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Jeff Jacobs

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These 0-2 Rangers Look To Be In Worse Shape Than The Last 0-2 Rangers

These 0-2 Rangers Look To Be In Worse Shape Than The Last 0-2 Rangers

May 19, 2013

— The Rangers have been down two games to none before. Heck, the last time it happened was only two weeks ago.

  • Steady Cano Making Case To Be A Keeper

    May 18, 2013

    Three times Saturday, Robinson Cano flashed a smile as big as Jay-Z's when he sees his wife, Beyonce, after a long day at the office.

  • Chara Looms Large As Bruins Take Game 1

    May 17, 2013

    BOSTON — As each Bruins defenseman goes down, he seems to grow taller and taller.

  • Ex-Whalers GM Emile Francis Remembers Fierce Rangers-Bruins Rivalry

    May 16, 2013

    Before there was a Game 1 between the Rangers and Bruins in 1973 at Boston Garden, there was a Stanley Cup Final Game 1 between the teams there in 1972.

  • Bruins Stunner: 'We Saved The Best For Last'

    May 13, 2013

    Their hockey souls were lost and so was their hockey season. They were gone. They were history.

  • If You Want Rangers-Bruins, Look To Lundqvist

    May 12, 2013

    NEW YORK — They haven't met in the playoffs in 40 years. They haven't meant when it has really mattered since Emile Francis was coach and Glen Sather was one of his Rangers players. They haven't meant since Orr and Espo were in Boston and Don Cherry was still coaching Rochester in the AHL.

  • Wherever There's Joy, There's Asaph Schwapp

    May 12, 2013

    He would be named Asaph. In January of 1987, Evelyn Schwapp found in the Old Testament the name of King David's chief musician, one appointed to raise the sounds of God's joy. She had been a member of the Glory Chapel choir in Hartford and more than anything in the world Evelyn loved to raise those joyful sounds.

  • UConn's New Hockey Coach Says He's Here To Win Championships

    May 9, 2013

    STORRS — Most guys go to Disney World after they've won championships. Mike Cavanaugh was offered the job as architect of UConn's hockey future as he was pulling into the place with his family.

  • New UConn Hockey Coach Has A Big Fan

    May 7, 2013

    When news broke Tuesday that long-time Boston College associate coach Mike Cavanaugh would be the man leading UConn into its hockey future, two names immediately popped into mind:

  • Verrazano: The Bridge Connecting Connecticut To The Derby

    May 2, 2013

    Verrazano, an awesome equine bridge between balance and size, was bred to run. Heading into the 139th Kentucky Derby, that part is undeniable. Bryan Sullivan is another story. He still chuckles when he thinks about that day 16 years ago at Monmouth Park.

  • Celtics Delay Funeral That Knicks Had Planned For Them

    May 1, 2013

    NEW YORK — They showed up Wednesday at Madison Square Garden wearing black. They left wearing some egg on their faces.

  • XL's Bedfellows Bring Puzzling Name Change

    April 30, 2013

    Thoughts and some juicy Connecticut building speculation while we await the American Athletic Conference to announce its move of the annual UConn women's basketball tournament from the XL Center to the Mohegan Sun.

  • Jason Collins Has No Team, But He'll Always Be A Trailblazer

    April 30, 2013

    He is smart. He is a Stanford man.

  • Napier Question Answered; Wolf Question Still Needs To Be

    April 27, 2013

    A day after the Boston Marathon bombings, Shabazz Napier was looking into a WTNH camera and talking eloquently, soulfully about the pain of his hometown. It was then that Napier paused for a moment and said, "I always tell my close friends that the one thing in life you never do is tell your future."

  • Celtics Can't Match Pregame Heroics

    April 26, 2013

    This Friday night began with such emotion, so much genuine emotion, it was a spitting shame to see what the home team had become.

  • By The Numbers, Mets Have A Gem In Harvey

    April 24, 2013

    He isn't the kid from Mystic anymore. He is a New York event. He isn't the fresh-faced Fitch High kid in his T-shirt fishing at Watch Hill, not anymore. His face is on T-shirts nowadays, hawked all around Citi Field, the face of hope for the Mets franchise.

  • Bill Holowaty Must Retire

    April 23, 2013

    In a 1998 feature story that appeared in The Courant, Bill Holowaty said, "I have never done anything to hurt anybody. I'm a competitive SOB, but I'm not vicious."

  • Sports No Salvation For Alleged Bomber

    April 21, 2013

    After a marathon that danced with joy and ended in horror, surely we see what sports can mean to a city. By now, after pregame tributes marked by an anthem singer's fist pumps and the most appropriate f-bomb in New England history, yes, we see how sports can serve as the great stage to unite a region and lift its spirit.

  • For An Exhibition, UConn Football's Blue-White Game Didn't Show Much

    April 21, 2013

    There were only a few thousand fans in the stands.

  • Bombings Hit A Race That Is Peaceful At Its Heart

    April 16, 2013

    Amby Burfoot was a little more than a half mile from the finish line Monday, running happily with childhood friends from Groton, when suddenly a human traffic jam confronted him.

  • For Yale's Jeff Malcolm, One Very Happy Birthday

    April 14, 2013

    Quinnipiac had the Hobey Baker finalist, ECAC player of the year and first-team All-American goalie. Quinnipiac had Eric Hartzell, who coach Rand Pecknold called the best player in the nation, even when this night was done.

