Men's competition dazzles with class
Tennis has turned derriere over teacup, veering from fascination with the women back to concentration on the men, and you can see why at this NASDAQ-100 Open.
( 03/29/2003 03:01 AM EST)

Ginepri could be best of U.S. youth
Robby Ginepri may be the guy. I don't happen to be one of those people who believes tennis' young American vanguard of Ginepri, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Taylor Dent and Mardy Fish (not in that order) eventually will climb all over everybody in the world.
( COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE, epope@herald.com, 03/27/2003 03:01 AM EST)

Agassi's return-of-service game keeps him winning off the court
Andre Agassi turning into tennis' best comeback story isn't much news. It's hardly a bulletin, either, that Agassi and bride Steffi Graf dote on their 17-month-old son Jaden Gil. So try this. The once-upon-a-time brat named Agassi has now given more back to tennis than anyone. Among a variety of humanitarian endeavors, he is helping fund a Las Vegas charter school that will include as many as 650 students in the next six years.
( COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE, epope@herald.com, 03/20/2003 03:01 AM EST)

`Born to run a mile and a half'
It spooks most of them. Not Bobby Frankel. Mention Kentucky Derby to just about every trainer of a 3-year-old in the winter and they blanch no matter what kind of wonder beast they're holding. One of the few who never did was Bud Delp, who talked and conditioned Spectacular Bid right through the Florida Derby all the way up to the Belmont Stakes nearly a quarter century ago. ''Greatest horse who ever looked through a bridle,'' Delp said, and no one could say nay till Bid ran out of gas or whatever...
( 03/16/2003 03:01 AM EST)

Signing Griese would be a bad, bad move
The Dolphins seem determined to sign Brian Griese. Bad move. And that comes from someone who seldom assails the personnel decisions of a team that always finishes in the black if not the Super Bowl running.
( COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE, epope@herald.com, 03/13/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Hard-core fans rewarding Gulfstream
Easy to say the only real music to a horseplayer is the sound of a cashier sliding C-notes toward him. Easy to blame Gulfstream Park's year-ago slump on overemphasizing rock music. But both are part of the truth.
( epope@herald.com, 02/11/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Next loss for Raiders is to Father Time
Not surprisingly, some public carnage took place in Oakland after the Raiders' 48-21 flop in Super Bowl 37. It was mindful of a recent Irish boxing champion who, after losing his title, declaimed, ``We do a lot better when we're fighting with barstools.''
( epope@herald.com, 01/29/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Better to not play at all than to lose
You know the line, which I don't really believe, about it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? What I do believe is, it's better not going to a Super Bowl than going and losing. Especially if the winner plows you under the way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night in SB37.
( epope@herald.com, 01/28/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Raiders lively as King Tut (he's dead)
One among a number of droll Super Bowl stories has to do with the Dallas Cowboys playing in New Orleans in a week coinciding with a King Tut exhibition. All the Cowboys attended the exhibition except for one. He declined because, he said, ``I heard King Tut was dead.''
( epope@herald.com, 01/27/2003 03:01 AM EST)

Voters saw too much Perfection
Justice took the day off at the Pro Football Hall of Fame election Saturday. Bob Kuechenberg missed again. Worse, he didn't even finish as high as he did a year ago, when he failed by a gnat's whisker. He came in in the top six back then. Saturday he made only the top 10.
( 01/26/2003 03:01 AM EST)

Logic, guts tab Kooch for Hall today
It takes something extra for anything about football to anger a football junkie like me. One of those extras is anyone using the word ''gutless'' for NFL players, let alone whole teams. There are no gutless pro football players. And there never has been one guttier than the Dolphins' Bob Kuechenberg. I only hope Pro Football Hall of Fame electors remember this along with his mountain of other qualifications when they vote today.
( 01/25/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Paying his dues
Oh, for the glamorous life of a Super Bowl football coach. It is 3:20 a.m. and pitch dark outside Marc Trestman's modest hotel room, but the desk lamp is bright and so is he. The offensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders, who got his start as an unpaid volunteer coach for the University of Miami's 1982 Hurricanes, is hunched over piles of drawings.
( epope@herald.com, 01/23/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
The circus comes to town
You might be surprised that more women watched the last Super Bowl than a recent Academy Awards show, 35 million to 27 million. Don't be. For all the cries of ''hype!'', Super Bowls offer a lot of something for everybody. Some of the best music. Some of the best entertainers -- in their sharpest rags. And then there's football. It's a blast even when the combatants are two supposed small-town teams like Oakland and Tampa.
( epope@herald.com, 01/22/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Writer's jab at the Canes misses mark
Miami coach Larry Coker learned his lesson. Next season he's going back to parolees. -- Bill Scheft, Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated identifies one of its supposed humor writers, Bill Scheft, as ``head monologue writer for The Late Show with David Letterman.''
( epope@herald.com, 01/17/2003 03:01 AM EST)

EDWIN POPE
Fans need to laud Canes, not lament
It's all right to mourn defeat, which is as much the spirit of college football as celebrating victory. Just remember the Miami Hurricanes' loss in the Fiesta Bowl was just that. Loss. Not death.
( 01/05/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Canes' streak ends, but not their glory
Down with a crash goes Ken Dorsey, smashed to the earth of Sun Devil Stadium by a brutal hit from Cie Grant. Up flops the ball and then falls harmlessly. Poof! It's gone, smashed, dead -- Miami's dream of a second straight national championship.
( epope@herald.com, 01/04/2003 03:01 AM EST)

COMMENTARY / EDWIN POPE
Recalling how UM title onslaught started
Give me the green over the scarlet tonight, say 30-20 or bigger. Talking Miami green over Ohio State scarlet. And nothing to do with Jamaal Green, who could be the Canes' best defensive lineman against Mighty Maurice Clarett.
( epope@herald.com, 01/03/2003 03:01 AM EST)