http://www.realclearsports.com/ en Copyright 2008 Sat, 25 May 2013 16:58:06 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sat, 25 May 2013 00:57:18 -0500 Dirk Kurbjuweit, Spiegel This is the first time that two German teams will face off in the Champions League final, which must be significant -- or is it? What if Arsenal had scored just one more goal in the last 16 against the Bavarians, or if a referee had called Dortmund's offside goal against Malaga? A few chance occurrences here and there and the situation would be different. But here we are. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund prevailed, and now they're both in the final match. There are certainly parallels between this important game and German politics, business and society. There is a story to this...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/how_germany_came_to_dominate_soccer_112145.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/what-the-all-german-champions-league-final-says-about-germany-a-901502.html100112145AM Update 190729 Sat, 25 May 2013 00:54:54 -0500 Rob Hughes, New York Times It seems premature to declare Germany right now as the role model for soccer's future. Even if both of these finalists are built around German strength and reliability, the attacks are led by Mario Mandzukic, a Croatian, and Lewandowski, a Pole. The midfield of Munich is powered by a combination of Bastian Schweinsteiger and the Spaniard Javi Martínez, and the wings belong to two wonderfully engaging characters, Arjen Robben from the Netherlands and Franck Ribéry of France. What is true is that Munich blends the imports with its own youth products, none better than the stealth raider,...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/we039re_not_entering_a_german_era_in_soccer_112146.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/sports/soccer/25iht-soccer25.html?_r=0100112146AM Update 190694 Sat, 25 May 2013 00:19:45 -0500 Greg Cote, Miami Herald It usually is up to LeBron for the Heat, and LeBron is almost always enough. He wasn’t enough Friday night — not quite. LeBron James scored a game-high 36 points on 14-for-20 shooting, but the noise drained out of the downtown bayside arena in the final seconds told the story far more than LeBron’s stat line. Pacers 97, Heat 93. Series, 1-1. NBA Eastern Conference series tied heading now to Indiana for two games.    ]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/heat_not_giving_lebron_enough_help_112160.html http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/25/3415695/greg-cote-lebron-james-needs-help.html100112160AM Update 190726 Fri, 24 May 2013 18:08:10 -0500 Bill Simmons, Grantland I can't remember a "marquee superstar" free agent quite like him. In the final installment of my Trade Value Trilogy two weeks ago, I compared the experience of watching Dwight Howard play basketball after 2011's NBA lockout to watching Mike Tyson after his prison release in 1995. They looked like the same guy, even if the results weren't backing it up. In Tyson's case, we waited eight solid years for the invincible Iron Mike to return to prominence, finally giving up after Lennox Lewis coldcocked him into Bolivian. Will the rest of Dwight Howard's decade...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/breaking_down_the_dwight_howard_sweepstakes_112147.html http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9308573/searching-dwight-howard100112147AM Update 190696 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:31:49 -0500 M. Foss and E. Brady, USA Today Coming out and coming back — each was a difficult decision for Robbie Rogers, and one complicated the other He told the world in February that he is gay and at the same moment said he was leaving soccer. Now, Rogers is reversing field and has agreed to terms with the Los Angeles Galaxy, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. Both spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the Galaxy has not announced the deal. Rogers will be the first active openly gay player in Major League Soccer.  ]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/rogers_came_out_now_he039s_coming_back_112155.html http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mls/2013/05/24/robbie-rogers-mls-galaxy-openly-gay/2160105/100112155AM Update 187565 Fri, 24 May 2013 19:46:17 -0500 Steve Keating, Reuters INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Four-time Indianapolis 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears grace the cover of the souvenir program for the 'Greatest Spectacle in Racing' like a trio of senior GQ models. The race's only four-time winners form an exclusive but aging club that has not welcomed a new member since Mears claimed his fourth Indy 500 win in 1991. The fraternity, however, could welcome some young blood on Sunday if 40-year-old defending champion Dario Franchitti of Britain or Brazilian Helio Castroneves, 38, can steer their way to Victory Lane. Foyt, Unser and Mears...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/elite_indy_500_club_could_get_a_new_member_112151.html http://sports.yahoo.com/news/indy-500s-elite-club-may-welcome-member-233131093.html100112151AM Update 190707 Fri, 24 May 2013 19:08:59 -0500 Townsend Bell, Motorsports Talk My road to the Indianapolis 500 essentially started in 1986. I was 10 years old and living far away in the San Francisco area. Being 10 meant it was “my year;” my time had come in the Bell household. You see, there was this deal with my dad and my two brothers. My father had promised us that when we turned 10, we got to select a destination for an all-expenses paid trip. Nothing lavish, but just some quality travel time between dad and his newly turned 10-year-old. My older brother chose New York City. My younger brother would choose Alaska. My pick: the Indianapolis...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/indy_500_has_long_been_his_favorite_112150.html http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/24/indy-500-memories-loom-large-in-one-drivers-race-preparation/100112150AM Update 190702 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:33:23 -0500 Ken Warren, Ottawa Citizen PITTSBURGH — The long, bumpy road of the shortened season, full of countless potholes and unforeseen lifelines, finally came to an end for the Ottawa Senators Friday. In convincing fashion. The Pittsburgh Penguins sent the Senators into the summer with a thorough 6-2 win here, wrapping up their second round series in a tidy five games. Ultimately, the Senators couldn't come close to matching Penguins' talent. Pittsburgh put plenty of polish on the finish.]