  • College Hockey Star Was Born On Backyard Pond

    April 12, 2013

    Eric Hartzell had a 4 1/2-acre pond in his backyard growing up in Minnesota. His dad, Kevin, would wake up on frigid Saturday mornings, look out the window and there was Eric, skating around by himself, not as a goalie, just skating and skating, fiddling with a hockey stick and a puck.

  • Miller Is The Leader Of This Pack

    April 11, 2013

    — He wore a "C" on his Yale jersey, and on this magical Thursday night in Pittsburgh Andrew Miller would wear a "VM" on his head.

  • Playing For Connecticut's Hockey Future

    April 11, 2013

    This is a big day for Yale hockey.

  • UConn's Greatness Arrives Earlier Than Expected

    April 9, 2013

    NEW ORLEANS — We heard greatness was coming, as sure as the distant whistle of an oncoming train. As sure as Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore, we all knew it was coming.

  • Auriemma And Walz? Wiseguys, But Good Fellows

    April 8, 2013

     He didn't want to talk about equaling Tennessee's eight national championships. He didn't want to talk about catching Pat Summitt, or John Wooden and taking that long, forever arm-and-arm walk with history.

  • Behold The Metamorphosis Of Breanna Stewart

    April 7, 2013

    — In a frank and prophetic moment during the NCAA Bridgeport Regional, Geno Auriemma pulled away the curtain on his great freshman's psyche.

  • UConn Women Will Win This One, In First 39 Minutes

    April 7, 2013

    They won't win this one in the last minute. They won't have to.

  • UConn's George Blaney Explains How To Stop Syracuse, Louisville

    April 6, 2013

    Nobody could be more defensive at the 2013 Final Four than Mark Emmert, but Syracuse and Louisville are going to give it a try.

  • The Root Of Yale's Trip To The Frozen Four

    April 4, 2013

    Moments after a handful of Boston College players had finished their NCAA media session last weekend in Providence, they heard a commotion and rushed to watch a replay on a writer's laptop.

  • Connecticut Hoop Coaches Agree: Rutgers' Mike Rice Was Way Out Of Line

    April 4, 2013

    Mike Rice had to be fired. He repeatedly demeaned young men. He abused his position of authority. He not only violated the ideals of coaching, he ran roughshod through the boundaries of common human decency.

  • An Ice Cold Rivalry Hardening In Southern Connecticut

    April 2, 2013

    There may be, as Kevin Bui claims, a number of Quinnipiac guys who know current Yale players. Yet as six of the Bobcats made their way into the media room Tuesday at TD Bank Sports Center, not one of them admitted it.

  • Baylor's Loss To Louisville Is UConn Women's Gain

    April 2, 2013

    On Sunday night, we saw the past and it was Baylor.

  • Quinnipiac's Pecknold Rewarded For Long Drive To Get Peca

    April 1, 2013

    PROVIDENCE — Rand Pecknold isn't exactly sure where he went to get him, but he is sure where Matthew Peca is taking the Quinnipiac hockey team.

  • UConn's Freshmen Rush To Center Stage

    March 31, 2013

    BRIDGEPORT — As Elena Delle Donne jogged off the court and through the tunnel Saturday, strains of "My Old Kentucky Home" filled a sold-out Webster Bank Arena. And while Delle Donne might have had nothing more to do with Kentucky than facing that commonwealth's great public university in her final college game, there was something fitting and appropriate in the wistful melody played by its school's band.

  • Quinnipiac Hockey Out To Earn Some Respect

    March 29, 2013

    Quinnipiac is the No. 1-ranked hockey team in the nation, yet it seems as if none of the experts are picking the Bobcats to win the national championship.

  • Hartford's Rohan Brown Enjoying Run With La Salle In Sweet 16

    March 27, 2013

    The farther the La Salle basketball team has gotten from Philadelphia the louder and livelier the celebrations have gotten on the other end of cellphones, Instagrams and the rest that 21st century social media have to offer.

  • Mosqueda-Lewis Coming To Grips With Greatness

    March 25, 2013

    The last time the UConn women's basketball team failed to get to the Sweet Sixteen was March 1993. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis wasn't born yet.

  • Elena Delle Donne Is Not One For 'What Ifs'

    March 25, 2013

    If she had played at UConn, Elena Delle Donne would have been a rock star, not only in Delaware, but everywhere. If she had stayed at UConn for more than two days, she not only would have had won two national championships, she could have run the table.

  • For Quinnipiac Women, Strong Start, Poor Finish, Valuable Lesson

    March 23, 2013

    Lisa Lebak hit a three. Ellen Cannon hit a three. Cannon stepped back and hit an even longer three with such a high, looping arc that meteorological patterns around our nation's capital surely had to be altered.

  • Bobcats At Their Worst; Bears At Their Best

    March 23, 2013

    One coach said his team hadn't played any better all season. The other said his team hadn't played any worse.

  • In Torrington, Social Media Make Horrific Incident Even Worse

    March 21, 2013

    Don't fool yourself. Steubenville, Ohio, is in all our backyards.

  • LeBron Was Just Too Much For The Celtics

    March 18, 2013

    — With Kevin Garnett out sick, Jeff Green was making the Miami Heat sick. Green drove it down the Heat's throats for 43 points. The Celtics not only went on a 17-0 run in the first half, they led by as many as 17. With the TD Garden reaching near deafening heights, the Celtics led by as many as 13 with only 8:27 remaining.

