Cleaning out the Inbox

    The cleaning of the inbox is overdue, so we'll start the new year by pulling everything out of the inbox to start fresh.

WTOP.com celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Capital Centre, the former home of the Washington Bullets, Washington Capitals, and Georgetown Hoyas, along with title defenses by Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, professional wrestling, ACC basketball tournaments, and many other events as well from 1973-2002.

The Capital Centre was the first arena of its era to have a closed circuit television feed on its scoreboard that could be seen from each side of the arena as well and was among the first of the move to the suburbs by teams for new stadiums/arenas.

The Capital Centre was closed with the teams moving to the new downtown arena in 2002 and now things are starting to swing back to the suburbs with the Wizards/Capitals announcing plans for a future arena in Alexandria, Virginia.

ESPN writes of the plans for the third leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, to be moved to Saratoga Race Course for 2024 and possibly 2025.

Belmont Park is undergoing major renovations to the country's only one and a half miles course and Saratoga is a natural site to host the Belmont, although the mile-and-a-half classic will be shortened to a mile-and-a-quarter due to the configuration of Saratoga.

I've thought for years that the answer to the power hitters in golf making classic golf courses obsolete due to distance was to change the golf ball itself.

Slow-pitch softball has used two different types of balls for decades, the "blue dot" made as a normal softball, while the "red dot" is a restricted flight ball that doesn't leap off the bat for the stronger hitters and I've been a proponent of golf doing the same with their ball, rather than changing the length of courses that changes some of the history and charm as well as the costs involved.

The Athletic writes of the pros and cons of the move which will begin in 2028 for the professionals and 2030 for the rest of the golf-playing world.

The Athletic also writes of the troubles with the once-proud Louisville Cardinals basketball program under second-year coach Kenny Payne.

The former Cardinal star returned home to turn the Cardinals around but finished 4-28 last season and started 5-8 this season to date amid players leaving the program, struggling attendance, and questions about the program's future under Payne.

Problems in the Atlantic League just before Hagerstown opens their new stadium next season.

The problem isn't the league as much as one franchise, the Gastonia Honey Hunters, who have been ordered to vacate their home stadium and have their franchise revoked from the league.

The Honey Hunters have left a trail of unpaid bills to the Atlantic League and the city of Gastonia for use of the stadium that the city built for them.

The stadium opened in 2021 and the Atlantic League has announced their intentions to field a Gastonia team in the league in 2024, although I'm not sure if they will be the Honey Hunters or under a new nickname as I'm not sure if the owners of the team or the league owns the trademarks to the name and intellectual property such as logos etc. 

We wrap with The Athletic's story of how Tino Livramento left the Chelsea academy to move to Southampton before his eventual move to Newcastle last summer.

It's an interesting piece on how young players progress through a sports system that doesn't use either college or a minor league system like in the United States.

Livramento is one of the few Newcastle that is playing very well during a poor run of play from the Magpies.

Cleaning out the inbox

Time for another cleaning of the inbox, as we'll begin with a goodbye of a good type, as Ken "Hawk" Harrelson stepped away from the Chicago White Sox broadcast booth at the end of the season a few weeks back.

As an announcer, he was certainly a polarizing figure, and his blatant homerism certainly was a throwback to radio days long in the scrapbooks.
ESPN looks at Harrelson, the difference between Ken and "Hawk", the routine at the ballpark and at home, and more.
I've always liked Hawk, but I can easily understand why other fans would not!
Still listening to Hawk's calls, I always thought he added fun to a game that needs more and more of just that.


My all-time favorite basketball coach (as far as the NBA anyway) Larry Brown is still coaching at the age of 78- this time in Italy.
Brown, who always seemed to be looking for Camelot and, as a result, lost many opportunities through the years to build dynasties, although he almost always delivered winners at his various stops, has run out of teams in the states between his vagabond ways and his age.
The Athletic checks in on Brown and offers a few notes that I didn't know about, including why he didn't pick Paul Pierce when he was with Philadelphia, even though he knew he was making a mistake.

The SWC Roundup writes of a rivalry between two teams that usually are at or near the bottom of Division I, but usually play very close games that offer memorable endings.
New Mexico State and UTEP play in the "Battle of I-10" and two rivalry trophies are on the line in the Silver Spade and Brass Spittoon.
Often the most torrid rivalries are from teams on the same level and both of these teams that usually (New Mexico State did win six games and a bowl last year) struggle to win more than two or three games look at each other as not only rivals, players from the same high schools that have played against each other before, but as a good opportunity for a victory.
This article looks at three games between 1989-91 where UTEP won all three games by a combined six points.
Their game this season was reasonably close, with the Aggies defeating the Miners 27-20.


