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Oct. 26 - Last week, I said no other weekly magazine covers college football as well as The Sporting News. I may have to amend that statement to "no other weekly magazine covers football as well as The Sporting News," after this week's excellent issue. However, if you want World Series coverage, you better look elsewhere. TSN, though, does serve the football world well this week. It has terrific articles on the recent success of return men in the NFL and on a football weekend in Texas. It also gives insightful analysis on the Redskins mess, the Kerry Collins controversy and college football's Bowl Championship Series. If you are a football fan, you will enjoy this issue. Phil Barber examines why runback specialists are having so much success this year in the NFL. He notes two obvious reasons - free agency and better returners - but he also points out two not-so-obvious reasons. First, bigger and stronger kickers and punters are outkicking the coverage. Second, officials are ignoring the holding call in the middle of the field. The story also breaks down "the perfect return" - Raven returner Jermaine Lewis' 87-yard touchdown return against the Bengals. This was a great return to feature not only because it was "perfect" but also because the game was on ESPN so many football fans may have seen it. TSN does a nice job breaking it down; however, it really is something that is easier to analyze on television than on paper. Although TSN does it as well as you can do on paper. This piece definitely helps readers "see a different game." Bill Minutaglio describes life on the weekend in football-crazy Texas. He focuses not on the game but on the atmosphere around it. He starts with six-man games on Friday nights and ends with the Cowboys on Sunday. Whether you are from Texas or not, football fans will enjoy this treat. I thought the best part was its look at Josh Cuttill's "job" at Texas A&M, which is to update the score for six dead dogs. Excellent work and excellent timing because Minutaglio covered Cuttill during the Nebraska-Texas A&M game, which the Aggies won. Paul Attner discusses how Redskin coach Norv Turner was "dragged down by ineptness at the one position he could flat-out coach," while Dan Pompei answers all the questions in the Kerry Collins controversy. Pompei covers the Collins situation better than the Sunday pregame shows did last week. Finally, Tom Dienhart and Mike Huguenin examines the most intriguing aspect of the Bowl Championship Series, strength of schedule. After you get through all that, then readers have 15 more pages of team notes and stats for the NFL and six additional pages of notes and stats for college football. It's almost an indigestible amount of football coverage. Fortunately, many football fans have big appetites and bigger waistlines. As for the other stuff in the issue, TSN's baseball coverage was better this week with Michael Knisley's solid look at the first two World Series games. And I continue to enjoy Astros manager Larry Dierker's analysis. Dierker's piece actually contains a line you don't see too much in U.S. publications: "I'd like to see us think more like they do in Cuba." He was referring to Cuban baseball officials ignoring pitch counts, while coaches at all levels in the U.S. put too much emphasis on it. My only question is why just four pages of coverage, which begins on page 53 of the 70-page issue? I know it's tough for the weeklies because by the time readers get the issue, two or three more games have been played since the stories were written. In this case, games three and four were played. In playoff series like this, the weeklies should challenge themselves to offer timely, insightful coverage - instead of just settling for the minimum, which is what TSN did this week. Interesting note: NHL writer Helene Elliott writes about Vancouver in her NHL column. Two pages later, Keenan's weekly "Inside the Game" piece appears. I highly doubt that Keenan's weekly column influenced Elliott's, but I just found it interesting. Grade: A-. Can we start calling TSN the bible of football? (George) Oct. 19 - No other weekly magazine covers college football as well as The Sporting News, which devoted 12 full pages to the sport in this week's issue. The first four pages were for its midseason report, which contained the usual lists of biggest surprises, biggest disappointments and awards picks. It also includes TSN's prediction that Ohio State will beat UCLA in the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship. The pick isn't exactly like having "immoral relations" in the Oval Office, considering Ohio State and UCLA are Nos. 1 and 2, respectively; however, the overall midseason report was a good, especially for those who have been too busy with baseball to keep up with college football. The other eight college football pages is TSN's weekly look at the sport. When you compare the amount of information packed into these pages each week with the college football coverage in Sports Illustrated and ESPN, it's like comparing Ohio State to Oregon State. As for the other articles, TSN tried to decipher the playbook terminology used in the NFL. I found the story disappointing because I didn't come away with a better understanding of the language used. There