To find baseball from before, the wool-clad, leather oil-smelling, faded-yellow version that predated whatever you feel corrupted it, you go to Cooperstown, and you lope through ice cream parlors and hand-painted memorabilia shops and maybe into Doubleday Field, where a sleepy game of aging locals may be living out unclaimed dreams. Doing it for basketball is a little easier: Drive to Knightstown, Ind., an hour east of Indianapolis, just three miles off the I-70 exit, where the price of basketball Americana is exactly zero dollars.
Knightstown houses the Hoosier Gym, built in 1921, polished up in 1936, shuttered in the 1966 and revived in 1985 for the filming of Hoosiers, where it played the home court of Miraculous State Champions Milan (renamed Hickory in the fictionalized version) and enshrined itself as an evocative hoops-tourism destination, once the cast and crew got over thinking they’d just shot an audienceless throwback bomb. Shortly after wrapping filming, Gene Hackman, Denni..

Joe RobbinsI love the NCAA Tournament but have never understood how the First Four games include 16 seeds and then sometimes 11 or 12 seeds. Thankfully, the Google machine was able to answer the question. The committee seeds teams 1-68 then takes the four lowest seeds from the automatic bids and the four lowest seeds from the at-large bids. Forgive me, but that’s messed up.
I don’t care if LIU-Brooklyn or Radford isn’t as good as Oklahoma. An automatic bid should be just that—entry into the field of 64. If you haven’t won your conference tournament and you’re at the bottom end of the at-large bids you should have to earn every single step, including participating in the play-in game. The First Four games should be played by the eight lowest-seeded at-large teams, period.
FacebookPinterestKansas City StarIn addition to being logical, it’s just the right thing to do. Teams such as Texas Southern or North Carolina Central play their hearts out to win their conference tournament and the le..

The most important innovation in modern baseball isn't instant replay or Tommy John, it's the concessions. An overdue update to the hot-dog-and-Cracker-Jack formula, ballparks across America have been loading up on Instagram-worthy options, celebrity chef outposts, and bougie fine-dining options in recent years, drawing a whole new generation of baseball-adjacent foodies to their hallowed concourses in the process.
Most baseball fans have only able to gaze at distant ballpark fare and salivate, however. From the Astros chicken waffle cone to the Mariners' toasted grasshoppers, a wide world of baseball dining options has long hovered just out of reach, but thankfully that all ends today with the MLB Food Fest. Taking place in New York City on April 21st and 22nd, the MLB's first-ever food festival is set to bring the munchies to the masses, featuring a signature item from all 30 ballparks in America, including the Arizona Diamondbacks' churro dog…
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Because Arnold Palmer's contributions to the game are so substantial, The King might be under-appreciated as a course designer

If you're in tune with the New York sports radio scene (aka a loser like me), then you're aware it's in dire straits right now. Mike Francesa ain't walking through that door, no matter how many tears are shed. What da sports Pope left behind, WFAN has been nothing short of a dumpster fire.
But for now we turn our attention to NY's other sports radio station, ESPN New York, home of “The Michael Kay Show”, otherwise known as the show Francesa bitch-slapped in the ratings year after year. This snooze-fest of a program consists of Michael Kay, Don La Greca and some other guy no one really knows or cares about. For all the crapping on them I'm doing, the show does have its moments, often provided by La Greca, who can inject a little life into the afternoon from time to time. If you recall, La Greca was the guy that unleashed bloody hell on NERDS everywhere last fall:
FORTY. FORTY YEARS. JOE PISARCIK.
An all-time rant from La Greca, one that spawned this great p..

Fantasy Golf Podcast: You have to pick Tiger Woods to win at Bay Hill this week. . . right?

Somehow, even with all of the moves at the trade deadline, the post-All-Star break Cleveland Cavaliers have yet to hit their stride. They've gone 5-6 in the 11 games since, including a game I swore they were going to win by double digits. Yes, I am an idiot, but also, the Cavs have kinda stunk. You could use the fact that they are on a tough West Coast trip right now as an excuse, but if this team is going to make the Finals, they can't be losing to the Lakers and Clippers whether it's in L.A., Cleveland or on the moon.
The lone bright spot during that span has been … WAIT FOR IT … LeBron James. Stunning, I know. In the last 11 he's averaged 28.7 points per game, 10.4 rebounds and 9.4 assists. On Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns, James tallied a career-high 14th triple double of the season, leading the Cavs to a much-needed 129-107 win. The highlight of the night came on one of James' three steals, when he picked off a pass and the Suns parted like th..

Today's shoes can match any type of style or personality, and these new models boast all the technology you want for power and comfort. Check out some of the latest choices here with our extended online version.

There are few worse feelings in golf than when you've scraped it all over a hole, ended up in your pocket, and your playing partner still jabs a pencil in mid-air to ask for a score.
“Ah,” you say. “Put me down for six.”
A cry of resignation in one context, however, might be a proud proclamation in another, as this new T-shirt can attest.
FacebookPinterestBuy your “Put Me Down For Six” T-shirt
FacebookPinterestThis Loop T-shirt, the second in collaboration with our friends at Breaking T (check out our first T-shirt) suggests you boast in taste what you lack in course management. Available in sizes ranging from small to 3XL, you can order yours now and have your golf buddies jealous by the weekend.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Ernie Els was always the logical choice to be the International team’s next captain in the Presidents Cup.

Tiger Woods at first thought it might be soon for him.

That changed a couple of months ago when Woods asked PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan about the U.S. captain for next year’s matches in Australia, and the usual suspects were mentioned. Monahan asked if anyone had been left out, and Woods added another name to the short list.

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”Me.”

Woods and Els, who both played eight times in the Presidents Cup and were involved in a high-stakes playoff that ended in a tie, were introduced as captains on Tuesday. The 2019 matches will be Dec. 12-15 at Royal Melbourne, the latest the event has been held.

Woods was an assistant captain when the American won for the seventh straight time, 19-11, last year at Liberty National. In early discussions about the next one, Woods said he was more comfortable serving as an assistant.

”But then after ..