Nominee For Sportsman Of The Year

Yikes! It’s been awhile since I have contributed to the blog. A couple catch-up items:

— I’m probably not the first to throw this out there, but how about Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsmen of the Year? In the wake of The Perfect Game That Wasn’t, their graciousness and sportsmanship was inspirational. They turned what could have been a contentious, anger-filled situation into one of the feel-good stories of the year.

Joyce lived an umpire’s nightmare — a very, very public botched call. And he immediately and sincerely apologized for it. He genuinely felt awful about it, reminding us that humans, even umpires, are fallible and can be remorseful. He made a mistake; he admitted to it. Isn’t that all we can ask?

Galarraga’s reaction to being robbed of history was extraordinary. How many of us could have been so gracious in such a situation?

It was, all in all, a really amazing display of humanity.

— Sunday’s column provided a bit of a local angle on the death of John Wooden. Denny Huston, Clark College’s athletic director, was an assistant coach at Washington for a time and had to face Wooden’s teams. I wrote about Denny’s reflections on the legendary coach.

— The Stanley Cup finals are over, and I can’t believe I missed a chance for the annual ode to the Stanley Cup. You know, celebrating this. And this. And this. And this.

Best trophy in sports. Best post-championship celebration in sports.

And here’s an item from TheSportingBlog about the unique treatment the National Anthem received from both the Blackhawks and the Flyers.

— And finally, here’s a funny headline from Deadspin when a Cleveland-area girl won the national spelling bee. You know, since Cleveland hasn’t won a championship in anything since 1964.