  • Quinnipiac: Becoming A Giant

    March 17, 2013

    — No matter how many times you make the drive, whether it's the first time or the hundredth, you turn off I-91, travel a few miles west on the connector road. You look up and …

  • The Kid From NYC Comes To Granby, Helps The Little School That Did

    March 17, 2013

    John Buser wanted to make a point to his son, Brett, about a basketball game, and he ended up with one of those intensely personal moments that help carve a young man's future.

  • An Intense Court House: Busy Weekend For Fabbris And Saccas

    March 15, 2013

    Calling from the car late Friday afternoon on her way to Albany, the mom said this weekend is going to be crazy. Ten minutes earlier, her daughter used the same word.

  • Biggest Drop Of Offseason For Pats? Welker

    March 13, 2013

    Robert Kraft said the other day that he loved Wes Welker and hoped he'd remain a Patriot for life — "just like Tom Brady." On Wednesday, we found out the Patriots' love for the best slot receiver in football didn't even extend as far as a two-year contract that would have given Welker $3.5 million less annually than he made last season.

  • An Irish Win, And A Wake Of Sorts

    March 12, 2013

    UConn's final possession may have been the worst in a big moment in the history of the program. Skylar Diggins stole the ball. Notre Dame stole UConn's heart. Again. Again. Again.

  • UConn vs. Notre Dame, One Last Time

    March 11, 2013

    In the greatest rivalry in women's college basketball history, UConn and Tennessee played 22 times in the 12 years between 1995 and 2007.

  • Hartford's Two Basketball Coaches Set The Example

    March 10, 2013

    ALBANY, N.Y. — John Gallagher stood there at halftime Sunday inside SEFCU Arena, warmup pants, sneakers, black Hartford hoodie, sipping a cupful of coffee and two teaspoons of wisdom.

  • Napier Key To UConn's Future Hopes

    March 9, 2013

    As everyone at Gampel Pavilion watched a video tribute to a team that, on paper, had little to play for and instead gave and gave each game as if it had everything in the world to play for, Shabazz Napier began to feel the shiver of emotions.

  • I'm Thinking Of A Number

    March 8, 2013

    We know an awful lot about the numbers. What we don't know about are the numbers.

  • Hoosiers: The Real Story Is Just As Sweet

    March 6, 2013

    The sign on I-74 jumped out of the darkness at a lonely Connecticut traveler Saturday night only hours after UConn had lost in Cincinnati, 40 miles to the southeast.

  • UConn Doesn't Have What It Takes In Big Games

    March 4, 2013

    You say you want a defining stat? OK, we'll give you a big, fat, sweaty, disgusting defining stat. UConn turned the ball over 35 times.

  • UConn Lets It Get Away At The End

    March 2, 2013

    CINCINNATI — This was a UConn team held together by duct tape, bandages and lots and lots of heart. If any UConn fan wants to stop here, wants to chalk up this game without Shabazz Napier as proof positive that these Huskies always play with determination and perspiration, well, you can stop reading after the next sentence.

  • Big East's Breakup Not The End Of The World For UConn

    March 1, 2013

    In my favorite line from one of my favorite movies, "The Shawshank Redemption," Morgan Freeman's character Red goes on about how he has been in prison so long that he didn't think he could ever make it on the outside. Tim Robbins' unforgettable character, Andy Dufresne, thinks for a second, stares at his buddy, and says to Red:

  • Daniels Does It All, But UConn Falls Short

    February 28, 2013

    STORRS — It was a night, a crazy, nutty, heart-pounding night, when we found out again how good Otto Porter Jr. is.

  • Bobby V: New Frontier For A Well-Traveled Pioneer

    February 26, 2013

    FAIRFIELD — We know why Bobby Valentine is here. This is one more step on his path to spiritual enlightenment, a path that includes doing everything, everywhere in one lifetime, culminating one day with Bobby V's repainting Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and becoming The Most Interesting Man in the World in Dos Equis commercials.

  • Squash World Spinning On Its Axis Again As Trinity Reclaims The Title

    February 24, 2013

    — A lifetime of competitive emotion can be squeezed into that claustrophobic, glass-encased rectangle. And for Johan Detter of Trinity, so much of that thrill and agony has been found on squash court No. 3 — Shen Court — on the fourth floor of Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

  • Quinnipiac Hockey's Jordan Samuels-Thomas Owes It All To 'The Mighty Ducks'

    February 23, 2013

    Jordan Samuels-Thomas had to leave home to find out how much he missed home. And if that sounds like something out of a Disney movie, well, that's probably a good a place to start.

  • Coach Faris' Daughter

    February 22, 2013

    It would make for a delicious metaphor to assert that Kelly Faris plays as if there is no scorebook.

  • Napier's The Joyful King Of Overtime

    February 21, 2013

    There is a certain, unmistakable joy that Shabazz Napier has brought to this UConn basketball season. During what could have been a dour year when the Huskies play for nothing more tangible than a strong regular season record, Napier has played as if his life depended on each January and February outcome.

  • UConn's Downfall Was Giving Baylor A Second Chance

    February 19, 2013

    HARTFORD — He warned us that this was never about Stefanie Dolson trying to beat Brittney Griner. He warned us that this was always about UConn beating Baylor, about the help Dolson would have to get from her teammates.