is a lot about how confusing it could be, especially to those who have played on many teams or under many coaches, but I think most football fans already realize the complexity of play-calling in the NFL. I would have liked to have seen a list of common terms and their definitions as well as more about the "etymology" of the words used and the development of play-calling. Finally, TSN's baseball playoff coverage still wasn't up to Sports Illustrated's high standards, especially its look at the American League Championship Series, which I thought was woefully under-reported and uninsightful. Especially for a series where so much happened. I do, however, enjoy Larry Dierker's columns, which I find very honest. However, the best piece of the issue is basketball writer Dave D'Alessandro's highly critical state of the union and owners in the NBA. He blames both for not trying harder to fix the mess they both have created. Good stuff, I just hope the mentioned parties find the commentary buried on page 67. Grade: B-. Baseball coverage is keeping the former bible down. (George) Oct. 12 - For those of us who spend most of our waking hours watching and consuming sports, we know a lot about "speed." Speed kills. You can't teach speed. Speed II stinks. But I've got another one for you: It's hard to cover speed on paper, which is exactly what The Sporting News tried to do this week, devoting 17 pages to the topic. The best part of the special section easily is a look at how quickly Warren Sapp rushes the quarterback. Paul Attner does an excellent job bringing readers on the field and giving them an idea of how fast Sapp must be to sack a quarterback. Basically, Attner says, Sapp must run five yards, get by someone as big if not bigger than him and reach the quarterback in three seconds. Or in shorter time than it probably took you to read the past two sentences. TSN also effectively proved that football teams probably shave some tenths of a second off players' 40 times. As for other the sports, the magazine did a decent job analyzing how a 100-mile-per-hour fastball is viewed by the pitcher, catcher, batter and umpire, but its pieces on the slap shot in hockey and a fast break in basketball are uninsightful and inferior to the rest of the section. Overall, with the exception of Attner's story, I didn't come away with any greater insight on speed. That's not to blame TSN because it is a difficult subject to write about, and I don't know how I would have done things differently. I certainly give the magazine credit for trying something different and challenging; unfortunately, it pulled up lame on its lofty goals. As for the other stories: Joe Posnanski's profile of Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is a must-read. Posnanski, a columnist for the Kansas City Star, says Snyder's attention to detail has led to the miraculous turnaround at Kansas State. "No coach in America, perhaps, has so much control of every part of the football program," Posnanski writes. Readers will come away with a better appreciation of Snyder's hard work at Manhattan. TSN also previews the two League Championship Series in a satisfactory manner. Grade: B-, Writing about speed is like beating Nebraska in Lincoln - one can do it, but everything has to go just right. (George) Oct. 5 - Associate Editor Tom Dienhart's view from inside the Kentucky film room is, by far, the best story in this week's The Sporting News. Dienhart sits in with coach Hal Mumme and quarterback Tim Couch as they go over their game plan against Florida. Of course, the reader knows the outcome (Florida won 51-35), but it is still very interesting to follow the development of a game plan from before, during and after the game. Anyone who has an interest in the X's and O's of football - whether pro or college - will really enjoy this story. Kudos to Dienhart for getting permission from Kentucky to do this type of article and for turning it around so quickly to make the piece timely and interesting. Kudos also to Kentucky for opening up its film room to TSN. Kudos to everyone! This week's issue is also the NHL Preview, which will probably disappoint hard-core hockey fans but will be enough to satisfy the average sports fan. (It should be noted that The Sporting News has a separate NHL yearbook on newsstands now.) TSN follows a brief article on how the league is trying to boost scoring with standard preseason lists, such as what teams will, may or won't contend for the Stanley Cup. The magazine also looks into its “Crystal Ball” (no doubt on loan from our NFL Guru) and predicts that Detroit will beat Philadelphia in the Stanley Cup Finals. For the record, in its Preseason Power Poll, TSN ranks Detroit No. 1; Dallas No. 2; and Philadelphia No. 3. At the other end, it has Tampa Bay No. 25; Florida No. 26; and Nashville No. 27. TSN also previews each NHL club, devoting a third of a page to each team analyzing its good news, bad news, player on the spot and bottom line. While fans will probably learn little new about their favorite team, it is a decent primer to catch up on the other teams. What’s weird is that Mike Keenan is “an exclusive NHL analyst” for The Sporting News. He’s also coach of Vancouver. Is this a conflict of interest? Can Keenan manipulate his column to the Canucks benefit? Can TSN