THE ITHACAN

Between The Lines: Baltimore Orioles provide best birthday present ever

By Nathan Bickell, Columnist • October 10, 2012

Columnist and die-hard Baltimore Orioles fan Nathan Bickell recaps his experiences from Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Camden Yards.

Between the Lines: Breaking down the AL MVP race

By Nathan Bickell, Columnist • October 4, 2012

Columnist Nathan Bickell breaks down the opposing arguments for Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera and casts his vote for the 2012 AL MVP.

Between The Lines: Let Strasburg pitch

By Nathan Bickell, Columnist • September 13, 2012

Columnist Nathan Bickell talks to Ithaca College baseball coach George Valesente about the Washington Nationals' decision to shut down pitcher Stephen Strasburg before the MLB playoffs.

Between The Lines: Is the NFL preseason really worth it?

By Nathan Bickell, Columnist • September 6, 2012

Columnist Nathan Bickell argues that the injury risks posed by NFL's preseason games might not be worth the potential financial gains.

The trouble with nuclear winter

By Alex Holt • November 17, 2011

As you all know, MLB and the MLBPA are apparently close to a new labor deal. What's that, you say? You didn't know? Don't worry, you're not alone. MLB's labor negotiations have largely gone under the radar mediawise. And since conflict usually generates "juicier" news than when people get along, there's not an awful lot…

So long, Tony La Russa

By Alex Holt • November 1, 2011

I'll just cut right to the chase, I was never all that big a fan of Tony La Russa. I didn't like the umpteen feuds with players he always seemed to get himself into, from St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith to Scott Rolen to Colby Rasmus. I didn't like the way he basically lucked…

A series to remember

By Alex Holt • October 29, 2011

For all the flak it gets for being such a "boring" game, baseball sure didn't live down to that reputation this past week. I can't honestly say that last night's 6-2 win by the St. Louis Cardinals over the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the World Series to win the series 4-3 was exactly…

In defense of the World Series

By Alex Holt • October 22, 2011

Some people may not like this year's World Series matchup between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. As long as you've got a good reason for this sentiment, that's OK. Say you don't like Dallas teams and you don't like the Cardinals' infamously obsessive manager, Tony La Russa. That would be a valid…

What a novel idea

By Alex Holt • October 4, 2011

If there's one thing that connects all the various playoff systems in modern sports, it's that a lot of people think they last too long and I've got to say it's pretty hard to argue with that. The NBA playoffs last from the middle of April to the middle of June, a span of about…

Blame it on Terry

By Alex Holt • October 1, 2011

A Major League Baseball franchise in one of the East Coast's biggest markets has hit hard times or at least harder times than they imagined they'd be facing for a long, long time. They've set an MLB record by blowing a stunning lead in the postseason race, even though not too long ago, they were…

It’s only the preseason

By Alex Holt • September 22, 2011

The NHL preseason started Monday night. There are probably less than a hundred people on this campus who even care about this and I might not even be one of them, depending on what you mean by the word "care." I mean as a fan of the Buffalo Sabres and the NHL, I'm certainly excited…

The Great Mariano

By Alex Holt • September 14, 2011

Last night, Mariano Rivera earned his 600th save. But as Kevin Kaduk of the Yahoo! Sports baseball blog "Big League Stew" points out, Rivera, his teammates and even the media didn't make as big a deal out of the milestone as might have been expected. Sure, Rivera did embrace his teammates and shake hands with…