  • Baylor's Kim Mulkey Guilty Of Underplaying This One

    February 18, 2013

    Yes, this game is an important measuring stick. No, it is not the national championship. Yes, this game is wonderful showcase for women's college basketball. No, it is not the national championship.

  • Napier And Boatright Struggle In Loss To Villanova

    February 16, 2013

    Something good was going to happen for those two UConn guards. The 15,165 fans knew it. Shabazz Napier knew it. Heck, Jay Wright knew it.

  • UConn Carving Out A Memorable Season

    February 13, 2013

    To get too wrapped up in the lost rivalries is to miss what is in front us now.

  • UConn's Kevin Ollie Faces Landmark Decision In Enosch Wolf Case

    February 13, 2013

    On the September day he was introduced as the UConn basketball coach, a day he carried in a most impressive and emotional way, Kevin Ollie needed to fight back tears when his attention turned to his daughter Cheyenne.

  • Unstoppable Team, But Conference Realignment Is Worse Than Any Storm

    February 10, 2013

    — If only it were as easy as one team bus getting stuck in the snow Saturday night. If only it were as easy as some of the boys vainly trying to push the bus free. If only it were as easy as getting a second bus and a long five-hour, 15-minute ride.

  • Flacco's Branford-Based Agent Joins Post-Super Bowl Whirlwind

    February 10, 2013

    "Hang on one second," Joe Linta says suddenly over the phone the other night from his Branford home.

  • Bruce Marshall At Peace With Decision To Step Away From UConn Hockey

    February 8, 2013

    For years, Bruce Marshall dreamed of his players' receiving athletic scholarships. For years, he dreamed of UConn's upgrading its hockey program and joining the elite schools in his sport.

  • A Good First Step In Improving The XL Center

    February 7, 2013

    Global Spectrum won control of the XL Center for the next decade and Rentschler Field for the next seven years because of a superior capital investment structure.

  • Tommy Myers: A Purebred Husky

    February 6, 2013

    — It was summer camp 1982 and Norm Myers was walking back from the old UConn football facilities to McMahon Residence Hall. Peggy Walsh, who still holds the UConn women's basketball record for most rebounds in a game, was moving in for her freshman year.

  • Secrecy On XL Center, Rentschler Plans Isn't Helping Matters

    February 3, 2013

    — The lack of substantive public debate on the future of two of the state's most public structures worries me. In fact, it bothers the hell out of me.

  • Down Early, Quinnipiac Hockey Gets Up Big Time For 6-2 Win Over Yale

    February 2, 2013

    Yale scored one on the power play. Yale scored another one on the power play.

  • News And Views From Half-Baked Jake, Super Bowl Edition

    February 1, 2013

    This is Half-Baked Jake, Super Bowl edition. Warning: Numerals subject to appear in their Roman form.

  • For A Team With Heart, Postseason Ban Weighs Heavy

    January 31, 2013

    — You watch a team so badly outrebounded. You watch a team destroyed on the offensive boards. You watch big man after big man head to the bench with five fouls. You see that team outscored by 13 points on the free throw line.

  • What Should UConn Do? Sit Tight

    January 29, 2013

    If conference realignment has taught us anything, it's this. Believe nothing you hear, half of what you read and even after the news conference, hold your breath. More change is coming.

  • It's Too Soon To Heal The Ray Allen Hatred

    January 28, 2013

    Ray Boucher of Fitchburg, Mass., was leaning against one of the posts inside North Station late Sunday morning when he looked up from his cellphone.

  • College Hockey's Hottest Goalie Also A Hot Prospect

    January 27, 2013

    He has kept his net cleaner than anyone in college hockey. Yet when it comes to filling the net, Eric Hartzell admits he is no match for his mom.

  • Time For NCAA To Start From Scratch, Chart A New Course

    January 26, 2013

    This isn't about the good guys and the bad guys anymore. There always will be good guys and bad guys.

  • Geno Auriemma Calls Kelly Faris' Effort 'Game For The Ages'

    January 21, 2013

    — Geno Auriemma, a Hall of Fame coach who has seen it all, done it all over nearly three decades in Storrs, knew when he had witnessed something special.

  • Ravens Crush Patriots' Second Half Miracle

    January 21, 2013

    — He had never lost a game when leading at halftime at home. Tom Brady was 67-0 in such situations with the Patriots and, really, there was little reason to believe the quarterback who has won more playoff games than any in NFL history wasn't going to be 68-0.

  • Napier Gives It A Go, But Pitt Is Able To Stop Him

    January 19, 2013

    This was not the cheerleader Kevin Ollie of his first few months on the job. This was not the Ollie of Ollie-isms. There was no talk of stairs and escalators on this day. There was no talk about a time to seed and a time to harvest.

  • Ray Lewis Has Grown, But Never Escaped His Past

    January 18, 2013

    There is the suit we see, and the suit we do not see. It has been that way for 13 long years now. And with Ray Lewis' retirement party scheduled for Sunday in Foxborough, it figures to remain that way forever.

  • Manti Te'o Story A Hoax, Not A Tragedy

    January 18, 2013

    Let's back up a moment to early October and a piece Gene Wojciechowski did for ESPN's "College GameDay." To this moment, it remains one of the most powerful voices in spreading the gospel of Manti Te'o's strength and love and virtue.

