Hideki Matsui was a member of the New York Yankees when they won the 2009 World Series. Now his new team, the Los Angeles Angels, has given him a new honor. (AP Photo)

A Cozy Record

Last week, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made sure outfielder Hideki Matsui would appear in the record book…the Guinness Book of World Records. The ballclub accomplished this by distributing to everyone in the sellout crowd a complimentary Hideki Matsui “blankie.” Once those fans donned their colorful snuggy-like gifts, an on-site adjudicator certified that, yes, 43,510 wearing blankies simultaneously did constitute a record…much to the dismay of the 17,758 Cleveland fans who’d set the previous record by wearing fleece blankets at a Cavaliers game just over a month ago.

To read the original article from MLB.com and to see Angels fans in the “blankies,” click here. 

Final Four Foul-Up

Sometimes you want your team to win so much, that you can’t help yourself…you just plunge into an alternative reality in which it has happened.

Hence the front page of the Indianapolis Star’s website, IndyStar.com, which announced just before Duke beat Butler on April 9 that Butler had beaten Duke.

There are precedents for mistakes like that by a news organization, see: Dewey Beats Truman. More difficult to explain is the image circulating on the internet of a Butler cheerleader leaping into the air at the end of the game her team lost. For reasons that remain mysterious as well as suspicious, the NCAA has not yet begun to investigate whether said cheerleader had bet on Duke.

To see the erroneous headline and Deadspin’s article about the switcheroo, click here.

From left, New Jersey Devils' Travis Zajac, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Dainius Zubrus celebrate Zajac's game-tying goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, Feb. 5, 2010. (AP Photo)

Let the madness begin! March is upon us, and that means college basketball’s big dance is right around the corner. Bill talks with Pat Forde of ESPN.com about what to expect in the tournament.

The New Jersey Devils haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 2003, but the franchise has returned to its winning ways in 2010. With the acquisition of Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils have garnered one of the best records in the NHL and are poised for postseason success. Only A Game’s Ron Schachter reports.

The NFL won’t start up again until September, but the football world is buzzing with news. Bill talks with Peter King of Sports Illustrated about the league’s uncapped season, and gets his thoughts on overtime reform.

Cooties are a well-known pathogen among toddlers, sometimes used to justify boys and girls playing separately at a young age. While most children eventually grow out of this phase, Bill realizes that most professional sports have continued to separate the genders. He reports on the lack of “battle of the sexes” in today’s sports.

Bill opens up the mailbag and inbox to read some of our listeners’ comments.

It’s been another exciting week in sports, and Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce are ready to break it down. They’ll cover the desperate measures of the Nets administration, another NHL blunder, and some fisticuffs in women’s college basketball.

In the 1950 World Cup, Haitian immigrant Joe Gaetjens scored the lone goal in America’s shocking upset of England. While he might have been glorified in most nations, he was largely ignored in the U.S. and was later abducted in his native country of Haiti. Bill talks with Alexander Wolff of Sports Illustrated about the vanished hero.

The New Yankee Stadium will open on April 16th when the Yankees host the Cleveland Indians. (AP Photo)

347 teams started the basketball season with championship aspirations. Sixty-five teams made it to the NCAA tournament and now only four remain. Only one can be named “National Champion” on Monday. ESPN’s Pat Forde joins Bill Littlefield to talk about how the Madness in March cut down the contenders to four in April.

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator John McCain and U.S. Representative Peter King held a press conference to request the presidential pardon for former heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act in 1913. Bill reports on the recent developments to pardon a boxer nearly 63 years after his death.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves will kick off the baseball season on Sunday night. The rest of the league will begin play on Monday. ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian joins the program to discuss the 2009 baseball season.

Prices for bleacher and grandstand seats in the New Yankee Stadium were set at 25 cents and a dollar-ten for the Yanks final exhibition games of the spring to commemorate historical prices in the original Yankee Stadium. However, these prices won’t last beyond the weekend. Only A Game’s Ron Schachter reporters on the Yankees brand new state of the art stadium.