fairly report on Vancouver? (TSN ranks them No. 18 in the Power Poll.) Can you think of another instance where an active coach also served as an analyst for a major sports magazine or television show during the season? Let me know if you do. This certainly will be something to watch as the season progresses. The cover story about baseball’s final week is a lot of fluff. And worse than that, it is old fluff. Oh, isn’t great that McGwire hit 70? ... How cute, the Cubbies made the playoffs. ... There is nothing new or noteworthy in the story, which certainly doesn’t make you “see a different game” as the magazine promises to do each week. This week’s Kentucky story makes you see a different game. Last week’s Rod Woodson piece made you see a different game. This week’s baseball story? Nope. Speaking of the Woodson article, this week’s issue also includes a look at the recent NFL trend to taller cornerbacks. The article is alright, but it seems like it should have gone with last week’s Woodson feature, especially because there is no time element to it. Was it pushed back a week because of space or is it just a coincidence that TSN did major pieces on cornerbacks in back-to-back weeks? Grade: B, the Kentucky piece is excellent, the NHL Preview is OK and the baseball story stinks. (George) Sept. 28 -This week’s The Sporting News advertises itself as baseball’s “Playoffs Preview,” but Paul Attner’s piece on Baltimore Ravens cornerback Rod Woodson steals the issue. It is easily the best feature I’ve read recently in TSN. Attner does a wonderful job showing how Woodson, a future Hall of Famer and all-time NFL great, is trying to rebuild his image as one of the league’s best cornerbacks after a subpar year in 1997 with the San Francisco 49ers. As Attner points out, Woodson can retire now and still not lose his overall place in NFL history as one of the game’s best; however, he marches on - separated from his family - using intelligence and experience to camouflage deteriorating physical skills. Attner retraces the decisions made by both Woodson and the Ravens that led to No. 26 signing with the team. He details the concerns the Ravens had about Woodson’s body and about public perception. He lets Woodson explain why things didn’t work out with the 49ers and why he is more comfortable with the Raven and the AFC Central. The story also shows how Woodson is trying to be a mentor to the younger, talented members of the Ravens defense. And then, the coup de grace is a sidebar on how much Woodson studies film to prepare for games. Fortunately for Attner, he catches Woodson studying for the Jets game in week two. Woodson tells Attner what he is learning about the Jets from watching the film and how he is going to use this knowledge in the game. Well, Woodson gets an A for his studies because he intercepted two passes in the game - one for a touchdown - and received player of the week honors. Attner deserves writer of the week honors for this insightful look at Woodson and the Ravens. As for the playoffs preview, the cover led me to believe that it was going to be more expansive, although it wasn’t bad. The New York Post’s Jay Greenberg examines the five-game divisional series, which scares teams with better regular-season records because there is less leeway for failure. But, as Greenberg notes, the 1997 Yankees are the only team with a better record to have lost a divisional series since it began in 1995. Then, he confusingly adds that in the 18 divisional and League Championship series since 1995, “teams with better regular-season records have gone 12-5-1, hardly suggesting carnage left by a crapshoot.” What is the tie for? Did I miss a five- or seven-game series that ended in a tie? Is he using the tie to signify that one series involved teams with an equal record? If so, he could have written that more clearly, such as “teams with better regular-season records have gone 12-5, hardly suggesting carnage left by a crapshoot. (One series involved teams with equal records).” TSN also ranks the 12 playoff-possible teams (including the Blue Jays, Mets, Cubs and Giants) in eight different categories - lineups, manager/coaches, bench, secret weapon, momentum, starting pitching, relief pitching and defense. The lists go as you would suspect, although I disagree with some rankings. Bobby Cox is a better manager than Joe Torre and everyone else? The Rangers have a better lineup than the Yankees? The Braves a better bullpen than the Indians? Of course, debates like that are what makes lists interesting for fans. This issue also includes looks at UCLA quarterback Cade McNown, of which much has been done already by others, and LSU running back Kevin Faulk, of which more needs to be done. Both, though, are very good reads, especially the Faulk article. And, as always, you have the bevy of notes, stats and team-by-team information that makes The Sporting News unique. Grade: A-. It is one of the best TSN’s that I have read in a while. Sept. 21 - The former "Bible of Baseball" has sinned. A mortal sin. Worse than the president. ... O.K., maybe not that bad. But this week's The Sporting News, labeled a "special collectors issue," deifies Mark McGwire and ignores Sammy Sosa. The issue is poorly laid out, and the McGwire tribute is overdone and way-too-reverential. Other than