  • Jeff Jacobs: No Sympathy For Lance's Tour de Fraud

    January 16, 2013

    Nobody on Earth could tell Lance Armstrong's story better than Lance Armstrong. Nobody on earth is less morally and ethically qualified to tell it than he is.

  • Siva's Foul Mood Didn't Last Too Long

    January 15, 2013

    Peyton Siva doesn't particularly like Louisville's latest national ranking. The Cardinals' senior point guard doesn't like the view from on top, doesn't like looking down at the rest of college basketball, not in January anyway.

  • The Winning Team: As Always, It's Brady-Welker

    January 14, 2013

    — J.J. Watt may have spit on the Patriots' midfield logo before this AFC divisional playoff game, but it is Wes Welker who continues, game after game, year after year, to spit in the face of football convention.

  • Ollie, After Win Over Irish, Talks About Reaping What Is Sown With Olander

    January 13, 2013

    Flush with a most fruitful victory over a ranked team on the road, Kevin Ollie, that noted farmer out of South Central Los Angeles, was talking about reaping what is sown.

  • Jeff Jacobs: Reign Delay - Nobody Gets In Hall This Year, And That's Good

    January 9, 2013

    In the 144-year narrative of our national pastime, five men have hit 60 home runs in one season. Henry Aaron never did it. Willie Mays never did it. One did it three times.

  • Boatright Going At The Season In High Gear

    January 9, 2013

    There was a Boat Show, but he swears that on the play of the night there was no showboat.

  • Soccer Stars Give Newtown Kids Something To Smile About

    January 8, 2013

    This was Chris Canetti's idea. This is Marcus Tracy's hometown.

  • From The Orphanage To Punt, Pass & Kick Finals

    January 7, 2013

    — A year ago, he was still sitting in an orphanage in Addis Ababa, one of five million Ethiopian orphans and vulnerable children. To be honest, sitting is probably the wrong word. For as the one-line description of Matiwos in his adoption portfolio read, "Lives to play, not to sit."

  • Notre Dame Shows Its Tough Side, And UConn Doesn't

    January 6, 2013

    STORRS — If Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis hadn't missed the wide-open three with six seconds left, we're not having this conversation.

  • Despite Famous Dad, UHart's Nate Sikma Is His Own Man

    January 4, 2013

    — Nate Sikma does impersonations.

  • At Casino, Sun Betting On Anne Donovan

    January 3, 2013

    There is a small yet uncomfortable — even agonizing — difference between winning big and winning it all. On Thursday, a day when she was named the coach of the Connecticut Sun, Anne Donovan insisted she's comfortable squeezing all 6 feet 8 of her frame into that tight space.

  • Foul Poll: Coaches, Experts On Both Sides Of Issue After UConn Loss

    January 3, 2013

    The officials blew it at the start of overtime. They met and discussed it. They still got it wrong. Afterward, they admitted it. No argument.

  • 2012: A Year For Skepticism In Sports

    January 1, 2013

    With varying degrees of failure over a decade and a half, I have used my Half-baked Jake, ellipsis-pocked humor for my year-in-review, year-in-preview column. For example …

  • Dolson Sets The Tone For Powerful Win

    December 29, 2012

    PALO ALTO, Calif. — The beauty of the Stanford women's offense is rhythm and preparation. When it works it looks as in sync as the San Antonio Spurs and the Radio City Rockettes. On those days, the Cardinal could be sponsored by Arthur Murray Dance Studios.

  • Stanford vs. UConn Gets Short Shrift From ESPN Networks

    December 28, 2012

    PALO ALTO, Calif. — Is it a slap to the face of women's college basketball that the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown between Stanford and UConn ended up being relegated to ESPNU?

  • Watch Ogwumike's Right Hand And Watch For Bruises

    December 28, 2012

    Watch the right hand of Chiney Ogwumike.

  • Northwest Catholic's Mike Golic Jr. Riding Success At Notre Dame

    December 27, 2012

    Mike Golic Jr. has been growing the beard since training camp in August. It has gotten long. It has gotten bushy. You could hide the Notre Dame leprechaun in there. Heck, you could almost hide Golic's old man.

  • Newtown Coach's Whiteboard's Moment Of Fame Captures A Nation's Grief

    December 24, 2012

    NEWTOWN — Steve George had used that whiteboard to diagram his plays. He had used it to draw X's and O's to score on Oxford. He had used it to draws X's and O's to defend against Masuk.

  • Jen Rizzotti Keeps Her Options Open, Shuts Doors When She Wants To

    December 22, 2012

    Jen Rizzotti had just finished talking to reporters about Hartford's extraordinary pregame ceremony, about the Newtown massacre and was still dabbing tears from her eyes when she sat down at Chase Family Arena.

  • Kevin Ollie's New Year Might Very Well Start With A New Deal

    December 21, 2012

    When UConn began a national search for a new athletic director last January, President Susan Herbst used two words when asked what qualities she was looking for in that person.

  • UConn Is Down, But Jim And Geno Still Fighting

    December 20, 2012

    The UConn women had routed Oakland by 72 points Wednesday night, and now here was Geno Auriemma talking about how he had planned to teach at the school's international branch campus in Florence, Italy, this spring.

