Great boxer, greater tragedy.: Wilfred Benitez, a world champion at 17 and participant in epic bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran, now sits addled-brained and destitute in a Puerto Rican private hospital. Yet another sad victim of boxing (although, as the article points out, his dad shares some of the blame).
The year no one won the Stanley Cup: Nicely done historical piece on an event that I never knew about. "Long before SARS, professional sports was faced with the challenge of carrying on business during an epidemic. The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-19 caused the only instance of a major North American sports championship being cancelled because of illness: the Stanley Cup."
Columnist chooses not to call Dilfer: -- Bob Linneman, assistant sports editor at the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel, just can't bring himself to call Trent Dilfer on the tragic death of the QB's 5-year-old son. "It’s an unfortunate, but often essential, part of a journalist’s job to deal with death; in this case, to tackle the Dilfer story like it’s Super Bowl Sunday. Sorry. Not this time. Count me out."
posted by bitstop to football at 11:05 AM - 17 comments
Major league ballparks ranked top to bottom: Wrigley gets top marks (what did you expect from a Chicago sportswriter?); Shea squats at the bottom ("When they eventually blow this place up, Ron Santo should get to push the button.") Kudos for consideration to parks that best serve kids.
posted by bitstop to baseball at 01:37 PM - 18 comments