Category: Sports

Most of the time, baseball teams play a single game on any given day. However, a few times a year they’ll play two games in a day. This is called a “doubleheader”, and it comes from the railroad term double-heading, in which two engines are used instead of one. This allows the train to carry a much larger load, or carry a standard load over steep inclines.

Most doubleheaders happen because an earlier game was rained out or otherwise postponed. So if the New York Mets travel to Atlanta to play the Braves and one of the games is rained out, one of their future games in Atlanta will be changed to a double-header. Nowadays this is usually called a day-night doubleheader, because one game is played during the day and the other at night. Such games are treated as two separate events. The games might be an hour (or more) apart, spectators are cleared from the stadium, and tickets are only valid for one of the games.

Sometimes, however, doubleheaders are scheduled on purpose, as a kind of “2 for 1” deal for the fans. These are called twi-night doubleheaders. Games are usually only 20-30 minutes apart, and tickets are valid for both games. Although twi-night games aren’t nearly as common in Major League Baseball as they used to be, they’re still popular in college and minor leagues. However, they don’t last quote as long, as doubleheader games only last 7 innings each in college and the minors.

And, just to be complete, you have the classic doubleheader, in which the first game starts early in the afternoon and the second game starts late in the afternoon. This came about due to the lack of stadium lights in baseball’s early years. Thus, the contrast with the day-night or twi-night versions of the game.

Continue reading “ALL ABOUT: Doubleheaders”

Not making light of it, but if Georgia Tech can have their 2009 ACC Championship taken away over $300 worth of clothes, then Penn State should lose their football program forever. Here’s hoping the death penalty comes to State College. Soon.

I haven’t paid attention to professional basketball in 20 years. And with my hometown Charlotte Bobcats rockin’ a 7-53 record (“only 36 games out of first place!”), it’s unlikely that I’ll come back to the NBA any time soon. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if the Bobcats left town or just shut down operations completely.

But here’s the thing: if we’re gonna have an NBA team in this town, we might as well have one with a proper name. Many Charlotteans are turned off by the “Bobcats” name, as it’s a big reminder of former owner Robert “Bob” Johnson and his giant ego. Johnson was not only not from Charlotte, he seemed to do his best to alienate local businesses and fans, and even had the nerve to show up late for a public appearance with the excuse of “I don’t know where anything is in this town! har har har!”

But here’s the good news: New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has just bought the New Orleans Hornets, and has expressed a desire to rename the team to something with a more local flavor. So in the next year or two they might become the New Orleans Cajuns, or the New Orleans Crescents… or whatever. In any case, this would give Charlotte the almost unprecedented opportunity to get the “Hornets” name back.

And that’s important. During the Revolutionary War, local militia fought the British so hard that General Cornwallis referred to the city as “a hornet’s nest of rebellion”, and the hornet has been a symbol of the city ever since. It’s on the Mecklenburg County seal and flag. CMPD police badges are shaped liked hornet’s nests. When professional baseball came to the city in 1892, the team was called the Hornets. And although minor league teams and leagues have folded over the years, whichever team replaced the old one, they were always known as the Hornets… until 1976, when wresting promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. bought the Asheville Orioles and brought them to Charlotte (in 1987, Crockett sold the team to Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn, who renamed them the Charlotte Knights, although the current Knights team is not technically the same team: in 1993, Shinn bought an International League franchise affiliated with the Cleveland Indians, and the original Orioles team moved to Nashville and then Mobile. Shinn sold the Knights to Don Beaver in 1998, and the team became an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and agreement which still stands). And let’s not forget that the short-lived World Football League team was also known as the Charlotte Hornets.

Go to any sports bar in Charlotte and you’re much more likely to see an old Charlotte Hornets pennant or poster on the wall than a Bobcats one. Go to a Bobcats game, or even just walk around downtown, and you’re much more likely to see someone wearing a Hornets shirt or hat than a Bobcats one (Panthers quarterback Cam Newton even wore a Hornets hat to a recent Bobcats game!). Heck, not only is Charlotte Hornets merchandise still being made, it’s mostly likely the best selling NBA gear for a team that doesn’t exist any more!

