https://www.sports-central.org/ Original and intelligent sports fan commentary since 1998. en-us Copyright 2026 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:23:03 -0500 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:24:26 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=8.8.5 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The NFL season is back, with the usual mix of rivalries, new coaches, new players, illicit affairs, and legal issues. The Rams and 49ers square up down under, and the Sunday slate features a Giants and Cowboys Sunday night battle.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/10/nfl_weekly_predictions_week_1.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/10/nfl_weekly_predictions_week_1.php NFL Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:23:03 -0500 We pick NFL games! We pick college football games! We pick CFL games! Okay, we pick one of each. And "we" is SC's Kevin Beane. It's all in this week's Slant Pattern!]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/09/football_picks_for_second_week_of_september.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/09/football_picks_for_second_week_of_september.php Slant Pattern Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:38:23 -0500 Three months after the Dodgers win the World Series, L.A.'s two NFL teams will slug it out in Super Bowl LXI. Damn Dodgers, damn Rams, and damn Chargers? That's what everyone will be saying.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/08/2026_nfl_preview_super_bowl_lxi_will_be_la_confidential.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/08/2026_nfl_preview_super_bowl_lxi_will_be_la_confidential.php NFL Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:18:40 -0500 Arte Moreno is selling his beleaguered Los Angeles Angels, says SC's Jeff Kallman.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/08/this_time_its_for_real.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/08/this_time_its_for_real.php MLB Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:50:11 -0500 Week 1 has a habit of making the offseason feel very long, very quickly. Expectations that have spent months building finally meet a real-world opponent, and not every assumption survives the weekend.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/01/week_1_college_football_preview.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/09/01/week_1_college_football_preview.php College Football Tue, 01 Sep 2026 08:09:28 -0500 The unscheduled-on-Sunday Giants got eliminated mathematically. Call it a mercy killing, says SC's Jeff Kallman.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/31/a_giant_disaster_and_other_dog_days_afternoons.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/31/a_giant_disaster_and_other_dog_days_afternoons.php MLB Mon, 31 Aug 2026 10:27:34 -0500 SC's Kevin Beane gives us the blow-by-blow of a match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jenson Brooksby in Winston-Salem, and lucky for us, it's a corker.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/26/livestreaming_the_2nd_round_of_the_atp_winston-salem_open.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/26/livestreaming_the_2nd_round_of_the_atp_winston-salem_open.php Slant Pattern Wed, 26 Aug 2026 11:49:36 -0500 SC's Jeff Kallman suggests a few ways for baseball to end postseason saturation, diluted championship, and tanking.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/25/realignment_and_itll_feel_so_good.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/25/realignment_and_itll_feel_so_good.php MLB Tue, 25 Aug 2026 11:46:59 -0500 Should the baseball season be over seven months long, as it is now, thanks to the steady lengthening of the playoffs? SC's Anthony Brancato believes that it's time to make baseball great again, when the entire season was often not even six months long.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/24/mlb_owners_need_to_vote_yes_on_proposition_154.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/24/mlb_owners_need_to_vote_yes_on_proposition_154.php MLB Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:40:18 -0500 There is still more than enough time to head off a lockout in Major League Baseball. But how? SC's Anthony Brancato draws the map of the precise road to Rome.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/18/will_trump_intervene_in_mlb_labor_dispute.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/18/will_trump_intervene_in_mlb_labor_dispute.php MLB Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:27:14 -0500 SC's Jeff Kallman says Netflix's in-game player interviews got too much in the way of play during the Field of Dreams game.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/17/field_of_dreams_game_field_of_gab.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/17/field_of_dreams_game_field_of_gab.php MLB Mon, 17 Aug 2026 13:17:49 -0500 Non-conference scheduling has been a hot topic this offseason. SC's Ross Lancaster looks at why the CFP committee holds the keys for the future of P4 non-conference scheduling and lists the five top non-conference games for 2026.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/13/are_the_days_of_non-conference_blockbusters_numbered.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/13/are_the_days_of_non-conference_blockbusters_numbered.php College Football Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:56:45 -0500 The road to a labor stoppage in baseball is shrinking rapidly. But instead of salary caps and wage floors, there is another alternative: use the schedules to promote "competitive balance." The NFL has been doing this for literally decades.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/11/split_season_is_minor_league_idea.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/11/split_season_is_minor_league_idea.php MLB Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:29:46 -0500 Tommy John said farewell in a statement when he couldn't make the Yankees's Old Timer's Day this weekend. SC's Jeff Kallman makes his Hall of Fame case.]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/10/on_tjs_farewell_and_cooperstown_case.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/10/on_tjs_farewell_and_cooperstown_case.php MLB Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:50:57 -0500 Haven't been keeping up with the CFL this year? SC's Kevin Beane has you covered as he power ranks all the teams and tells you why they find themselves where they do in his rankings. It's the Slant Pattern!]]> https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/06/cfl_week_9_power_rankings.php https://www.sports-central.org/sports/2026/08/06/cfl_week_9_power_rankings.php Slant Pattern Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:53:41 -0500