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...
by gordie | Oct 23, 2025 | College Football
Freelance sportswriting being what it is in the 21st Century, I have worked for over 30 outlets since my last full-time gig in 2008 – and hope to add to that total before they pry my laptop from my cold, dead fingers. One of those outlets was ESPN.com, or at least a...
by gordie | Oct 9, 2025 | College Football
It’s homecoming this weekend at Penn State. Time to remember the good times. Time to look back. Yeah, not so much. The alums figure to be in a foul mood, given the football team’s struggles. And not even the scheduling of perennial Big Ten doormat Northwestern will...
by gordie | Aug 29, 2025 | NFL
When you fly into Green Bay, Wisconsin, you descend from 35,000 feet and land in 1967. Such is the aura of Packers history that you half-expect to be leveled by the block of Jerry Kramer or Fuzzy Thurston as you exit the jetway. The team plays in Lambeau Field, on...
by gordie | Aug 23, 2025 | Journalism, NBA
John Wall just retired, and Lee Corso is about to do so. My question: Were they good? They were significant – Corso, the college football analyst, more so than Wall, the NBA point guard. They were entertaining, I guess. But were they good? I admit to watching ESPN’s...
by gordie | Aug 3, 2025 | MLB
Having watched on TV as new Phillies closer Jhoan Duran made his electric entrance Friday night, I think that just once, I’d like to have my own walk-up music. Just once I’d like to stroll into whatever they’re calling the Sixers’ arena these days and as I head toward...
by gordie | Jul 28, 2025 | NFL
My cell phone sat atop a dresser in a cramped dorm room at Lehigh University, where I was covering Eagles training camp one July day in 2008. I was getting ready to go to dinner with Les Bowen, then of the Philadelphia Daily News, when it rang. What followed was the...
by gordie | Jun 25, 2025 | High School Sports
Dell Jackson, the founder and driving force of LLHoops.com, died a month ago. And when his obituary appeared, I was struck by how many things I didn’t know about him. He was from Wyalusing? Huh. He liked beekeeping? No way. He crafted stained glass? Whoa. None of that...
by gordie | Jun 24, 2025 | NBA
There is a runway now for the Oklahoma City Thunder, one that extends beyond the NBA championship they won Sunday night and into the foreseeable future. One that could enable them to build a mini-dynasty, to soar over a league weighed down by parity. The roster, led...
by gordie | Jun 22, 2025 | NBA
It hardly seems appropriate to discuss the made-up drama of a Game 7 shortly after American bombs have fallen in Iran, but here we are. At a time like this, I can’t help but think of the immortal words that appeared on the satirical website The Onion, shortly after...