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Entries Tagged as 'Back in the Day'

Back in the Day: My 12 Olympics, Ranked

July 29th, 2021 · 1 Comment · Back in the Day, Newspapers, Olympics

Note: Originally published here in 2008, after the Beijing Olympics. Twelve was how many I covered, from start to finish, in my journalism career. So this list includes all of them. I was briefly onsite at London 2012, but covering three UAE soccer matches … we will leave that off this list. So, “favorite” is […]

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Almost Forgot to Mention This Hare-Brained Scheme from 1990

April 29th, 2021 · 1 Comment · Back in the Day, Football, Italy, Journalism, soccer, Sports Journalism

Been a while since I had the nerve to hold myself to a ridiculous plan to report on a sports event, to spend X-number of hours on the road — or in the air, or both. This was back before I got old and my nerves frayed. I have written about several of my hare-brained […]

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Back in the Day: Angels in Heaven

August 26th, 2020 · No Comments · Angels, Back in the Day, Baseball, monkey

What a great time to be an Angels fan. A well-rounded team, a first World Series, one of the great comebacks in baseball history, leading to a championship. The key game was Game 6, at Anaheim Stadium, I filed a comment piece. Here it is, under the headline: “Angels create an instant classic; Commentary: Game […]

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Back in the Day: Having a Head for Football

June 1st, 2020 · 1 Comment · Back in the Day, Football, Journalism, Newspapers, Sports Journalism, The Sun

First printed in the San Bernardino Sun, November 3, 2002. Twice in my life I have gone to a hospital emergency room as a patient. On both occasions it was after suffering a head injury on a kickoff at a high-school football game. And you thought freeway driving was dangerous. From where we sit, it’s […]

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Shaquille O’Neal and a False Dawn in Sunny Phoenix

March 3rd, 2020 · No Comments · Back in the Day, Kobe, Lakers, NBA

This is another entry in the “Back in the Day” series, where we look back at a sports event I wrote about for the newspaper. In this case, the nearly forgotten 2008 mid-season trade of Shaquille O’Neal from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns. The idea in Phoenix was that Shaq would be the […]

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When ‘M-V-P’ Chants Went from Hope to Prediction

February 22nd, 2020 · No Comments · Back in the Day, Basketball, Kobe, Lakers, NBA

“Blasts from the Past” is the idea. On days when I feel like writing but don’t feel like doing much research, I am going to revisit topics from my 40 years in journalism. This will be one of those. It is my take, from January of 2008, on Kobe Bryant’s chances of winning his first […]

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Super Bowl 29, the 49ers, Chargers and Mark Seay

February 1st, 2020 · No Comments · Back in the Day, Chargers, Football, NFL

When the San Francisco 49ers secured a place in Super Bowl 54, to be played tomorrow in Miami, my brain banged out several memories of my two visits to Joe Robbie Stadium. The most recent was to see USC and Oklahoma in the college football national championship game in 2007. (USC 55, Oklahoma 10; later […]

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Going Out with a Bang: Thanks, Eli!

January 24th, 2020 · No Comments · Back in the Day, NFL, Sports Journalism

February 3, 2008. Super Bowl 42. New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14. That would be the 12-point underdog Giants taking down the 18-0 Patriots, who were out to become the first 19-0 champs in NFL history. And I was there. How lucky was I? I covered what still is the most dramatic and […]

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Headline News: ‘Arrivederci Aroma’

December 30th, 2019 · No Comments · Back in the Day, Football, Italy, Journalism, Los Angeles Rams, NFL, Rome

A clever headline tells a story … with a twist. I prefer to think everyone likes a clever headline, but I fear only people in the publishing business really appreciate a good “hed”. Like this one, from the Los Angeles Times 40 years ago. “Arrivederci Aroma: Rams Stink Up the Coliseum”

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Back in the Day: Joe Namath, Rams, Mystery Woman,Wrong Room

December 26th, 2019 · No Comments · Back in the Day, Football, NFL, Rams, Sports Journalism

Joe Namath has a new biography out, and in it the former New York Jets hero and leader of the great upset victory in Super Bowl III relates his spending Christmas alone, in December of 1979. The episode is outlined in this excerpt from “All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters.” And nearly any […]

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