FeinsteinOnTheBrink.com

Back from among the missing, all for the wonderful Super Bowl week

2012-02-01T13:52:00.001-05:00

Tweet I figure I should write something before I start showing up on the side of milk cartons. No, I haven’t been missing, just buried under all sorts of personal matters that make me wish I could move to Cabot Cove, Maine (even if it is fictional) and be Jessica Fletcher’s neighbor. (Remember, the regulars never got killed on ‘Murder She Wrote,’ just the guest stars.) So, it is Super Bowl week. Oh joy. Did you hear that Rob Gronkowski, like the rest of us, is day-to-day? Did you hear the...

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Catching up with Washington Post articles: Maryland's Honor Violation; Navy Steps in the Wrong Direction

2012-01-29T13:56:00.000-05:00

Tweet Here are two of my latest from The Washington Post -------- When the Maryland basketball team won the national championship in 2002, Gary Williams received hundreds, if not thousands, of letters congratulating him on taking the Terrapins to a place few dreamed they could ever go. Williams read almost all the letters. Some meant more than others, coming from old friends and coaching colleagues. One stood out. It came from a former Maryland coach. “Congratulations,” it...

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Washington Post columns: Hockey not the same without Ovechkin vs. Crosby; ACC basketball

2012-01-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

Tweet Just passing along my latest The Washington Post columns from this week. Maybe it was force of habit, but NBC Sports Network (which was Versus until two weeks ago) decided Wednesday that America’s hockey fans couldn’t live without seeing the eighth-place team in the NHL’s Eastern Conference take on the 10th-place team. That was the matchup at Verizon Center: The eighth-place Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the 10th-place Washington Capitals. This is the rivalry formerly...

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Sorry state of ACC football, basketball; Odds and ends: Islanders, PGA Tour starts today, Army-Navy documentary

2012-01-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

Tweet Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} I have one question this morning: Has West...

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The ‘six-and-six bowls’; bands charged for tickets; thank you for the response to the book (and my apologies) and much more…

2011-12-27T10:47:00.002-05:00

Tweet Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} Let me start today with what is most...

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Two stunning announcements: John Thompson is retiring from radio, George Vecsey no longer a full time columnist

2011-12-17T12:39:00.001-05:00

Tweet I woke up this morning to find two stunning announcements in my morning newspapers. One was a relatively small item inside The Washington Post saying that John Thompson would be retiring from hosting his radio show on WTEM when his contract is up in February. The other was a column in The New York Times written by George Vecsey that was his farewell as a fulltime columnist. It isn’t as if either man is young—Thompson is 70 and Vecsey must be closing in on that age if not there...

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Book tour highlights; Why I’m not appearing on Tony Kornheiser’s show to discuss the book

2011-12-11T12:39:00.000-05:00

Tweet Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} People have asked me often if I enjoy book...

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Washington Post column: BCS gives us a nighmare schedule instead of a dream tournament

2011-12-05T09:16:00.001-05:00

Tweet Here's my newest column for The Washington Post, on the miserable bowl lineup ---- Sunday night, I had a dream: Now that was a thrilling Selection Sunday. Oh sure, everyone knew that LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State and Stanford were going to be the top four seeds in the NCAA tournament but no one had any idea how the last four spots would play out and there were plenty of surprises when the field was unveiled. Boise State was seeded fifth, setting up a...

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Book details: Interview with NPR's Fresh Air

2011-12-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

Tweet Earlier today I made an appearance on NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY to discuss the sports media and my newest book, One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game. Click the permalink, and the link below, for the segment. Link to the NPR interview -- Author interview: Going 'One On One' With Sports' Greatest Stars The book is now available at your local bookstore, or can be ordered here: One on One-- Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game

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Book tour details; Sad and murky situation at Syracuse, Ohio State doesn’t change and extra talk on Edsall and Maryland

2011-11-29T10:14:00.000-05:00

Tweet It has been a while since I’ve had a chance to write here in part because there has been a lot going on which has caused me to spend a good deal of time writing Washington Post columns but also because I’ve been pretty caught up in getting things lined up for my impending book tour. I’m actually fired up about the book tour, which is unusual. Normally I dread them but I’m excited about this book and the early response it has gotten. Tomorrow I’m in New York where, among other things,...