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/penguins_send_senators_home_112159.html http://www.senatorsextra.com/main/nightmare-end-to-senators-storybook-season100112159AM Update 190725 Fri, 24 May 2013 18:17:40 -0500 Ben Golliver, Point Forward If given the choice of any player in NBA history to start a franchise, legendary coach Phil Jackson says Celtics center Bill Russell would win out over his former player Michael Jordan. “In my estimation, the guy that has to be there would be Bill Russell. He has won 11 championships as a player,” Jackson said in an interview with Time. “That’s really the idea of what excellence is, when you win championships.” In addition to his 11 titles with the Celtics in the 1950s and 1960s, Russell was a five-time MVP and 12-time All-Star. Jordan won...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/phil_jackson039s_no_1_guy_bill_russell_112148.html http://nba.si.com/2013/05/23/phil-jackson-michael-jordan-bill-russell-comparison-bulls-celtics-lakers-first-pick-start-franchise/100112148AM Update 190697 Fri, 24 May 2013 20:29:17 -0500 Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes LeBron James is in the hunt for a second straight NBA championship after leading the Miami Heat to an NBA-best 66 wins during the regular season. It has been a wildly successful 12-month run for King James, as he established himself as the NBA's biggest star since Michael Jordan. James led the Heat on a 27-game winning streak. He added another NBA MVP trophy (for a total of four), an Olympic gold medal and his first title over the past year. The game's most dominant player is also crushing the competition in stores, outselling his nearest rival's signature sneakers 6-to-1. Nike...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/lebron_dominates_-_in_shoe_sales_112154.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/05/22/lebron-james-is-the-nbas-leading-shoe-salesmen/100112154AM Update 190715 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:30:55 -0500 Thomas Boswell, Washington Post Baseball now has "advanced metrics” that illuminate the game for the addicted but obfuscate it for the casual fan. But there are basic analytical tools that apply just as well in 2013 as they did in 1913. They are simple, but they usually speak clearly. Most of them say that the Washington Nationals, who have hit, fielded and run the bases dismally for eight weeks, have an enormous opportunity straight ahead. That is, if they can hit, catch and throw a baseball remotely as well as they have during the rest of their lives. If the Nats play decently in the next nine tough games...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/should_get_easier_for_struggling_nats_112158.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/washington-nationals-schedule-is-getting-easier-giving-reason-for-hope/2013/05/24/a58d92fe-c3f2-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html100112158AM Update 190722 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:01:11 -0500 Lyle Spencer, mlb.com LOS ANGELES -- Adrian Gonzalez has seen a baseball season in ruins. He was in the middle of one in Boston at this time last year, before an August blockbuster deal sent him home to Southern California, a delighted Dodger. "This is not even close," Gonzalez said of the rip tide of controversy that has reached Dodger Stadium and manager Don Mattingly. Bobby Valentine managed to last the season amid constant storms in Boston before the Red Sox fired him last year. There has been widespread speculation -- cast aside by Dodgers president Stan Kasten on Friday afternoon with an expression...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/dodgers_should_practice_what_manager_preaches_112161.html http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130524&content_id=48502688&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb100112161AM Update 190730 Fri, 24 May 2013 18:24:52 -0500 Tony Barnhart, CBS Sports It is an argument that we've seen more than once as college football becomes a bigger and more lucrative business: How do conferences hold on to tradition -- the very fabric of what college football is about -- while trying to be fair to all of their constituencies? Les Miles, head coach at LSU, wants to have that argument. Right now. His position: It is time to eliminate permanent crossovers from the SEC scheduling process. ]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/sec_scheduling_a_touchy_topic_112149.html http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/22295427/fairness-tradition-collide-in-argument-over-sec-schedules100112149AM Update 190699 Sat, 25 May 2013 01:34:18 -0500 Gabriel Baumgaertner, Sports Illustrated If Mike Riley is considered a hometown hero in Corvallis, Ore., he certainly took an indirect route to earning that distinction. A younger Riley quarterbacked Corvallis High to consecutive state title games in 1969 and 1970, but when it came time to choose a college, he didn't stay local and play for the Beavers. Instead, he opted to head to Alabama. He later bounced around at numerous coaching destinations before eventually landing his current gig as Oregon State's headman before the 2003 campaign. Now 59, Riley is content to stay put. That's true even in 2013, when he has to...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/riley_feels_at_home_in_corvallis_112157.html http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130524/mike-riley-oregon-state/?sct=hp_wr_a2&eref=sihp100112157AM Update 190720 Fri, 24 May 2013 19:56:57 -0500 Eric Adelson, Yahoo! Sports When he was 16 years old, Michael Phelps walked into his agent's office in Portland, Maine, and announced, "I want to change the way America views this sport." Sixteen years later, he has. He changed it during his career, and even after his retirement. There's an international swim meet this week in Istanbul, and nobody's talking about it. But people are talking about Michael Phelps. Will Phelps return to the pool for the 2016 Games? Reports say yes; he says no. But the fact that he's still such a topic, nearly a year after his last Olympic swim, shows how much...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/phelps_still_making_a_big_splash_112152.html http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--a-michael-phelps-comeback-isn-t-far-fetched-144055623.html100112152AM Update 190708 Fri, 24 May 2013 20:47:16 -0500 Kevin Helliker, Wall Street Journal Over the last few months, during the endurance-athletics off-season, something extraordinary happened: The line began to blur between the health effects of running marathons and eating cheeseburgers. "I'm not worried," says veteran running coach Mark Sullivan, who has run more than 150 marathons, joking that "there are guys who live to be 100 smoking cigarettes and eating cheeseburgers." Endurance athletes have long enjoyed a made-of-iron image. But amid mounting evidence that extraordinary doses of exercise may diminish the benefits of modest amounts, that image is...]]> http://www.realclearsports.com/2013/05/25/in_the_long_run_it_may_be_bad_for_you_112156.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323975004578501150442565788.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_sports100112156AM Update 190717