  • Athletes Who Use Guns Must Use Their Influence In Wake Of Newtown Massacre

    December 17, 2012

    Some of the best hunters and anglers in the world are to be found on the rosters of American professional sports teams. Some of the best hunters and anglers in the world are to be found enshrined in Cooperstown, Canton and Springfield. They are respected as both sportsmen and sportsmen.

  • Let's Have Hugs, Prayers And No More Need For Tributes

    December 16, 2012

    John Prior saw the news flash across CNBC on Friday and it staggered him.

  • Hey, Cooperstown! Here's One Hall Of An Explanation Of My Ballot

    December 15, 2012

    First, my 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame vote:

  • No Sympathy For Big East

    December 13, 2012

    If the Big East football schools had shown a modicum of foresight over the years, if they had demonstrated any sense of committed leadership and the backbone to follow their own collective dream, we wouldn't be writing this in December 2012. But we are, and here it is:

  • Patriots Turn Texans From Contenders To Pretenders

    December 11, 2012

    We probably should have guessed the Houston Texans were in trouble when Andre Johnson called the game the biggest in the history of his franchise. We definitely should have guessed the Texans were in trouble when they decided to wear matching letter jackets for the road trip to New England.

  • Arnold Dean: A Kinder, Gentler Era Of Sports Talk

    December 10, 2012

    Arnold Dean never called himself the "Dean of Sports." It was radio hucksterism, it was presumptuous, and he knew it. If the three-word brainchild of a station producer was to be his legacy, well, it would be an orphan from his lips.

  • Hand-Madison Deserves No. 1 Ranking

    December 9, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — They are the first team in Connecticut history to win the state title twice in one season. And if they aren't, man, nobody has ever proved their worth more definitively, more vividly, over the course of a season than the Hand-Madison Tigers.

  • Half-Baked Jake Rocks The Vote, Hall And Heisman

    December 7, 2012

    Half-baked Jake is back in all his half-bakedness …

  • Weight Can Be A Touchy Subject For Female Athletes

    December 7, 2012

    On my first day as sports columnist for The Courant, after 15 years covering the NHL, I approached one of the most admired women's basketball players in the world. I had a question.

  • Herbst Battles To Get UConn Into Big East Tournament

    December 4, 2012

    NEW YORK — Susan Herbst says she isn't giving up.

  • NFA Flies From Under The Radar

    December 4, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — He has a junior running back who is being recruited by many of the Top 10 colleges in the nation. He has a team that until recently wasn't even ranked among the Top 10 in the state.

  • Feeling The Crushing Pain Of 'A Cruel Game'

    December 3, 2012

    For five minutes, maybe even 10, they were scattered across the field at Morrone Stadium.

  • Season Ends In Disappointing Fashion

    December 2, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — The day started with renewed hope and the temporary traction gained by the first victory ever against a Top 25 team on the road.

  • UConn, And Its Supporters, Must Make The Program Bigger

    November 30, 2012

    If you ever have been on the Duke campus, you have appreciated the dramatic illustration of Gothic architecture known as the Crowell Quad Clock Tower. Well, forget it, Connecticut.

  • The Difference? It All Comes Down To Football

    November 28, 2012

    They had the television market, the province of 21st century greed, and they had the academics, the province of 19th century purity. Those in power at Connecticut's flagship university were hopeful that they would help carry the day for admission into the ACC.

  • Rooting For Johnny McEntee

    November 27, 2012

    — He walked in as a walk-on, he'll walk out as a walk-on. Johnny McEntee started 12 games at quarterback for the UConn football team. He finished the only road victory over a Top 25 opponent in program history.

  • Giants Answer Critics With Rout Of Packers

    November 25, 2012

    — As the days and hours of the Giants bye week lingered, the pressing question became one of comparative fatigue. What was more tired? Eli Manning's throwing arm? Or the Giants' performance every November?

  • UConn's Defense Carries The Day Against Louisville

    November 24, 2012

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After this game was over, after Teddy Bridgewater's wrist was fractured and he could barely walk, after UConn had enjoyed one of the finest football victories in program history, sackmaster Trevardo Williams made an observation that spoke to both his unit's resilience and its joy.

  • Donn Cabral — Our Guy In The Manchester Road Race

    November 22, 2012

    — Thousands of bystanders stood there curbside, yelling and holding up signs and cups of ale and playing electric guitars. In other words, they were doing what they do every Thanksgiving at the Manchester Road Race.

  • Every Tweet Sets Off Rumors About Conference Expansion

    November 21, 2012

    On Monday, Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News tweeted, "Realignment source: UConn to ACC could happen as soon as Tuesday."

  • Thibault Did Almost Everything For Sun

    November 20, 2012

    He didn't do what Van Chancellor did four times. He didn't do what Bill Laimbeer did three times, Michael Cooper did twice or seven others did once.

  • In Storrs, Waiting By The Phone For The ACC

    November 18, 2012

    The sun rose high over eastern Connecticut on Sunday. Storrs had a different look to it. Storrs had a different feel to it.

  • Connecticut Kids Living Their UConn Soccer Dream

    November 17, 2012

    Their families and coaches brought them to Storrs when they were 9, 10, 11 years old. Long before they grew their first whiskers, Max Wasserman, Colin Bradley, Sean Weir — Connecticut's kids — wanted to play soccer at UConn for the coach with all the whiskers.