Only A Game listeners have written letters and now Bill responds.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss New Yankee stadiums new prices, Michael Vick’s post-jail plans, and a pole vaulter’s strategy to gain sponsorship.

Jeff Pearlman’s book, The Rocket That Fell To Earth, looks at Roger Clemens’ rise to supremacy in the major leagues and his eventual downfall as an accused steroid user. Pearlman makes a convincing case that Clemens is a self-centered and thoroughly deluded man, but also reflects on the positive aspects of the Rocket’s life. Bill talks with Pearlman about The Rocket That Fell To Earth.

Matt Howard (left) of ninth-seeded Butler University and Chris Johnson (right) of eighth-seeded LSU battle for the basketball in the first game of the 2009 NCAA tournament in the South region. (AP Photo)

March is dominated by one sport: college basketball. Fortunately the NCAA tournament has arrived and is in full swing. Bill gives updates on some notable scores and comments on the 2009 tournament so far.

The University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team has been perfect this season and is the clear favorite as they enter the NCAA tournament. Mel Thomas, a former player at UConn under head coach Gino Auriemma, probably wishes she was still there. Thomas, who is now playing professionally in Ireland, joins Bill to talk about her book, Heart of a Husky, and she offers her pick in the women’s tournament.

Allonzo Trier plays or practices basketball for seven hours a day. He’s been doing so for the last four years. He’s nationally recognized by scouts and college coaches know his name and his talents. The catch is he’s only 12-years old. The New York Times Michael Sokolve joins Bill to discuss Trier and the future of college recruiting.

The women’s NCAA ice hockey Frozen Four semi-final took place on Friday night, with the final on Sunday afternoon. Only A Game’s Karen Given reports on first-timer Mercyhurst – a school whose student population is smaller than opponent Minnesota’s faculty population.

Only A Game listeners have written letters and now Bill responds.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Martin Broduer’s celebration after becoming the winningest goalie in the NHL, and Manny on the cricket pitch.

Manny Ramirez in full cricket gear, taking cuts at googlies, earlier this week has been well-publicized. What haven’t been as well-publicized are the efforts of two Indians who are going the other way – former cricket players fighting for a spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen. Only A Game’s Ron Schachter reports from the Pirates’ minor league facility in Bradenton, Florida.

And some among us, patriots, go out and buy TV’s
As big as any billboard; that’s not only gonna please
The fellow fans that they invite to join them for the madness,
But also those who think by spending we’ll achieve the gladness
That lately has deserted us, as stocks have hit the floor
That thinking? Too much ain’t enough; we gotta buy some more.

Still others, holding notebooks full of figures, have on hand
The tickets with which they can fly to that fantastic land
Where betting basketball’s a lifestyle for the kind of life
A bettor lives without his kids and likewise sans his wife.
Each heads now for Las Vegas, where, the point spread notwithstanding,
He’ll double check his fav’rite bets again while he is landing,
And never mind long odds against his winning at that game
He’s hooked on March’s madness, so he’ll be there all the same.

For those who’ll stay at home, there is the trusty office pool
A pot that’s often won by someone who’s an utter fool
Regarding records, coaches, injuries or even odds.
They pick the mascots that they like, these addled-pated clods,
Or go with uniforms the hue of which they might find pleasing,
And then they get the money, and behind good-natured teasing
From fans who have been studying the brackets all week long
Is anger and confusion over how they’ve come up wrong.

So welcome March’s madness, and the part in April, too.
Without it I’m not sure exactly what we all would do
To take our minds off wretched news we’re seeing every day
About the stalled economy and jobs now gone away
The news we’d all be well-advised to never take to heart
As long as we can all pretend that we are really smart
For picking U.N.C. to win, or UConn to get bounced
Or Oklahoma makes the final four and then gets trounced.
And maybe, if we’re lucky, when the tournament is done,
And all the teams have lost except the one team that has won
We’ll once again confront the daily news that’s been so sad,
And, having no bets riding on it, it won’t seem so bad.