So… what can you do if you want Michael Jordan to bring the Hornets name back? There are two online groups hoping to make this happen: Bring Back the Buzz and the Facebook group We Beelieve: Charlotte. And, beeelieve it or not, the movement appears to be picking up steam! The groups have been repeatedly interviewed by local media (and even got a story on ESPN’s site). They’ve apparently been influential in getting local sports writer Tom Sorensen to change his mind on the issue. Not only are they writing letters and starting online petitions, they’re actually going to Bobcats games and chanting “Charlotte Hornets!” until their throats are raw. And although a name change won’t instantly make me a fan of our local NBA franchise, I’d be much more likely to cheer for the Charlotte Hornets over the Charlotte Bobcats! So let’s bring back the buzz and make this happen, folks!

Hard to believe it was that long ago.

“11 seconds, you’ve got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. 5 seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!”

There are at least 16 English football (soccer) clubs with “United” in their name, including Newcastle United, West Ham United, Leeds United, Carlisle United, Colchester United, Exeter United, Hartlepool United, Peterborough United, Oxford United… and a little team you might have heard of called Manchester United. America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) even has one such team: DC United.

But why are they “United”, anyway?

Around 150 years ago, it was common for larger English cities to have multiple teams, usually named after the neighborhood they played in. To use New York City as an example, you might have the Gramercy Park Raiders, East Village Bulldogs, SoHo Wildcats and Battery Park Titans. Many of the oldest American football teams had similar beginnings: the Arizona Cardinals, for instance, were known as the “Racine Normals” for several years because they played in Normal Park on Racine Avenue. And the Chicago Bears began as the Decatur Staleys because they were created as a “company team” for A. E. Staley Manufacturing, a corn starch company from Decatur, Illinois.

At any rate, it was all very informal on both sides of the Atlantic at first. But as English football became more and more popular, teams would merge so that they could be competitive with teams from other cities. So the Gramercy Park Raiders, East Village Bulldogs, SoHo Wildcats and Battery Park Titans would merge to create “Manhattan United”.

But the unexpected bit of it is that the first “United” team was actually a cricket team.

By the 1850s, there were several cricket teams in the city of Sheffield. In many cases, these teams were borrowing each other’s grounds (playing fields), or using whatever ground could be improvised on game day. In 1854, a cricket enthusiast named Michael J. Ellison leased a plot of land from the Duke of Norfolk and built a cricket ground called Bramall Lane. Ellison urged several cricket clubs to merge and play at his grounds, and the result was Sheffield United Cricket Club. Sort of. The team didn’t go by that name, at least at first. “Sheffield United” was the name of the company that managed the team. They wouldn’t officially be known as the Sheffield United Cricket Club until 1895.

Continue reading “Why “United”?”

Hey, ya’ll! Simon here again! I’m feeling a bit under weather this week, so my picks might be short and sweet this go ’round. The doctor has me on some pain killers that I thought would make me funny, but in fact only make me sleepy! So let’s do this! Your favorite kitty went 8-8 last week, for a total of 40-29.

New York Jets at Denver: Despite putting up some awful numbers, my cute lil’ Tim Tebow is winning games. But that streak comes to an end this week. That sexy Darrelle Revis will be all over the field, and more often than not will lend up with handsful of Tebowcake. Take the Jets in this game, girls!

Jacksonville at Cleveland: Jeez – what an awful game! The NFL should just go ahead and apologize to the rest of the league for this game! I think Cleveland could win this game, but the Browns will come up with some novel way to lose this one, too! I’m taking the Jaguars in this game!

Carolina at Detroit: Oooo! The battle of the kitties! I so want my hometown kitties to win this game, but I think Detroit will bounce back with this one. Not that I’m complaining: I get to see my saucy cup of hot chocolate, Calvin Johnson, on TV this week! Too bad I don’t get to see his Johnson! I’m bad! Take the Lions here!

Tampa Bay at Green Bay: The Battle of the Bays… ain’t gonna amount to much. Aaron Rogers… blah blah blah… Clay Matthews… blah blah blah… Take the Packers to win by at least ten in this mismatch.

Continue reading “Simon’s Picks – Week 11”