By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Wherein Gar Forman comes out the biggest loser and Rajon Rondo is the least bad guy. Plus: Fred Hoiberg’s Tie; Jets Outfly Hawks; Pay The Woman, Sky; and Coffman All In On The Patriots.
Posted on January 27, 2017
Russia Walks Back Doping Admission
By Reuters
Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA said it had not admitted to mass doping in the country’s sports system and that a report in the New York Times which suggested it had was a distortion of its position.
The U.S. newspaper reported earlier that RUSADA officials had for the first time admitted there had been an organized conspiracy to dope in Russia.
It cited Anna Antseliovich, the acting director general of RUSADA, as making the admission in an interview.
Posted on January 25, 2017
SportsMonday: See Ya Seabrook
By Jim Coffman
In the coming month, the Blackhawks could make a trade to give Jonathan Toews some help. The deadline is February 28 2 p.m. on March 1st.
Or Toews could just start playing better.
That was what he did Sunday evening, when the Captain assisted on the first two goals, took advantage of maybe the Hawks’ luckiest bounce of the season (off the boards behind the net) to knock in the game-winner late in the third and then set up Marian Hossa for an empty-netter. It all added up to a 4-2 victory over the improving Canucks. It was Toews’ first goal since January 6 and only his eighth this season.
Posted on January 23, 2017
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #137: Is Glencoe Slickster Our New Skip Bayless?
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Annoying start for The Score’s new host. Plus: Setting The Super Bowl Table; The Sad Sack Exchange; Bears Drafting Too High!; Cubs’ Neverending Caravan; Hall Of Fame Shame; Bulls On Verge Of . . . Something; and Concern Trolling The Blackhawks.
Posted on January 20, 2017
Name Dan Bernstein’s New Partner!
Another Beachwood Thought Experiment
It’s too late now, but Beachwood Labs was working on a list of potential new partners for Score sports talker Dan Bernstein that we still like better than, respectfully, Jason Goff.
To wit:
* Woodward & Bernstein.
Now with twice as many anonymous sources!
Posted on January 18, 2017
U.S. High School Soccer Concussions On The Rise
By Lisa Rapaport/Reuters
As soccer has soared in popularity in recent decades, concussion rates for youth players have also surged, a U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined data on high school soccer players from 2005 to 2014 and found non-concussion injury rates declined for boys and were little changed for girls. But concussions increased in both male and female players.
The significant rise in concussion rates “could be mainly due to a better recognition of concussion by medical and coaching staff,” study leader Dr. Morteza Khodaee, a sports medicine researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in an e-mail.
The research team looked at injuries per minute of athletic exposure, which includes both practices and competitions, for U.S. high school athletes.
Posted on January 17, 2017
SportsMonday: Respectable Bulls On The Verge?
By Jim Coffman
The Bulls still have a long way to go (exactly 40 more regular season games) this season. But respectability (a playoff berth and a competitive first-round series is the minimum qualification) is within reach, and that would be a significant step forward for the franchise. I know the “championship or bust” people don’t agree with me, but I’ll try to persevere and make my case anyway.
The local team hung on last night to knock off the Grizzlies in Memphis 108-104 to even their record at 21-21, good for eighth in the Eastern Conference. It was one of their most impressive wins of the season, and it capped off a brutal stretch of schedule in which they went 2-3 in only seven illness-ravaged days. And even in the losses, the Bulls remained competitive despite obvious excuses for less-than-stellar efforts.
Posted on January 16, 2017
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #136: Charged Up
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Lightning strikes in California – and it really grinds Coach’s gears. Plus: Playoff Possibilities; Draft Deshaun?; Cubs Con; Score Heads; Bulls World Turning Again; and Wherefore Arty Though?
Posted on January 13, 2017
Breakfast In America: Sentiment Analysis
By Eric Emery
Not that anybody is going to put out a missing persons report for a football (not handegg) writer, but it’s been eight weeks since my last column. Here’s the problem: I just haven’t felt funny.
I’ve spent my time circling the drain of despair, wondering what we’ve wrought. And it’s all become a cycle of “We’re-doomed-maybe-I’m-overreacting-we-have-checks-and-balances-but-neither-of-the-other-branches-nor-our-political-parties-nor-citizens-have-the-ability-or-will-we’re-doomed.”
Yet, over the past eight weeks, my enjoyment of football (not handegg) couldn’t have been better. Each week continues to bring surprises, cracking goals and narrative twists to keep me fully engaged. And in my NFL trolling realm, my grad school text/data mining analysis project on “#NFL tweets” was so well received that not only did my prof write a great recommendation on LinkedIn, he offered to serve as a reference.
Posted on January 12, 2017
USA Gymnastics Named In New Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
By Daniel Trotta/Reuters
Eighteen female athletes on Tuesday sued a sports doctor to Olympian gymnasts, saying he sexually assaulted them under the guise of medical examinations over two decades when most of them were minors.
Larry Nassar, once a team doctor for Olympians at USA Gymnastics and a former employee at Michigan State University, has been in federal custody since December on child pornography charges. He also faces separate charges in Michigan for sexual abuse of a minor, who was neither an athlete nor a patient when police say she was abused from ages 6 to 12.
Nassar is also under investigation by Michigan authorities who say they have received more than 50 complaints of sexual abuse by the doctor.
Posted on January 11, 2017