The Ithacan

Ah well

By Alex Holt • November 26, 2011

I have a confession to make: I missed Thanksgiving football this year. It's not like I wasn't looking forward to Green Bay-Detroit because I was. It's not like I don't have relatives just as into football as I am either because I most certainly do. It's just that it was really kind of nice out…

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…

Five years of Jimmie Johnson

By Alex Holt • November 15, 2011

Something happened Sunday, something that hadn't happened in quite a while. By finishing 14th in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Jimmie Johnson ensured that he wouldn't win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title for the first time in six years. It's probably good for the sport that either Carl Edwards, who currently…

Five observations about Cortaca from someone who misplaced their ticket and watched it on TV

By Alex Holt • November 12, 2011

It's a really good thing for the Bombers that Cortland QB Dan Pitcher is a graduate student and not a freshman. It's really not a good thing for the Bombers that Ithaca WR Dan Ruffrage is a senior. It totally figures that the Cortaca Game with the nicest weather since I enrolled at IC would…

With a bang and a whimper

By Alex Holt • November 10, 2011

Few coaches have shaped Division I-A college football as much as Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. Not counting Bowden's junior college-coaching days or 12 NCAA-vacated wins, these two coaches have combined to date for four national championships, 786 wins, 19 conference titles and 45 bowl game wins. Paterno's been employed by Penn State University as…

Now THIS is a scandal

By Alex Holt • November 8, 2011

I've always kind of distrusted all the talk about the "crimes" committed by the athletes and coaches caught up in scandals at schools like Memphis, Auburn, Ohio State, USC and the University of Miami. And now I know why. For the most part, big time college sports scandals seemed more like violations of often fundamentally…

Across the pond

By Alex Holt • November 5, 2011

I'll be going to the London Center next semester. It's really exciting, of course. I've never been to Europe before and this coming semester should allow me to attend an English Premiere League game and English cricket and rugby games as well as just generally experience the sensation of what it's like to be in…

History

By Alex Holt • November 3, 2011

Heading into this weekend's game against Alfred, the men's football team at Ithaca College is currently 4-4 on the season. If they lose any combination of the Alfred game and/or Cortaca, it will mark the end of their 40-year streak of winning seasons, second longest in college football. To put that into perspective, here's what…

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…

OK now this is just getting ridiculous

By Alex Holt • October 27, 2011

By this point, I'm pretty much resigned to the current spate of Division I conference realignments. The Mountain West, Conference USA, the Big 12, which actually has 10 teams right now but will probably lose one team and add at least one more, the Big 10, which now has 12 teams, the ACC...the list goes…

Bye Bye Now

By Alex Holt • October 25, 2011

When you think about it, the idea of the bye week in football is pretty unique within sports. Oh sure hockey, basketball and baseball teams all have their days off. But that's just it, they're "days off." No big deal is made about days off in sports because in a sport where teams frequently every…