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SPORTS COLUMNIST
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Johnette Howard has been a general sports columnist at Newsday since 1999. Her 2000 work was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. Previously she worked as a Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated and as a weekly columnist and feature writer for the Washington Post. Her work has been collected in five anthologies, including Best American Sports Writing of the 20th Century.
May 9, 2007
The image that lingered well into last night wasn't just
that Mariano Rivera blew a game 24 hours earlier by giving up a two-out,
ninth-inning homer against Seattle. That happens, even to a closer as great as
Rivera. What was more unforgettable was the memory of the normally
imperturbable Rivera wheeling around on the mound Monday night and screaming --
literally screaming -- "Oh my God" as he watched Adrian Beltre's game-winning
blast streak over the left-centerfield fence.
May 2, 2007
If he weren't so damn pleasant, it would be easy to build
up a little harmless hate for David Wright. Or at least some good-natured envy.
Isn't it enough that the Mets' third baseman has boy-next-door looks, perfect
teeth, superstar talent, a $55-million contract, a brand-new statue of himself
at Madame Tussaud's, and national magazines panting to make him their cover boy
when he's not busy signing his latest endorsement deal? Who needs further
evidence he lives a charmed life?
April 25, 2007
Don Nelson's problem wasn't that he had just provided the
antithesis to ex-Jets coach Herm Edwards' infamous rant that you play to win
the game. Nelson is the NBA's mad scientist. He lives for moments like this. So
Nelson was fooling no one the other day when the TV cameras showed up for his
playoff closeup and that enormous mug of his curled into a smirk when he was
asked what Golden State's Game 1 upset of his old club, the Dallas Mavericks,
means heading into Game 2 tonight in Dallas.
April 23, 2007
Everyone in both dugouts has spent weeks saying this season
will be different from last. But even if the Mets and Braves already believed
it to the bone, there's still nothing like getting some proof firsthand, up
close and personal.
April 23, 2007
Everyone in both dugouts has spent weeks saying this season will be different from last. But even if the Mets and Braves already believed it to the bone, there's still nothing like getting some proof firsthand, up close and personal.
April 19, 2007
He won't concede he is driven now by anything that happened
a year ago, when he was enjoying his breakout NHL season with the Rangers and
leading Sweden to the Olympic gold medal, only to be part of the teamwide fade
in which the Rangers spiraled out of the playoffs in a first-round sweep every
bit as stunning as the one they finished off against the Atlanta Thrashers last
night.
April 18, 2007
The scorers shoot. The forecheckers and blueline guys take their hits and stitches. But by the end of two fiercely played periods Wednesday night, with the score tied and the Garden crowd screaming itself hoarse, everything about this game had funneled down to what it always seems to in the NHL playoffs: Which goaltender was hotter? Which one would be dented first? And all reason, not just precedent, made it feel as if the ice tilted sharply in the Rangers' direction.
April 18, 2007
From the opening faceoff, the Rangers had them
backpedaling. The Thrashers' defenders kept churning their legs and swiveling
their heads around, desperately trying to follow the puck as it flew between
the Rangers' top line of Jaromir Jagr, Marcel Hossa and Michael Nylander. But
again and again, the Thrashers found only air. It was like trying to grab
smoke. Either Jagr was faking someone out of his skates or Nylander was
menacingly walking in on goal or Hossa was wading through defenders on a drive
to the net. And the Thrashers couldn't stop what they couldn't catch.
April 17, 2007
From the opening faceoff, the Rangers had them backpedaling. The Thrashers' defenders kept churning their legs and swiveling their heads around, desperately trying to follow the puck as it flew between the Rangers' top line of Jaromir Jagr, Marcel Hossa and Michael Nylander. But again and again, the Thrashers found only air. It was like trying to grab smoke. Either Jagr was faking someone out of his skates or Nylander was menacingly walking in on goal or Hossa was wading through defenders on a drive to the net. And the Thrashers couldn't stop what they couldn't catch.
April 13, 2007
Carlos Beltran was wearing a neophrene hood that made his
face look as if it was peering out of a small ship's porthole. Julio Franco
came in from batting practice rubbing his hands together and said, "Look.
They're freezing."
April 13, 2007
Carlos Beltran was wearing a neophrene hood that made his face look as if it was peering out of a small ship's porthole. Julio Franco came in from batting practice rubbing his hands together and said, "Look. They're freezing."