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Washington Post column: Terps need to end Edsall era -- now

2011-11-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

Tweet Here's my newest column for The Washington Post, on the Maryland coaching situation ---- On Saturday, in the wake of his football team’s final humiliation of 2011, a 56-41 loss to North Carolina State in which the Wolfpack outscored his team 42-0 in the last 21 minutes, Maryland Coach Randy Edsall told reporters he was heading out to recruit for a couple of days and would then begin reevaluating his team and his program. Edsall’s boss, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson,...

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Washington Post: After crazy weekend, another fine mess for BCS

2011-11-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

Tweet Here's my newest column for The Washington Post ---- Several weeks ago, Bill Hancock, the executive director of The Bogus Championship Series, spent a couple of days in Washington on a handshake tour of Capitol Hill and various media outlets in a valiant attempt to defend the indefensible organization he represents. Hancock’s point appeared to be this: Because only one of the 36 postseason college football games is played with anything at stake, a system that allows...

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Available for pre-order: One on One-- Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game

2011-11-19T12:04:00.000-05:00

A lot of people have been asking through e-mails and posts the last couple of weeks about the publication date of my new book. The book is called, “One-on-One—Up Close with the Greats in the Game.” It is a professional memoir, keyed to the 25th anniversary of ‘A Season on the Brink.’ It’s more personal than any book I’ve ever written because I tell a lot of stories about my relationships with the people I’ve written about through the years. It begins on the night I approached Knight about doing...

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Penn State tragedy -- I didn't get it right last week

2011-11-14T16:04:00.001-05:00

Tweet One week ago when I wrote my first (of two) columns - here and here - on Joe Paterno and the tragedy at Penn State quite a few people—including my wife—felt that I didn’t put enough emphasis on what is by far the most tragic aspect of the whole debacle, which is what happened to at least eight young boys and, in all likelihood, far more than that. I plead guilty—with an explanation. Some people have speculated that I was just looking at it from the jock perspective, wondering what...

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Washington Post: College basketball 2011: North Carolina is in shipshape condition

2011-11-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

Tweet My first college basketball article of the season for The Washington Post --- If you want hoops hype in November, you can’t just throw two high-profile teams — in this case No. 1 North Carolina and Michigan State — in a gym. You need to stage the game on a billion-dollar aircraft carrier: the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, the one that carried Osama Bin Laden’s body out to sea. You need a top-ranked team that may have the best chance to go unbeaten since Indiana did it in...

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Washington Post column: Penn State scandal threatens one of sports’ greatest legacies

2011-11-07T16:20:00.004-05:00

Tweet My article from The Washington Post on the Penn State scandal --- “Tragic” is the single most over-used word in sports Almost nothing that takes place within the context of sports is a tragedy. There is no such thing as a tragic loss or even a tragic injury. What is happening right now at Penn State is, if not tragic, well beyond sad. If the sexual abuse and assault charges brought by a Pennsylvania grand jury against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky...

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Washington Post column: Tide should be one and done

2011-11-07T10:16:00.001-05:00

Tweet Here is my newest The Washington Post piece --- Our long national hypemare is over. The game of several centuries — the last one; this one and, no doubt, the next one, was finally played on Saturday night. Perhaps if LSU and Alabama had played into the next century, one of them would have scored a touchdown. Here’s what we know after the Tigers’ 9-6 overtime victory in Bryant-Denny Stadium: LSU has a better kicking game than Alabama. Both teams have fabulous defenses. Neither...

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The many misperceptions of Tony LaRussa

2011-11-01T16:26:00.001-04:00

Tweet Tony LaRussa retired Monday, a surprise to almost everyone in baseball, especially since he always came across as one of those guys who they would have to rip the uniform off before they’d get him out of the dugout. That’s one of a number of perceptions about LaRussa that I don’t believe were ever correct. The most important of them—and the one repeated most often—is that HE thought he was a genius. That myth came about because of George Will’s book, “Men at Work,” which portrayed...