that, though, the issue was O.K. But that's like saying that other than being fat Gilbert Brown is in good shape. It seems that, like Major League Baseball, TSN was caught with its jock strap down last weekend. Except for the words "along with Sammy Sosa" on pages 4 and 15; a paragraph on the difference in race between the two players on page 22; and a chart tracking their home runs on pages 46 and 42 (more on that later), TSN did not mention Sammy Sosa or his 62nd home run in a news story until PAGE 67! And many readers may have missed that Sosa story because there is no mention of the three-quarters-of-a-page story on the cover, in the table of contents, in the McGwire article or at the centerfold. To be fair to TSN, Sosa's historic homers - he hit Nos. 61 and 62 on Sunday to help the Cubs win 11-10 in 10 innings - came at deadline. TSN editorial director John Rawlings said each week “is constantly a balancing act” of cramming as much news as possible but making sure the magazine gets out in a timely manner for subscribers. For example, Rawlings said, by the time Sosa hit his homers late Sunday afternoon, the magazine already had finished the cover, which is due by noon CDT Sunday. Any changes to the cover at that point could have delayed delivery of the magazine another 24 hours. Certainly, then, timing played a major role in how TSN covered McGwire and Sosa's achievements, but it doesn't exonerate the 112-year-old magazine. While both men were tied Monday morning at 62 homers each, TSN’s coverage of McGwire blew Sosa away. For McGwire's 62 home runs, TSN gave him the cover, the "From The Editor," a 12-page special section with the headline "American Hero" and a four-page centerfold that included charts, a poster (for newsstand editions only) and a centerfold picture. Sosa, for his 62 homers, received a 750-word story buried with no fanfare on page 67. Holy cow, what a country! As Rawlings said, if he knew Wednesday what was going to happen Sunday, then the coverage may have been different. Obviously, McGwire helped The Sporting News out by hitting his 62 homer on Tuesday, early enough in the magazine’s work week to plan something special. And one certainly can’t blame the magazine for not being able to predict correctly the future. Hell, I can barely pick one out of three college football games correctly. But you can blame TSN for not being ready in case Sosa got hot. Just like baseball wasn’t prepared with the specially marked baseballs, TSN wasn’t ready to cover Sosa in case he tied or went ahead of McGwire. Knowing that it was going to spend so much attention on McGwire, it probably would have been a good precaution for TSN to have something or somebody ready in case Sosa tied or went ahead. The page 67 story is a weak attempt because it devotes only a third of the article to the achievement, with the other two-thirds focusing on his impact on the Latin American players. Rawlings, though, disagreed, saying McGwire clearly was the focus. “There just wasn’t the public interest in Sosa when he hit 62 because it had already been done once.” He added that he doesn’t second guess his decisions for this issue. But won’t Cubs and Sosa fans feel slighted? “I’m sure they will,” Rawlings said. But besides its Sosa preparations, TSN also should be charged with an error for planning to devote all that space to McGwire with only fleeting mentions of Sosa. That decision is an insult to Sosa and his achievements, whether he was at 59, 60, 61 or 62. One could argue that McGwire might not have reached the record without some prodding and kidding from Sosa. (It should be noted that TSN had a two-page article on McGwire and Sosa each last week. To see ArmchairQB.com’s review of that issue, click here) Rawlings said the magazine isn’t planning anything special right now for Sosa. The editorial director said it will wait until the season is over, see who ends up getting the record and then decide how to handle it. I just hope that whatever TSN chooses that it takes a different approach to the article. The 12-page McGwire article, which isn’t as long as it sounds because the pages are filled with interesting graphics and pictures, is way too reverential. It was trying to show how and why McGwire is a hero but goes a little overboard with the platitudes. Plus, so many other media outlets - with a week headstart on TSN - already had well-documented his generosity, his love for his son and his respect for the game. But, at times, this week’s story seemed sweeter than a bowl full of saccharine. For example, after spending a paragraph saying McGwire is not perfect because of his use and defense of androstenedione, the next paragraph begins with this: “We question that blind spot, yet, perversely, find him more appealing because of it, in the way Cindy Crawford’s mole accents her beauty.” What? How can you compare McGwire taking a supplement that is banned in the NFL, NCAA and Olympics, and can be very risky, to a nonharmful, arguably sexy mark on a model’s face? For that matter, how can you even compare McGwire to a model? No offense, Mark, I love looking at your swing but... Overall, though, the McGwire story lacks any original perspective and is not insightful. Finally, the layout for McGwire is odd. Usually, TSN does a nice job of keeping all the articles