April 11, 2007
There was a moment yesterday when I was driving in my car,
listening to ESPN Radio's lead-in to the Rutgers University news conference to
address Don Imus' disparaging remarks about the Scarlet Knights women's
basketball team when sports talk host Max Kellerman said something that made me
drive off the road and stop.
April 10, 2007
There was a moment Tuesday when I was driving in my car, listening to ESPN Radio's lead-in to the Rutgers University news conference to address Don Imus' disparaging remarks about the Scarlet Knights women's basketball team when sports talk host Max Kellerman said something that made me drive off the road and stop.
April 9, 2007
ATLANTA
April 8, 2007
ATLANTA
April 4, 2007
CLEVELAND
April 3, 2007
It was a full day before Tuesday night's NCAA women's basketball final, and Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was joking about the bags under her sleep-deprived eyes. She'd been up all night Sunday studying Tennessee, and everywhere Stringer looked the Lady Vols weren't only big -- 6-3, 6-3 and 6-4 across the front line, she rattled off -- they were also what Stringer colorfully calls "this-and-that players."
April 3, 2007
CLEVELAND
April 2, 2007
CLEVELAND
April 1, 2007
CLEVELAND
March 30, 2007
It wasn't all that long ago that you could count on George
Steinbrenner to surface at a time like this, doing that master of the universe
power walk of his with his jaw stuck out like the prow of some battleship as he
cleaves his way through some stadium corridor, jousting with the reporters
trailing in his wake.
March 29, 2007
It wasn't all that long ago that you could count on George Steinbrenner to surface at a time like this, doing that master of the universe power walk of his with his jaw stuck out like the prow of some battleship as he cleaves his way through some stadium corridor, jousting with the reporters trailing in his wake.
March 28, 2007
Every time Pat Tillman is back in the news -- and often when
he is not -- Dave McGinnis, his former Arizona Cardinals coach, finds himself
replaying memories of his intense safety in his mind.
March 27, 2007
Every time Pat Tillman is back in the news -- and often when he is not -- Dave McGinnis, his former Arizona Cardinals coach, finds himself replaying memories of his intense safety in his mind.
March 26, 2007
As the Islanders turned and skated off the Coliseum ice in
disgust, they didn't want to steal a look at the Rangers' victory scrum.
Michael Nylander, who had just deflected in the winning goal, was laughing and
bobbing happily in place with his arms thrown around forward Brendan Shanahan,
who had just put the puck on net that Nylander directed by Islanders goaltender
Rick DiPietro, off the right post and into the net for a dagger of an overtime
goal. DiPietro lifted his stick as if he wanted to smash it. Then he stopped.
March 26, 2007
As the Islanders turned and skated off the Coliseum ice in disgust, they didn't want to steal a look at the Rangers' victory scrum. Michael Nylander, who had just deflected in the winning goal, was laughing and bobbing happily in place with his arms thrown around forward Brendan Shanahan, who had just put the puck on net that Nylander directed by Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro, off the right post and into the net for a dagger of an overtime goal. DiPietro lifted his stick as if
he wanted to smash it. Then he stopped.
March 23, 2007
The too-easy comparison is to look at where John Thompson
III has lifted the Georgetown Hoyas and call it the second coming of Hoya
Destroya basketball. But bloodlines aside, what's going on at Georgetown now
isn't a knockoff version of the old days. The program he's running is an update
and a twist on the old formula that his father, John Thompson Jr., rode to
three Final Four appearances in four years back in the 1980s.
March 21, 2007
The first thought watching Kay Yow coach in the NCAA
women's basketball tournament last night against Baylor is how in the world has
she been doing this?
March 20, 2007
The first thought watching Kay Yow coach in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Tuesday night against Baylor is how in the world has she been doing this?
March 16, 2007
The points and rebounds and jaw-dropping moments were all
expected when Texas phenom Kevin Durant and Ohio State center Greg Oden, the
two best freshmen in the country, were forced by the NBA's new age-minimum rule
to play at least one year of college basketball. But with both of their teams
embarking on NCAA Tournament play this week, who expected this? Durant, who had
a 3.0 grade-point average in the fall semester, said he isn't a lock to head
to the NBA after this season, just days after Oden told reporters the same
thing.
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