Taking Stock at Age 67 (!), Plus One: Lamenting Onside Kicks and CDC Stats

by gordie | Dec 27, 2025 | Journalism, Writing

Sunday marks another trip around the sun for me. That will be 68 of ‘em. One more than 67 (!), kids. Feel free to gazz out to your heart’s content. Anyway … Just for the sheer terror of it, I decided to look up the life expectancy for males in our great nation. And...

NFL Kickers Are Better, But John Smith Believes Those of his Day Should Not be Ignored

by gordie | Nov 23, 2025 | NFL

John Smith, a man with a common name and an uncommon tale, would like you to know that NFL kickers are not that much better than they were in his day, It is a sketchy premise from which to operate, seeing as somebody seems to nail a 60-yard field goal every other...

Remembering Lenny Wilkens, Catalyst of ‘The Greatest Turnaround in History’ — Among Other Things

by gordie | Nov 14, 2025 | NBA

The way Wally Walker remembers it, he and the other members of the Seattle SuperSonics trudged into a Kansas City hotel room on Nov. 30, 1977, hours before a game against the host Kings, to meet their new coach. To say it was a dispirited group would be an...

Pushed to the Brink, Indiana — yes, Indiana (in Football) — Makes a Grab for Greatness

by gordie | Nov 9, 2025 | College Football

While understanding that the mere invocation of Joe Paterno’s name elicits strong feelings on both sides of the equation, please remember that there were more than a few times when it was clear the late Penn State football coach knew what he was talking about. Exhibit...

A Sense of Belonging, A Half-Century After the Fact

by gordie | Nov 1, 2025 | High School Sports

Nobody rides the bench on a high school cross country team. There are no reserves, no backups, no scrubs. Everybody runs, in every dual meet. Everybody competes against the opponent, the clock, themselves. That said, you don’t have to be Steve Prefontaine to ascertain...