Joel Bulkley
Retirements are tricky for sports fans. Some are needed or welcome, others are not but they’re often understandable.
Take these two for example: TV broadcaster Bob Costas and Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett. As a baseball fan I’m happy to see Costas, the former Olympic host, step down from doing baseball games for TBS and MLB Network. His demeanor recently was grumpy for the American League playoffs. His previous enthusiasm and excitement for baseball, and likely NY Yankee bias, were replaced by what seemed like boredom, arrogance or even disdain. After the season he said he was retiring. Good bye.
While I respect Tony Bennett as a knowledgeable, successful college hoops coach, watching his teams play wasn’t any fun. It was sometimes painful. They’d slog along. I’d rather listen to the game on radio, head for the kitchen or have a smoke. Anything to avoid watching his team play, watching paint dry. I sympathize with his concerns about how college basketball is changing, the transfer portal, NIL, social media. Good bye.
The start of a new college basketball season brings a lot of school and university names on schedules I don’t know. So I go to Google to check out Lincoln (Pa.), Le Moyne (NY), West Georgia (Carrollton), Mid Atlantic Christian (Elizabeth City), Oakland City (Ind), etc. Learning is power. I’m told.
Jay Bilas of espn.com had nine ACC schools in the Bilas Index of the best 68 men’s bball teams: Duke 5, UNC 10, Miami 37, Pitt 42, Clemson 48, NC State 56, Syracuse 62, Notre Dame 67, Wake Forest 68. UConn was first. with Alabama second, Kansas third, Houston fourth.
Costco Connection, a monthly for members, is the country’s third largest magazine by circulation—15.4M mailed and 300,000 copies distributed via wholesale warehouses. The other two are,Wikipedia says, AARP magazine 22.4M, AARP Bulletin 22.1M. Top sports mag was #12 Golf Digest 1.65M.
Carolina Sportsman had a nice feature on “Lake Michie Bassin’” in the November issue. Problem is the Durham lake, operated by city parks & rec, closed for the season Nov. 11.
It’s been a challenging week or two. From the high of the Dodgers winning the World Series over the New York Yankees to the low of losing the Presidential election. But some good folks won.