdog appeared to have run out, but a perfectly executed “hook and ladder” on fourth-and-18 extended the game into overtime. Something I love about college ball is the overtime scenario. Both teams get a crack at scoring, starting at the opposing 25 yard line. If the first team scores, the second team must match that score in order to continue the series, or beat the score in order to win the game. I like this scenario a lot better that the NFL rules. In professional football, the first team to score wins the game, placing an enormous amount of importance on something as small as a coin toss. Oklahoma played offense first, and scored immediately on an Adrian Peterson run. Boise State coach Chris Peterson appeared to have given up on a conventional victory, opting instead to empty out all the tricks in his playbook. Faced with another fourth down, Coach Peterson called a direct snap to the wide receiver, who rolled out to the right and completed a touchdown pass. The play he called, the “Statue of Liberty,” is almost never seen outside of playgrounds and videogames, but like everything else in the fairy tale game, it worked to perfection. Quarterback Zabransky acted as if he would pass with his right hand but instead handed Johnson the ball behind his back with his left. Ian Johnson,the running back who sauntered into the endzone for the win, proceeded to ask his girlfriend, Boise State’s head cheerleader, to marry him on national television. This game had everything, didn’t it? My understanding is that Disney is working on a screenplay as we speak. There was just one thing missing: a game against Florida to determine the best team in college football. I won’t repeat all of the arguments we’ve heard in favor of a playoff system over and over again. But the fact remains that BSU was the only Division One team to finish the season undefeated. And yet, in a recent AP Poll after the Sugar Bowl, they were ranked #5. Maybe BSU were the best team this season, and maybe they weren’t. But they deserved the chance to prove themselves one way or another. There won’t be any changes until Fox’s four-year $320 million TV deal ends with the 2010 bowls, and even then the most that is currently being discussed is a plus-one model which would create a four-team playoff. While an improvement, this simply isn’t going to be good enough, particularly with a field of teams this large. If fans want a full NFL-style playoff format, now is the time, before 2010, for them to make their voices heard. The 2007 Fiesta Bowl is all the evidence you need.
By Dante Randazzo January 11, 2007
Dope check
Doping has gone too far. There, I said it. I can understand that in the modern world of sports, it is important to maintain an even playing field. In order to do so, it is necessary that athletes and equipment be tested in order to ensure that when the athletes take the field, the only things they take with them are their natural abilities and the product of years of intensive training and hard work. That means no pills, no “supplements,” no corked bats and certainly no bionic arms. And certainly, no sport is above the law. One by one, different events have adopted testing, a practice that has become more institutionalized. Records have been erased, and medals have been revoked.
By Dante Randazzo November 30, 2006
Point/Counterpoint
Dante and Clay debate this season’s most likely top scorers for the Hoyas. Will it be Green and Hibbert? Or Dizdarevic and Izzo?
By Dante Randazzo November 7, 2006
Welcome to Artest’s world
I have to admit, it was a real toss-up this week, deciding between a column on the exposure of a Columbian soccer team as a front for a drug cartel and Kim Jong Il’s apparent love of basketball. But then I remembered that Ron Artest’s hip-hop album was released this week. Oh, happy day.
By Dante Randazzo November 2, 2006