Detroit Pistons guard Allen Iverson (left) drives past Denver Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups (center) in January. Billups and Iverson swapped teams as part of a trade in November 2008. (AP Photo)

Now that the Super Bowl is over the college basketball season is in full swing, and getting plenty of coverage. ESPN’s college basketball analyst Pat Forde joins the program to talk about the top 25 teams all the way to the mid-majors and every conference in between.

Fans, players, and analysts hang on to every Lakers, Cavaliers, and Celtics game, but the Denver Nuggets have been flying under the radar since their early season trade. In November Allen Iverson was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncy Billups. Ron Schachter reports from Denver on the team that’s applied addition by subtraction.

Baseball isn’t recession proof. This is evidenced in New York as the naming rights for the Mets new ballpark have been called into question. Citi Bank will put its name to the team’s new stadium for the next 20 years for 20 million dollars each year; all this despite scrutiny from the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy and the Treasury Department. Richard Sandomir covers sports business for the New York Times and he joins Bill to discuss the questionable future of stadium naming rights.

On Tuesday, the New York court of appeals will hear a case involving a yacht club that may or may not be a sham, a few billionaires who can’t get along, and a set of rules that were written 160 years ago. Only A Game’s Karen Given reports from New York on the mess that has become the America’s Cup.

Only A Game listeners have written letters and now Bill responds.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss athletes drug use, Super Bowl reflections, and an expense account that exceeds most people’s salaries.

Soccer is known as “the beautiful game,” and it’s also a worldwide sport as proven in The Global Game: Writers on Soccer. The book compiles stories, essays, and poems all dealing with soccer. John Turnbull and Alon Raab are two of the editors of The Global Game and they join Bill to talk about the world’s most popular sport.

The New York Giants are currently 7-1 in their NFL midseason and look fit to repeat another championship year. Bill Littlefield talks with FoxSports.com’s Alex Marvez on the AFC and NFC highlights and disasters of this fall’s NFL season so far.

The Tennessee Titans are the only undefeated NFL team at the midpoint of the 2008 season and only seem to be getting stronger as the season goes on. What’s their secret and can they be stopped? Only A Game’s Ron Schachter reports from Nashville, Tennessee with the answers.

With powerhouse teams like the University of Kansas Jayhawks and the North Carolina Tar Heels coming back strong in the 2009 college basketball season, college hoop fans will be glued to their T.V. sets awaiting the arrival of March Madness. Bill Littlefield talks with ESPN’s Pat Forde on this spring’s college basketball favorites.

The game of cricket has been absent from the U.S. sports scene long enough, and the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hills, Massachusetts, agrees. Only A Game’s Ken Shulman reports from the first exhibition cricket match at the Longwood Cricket Club in 75 years.

Bill Littlefield answers questions from listeners.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss: President-elect Barack Obama throwing for the Chicago White Sox, a former Phoenix Sun in the Sacramento mayor’s office, and how America’s favorite pastime might be British.

Imagine living in Prague and playing semi-professional basketball. Now imagine not speaking Czech or knowing how to mesh North American basketball style with a Czech team. Bill Littlefield talks with author Dave Fromm about his new book, Expatriate Games: My Season of Misadventures in Czech Semi-Pro Basketball.

Silva: Can you tell me who’s playing in the game tonight?

Smith: Uh…which game?

Silva: The college basketball championships…

Smith: I think Syracuse won.

Silva: Oh, no…really? Oh, alright thanks!

Am I curious about whether the corporal had put a few potatoes on Kansas, Marquette, or Texas? Sure, but I’m not going to tie up an international line trying to find out, and besides, he’s probably busy.

Should Major League Baseball worry because Corporal Silva asked about the college basketball tournament rather than, say, wondering how the Rockies had done the night before? Probably not. Corporals aren’t Major League Baseball’s demographic.

Should the NCAA rejoice at the knowledge that even a man involved in the dusty and dangerous business of war wants to know who’s playing in the men’s final? Nah, it’s probably no news to the folks who run the NCAA Tournament that they’re product is monstrous enough to preoccupy even soldiers at work half a world away.

