October 31st, 2009 11:03pm
by OldSchool
There might not be anything ever to equal Brett Favre’s return to Green Bay today in the uniform of a rival, but there have been similarities. Here are some:
Raiders hero and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ken Stabler returning to Oakland with the Houston Oilers in a 1980 playoff game.
Lions hero and NFL championship quarterback Bobby Layne returning to Detroit with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1960.
Browns trailblazing, innovative and championship-winning coach Paul …
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October 29th, 2009 06:34pm
by OldSchool
Pedro Martinez, one of the great pitchers of his generation and a native of the Dominican Republic, took the mound at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, as the Philadelphia Phillies’ starting pitcher in Game 2 of the World Series. A great Dominican starter on the mound at the World Series and at Yankee Stadium evokes memories of the first.
Game 4 of the 1962 Series, Juan Marichal took the mound for …
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October 29th, 2009 06:20pm
by OldSchool
For more than 20 years, NBA fans, and Warriors fans in particular, have come to regard Don Nelson as a sort of offensive mad scientist as a head coach.
So it was refreshing to hear the Comcast Sports Net roundtable discussion after the Warriors’ season opener on Wednesday night. Greg Papa was host, and Gary St. Jean (former Warriors executive and coach and longtime Nelson assistant), Dave Del Grande (online sportswriter) …
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October 28th, 2009 06:47pm
by OldSchool
It’s World Series time. The Fall Classic. Baseball’s showcase event. For Giants fans, though, the Series evokes painful memories. Three painful memories, actually.
1962. Game 7. Bottom of the ninth. Giants trail the Yankees, 1-0. Matty Alou is on third, Willie Mays on second. Two out. Ralph Terry pitching. Willie McCovey batting. Screaming liner but right at second baseman Bobby Richardson.
1989. The Bay Bridge Series. Giants vs. A’s. The Earthquake Series. …
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October 27th, 2009 12:46am
by OldSchool
At first glance, the St. Louis Cardinals’ hiring of Mark McGwire as hitting coach seems odd for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Big Mac had a career batting average of .263 over 17 seasons. By contrast, the man he replaces, Hal McRae, had a .290 batting average over 19 seasons.
But it might not be so odd. To McGwire’s credit, he hit 583 …
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October 24th, 2009 06:45pm
by OldSchool
Having just read the new book “Muhammad Ali and the Greatest Heavyweight Generation” by Tom Cushman and having just written a column about it (click on it at The Press Democrat Web site sports page), two sensational knockouts and a terrific knockdown from that era come to mind.
1969. Leotis Martin knocks out Sonny Liston in the ninth round. This was a textbook power-combo knockout, awesome to see, with Liston landing …
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October 24th, 2009 06:44pm
by OldSchool
This would have been the 50th season of the American Football League, and the original eight franchises, now of course part of the NFL, will occasionally wear retro-1960 uniforms to commemorate the AFL’s first year. This blog already has looked at two significant figures from the original the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders. Today: two from the original Houston Oilers — George Blanda and Billy Cannon.
Blanda was the 33-year-old NFL …
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October 22nd, 2009 12:22am
by OldSchool
This would have been the 50th season of the American Football League, and those eight original franchises are commemorating the birth of the AFL by occasionally wearing their retro-1960-style uniforms during the current NFL season. So, from time to time this season I’ll blog about those original AFL teams, concentrating on two stars from each team. A few days ago, I blogged about Frank Tripucka and Lionel Taylor of the …
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October 22nd, 2009 12:20am
by OldSchool
Warriors coach Don Nelson told Press Democrat columnist that he’s OK not being in basketball’s Hall of Fame because he considers himself a very good coach but not a great one.
I disagree.
I appreciate Nelson’s humility, and I believe it’s sincere. But the man has record of achievement as an NBA coach that is nothing short of remarkable.
This year he will become the NBA’s all-time winningest coach. Nelson downplays this by …
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October 21st, 2009 01:39am
by OldSchool
It’s not over until it’s over, but it looks like it will be a Yankees-Phillies World Series. If that’s the case, let’s look back some 59 years, to the last time those teams met in the Fall Classic.
And a classic, it was. Sure, it was a four-game sweep for the Yankees in 1950, but three of those games were nail-biting high dramas.
The Yankees were overwhelming favorites, and had five future …
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Robert Rubino has been a daily copy editor for nearly 30 years and a weekly sports columnist for 15 years. 
