Manny Ramirez is traded

Reports filtered in after the MLB trade deadline that the Boston Red Sox had actually gone ahead and done it — they traded slugger Manny Ramirez.
Here’s how the three-team deal looks : The Red Sox ship Ramirez, who’s been loafing for two weeks, and much of his career, and decked a clubhouse trainer earlier this season, to [...]

Manny Ramirez is a jerk

He is. Read this, and remember that it’s written by a Hall of Famer who is more in tune with the inner workings of Boston Red Sox than just about anyone.
And then, on top of all of this, Manny fails to run out a ground ball deep in the hole at third while the Sox [...]

Duke is better off thanks to David Cutcliffe

I had the pleasure of interviewing new Duke football coach David Cutcliffe on Monday night at Fat Junior’s Grill in Sanford and came away impressed.
First of all, it was nice to hear that former Lee County star Jay Hollingsworth has a real chance to see some action on the gridiron this season in a potential [...]

A Cubs fan going crazy

I posed the question on the front page of the sports section in Sunday’s Herald.
Did he really need to seek professional help for his obsession with the apparent Cubs’ collapse of 2008?
Well, the jury may still be out on the specific answer to that specific question. (Although I know a few people who would answer [...]

Panic time for Cubs fans

Panic.
Full-on, terrorizing panic.
That’s me.
That’s Cubs fans everywhere.
Going into the All-Star break, the Chicago Cubs were 4 1/2 games up on the St. Louis Cardinals and five up on Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. There were just 67 games left in the season — this talk of a “second half” was erroneous from the start [...]

Great Playing, Paddy — The final round of the British Open Championship

Great playing.
It’s the phrase that is the greatest compliment a golfer can give to another player. When doffing the caps and shaking hands on the 18th green, hearing a “Great playing” after a well-played round can feel better than a cold beer at the 19th hole. The better a player you hear it from, the [...]

Who will win the British Open?

Now this is some kind of test.
We were supposed to not care much about the next two major championships with Tiger Woods home on crutches. The British Open was supposed to be anticlimactic and lacking for drama.
Uh-huh. Whatever.
After misfiring twice last season — two guys on my Who Won’t Win list last season won a [...]

The Forecast is over par — Round 3 of the Open Championship

9:45 a.m.
Oh boy. The wind is howling, and the prospects are not good for par- anywhere.
If the morning groups give any indication, this is going to be an ugly day of golf at Royal Birkdale.
This may be the day when the feel-good stories that make us forget about Tiger Woods on crutches come crashing down. [...]

Could Greg Norman win? — Round 2 of the Open Championship

OK, this is starting to get a little more surreal.
A 53-year-old former great who rarely even practices, let alone plays, is contending in the British Open still.
Greg Norman, who probably hasn’t been called the Shark in a decade, had it to 1 under and was the lone player under par until a bogey on 17 [...]

Round 1 of the Open Championship

Oh please.
Please.
It’s only right.
Tied with two others for the lead in the Open Championship near completion of first-day play is a name who’s been familiar to casual golf fans for only a month. There, at 1 under with Graeme McDowell and Robert Allenby, is Rocco Mediate, who endeared himself to the golf world after pushing [...]