Article published November 11, 2009
Toledo home to world-class sports facilities
Idle thoughts from an idle mind, while wondering if eight wins is a fair over-under for a University of Toledo men's basketball team that features nine freshmen and four sophomores on its roster:
t It struck me while leaving a Walleye game recently that Our Town has as good, if not better, sports facilities than any city of our market size in the nation.
Stop and consider the incredible quality of Lucas County Arena and Fifth Third Field, then add the Glass Bowl and the spectacularly renovated Savage Arena.
Outsiders can hang "minor league" or "mid-major" tags on our teams - and there's no reason to argue that - but our county, city, and university officials have provided us with classy, comfortable, major league-type venues in which to watch them. And, I might mention, we watch them in pretty large numbers.
Dismiss seating capacities for a moment and I would stack ours against just about any collection of sports facilities in any city.
And that, in turn, reminded me of a list of "Best Sports Cities" published about a month ago by Sporting News. That publication compiled and ranked a list of 399 cities - that's the first indication their writers and editors wouldn't have the slightest idea what they were talking about in many cases - and placed Toledo at No. 136.OK, if you consider the number of markets that have major league franchises or big-time college sports teams, you might figure that's right about where we belong.
But you'd be surprised, if not irritated, by some of the cities ahead of Toledo on the list (try Google).
Trust me, we lack serious respect.
All I need to do to make that point is to cite one comparison. Toledo was No. 136. Bowling Green was No. 109. With all due respect to our brethren in Wood County, that's so silly that, like the Sporting News list, it's not worth further discussion.
t Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris has apologized for sucker-punching Arizona's Deuce Lutui while he was on the ground, then made a feeble attempt at justifying it, perhaps, by saying Lutui "did some unnecessary stuff during the game."
Really? The Cardinals guard must have gotten around to it pretty quickly considering Harris was ejected on the fourth play of the game.
t Mamas might want to consider letting their babies grow up to be poker players. Joe Cada, a 21-year-old from suburban Detroit, flipped over a pair of nines on the final all-in of the World Series of Poker's main event, saw the hand stand up, and pocketed $8.55 million.
t Sporting goods manufacturer adidas has cancelled its exclusive contract with Central Florida University because 18-year-old basketball player Marcus Jordan, son of Michael, insisted on wearing his daddy's Nike Air Jordan brand shoes. The contract, which would have been up for renewal next year, paid the school's athletic department some $3 million over six years. Nike will probably ride to the school's rescue, but in the meantime, somebody slap that kid.
t It's possible that Charlie Weis' fate has not yet been sealed at Notre Dame, but a loss this weekend against Pitt, which may be the most overlooked team in the nation at 7-1, could do it.
t Some stat geek somewhere can probably answer this, but it would take some serious research. Do you imagine that in the history of college football any team had lost at home to Temple one week and then won at Notre Dame the next? That was Navy's parley the last two Saturdays.
t Back to Temple, which is 7-2 and 5-0 in MAC play. Could the Owls prove to be Penn State's signature win in 2009? Ouch!
t Matt Millen, the ex-Detroit Lions boss who seemingly appears on just about every channel out there as a college and pro football analyst, was on an NFL Network conference call recently and was asked why there was such a separation between good and bad teams in the NFL.
Lions' fans, at least those who still exist in the post-Millen era, will love his answer.
"You have to have consistency and you have to have a good base," he said.
"If you look at the best teams in [the NFL], that's what they do. They're consistent in their philosophy and their approach and it pays."
t The Detroit Tigers are among many teams expected to make a run at a trade for Toronto ace Roy Halladay. But the asking price will be sky high.
t Memphis got the lead spot in the college football coach firing-hiring parade when it dumped Tommy West on Monday. Hold onto your wallets, Memphis fans, but can hiring Phil Fulmer, the ex-Tennessee coach, be far behind?
t Big-time kudos goes to Kent State officials for agreeing to travel to the College of Wooster last Saturday for an exhibition basketball game.
Ticket sales and a donation from the three referees raised more than $5,000 for a charity fund established in memory of 3-year-old Corey Cline, who was killed in an auto accident last February. His father, Doug Cline, has been an assistant coach at Wooster for 13 seasons, during which time the Division III team compiled a 325-61 record.
Contact Blade sports columnist
Dave Hackenberg at:
dhack@theblade.com
or 419-724-6398
Permanent Link
|
|
 |
|
Search
advertisement
