Author Archive
LeBron James Deserts Cleveland: Burn On, Big River, Burn On
Posted: 9th July 2010 by Ian Chaffee in NBA
"Even after 40 years, maybe the most surprising thing about the June 22, 1969, Cuyahoga River fire is that it is remembered at all.
"The fire—a brief Sunday afternoon flare-up of oil-soaked debris likely ignited by either molten steel or a spark from a passing rail car—was doused by local firefighting tugboat crews. The story barely made the newspapers the next day.
"But the effect of that ...
Los Angeles Lakers Championship Parade: Moment of Silence for the Champions
Posted: 21st June 2010 by Ian Chaffee in NBA
"We came, we saw, we conquered everything in sight. Moment of silence for the champions."
—Ron Artest, "Champions"
"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
—Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Today, approximately 65,000 people lined the streets of Los Angeles to participate in what has become an annual tradition here, the kind of tradition fans in cities like Philadelphia, New York, ...
"Fame," O.J. [Simpson. Yes, that one.] said, walking along, "is a vapor, popularity is an accident, and money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character.""Where'd you get that from?" [A.C. "You Know Who He Is, Dammit"] Cowlings asked."Heard it one night on TV in Buffalo," O.J. said. "I was watching a late hockey game on Canadian TV and all of a sudden a guy ...
Sandy Koufax and Joe Torre in Conversation: Twilight of the Idol
Posted: 2nd March 2010 by Ian Chaffee in MLB
Sandy Koufax, hands folded in his lap, sat in the center of Nokia Theatre's bright stage between the Skipper and the Local Sports Columnist ,áwho sat waiting for him to say something.
They weren't the only ones in limbo last Saturday night. áA lot of people have been waiting for Koufax to say something for a long time. áAfter the death of JD Salinger earlier this year, Koufax might be the ...
Winter-Bound and Down: Reviewing the 2009 MLB Season, Kenny Powers Style
Posted: 12th November 2009 by Ian Chaffee in MLB
If you haven't seen the excellent HBO program Eastbound And Down earlier this year, download it, buy it on DVD, do whatever you need to do to see it, then come back and read this.
Done yet?á No?á C'mon, trust me on this.á Watch it.á It'll only take you like two hours.á It'll be the best two hours you've spent this month.
Okay, have you finally finished?á Great.á I wasn't wrong, was ...
L.A. Lakers: TV’s Best New “Reality” Series Looking to Renew…Title
Posted: 24th October 2009 by Ian Chaffee in NBA
"...and if you want to be free, be free/
Cuz there's a million ways to be/
You know that there are."
Okay, okay, you had enough of that the first 500 times you heard it, let alone the 5,000th.á If you think about it, though, isn't that the perfect theme for what has been the Lakers' offseason and preseason?
I mean beside the fact that Cat Stevens's "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing ...
I received the news as most others seem to receive news these daysùvia an online social network. According to the A's Facebook fan page status update, what Oakland loyalists had suspected and dreaded was official, delivered with all the cheeriness of Pravda reporting that the Politburo had again thrown its support to Dear Leader Stalin:
"Here's something new: @OaklandAs Happy off-season fans...This just in: all our coaches will be returning to ...
In Shangri-L.A., Another Dodgers Championship Merely Incidental
Posted: 6th October 2009 by Ian Chaffee in MLB
Heading east on Sunset, miles and miles away from where it becomes "the Strip" and just before it hits Alvarado, is a sign that reads "Slide Area."á
If you don't think this is relevant to an article about the Dodgers, who nearly ceded the NL West Division and their 15.5-game lead at the beginning of June to the Colorado Rockies, then may I introduce you to my old friend, the metaphor?
Anyway, ...
Elvis Rocks, but Oakland’s Andrew Bailey Should Roll as A.L. Rookie of the Year
Posted: 1st October 2009 by Ian Chaffee in MLB
From Rollie and Eck to Jason Isringhausen, Billy Koch and Huston Street, if there is one position the Oakland Athletics have consistently cultivated (and sometimes lucked into) over the years, it's that of major league closer.á
That the A's major-domo, Billy Beane, has so loudly disdained this position during his reign (a posture that blew up in his face during what, to keep it "SFW," I'll merely refer to as The ...
Chris Carter: My Season Tracking the Oakland Athletics Best Young Player
Posted: 24th September 2009 by Ian Chaffee in MLB
By far, the dorkiest fantasy sports league I play in—and, trust me, they all qualify as dorky, only to varying degrees—is a $50-dollar-entry, long-term keeper, auction-value league I just started playing in this year with a bunch of different friends I've been doing fantasy sports with for the better part of the decade.
At this point in my column, I imagine the reader might be asking herself or himself, "Why the ...