Sports

I have made merciless fun of people who invoke God's name to win football games, and Sunday would have been a good day to have at them again. The winning coaches of the Bears and Colts both thanked God profusely during post-game interviews. Even Colts owner Jim Irsay got into the act:

Posted in: Hoosier lore, Sports

They've come up with a new right in Massachusetts -- the right of a football fan to buy a ticket from the opposing team:

Rhonda Park of Kansas City was one of several football fans around the country who contacted the Globe after it reported on the Chargers' locals-only policy last week. She said teams should be required to sell tickets to fans of the opposing team.

IU wins on the road in the Big 10. Indianapolis and Chicago both win their playoff games. Let me savor the moment. Weekends like this don't come along that often.

I was a little bit disappointed to learn that the Indiana Pacers lost the distinction of being one of the two teams involved in the worst brawl in NBA history:

If David Stern has the power to suspend people for sheer stupidity, now is the time to exercise it on the worst offenders of the Nuggets-Knicks brawl in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

[. . .]

Ah, brings back memories of the good old days:

So, Eric Gordon Jr. has gone back on his "oral commitment" to Illinois and will play basketball for IU. This was either an agonizing decision, finally made by the young man for a number of reasons,

We all know the Friday Night Lights Syndrome -- people who make high school sports far more important than they should be, sending all the wrong messages to the kids and royally screwing up the education process. This seems to be the flip side of the coin, a school board that says, well, we can't win, so forget about it:

What a classy guy:

DETROIT — Ron Artest, who was tagged as temperamental and volatile during his first few years in the NBA, wasn't apologetic and defended his actions in the November 2004 brawl at a Pistons game as he talked Wednesday to children at a community centre.

Boy, if conspiracies are reaching down into Little League, I guess they're everywhere: