Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause … In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.”

Tagged as: boxing, muhammad ali, quotes

I was watching an old episode of The Brady Bunch today (I guess that’s redundant, as all episodes have been “old” for the past 30 years), and I was reminded of how popular surfing became in the 1960′s. Even before the emergence of the hippies in California, young people were flocking to the Cali shores to see if they could hang ten.

Here’s a video of the 1966 World Surfing Contest. Note the incredible babe at about 4:15 in. I hope I don’t ruin anything by reminding you that this woman from the 1960′s is now in her sixties.

Tagged as: surfing, the brady bunch, video, vintage

Carl Yastrzemski

Patriots’ Day is a special day in Boston and in the world of sports. Officially, the day marks the recognized anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the start of the American Revolution. To those who are in Boston on the occasion in the middle of April each year, Patriots’ Day means the Boston Marathon and Red Sox baseball in the morning. This is the only game in the Red Sox schedule that starts at 11:00am each year.

Since 1968, the Red Sox have celebrated this special day for New England with the only baseball game on the official schedule that starts before noon. The timing of the game means the runners from the marathon start to filter through Kenmore Square during the 5th or 6th inning. The Boston Marathon used to start a little later in the morning, so the runners would be coming through Kenmore Square at about the same time Red Sox game was ending.

There’s something special about sports being played in the morning, especially in New England. I realize that these games probably don’t get the same viewer share on NESN because lots of people are at work, but it also reminds us of how sports used to be in America, before the proliferation of massive stadium lights and the television sets that made night games so much more profitable.

Tagged as: boston, carl yastrzemski, marathon, patriots day, schedule, starting time

I’ll be the first to admit I am not a huge fan of golf. The game is frustrating to play and at times boring to watch. Even a non-fan like myself can appreciate the history and tradition behind The Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club each year. Augusta National is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the entire country. In fact, they’re so exclusive they’ve been sued for discrimination.

Even many billionaires would find they’d have trouble joining as a member, because you’ve got to be wealthy, have an impeccable reputation, and you’ve got to play a decent game of golf. Those who don’t take the game with the utmost seriousness will probably never have the chance to play a round at Augusta.

This year’s Masters starts today, and I feel like this event is really the true mark of the start of spring. March 21st is often cold and rainy, but by the time the Masters rolls around we all get to tune in and see the perfectly manicured greens and fairways down in Georgia and we know that with some hard work our own lawns can perhaps be close to that color in just a month or so.

You may have already seen the commercials for the new Tiger Woods video game from EA Sports. This year’s version, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2012 The Masters,
is dedicated to the Masters, because for the first time ever players will be able to play on the virtual version of the Augusta National course. This is as close as anyone reading this is going to get to playing on the most sacred land in golf.

Tagged as: augusta national, golf, pga tour 2012, sports, the masters, tiger woods, video game

I first learned about Horween leather when I was playing college baseball. Rawlings made some of their Heart of the Hide gloves with Horween leather, and they always seemed to be a lot nicer than any of the other top-of-the-line gloves at the time, including the A2000 series from Wilson.

I didn’t know what Horween was at the time, but now I know it’s the name of a small company that operates in Chicago. They have a special tanning process that’s coveted not only by sporting goods manufacturers (they make those footballs that get seen by hundreds of millions of people during the Super Bowl), but also makes a great leather for luxury clothing. They’ve been in business for over 100 years, and let’s hope they make it another 100.

Tagged as: baseball glove, chicago, football, horween, leather, rawlings

Jackson late in his life (circa 1950)

Most people only know of Shoeless Joe Jackson from the movie Field of Dreams. It’s a great movie, and Ray Liotta plays the part well (minus the fact that Liotta has the weird combination of being a lefty thrower and righty hitter, the exact opposite of the real Shoeless Joe), but Joe Jackson was far more complicated than the people who have played him on the big screen. Even in Eight Men Out, where Jackson is portrayed as a man with million dollar athletic ability and a five cent brain, the complete picture of the man known as Shoeless Joe is missing.

The truth of the matter is this: Shoeless Joe accepted money to throw a World Series in which his team was the heavy favorite. It doesn’t appear that he played any differently, but that may have been because everyone else in on the plot was playing their role (almost) perfectly, and there was never any need for Jackson to join in on the poor play. I don’t know if that makes him a disloyal schemer or a loyal teammate (to the guys who weren’t in on it).

“Loafers and Socks” Joe slowly passing the time, banned from America’s national pastime

Joe Jackson was not just a good baseball player, he was one of the all-time greats. He had 74 extra-base hits in the season before he was banned for life for his part in what would be known as the Black Sox scandal. That was 1920, several years before the spitball was officially banned and the dead ball era came to an end. Jackson was 30 years old and probably had another decade left in his career, but it was not to be. He died in Greenville, South Carolina in 1951.

Tagged as: baseball, biography, joe jackson, life, profile, shoeless joe jackson

As much of the country gets an unwelcome amount of snow dumped on them, it’s a good day to stay indoors, drink some hot cocoa and whiskey, and look back at some of the all-time great American skiers. One of the first names that comes to mind is Phil Mahre, who was a tour de force on the ski circuits from 1976 through 1984. His twin brother Steve was also a world-class skier, and the two were the face of the U.S. Ski Team during that time.

Born in the state of Washington, the Mahre siblings (9 in all) literally grew up at a ski resort, where their father was the manager. He was being offered sponsorship deals at the age of 12, and by the age of 18 he had made his World Cup debut. He would end up winning the overall World Cup title in 1981, 1982, and 1983, although he would only take home one Olympic gold medal in his career, thanks in large part to curly-haired Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark.

The 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo were perhaps the high water mark of Phil’s entire life. Not only did he take home the gold in the slalom, but his brother took the silver. While being interviewed after the race, a reporter informed Phil that his wife Holly had given birth to a boy an hour before.

Tagged as: american, olympics, phil mahre, sarajevo, skier, skiing, sports

Watching that IBM video from yesterday reminded me of another great compilation piece featuring footage from the 20th century. In 1999, ESPN made a video they called “Sports Century”, which basically summed up American sports from the previous 100 years. It remained by far the greatest production in the network’s history until they started their superb “30 for 30″ documentary series two years ago.

Tagged as: espn, sports century, video

No sporting event is more American than the Super Bowl. Sure, the Kentucky Derby is older, but horse racing is not an American sport. Football was started as an American sport, and it is really only popular in America. The Super Bowl is the climax of the NFL season, and it’s become more about the event than the actual game. If there’s one thing we all love, it’s a little commercialism mixed in with our favorite sporting event. Here is my list of the top 5 Super Bowl commercials of all time:

5: Terry Tate – Office Linebacker. Terry Tate punishes coworkers for simple infractions with vicious hits. I wonder if his employer would fine him $25,000 if he was caught making a helmet-to-skull takedown.

4: The Showdown. Michael Jordan vs. Larry Bird in the most intense game of horse of all time. The two greats go back and forth, sinking impossible shots from around the gym.

3: The Budweiser Frogs. This commercial was so big the Budweiser frogs became icons. Other beer companies, including Coors, were forced to lampoon this commercial because it made all their other ad spots irrelevant overnight.

2: Apple’s 1984. In an ad that seems a bit ironic now, Apple made the PC (which we used to just call “IBM-compatible computers”) out to be the totalitarian overlords from Orwell’s 1984, and Apple was the computer that would set us free.

1: Mean Joe Green and a bottle of Coke. In a commercial that would set the stage for the soda advertising onslaught that’s gone on for the past generation, a little boy gives Mean Joe Green a Coca Cola (probably because the kid prefers Pepsi), and in exchange Mean Joe gives the kid his jersey. This might not have the high production value of some of the others on this list, but it was considered innovative in the world of television advertising.

Tagged as: ads, apple 1984, budweiser, commercial, commercials, mean joe green, super bowl, terry tate, tv

I think every red-blooded American male would like to be a handy man. Better yet, we’d like to be able to build useful things with our own two hands. Here’s a video of Sean Walling, owner of Soulcraft Bicycles, making an entire bicycle on his own. Ladies, next time you complain about your man having too many tools, just look at this man’s workshop. This is what every man aspires to have.

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

Tagged as: bicycle, diy, making, video, welding, workshop