Another rivalry from schools of similar quality seems to be fierce despite the teams only playing each other twice as of now, as Texas State (Sun Belt) and UTSA (Texas-San Antonio, Conference USA) have developed some hate with each school drawing over 30,000 for their home game in the series thus far.
There is a nice ( but pretty generic-looking) trophy given to the winner, but it looks more like a larger and shinier version of a fantasy football league trophy.
A regional supermarket (HEB) sponsors the game and trophy, but a fan has come up with an idea that favors neither school but plays to the sponsor with a golden shopping cart.
Weird? Yes, but that's college football!

18 Birdies covers the evolution of the golf ball over the years, going way back to the first golf ball in 1550, which was an all-wooden ball!
Imagine hitting a ball made of wood with the limited clubs of the time and think about just how far that ball "flew"!
The article moves through several other phases that the ball went through in how they were made during each change of the ball, and it was quite interesting to read about what the balls were made of and contained on the inside.

We leave with the passing of former Philadelphia Eagles safety Wes Hopkins at the age of 57.
Hopkins was a second-round pick of the Eagles in 1983, was a first-team all-pro in 1985, a devastating thumper in the Ronnie Lott mold, and seemed to be on his way to an outstanding career.
A devastating 1986 knee injury ruined all of that, and even though Hopkins would return from the injury to be a starter and a fine player, he was never able to reach his previous form, which, had he been able to maintain that level of play, might have placed him in Hall of Fame consideration. 

Cleaning out the inbox

Time for a cleaning of the inbox,which is more than overdue.
Mostly a non-sports cleaning this time,so lets get started.

The picture on the right is actress Alicia Witt, who has guest starred on several series (I first saw her on Justified-a great and missed show) and does a lot of those Hallmark/Lifetime-style movies.
Witt is also a singer and I found her interview with Forbes to be fascinating as she discusses just how Hollywood works (and shortchanges) its guest stars on television shows,an upcoming album that she funded through Kickstarter and why even recognizable actors aren't nearly as rich as one would think.
Witt is honest enough to say that she makes more than enough to support herself, but she is far from wealthy.
I thought it was a very enlightening interview and learned a few things about the entertainment world...

I've written before about my Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom and I saw a link on my Facebook timeline about a recent interview with Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar on her new food venture-
Foodstirs.
Gellar discusses her most recent series (The Crazy Ones with the late Robin Williams, Foodstirs, and the various difficulties of a startup business, no matter how famous you may be.

I've written before about FS1's Katie Nolan and her willingness to take anyone on, but this one is gutsy as she takes on a titan of her own media company in Sean Hannity.
Nolan fired off some tweets against Hannity that showed not only no fear of Hannity but of her own company.
I'll let you read just what she said (Language), but it will be interesting to see if Nolan gets any payback-publicly or privately...

CSN Washington is moving former Bullets (yes, I said Bullets) guard and longtime color commentator Phil Chenier out of the game analyst role after being the only analyst in the history of the network.
No word on a replacement for the veteran, who was always a favorite of mine.
My all-time favorite Phil Chenier story: The Bullets used to have a half hour pregame show from the old Capital Centre- the Bullet Report,which consisted mainly of Chenier sitting in a chair answering viewers phone calls on the team.
Ryan and I were watching the Bullet report and this guy called in for this.
Chenier: Let's go to Insert Name Here, you're on the Bullet Report.
Caller: Yo, Phil- tell me why the Bullets Succcckk.
Chenier looked like he had no idea what to say and sheepishly moved to the next caller...
Ryan and I laugh about that to this day!

When I was on my trip to Charleston,I saw this link on CNN for a recall for hash browns and other potato products for one of the crazier recalls that I have seen in quite a while.
The recall of products from McCain (no,not as in Battlin' Bob) products for "possible extraneous Golf Ball materials" makes me really think.
Is McCain growing golf balls in their patches? Are they near a golf course and if so imagine the amount of wayward drives that had to have been hit to have that many "materials" in their bags of potatoes?
That's one crazy recall and I'm just having real problems stifling laughter from just how on earth all of this "golf ball material" found their way there!!

MPT finishes this cleaning session with a discovery of something that might go a long way toward an eventual cure for the flu.
A recently discovered frog has a slime that has a molecule that can eliminate viruses and yet leave the basic cell intact.
Many tests to be done in the future and researchers are unsure how this works,but it certainly is a positive development to be part of the future process of creating cures...

Been looking at the stats and readership is rising, hope some of the new readers stick around for a while.
I'm caught up for now and I didn't even mention the Cavaliers' two dominant wins over Toronto.
Thinking about either a Forgotten Superstar for tonight or a thought or two on the health care bill/debate of today, so hope to see you there...