  • Trying To Figure Out Who Will Manage XL Center

    November 16, 2012

    As a sports story, this isn't as sexy as Howard Baldwin's loud, failed notion that if you give him a remodeled XL Center, he'll bring you the NHL. Nor is it nearly as blah as management behemoths bidding against each other for the right to turn the lights on and off at the state's largest sporting arena.

  • Let's Dial Down The Ugly MVP Discussions

    November 16, 2012

    Miguel Cabrera led the American League in batting average. Mike Trout was second. Advantage, Miggy.

  • R.J. Evans Steady As A Rock Of Ages

    November 13, 2012

    Do his teammates tease R.J. Evans about his age?

  • Before Ollie Gets Extension, Let's See Him Extend Winning Ways

    November 13, 2012

    — If there is a cautionary tale in this early basketball season, surely it is to be found in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. UConn didn't have one vote in the preseason balloting among the national media.

  • Bills' Easley Continues To Show Amazing Patience

    November 12, 2012

    — Marcus Easley stepped out of the shower in the cramped visitors' dressing room late Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. He maneuvered past Steve Johnson, squeezed around reporters interviewing Donald Jones, stepped over his equipment bag and, finally, the former UConn star found his locker.

  • A Battle Of Wits As Quinnipiac Beats Hartford, 65-61

    November 11, 2012

    Tom Moore was talking about marbles. A hyperkinetic basketball coach talking marbles? You've got to think he was talking about losing them, right?

  • Keep Feeding The Bear, UConn

    November 10, 2012

    It doesn't matter if Pittsburgh had its heart broken in a three-overtime loss last weekend at Notre Dame. It doesn't matter if initially it looked as if the Panthers forgot to pack their hearts for the flight to Connecticut.

  • Big Start For Ollie; Big Finish For Pasqualoni?

    November 9, 2012

    This weekend is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning for UConn.

  • Every Move She Makes Is Worth Watching

    November 8, 2012

    We're paraphrasing Sting and the Police here, not the sting of the UConn campus police. Still, it is scant exaggeration to say that every breath the UConn women take, every move they make, every step they take, we'll be watching them.

  • NYC Marathon Would Do Well Without CEO Mary Wittenberg

    November 4, 2012

    I cry at marathons.

  • A Depressing Loss To The Usually Hapless Bulls

    November 4, 2012

    Two years ago, with Dave Teggart holding his hands aloft in the grandest of poses, this had been the scene of the greatest moment in the history of UConn football.

  • Central's Vinales Works Hard Every Day To Get Better

    November 2, 2012

    Out of nowhere Thursday at the Connecticut 6 Tip-Off Breakfast, Howie Dickenman dropped the Walter Ray bomb.

  • Kevin Ollie Takes The Steps, Not The Escalator

    November 1, 2012

    STORRS — The words arrived 11 minutes into Kevin Ollie's introductory speech and they have carried so much impact since the day he was named UConn basketball coach that even his captain is taking them literally.

  • In Battle Of Unbeatens, Numbers Go Bantams' Way

    October 28, 2012

    The numbers were impressive, even a little scary. Middlebury led the NESCAC with 479 yards offense per game. Middlebury led the NESCAC with an average of 35 points. Middlebury led the NESCAC by a mile with 384 yards passing. And …

  • Hundreds Simply Hoping To Help Save A Life

    October 27, 2012

    They showed up Tuesday at the Eastern Connecticut Sports Center. There were a hundred of them, students and student-athletes, and they wanted to help one of their own.

  • Raising Rates (Men) And Lowering Rims (Women)

    October 27, 2012

    Don't lower the rim of expectations.

  • DeLeone On Defense About His Offense

    October 25, 2012

    For 26 minutes and 10 seconds Thursday, I worked over George DeLeone pretty good. Pressed him on why his line hasn't blocked and his team can't run. Asked him straight out if the dual job of UConn offensive coordinator and line coach is too much for him.

  • Red Sox Go With Safe Choice In Farrell

    October 23, 2012

    I wonder. Will the Red Sox ultimately be remembered for hiring the wrong manager from Connecticut?

  • McCourty Doesn't Fumble Gratitude For Teammates

    October 21, 2012

    — We figured that Devin McCourty owed some of his teammates dinner. A nice cut of prime rib for Mr. Prime Time Tom Brady maybe, for impeccable efficiency in answering his critics on that last-minute drive in regulation. A big Maine lobster, surely, for Steve Gostkowski for nailing a 43-yard field goal to send the game into overtime and then a 48-yarder to win it.

  • Yankees Need To Get Younger, Better

    October 21, 2012

    Curt Schilling was saying the other day on ESPN that he has seen thousands of players sign baseballs with their telephone number and toss them to pretty women in the stands.

  • After Loss To Syracuse, UConn's Offense Getting More Offensive

    October 20, 2012

    This one was worse than any bar stool argument over play-calling. This one was worse even than the offensive line's inability to block anyone with a pulse.

  • For Now, UConn-Bound Walsh And Hand-Madison Sitting On Top Of The World

    October 18, 2012

    MADISON — He scored five touchdowns last week in the most-anticipated Connecticut high school football game in years. His Hand-Madison Tigers beat the No. 1 team in the state hands down in the second half, ending Xavier-Middletown's 30-game winning streak.