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Washington Post column: Maryland football's accountability needs to start at the top

2011-10-31T17:22:00.000-04:00

Tweet Here is the newest article for The Washington Post ------- Let’s give credit where credit is due: Maryland football coach Randy Edsall is learning. “Ultimately,” he said Saturday after the Terrapins’ latest embarrassing loss. “I am the guy who is responsible for this.” If his team isn’t progressing on the field, at least Edsall is making some slow progress off the field. Someday, Maryland fans may look back at the miserable scene that unfolded inside Byrd Stadium two...

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Back after the 'Morning Drive' experience; Thoughts on the goings on -- World Series, Moneyball, BCS, Stern and Gumbel, and Notre Dame

2011-10-25T14:20:00.000-04:00

Tweet I took last week off from the blog for the simple reason that I was waking up at 4:30 each morning in Orlando to co-host ‘Morning Drive,’ on The Golf Channel and I found it difficult to do the show, spend some time out at Disney (for the golf tournament not for Mickey Mouse—sadly) and THEN sit down and write. Twenty years ago I probably could have pulled it off; maybe even 10 years ago. Now, not so much. Actually I had a choice most afternoons: I could swim or I could blog. I opted to...

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Washington Post column: BCS represents college football’s ongoing scandal

2011-10-24T09:21:00.001-04:00

Tweet Here is my newest column for The Washington Post ----- Amid the morass of college football scandals that have unfolded in recent months, there is one man who loves the sport who has benefitted greatly from the ongoing debacles at Ohio State and Miami and North Carolina and USC. Bill Hancock. Hancock is the genial executive director of the so-called Bowl Championship Series, which is the ongoing scandal in college football that is still being perpetrated on players,...

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This week's radio segments (The Mike Wise Show, The Gas Man, The Sports Junkies)

2011-10-13T10:50:00.001-04:00

Tweet Here is the link to this week's radio segments, including the new continuing appearance on The Mike Wise Show and The Sports Junkies. Click the permalink below, then the link to the audio links, for the newest available interviews. Wednesday I joined The Mike Wise Show in my weekly spot at 11am. We spent much of this segment discussing the Washington Capitals in regards to what the team goals could be, and took at look at the pressure on Bruce Boudreau. Then we moved on to...

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Having a tough time watching Steve Spurrier this week, I expect more of him

2011-10-12T10:16:00.002-04:00

Tweet There is probably no football coach I like more than Steve Spurrier. I first met the Ol’ Ball Coach (I know he is generally known more often as the Head Ball Coach) but my memory is that he referred to himself as the Ol’ Ball Coach years ago) when he was the offensive coordinator at Duke in the early 1980s and was primarily responsible for the development of quarterback Ben Bennett who—believe it or not—beat out Boomer Esiason for ACC player-of-the-year as a senior. Bennett’s stats and...

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Washington Post articles from the weekend -- Washington Capitals; Wake Forest and Jim Grobe

2011-10-10T14:14:00.001-04:00

Tweet Here are my two newest articles for The Washington Post which ran on over the weekend --- 'Washington Capital's time for raising little banners is over' and 'Wake Forest's Jim Grobe achieves beyond the numbers.' --- Shortly before they began their 38th season, the Washington Capitals unfurled a banner in the rafters of Verizon Center. It was another little one, the eighth among the nine they have raised that is a tribute to a regular-season accomplishment. The exception to...

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MLB playoffs- Yankees, Rays; Question for Red Sox fans

2011-10-05T09:06:00.001-04:00

Tweet I know I’ve said it here often but I really do love baseball. And the best thing about the first round of the playoffs is that they actually play afternoon and early evening games—the kind you can watch to conclusion without worrying about being tired the next morning. Of course if you are a fan of the New York Yankees only a rain out is going to give you the chance to see your team play in the afternoon because they are locked into that primetime slot at 8:37 p.m. every night. (Am I...

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