about a certain sport together; this way, for example, one doesn’t have to jump around the magazine to read all the baseball stories. This week, the magazine didn’t do that. It had the 12-page special section in the beginning; the four-page centerfold and poster in, take a guess, the center; and the baseball news and notes in the second half. The centerfold actually divides the magazine’s weekly two-page look at the NFC East in half, with Arizona and Dallas on the first page and New York, Philadelphia and Washington on the page after all the centerfold stuff. It seems the easy thing to have done would be to place all the baseball stuff around the centerfold, which has pictures of McGwire on the inside two pages and graphs and charts on the back two pages. A chart tracking McGwire and Sosa’s home runs takes up more than one page; unfortunately, though, TSN starts the chart on page 46 and ends it on page 42. That means readers who peruse the magazine in numerical order will see the end of the chart on page 42 - right next to the Cowboy team notes - before knowing what it is about. There had to be a better way than starting the chart on a page farther ahead and working back. By the way, Rawlings said the magazine did the poster (again only for newsstand editions) because it wanted to do something out of the ordinary inside - especially after seeing the extra edition that Sports Illustrated did last week - and still capture the emotion of the moment. Quickly on the other articles: David Climer’s story on Tee Martin is the best of the bunch because the two-page story covers all of Martin’s main points about his rough off-the-field background and delayed on-the-field career. ... Michael Bradley’s body-part-by-body-part look at Daunte Culpepper is decent, except his lead is slightly incorrect. “Now that Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf are learning that big contracts and lofty draft status don’t guarantee immediate NFL success...” Leaf is 2-0 so far this season - you can’t get more successful than that. Bradley certainly wrote it before the second game and maybe even before the first, just assuming that Leaf and Manning would struggle. SI Shot: In the comment next to the Detroit Tigers, ranked 29th out of 30th in TSN’s Power Poll, the magazine writes “Remember when some other mag called Easley the best 2B in the game today?” In its July 6 magazine, Sports Illustrated named Easley the second baseman on its first half Dream Team in a story headlined “All-Stars ... So Far.” At the time, he was batting .292 with 19 homers and 58 runs batted in. In TSN’s Sept. 21 issue, approximately 10 weeks later, he is listed as batting .274 with 22 homers and 88 RBI. Grade: C-. It will be interesting to see how The Sporting News covers Sosa in the next few weeks. (George) Sept. 14 - The features in this week’s The Sporting News are weak. There is little new or exciting in the McGwire and Sosa stories. (TSN should read recent issues of Sports Illustrated, which has done an excellent job covering the home run chase this summer, to see how to cover McGwire well on a weekly basis.) Meanwhile, the Jets-49ers game story was like a rookie starting his first NFL - it tried to do too much. It begins by suggesting that fans can expect to see a lot of high-scoring, high-octane games like the 49ers’ 36-30 win in the NFL this year. However, after seven paragraphs setting up that thesis, the rest of the article focuses solely on the 49ers and the game. By splitting the article between the NFL and the 49ers, neither topic is covered satisfactorily. The issue also has a ho-hum story ranking the top 100 NFL players based on current skills (i.e. forgetting the player’s past and ignoring his future). I didn’t have any major problems with the list (although it was a bit disconcerting to see Dan Marino at No. 93), but I did have a major problem with timing. This kind of list, which was composed by surveying NFL team executives, would have been extremely helpful to NFL rotisserie players two weeks ago. Now, it is nothing more than a debate starter. A college football story examining four major games from last weekend and their influence on the Bowl Championship Series was solid. But other than that college football piece, the other features were disappointing in one way or another. But despite that, The Sporting News is still necessary reading because of its excellent notes sections. No other magazine consistently gives you the insight, review and statistics on each team like TSN. So even on weak weeks, TSN is good read. For example, TSN this week tells you the young and old players each baseball team is looking at this September for roster spots next year. It also predicts some of what you can expect from each team in the offseason. Sure, most people aren’t going to have the time to read each team’s notes, but having the ability to read about any team you want (in either baseball or the NFL) separates TSN from the other two main weekly sports magazines. Also, TSN covers college football better than the other two magazines and its college football wrap-up is necessary reading for Saturday football fans, especially those with a college football column on a web site! Grade: B-, we’ve seen better from TSN, but sports fans should never completely ignore it. (George) Sept.
