What if baseball’s cheaters ended up winning?

April 19, 2020 general

Sunday, 4 a.m. What if the world begged your pardon. Better question: What if baseball accepted it. We live in the days where a lot of former great players are looking in through the window, their reputations sullied, their character in question. We have been surrounded by cheaters and villains, by short-cutters and varlets. But […]

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Bucs set to tackle a weakness in the draft

April 17, 2020 general

Friday, 4 a.m. The guy the Bucs need is large. He is agile. He has a streak of mean to him. Ah, but which guy is that? Let’s agree on this: The Bucs need an offensive tackle. They haven’t had a great one since Paul Gruber wandered offto that big Ring of Honor in the […]

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When do sports face the point of no return?

April 14, 2020 general

Tuesday, 4 a.m. Deep down, in the places they do not let cameras in, in voices they do not allow to be loud enough for others to hear, there is an ominous date. It is the crucial date for all sports. Adam Silver knows it. Gary Bettman thinks about it. Rob Manfred has considered it. […]

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Bucs seek help in upcoming NFL draft

April 10, 2020 general

Friday, 4 a.m. It is his time of the season, the time when teams are built, when rosters are constructed, when depth is addressed. Once again, it is grading time for Jason Licht. Licht, the Bucs’ general manager, has had a fairly impressive off-season so far. Already, he has traded in headache Jameis Winston for […]

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Let’s all cheer for clean Bucs’ work uniforms

April 8, 2020 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. Now that they have a new emperor, the Tampa Bay Bucs have gone out and gotten some new clothes. So let’s hear it for cloth. The Bucs introduced their latest uniforms Tuesday. The good news is that these don’t have footprints on the chest from their offensive linemen getting trampled or singe […]

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At least, sports live through old movies

April 7, 2020 general

Tuesday, 4 a.m. During the great silence, we do not have Tom Brady. We do, however, have Jimmy Stewart. We do not have Justin Verlander. We do have Babe Ruth. we do not have LeBron James. We do have Jackie Robinson. We are all going stir crazy in these take-me-away-from-the-crowd evenings. Sports have been shut […]

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Remember Tampa Bay’s best moments

April 2, 2020 general

There have been a lot of bad days. There have been a lot of bad players. There have been bad coaches calling bad plays for bad players. There have been draft picks who fizzled and free agents who flopped. There have been a lot of dejected fans trudging from dejecting games. We haven’t exactly witnessed […]

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The Bucs need more help than Tom Brady

March 31, 2020 general

Tuesday, 3 a.m. They matter again. The Tampa Bay Bucs are no longer an endangered species. These days, the Bucs are an easy headline braced by star power. That said, however, they are not cured. In certain quarters, the only question is just how big the Bucs will win in the coming season, how far […]

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Can you imagine a return of our sports?

March 29, 2020 general

Sunday, 4 a.m. The sights. The deep green of the grass, and the uniformed men frolicking on it. The gleaming white of the baseball. The father and son, both wearing baseball gloves, sitting by the rail. The sudden intake of breath as two hockey players drop their gloves. The cornerback who is hopelessly beaten, so […]

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Brady’s first message to the Bucs is a positive one

March 25, 2020 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. You don’t have to love English Literature to know who Shakespeare is. You don’t have to be a fan of space flight to know all about Neal Armstrong. You don’t have to be a basketball fan to have heard of Michael Jordan. And so, when Tom Brady’s voice could finally be heard, […]

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