Posts Tagged ‘Sports’

Elgin Baylor Was Here! Really!

Elgin Baylor, likely the greatest athlete this city ever produced, has no presence in his hometown.
When he left for Idaho in 1954, he really left. The NBA All-Timer, Spingarn hero and D.C. playground legend almost never makes appearances in a place where men of a certain age and race regard him as a superhero.
So I [...]

Breaking News: Redskins Read City Desk, Replace One Castaway With Three Castaways!

Who says the Redskins aren't on top of things?
After reading in this space yesterday that Donovan McNabb is no longer on the team, somebody removed the deposed QB from the home page of MyRedskinsSearch.com, the search engine touted on the Washington Redskins official web site.
Alas, the same genius who kept McNabb on the home page [...]

Redskins Still Using Donovan McNabb and Devin Thomas to Foster Brand Loyalty?

If you're looking to find all the news about yesterday's Donovan McNabb demotion by the Vikings, what better search engine to use than MyRedskinsSearch, found on the Washington Redskins home page and endorsed by the team that, well, demoted McNabb a year ago.
McNabb, of course, was shipped outta town after his benching here.
But apparently somebody [...]

Friday Night Knights (Cont.): Friendship Collegiate Beats Up On $34,289-a-Year Private School!

Just as we hoped they would for the purpose of continuing this blog serial, the Knights of Friendship Collegiate have quickly rebounded from their first loss of the year to ecclesiastical New Jersey football factory Bergen Catholic.
Regular readers will remember that Friendship couldn't overcome Bergen Catholic's passing game and unfair Constitutional advantage over our Knights [...]

More on the 1962 City Title Football Game

For the black and white and read all over print edition of Washington City Paper, I wrote this week about the 1962 City Title game and riot. It's among the more amazing and ugly chapters in D.C.'s athletic and anthropological histories. Pick up a copy. Read the story. Love thy brother.
Essentially, at the end of [...]

Not to Worry, Skateboarders: RFK Says Maloof Cup Park Not Disappearing

Have you heard about the new skatepark at RFK already being torn down? Yeah, us too.
Strictly a rumor, say the stadium folks.
"No, no, no," says Teri Washington, spokesperson for DC Events, which controls the stadium and its grounds. "Not true."
Washington was responding to an inquiry from Washington City Paper inspired by an anonymous tipster who [...]

Sam Huff Brings His Worldview to Print

Around 2007, I predicted the end was near for Sam Huff's media career.  I was nowhere near right.
Huff, who turned 77 last week, was only getting started. He's branched into newspapering.
My dire prognosis came after I noticed how Huff, a Hall of Fame linebacker and member of the Washington Redskins radio broadcasting crew that I've [...]

“Friday Night Knights” (Cont.): Friendship Collegiate, Constitutionally Unable to Feel State Pride, Whupped By Jersey Boys!

Dang if "Crusader Crazy" wasn't right!
Friendship Collegiate Academy indeed entered a "world of hurt"up North over the weekend, suffering through a come-from-ahead loss on the road to Bergen Catholic.
Crusader C. instructed readers and the author of the last installment of "Friday Night Knights" that Bergen Catholic was a whole lot better than its 2-2 record, [...]

In Gay Softball, If They Ask, Don’t Tell

For the flamboyantly fabulous print edition of Washington City Paper, I wrote this week about the 2013 Gay Softball World Series just being awarded to our city.
I was impressed, in a "We've-Come-a-Long-Way-Baby!" sort of way, by the mundanity of the announcement, that the awarding was a business matter and not a gay business matter. The [...]

D.C.’s Own Lamont Peterson to Fight for Title Here and on HBO

I first met Lamont Peterson about a decade ago. He and his younger brother Anthony were pounding the crap out of each other in the furnace room of a school in Columbia Heights.
They had boxing gloves on. The Petersons were both teenagers at the time and the star pugs of the Headbangers, a fight club [...]

Ex-GW Footballer Gets Real at RFK’s 50th B-Day Kickoff

The unquestioned star of today's press conference to announce various commemorations of the 50th Birthday of RFK Stadium was a football player, but not a Redskin.
No, the real ear-turner of the many speakers to take the podium on the field and share memories of the old building was Norm Neverson, a kid from Roosevelt High [...]

King Leatherbury and Ben’s Cat Keep Their Storybook Story Alive

 
Ben's Cat, an under-bred five-year-old gelding, won the Maryland Million Turf Sprint on Saturday at Laurel Park.
That leaves King Leatherbury, his under-appreciated 78-year-old trainer, with 6,326 career wins, third most of any trainer in the history of horse racing, but still no Hall of Fame induction.
Ben's Cat, shown above in orange, broke a pelvis as [...]

Friday Night Knights (Cont.): Friendship Collegiate Halfway to Undefeated Season!

Friendship Collegiate's done with the nail-biters. After winning their first three games on the last possession, the Knights went the suspenseless route for the second week in a row with a 26-6 rout of P.G. County's Gwynn Park Yellow Jackets.
The win leaves Friendship undefeated at 5-0, and only enhances the Knights' rep as not only [...]

Hey, Hollywood: Have You Heard About King Leatherbury and Ben’s Cat?

I wrote a column this week about legendary Maryland trainer King Leatherbury. I realized years ago that there are good stories, and then there are horse racing stories.
Leatherbury's got a horse racing story.
Leatherbury is currently looking for somebody to put up $100,000 so his over-achieving gelding, Ben's Cat, can run against the best-bred [...]

Redskins Offer New, Less Gougy Lottery Ticket!

The devaluation of all things Washington Redskins continues.
The latest evidence: "Hail the the Redskins," a new, cheaper scatch ticket coming out of the partnership between the team and the Virginia Lottery.
Hail to the Redskins is the third Redskins scratch game in as many years.
The original Redskins scratcher, Redskins Mania, debuted in 2009. In keeping with [...]