The fragment of conversation between correspondent Smith and Corporal Silva seems to me significant only in that it reminds us — at least if my read on Corporal Silva’s voice is right — that lots of the men at war are younger than lots of the men who’ve just completed their work in the basketball tournament about which corporal Silva was curious.

A lot has been written about the necessity of supporting the troops, and pro and anti-war factions have argued about how that support is best expressed. Maybe one way is by passing along the information guys like Corporal Silva are missing. Just in case that’s so:

Hey, corporal, it was Connecticut and Tennessee in the final of the women’s tournament, and the Huskies, led by Diana Taurasi, won by five.

Take care of yourself.

Say “Arizona” this week and nobody thinks red rocks, or Native American pottery, let alone university. People think number one seeded basketball team and virtual lock for the Final Four. This is what happens when a sports event becomes as big as the N.C.A.A. Basketball Tournaments have become, especially the men’s tournament, for which TV pays Super Bowl and World Series-type money.

The ascension of the tournament into the economic stratosphere and of the players and especially the coaches into international stardom sometimes makes it hard to remember that these splendid machines of back door passing, picking-and-rolling, and fortune-generating entertainment live on college campuses.

Because even as a young man I could hardly run and I could not jump, let alone pick-and-roll, I remember March and college as a time and place of reading and writing. I recall a room in the library with big leather chairs. You could turn yours around so that it faced the shelves. Then you could take off your shoes and prop your stocking-ed feet on the second shelf and read in comfort that might be described as Vitalian if Dick Vitale had every expressed enthusiasm for reading in a comfortable chair.

I remember a professor who read short stories out loud so well that he changed the way I heard the language. That was 34 years ago. I can still hear him.

I remember the guy who taught a course entitled “Revolutions and Revolutionary Thought.” At about this time in 1970, he told us that anybody who wanted to devote the rest of the spring to protesting the war could take off, and that his final grade would be whatever he’d had at midterm. Then, some of us thought he was a sucker, but he may have known more than he was letting on about how and where learning was likely to happen.

I don’t know what’s responsible for the bubbling up of these old times during days when the word “college” is inevitably followed by the word “basketball.” Maybe envy that I didn’t attend a college where people cared immoderately about the basketball team. But maybe not.

If you think the tournament must include the best 65 aggregations in the country, then Georgia should certainly be there, never mind that the team has included an academically ineligible player who transferred from a junior college with a certificate in welding rather than the required associates degree, and that some of the other players have apparently received academic credit — A’s, in fact – at Georgia for a course they never attended.

As perhaps soon-to-be-former Georgia coach Jim Harrick might tell you in a candid moment, the folks working for great college basketball teams, like those employed by good teams and crumby teams desperately trying to get great, sometimes break the rules. Back in 1996, UCLA fired Harrick for lying about an expense report just a year after he had led the team to a national championship.

Among the less accomplished teams caught dabbling in misdemeanors and mendacity on the eve of college basketball’s greatest show are Villanova, where 12 players have been suspended for illegal use of university phone codes; St. Bonaventure, where the end of the season has included six forfeits, two boycotts, and, eventually, an agreement to turn out the lights and go home early; and Fresno State, where a former student has claimed he wrote papers for players…perhaps because check due him is still in the mail.

Of the turmoil at Georgia, athletics director Vince Dooley said, “I imagine that this is as bad as it gets,” but, of course, he’s wrong. The good news is that none of the above rap sheets include assault, domestic violence, possession of a firearm, or menacing the pizza delivery guy with a machete. As anyone who follows pro basketball as it’s played in the NBA and on lots of college campuses knows, times have been worse. Nor have any of the colleges presently under investigation been accused of failing to graduate a player over the past ten years, although that may be only because preoccupation with more arcane transgressions hasn’t left anybody time enough to calculate graduation rates.

Should you find any of the above discouraging, relax and be patient. Business is about to return to usual. The NCAA tournament starts late next week, and sounds of cheering fans and cha-chinging cash registers will soon drown out the sad strains of programs damaged and coaches undone.