The 1959 Home Run Derby
by the Spectator
Check out the videos of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.
For the Birds: A Futile Trip Down Oriole Way
by Mac Montandon
My beloved Baltimore Orioles were holding open minor league tryouts the next morning. My course was clear.
The Last Waltz
by Brian Schwartz
Jason Taylor may be the best ballroom dancer in the NFL. How does that make us feel?
A Flyers Fan Is Finished
by Tyson Smith
The Flyers have come to represent the most goony, vicious, and pathetic of all the NHL teams. Read more.
Jayhawks, Josh Dean Take the Spoils
by TMS
Overtime. Inevitable. Bravo, Mario Chalmers. Click here for the final standings.
NCAA Final: Fact vs Fiction
by TMS
What’s cooler a Kansas Jayhawk or a Memphis Tiger? A Jayhawk is apparently a fictional bird, a cross between a blue jay (bastard!) and a sparrow hawk. The term goes back to the 1850s and gets mixed up with the Civil War and cattle rustling. The fantastic avian fella has given rise to some pretty great drawings including this one, above left, from 1912 and some others here.
The Memphis Tiger nickname is not quite as interesting (It comes from some kids back in 1914 yelling, “We fight like Tigers”). But they’ve got a real tiger, above right, and a rap video. “Winnin’ baby. Yeah, that’s Coach Cal’s game.”
It’s a toss up. Click here for pool standings.
Number Ones Crush Defenseless Underdogs
by TMS
It’s a historic, revolutionary year in the NCAA tournament! Never before has it happened! The Final Four is all number-one seeds! Ugh.
Rooting for all favorites seems a bit like rooting for China against Tibet, so I’m going to continue to keep this Davidson Wildcats image up in honor of the tourney’s best underdogs, the insurgent Tibetan monks of college basketball who were crushed by the Maoist nationalist oppressors, the Kansas Jayhawks. Well, maybe the comparison is a stretch. Maybe it’s just sour grapes. I had Georgetown. Click for revised pool standings.
Wildcats Best Badgers
by TMS
Sadly, no one picked the Davidson Wildcats, who shocked the badgers of Wisconsin (By the way, do badgers look anything like that mascot?) I would have given out a T-shirt for that alone. Still, five of you (Laura Kelley, Josh Dean, “Our Own” Mike Stevens, Emily Thompson, David Gendelman) got all seven of the other Elite Eight picks right. Congrats. As for the rest of you, don’t despair. There are still a lot of points left on the table, including 15 for the national champion. It’s anyone’s game. Check your progress.
Sweet 16: V for Villanova, V for Victory
by TMS
Villanova, I said, didn’t deserve to be in the tournament at all. Check the pool standings.
NCAA Pool Round 1 Results
Results After Round One
| Rank | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christie Flamm | 29 |
| 1 | Amparo McDowell | 29 |
| 3 | Ben Cramer | 28 |
| 4 | Connie Reber | 27 |
| 4 | Greg Dobbins | 27 |
| 4 | David Gendelman | 27 |
| 4 | Laura Kelley | 27 |
| 4 | John Grady | 27 |
| 4 | Josh Dean | 27 |
| 4 | Ben McGrath | 27 |
| 4 | Mikey Reber | 27 |
| 4 | Sarah Trigg | 27 |
| 13 | Bill Brink | 26 |
| 13 | Matthew McKown | 26 |
| 13 | Donna Kelley | 26 |
| 16 | Jacob Craycroft | 25 |
| 16 | Sophia Kelley | 25 |
| 16 | Mike Stevens | 25 |
| 16 | Sean Murphy | 25 |
| 20 | Joe Kelley II | 24 |
| 20 | Tony Arroyo | 24 |
| 20 | Austin Kelley | 24 |
| 20 | Lionel Stander | 24 |
| 20 | Emily Thompson | 24 |
| 20 | Sean Janda | 24 |
| 20 | Tyson Smith | 24 |
| 27 | Dina Basile | 23 |
| 27 | Jessica Cohen | 23 |
| 27 | Joe Kelley III | 23 |
| 27 | Brian Schwartz | 23 |
| 27 | Steve McClure | 23 |
| 32 | Roddy Reber | 22 |
| 32 | Lancelot Brown | 22 |
| 34 | William Dantona | 21 |
| 34 | Pope Leo | 21 |
| 34 | Jonathan Hart | 21 |
| 37 | Dan O’Hara | 20 |
| 37 | Marquise de Lafayette | 20 |
| 39 | Meems Dantona | 19 |
| 40 | Lilith Iverson | 15 |
| 41 | Princess Louise | 14 |
Join the 2008 NCAA Basketball Pool
The Modern Spectator is hosting a free March Madness contest. All you have to do is download one of the Excel brackets on this website, fill it out, and email it to us by Thursday at noon. Or just send us your picks on a pdf or in the text of an email (Here is a printable bracket). The winner will get a TMS T-shirt and a toy break-away basketball hoop. The first and second runners-up will get T-shirts as well. For rules and more, click here.
Gambling Gurus: Take the Super Bowl Under
by Stefan Tornquist & Brooke Costello
Better late than never: Read the gurus’ Super Bowl visions.
Gambling Gurus: Chargers to Beat the Spread, Lose
by Stefan Tornquist & Brooke Costello
The Gambling Gurus weigh in on the NFL conference finals.
Reading Red Smith
by Brian Schwartz
Red Smith was very alert to the ironies and hypocrisies of our national obsession with football. Read more.
Sun Spots
by Mike Stevens
The Norwest Sun Bowl. The Wells Fargo Sun Bowl. The Brut Sun Bowl. And so on.
Gambling Gurus: Wildcard Weekend
by Stefan Tornquist & Brooke Costello
Sometimes, a thing is the thing it is, and Jacksonville is a better team than Pitt. Check the picks.
Gambling Gurus: Play it Cool Until Playoffs
by Stefan Tornquist and Brooke Costello
What’s on tap for this week? More surprises.
Gambling Gurus: Week 15 Picks
by Stefan Tornquist
Stefan is 65-54-4 for the season. Read his thoughts on this weekend’s games.
Gambling Gurus: Giants Smoke Philly
by Stefan Tornquist and Brooke Costello
Our wagering duo shares divergent opinions on this week’s games.
The New Yorker Draws Sports Angst
For links to sports cartoons in The New Yorker Cartoon Bank, click here.
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