7 --
TSN's NFL preview issue offers an excellent Paul Attner article
about Detroit's Barry Sanders, accurately described as the anti-Rodman.
August
31 -- TSN's
cover asks "Are the Bucs Ready for the Bowl?" and Chris
Jenkins' article about Tampa Bay quarterback Trent Dilfer says the
fifth-year passer is the key to the team's title hopes. A good line from the story: "Nebraskans are fair-minded and patient people. They'll put up with almost anything as long as it includes an all-you-can-eat buffet." This issue also includes a highly disappointing interview with baseball's new (sic) commissioner, Bud Selig. The article, which is solely in Selig's voice, similar to ESPN magazine's stories with Ken Griffey Jr. and Michael Jordan, lacks any news value. Selig is just spouting off about what is great about baseball this season (all the obvious choices) and what needs fixing (such as eliminating acrimony between players, owners and umpires; furthering realignment; and reducing disparity among team payrolls). The problem is Selig is never challenged to offer solutions or possible solutions to these already acknowledged problems. The commish just states that they are problems that need fixing. I could have done that! Other stories include a ho-hum Yankees article, where the main gist seems to be that Yanks would need to win the World Series before they are considered a great team, no matter what they do in the regular season. News Flash! However, it does include an interesting segment where Rangers manager Johnny Oates compares the Yanks to the 1976 Big Red Machine position-by-position. The Reds win, although Marantz notes that the Yanks starting pitching is better. . There are also looks at the NFC East quarterbacks and Daylon McCutcheon/USC, but neither of which are particularly memorable or insightful. My suggestion: Spend the time this week reading some NFL or college preview magazines. (George) August 17 -- In this week's double issue, The Sporting News presents "The Best of College Football." But unless you look carefully, you might miss most of the magazine's picks because they are scrolled along the bottom of its conference previews pages. TSN gives no reason or description for the picks, which will probably leave many readers wondering what, for example, the walk through "The Grove" is at Mississippi and why is it chosen as TSN's best pregame ritual. There were three best categories that TSN did feature. The magazine had an average article on Ricky Williams, whom it calls "the embodiment of what's great about college football." We've read better articles on the much-publicized Texas running back. But there was a well-done piece on Virginia Coach George Welsh, who the magazine - in a SI-like move - calls the "the best coach in college football today." Yes, Welsh is an excellent coach who did a remarkable job turning around a program that was one known as the "Cadavaliers," but he has never won an outright conference title, let alone a national title. And, he has had some quality teams recently at Virginia. Really, is he better than Penn St.'s Joe Paterno? Florida St.'s Bobby Bowden? Or even BYU's LaVell Edwards? It seems like TSN is pulling a Sports Illustrated -make a surprising statement, defend it well and see how readers react. This week's college football preview doesn't have team previews - I guess that's what TSN's yearbook is for - but it does have an excellent note section to prepare you for the season in the "Campus stroll" as well as a provocative piece on Florida's linebacker Jevon Kearse. Steve Harrison's article describes how Kearse emerged from a family with "a history of violence and tragedy" to become, as TSN calls him, the best defensive player in the nation. Overall, if you wanted a good college football preview, I would suggest TSN's yearbook instead of solely this week's magazine. But if you are looking for something to compliment the preview magazine you already have, this week's issue isn't a bad choice. Besides college football, the magazine also has a terrific article by Scott Fowler on the rebuilding of the Carolina Panthers. The article includes this great lede: "Sean Gilbert won't be enough." One quibble: In Steve Marantz's look at the "golden age at short," he says Cleveland Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel looks like a Hall of Famer to him. What? Vizquel is the best defensive shortstop in the game with an underappreciated bat, but he is not a Hall of Famer. There are many shortstops - Larry Bowa comes quickly to mind - with similar (albeit reduced) defensive skills but better offensive numbers than Vizquel. (George) Back
to top August
3 -- America's oldest sports publication, TSN is also the most
comprehensive with extensive coverage of each of the four major
sports. |
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