Sports Saturday March Madness begins this weekend. Actually, to be exact, it begins for the big schools. Division III colleges are in the final week of their tournament. I know because my college was one step away from making the final four. For the first time ever, St. Mary’s College of Maryland sent a team […]
Tag Archives: Basketball
March Madness, A Return to Innocence
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "King John's Christmas", "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College", A. A. Milne, Childhood, Sports, Thomas Gray Comments closed
Why Does Everyone Hate Duke?
Sports Saturday Once again, one of the most hated teams in the country resides atop the NCAA basketball rankings: Duke University. In today’s post I find literary equivalents for the general animus against the Blue Devils. For the life of me I can’t understand why Duke is so disliked. Granted, I myself dislike Duke, but […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Booth Tarkington, Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, Mark Twain, Oliver Goldsmith, Penrod, Sports, Tom Sawyer Comments closed
Basketball’s Lyric Slipknot of Joy
We can become jaded with professional sports. This past off season saw LeBron James creating a three-ring circus out of his move from Cleveland to Miami. The grand entrance of players into the arena on any given night seems almost parodic, more in the spirit of P. T. Barnum than epic invocation. Therefore it’s good […]
Where Are the Players of Yesteryear?
Sports Saturday Mais où sont les neiges d’antan? François Villon There’s not much going on in the sports world at the moment. Soccer’s World Cup now seems like a dream, the last major golf tournament has been played (with Tiger magic seemingly on indefinite hold), and football, basketball, hockey, and tennis’s U.S. Open await in […]
Using Beowulf to Defend Lebron
Sports Saturday Lebron James has been taking a lot of heat recently for joining the Miami basketball team. (Did you catch the pun?) This past trading season was termed “the Lebron Sweepstakes,” and teams from around the country trekked to Cleveland to play court to “King James.” James made the occasion particularly gaudy by persuading […]
Drama on the Foul Line
In his heyday, his only vulnerability Sports Saturday The Orlando arena was electric. The Magic, having lost their first home game against the Boston Celtics, were in a must-win situation. To lose the first two games of a playoff series at home is almost certain death, but they had fought back from an 11-point fourth-quarter […]
March Madness, Lightning Strike or Slog?
Sports Saturday Once again March Madness is gripping America. Once again we see Cinderella teams upsetting the giants (Northern Iowa upsetting top-seeded Kansas, Butler upsetting mighty Syracuse) and games won or lost on remarkable shots made in the waning seconds (Murray State, Michigan State). Maryland, the team I was rooting for, made a miraculous last […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Richard Cory", Edwin Arlington Robinson, Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, March Madness, Sports Comments closed
Hoops for Madness, Baseball for Lit
Sports Saturday March Madness—the American college basketball play-offs—is officially underway. As is the tradition, the first round has witnessed a host of upsets, including Georgetown, a favorite in my area. (Another favorite, Maryland, won late last night.) As I scan the scores, I find myself wondering why there isn’t more good literature about basketball. In fact, […]
take it to the hoop, magic johnson
Sports Saturday We are entering that time of year when the country goes crazy over college basketball and March Madness. Actually, March Madness came early to my school because the small college Division III tournament begins two weeks before that of the big boys. St. Mary’s College of Maryland seldom wins conference titles in sports—it’s […]