  • Kevin Ollie Receives Highest Of Praise From Rick Pitino

    October 17, 2012

    If Kevin Ollie is looking for the highest endorsement possible, he needn't stop at Jim Calhoun. He can find it with one of Calhoun's natural-born adversaries.

  • Geno Auriemma Talks About Expectations For New Basketball Season

    October 16, 2012

    STORRS — Geno Auriemma's media sessions, especially the ones near the start and end of each basketball season, are an Italian meal. The tasty stuff just keeps coming and the meal lasts forever.

  • Bad Calls Only Go So Far To Explain Yankees' Malaise

    October 14, 2012

    — Early Sunday, Derek Jeter broke his ankle near second base and he screamed in pain. Later Sunday, umpire Jeff Nelson broke open the game with a botched call at that base and New York screamed in disgust.

  • UConn Kicker Has Bad Day, But Stands Tall In Defeat

    October 13, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — He had worn pink socks pulled up almost to his knees during this afternoon. And now those pink socks, reminders of the fight against breast cancer, seemed pale next to Chad Christen's cheeks.

  • CC Sabathia Proves He's The Yankees' Ace

    October 12, 2012

    CC Sabathia stands nearly as tall and probably twice as wide as the Yankee Stadium right-field foul pole that Nate McLouth did or did not hit in the sixth inning of this early October night.

  • Sun Stink Out Casino In Season-Ending Loss To Fever

    October 11, 2012

    This was not the supposed to be the story line. This was not supposed to be the story line at all.

  • Masterful Move By Girardi The Genius

    October 10, 2012

    At 10:25 p.m. Wednesday, Joe Girardi became a genius. Either that, or like millions of other Yankee fans, he finally had seen enough of Alex Rodriguez. Maybe the bigger truth is Joe Girardi just couldn't take it anymore.

  • Who's Sorry Now? McCombs Apologizes; Pasqualoni Meanders On

    October 9, 2012

    STORRS — Steve Addazio was talking the other day about how he, Paul Pasqualoni and a cadre of young coaches at Western Connecticut used to work deep, deep into summer and autumn nights in the '80s.

  • Great QBs, But Pats' Running Game Is Real Story

    October 8, 2012

    The comparisons not only are inevitable, they seem absolutely necessary. You cannot put Tom Brady in one uniform and Peyton Manning in the other on a given Sunday without drawing contrasts, without arguing who is greater and why.

  • More Trouble For Lyle McCombs

    October 7, 2012

    PISCATAWAY, N.J. — At one end of HighPoint Solutions Stadium, behind an end zone UConn could only dream of reaching on this frustrating Saturday, are printed the words, "Birthplace Of College Football." And since that November day in 1869 when Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4, one matter always has rung true.

  • Catchings Contained, And Big Night For White

    October 5, 2012

    Seventy-five seconds into the WNBA Eastern Conference finals, Tamika Catchings was going to score 75 points, grab 75 rebounds and block 75 shots.

  • Bobby V.: You Knew From The Start It Would End Badly

    October 4, 2012

    Many great ideas have sprung from our town since Adriaen Block arrived on the Connecticut River in 1614. Larry Lucchino's idea to bring Ben Cherington along to meet Bobby Valentine at the Hartford Club last Nov. 3 wasn't one of them.

  • Two Teams — One Held It Together And One Simply Broke Apart

    October 3, 2012

    NEW YORK -- Bobby Valentine was making his last weekly radio appearance of the 2012 baseball season on ESPN New York when Michael Kay asked him if he believed Wednesday also would be his last game as manager of the Red Sox.

  • Wrecking Ball: Huskies From Jersey Want To Destroy Rutgers

    October 2, 2012

    STORRS — Dwayne Gratz grew up in Piscataway, five minutes from Rutgers' football stadium. He needed five seconds to bare his feelings Tuesday about his state university.

  • Sox Fans Just Praying This Season Will End

    October 1, 2012

    Bobby Valentine has a better guess where he'll be Thursday than the Yankees do.

  • A Win, But Not Much Excitement

    September 30, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — Ho.

  • Goaltender Andre Blake Has No. 2 UConn Off To Fast Start

    September 29, 2012

    The numbers are as wild as the hair. And, make no mistake, the numbers are pretty wild.

  • Marlins Give Adam Greenberg Of Guilford A Chance

    September 28, 2012

    Adam Greenberg found out late on Sunday. That's when Marlins general manager David Samson offered him the chance to play against the Mets Tuesday in Miami. That's when Greenberg knew he would get the one official at-bat that had eluded him since he was struck down by the first major league pitch he faced. Hit in the head that hot July night in 2005, this pitch from Samson would hit the kid from Guilford in the heart.

  • Some Real Heroes Visit The UConn Football Team

    September 26, 2012

    Some messages are about resilience. Some are about teamwork. And then there are messages a man like Mike Zacchea can deliver.

  • Goodell's NFL Vision Fades, And The Replacement Refs Are Lost

    September 25, 2012

    The situation with the scab officials has grown so bad, so profoundly ugly, that Roger Goodell has resorted to a charade as his No. 1 strategy. His league, once the best sports league anywhere, has become a laughingstock and Tuesday the NFL commissioner demonstrated he is willing to add to the farce.

  • No-Win Situation, So UConn Didn't

    September 23, 2012

    KALAMAZOO, Mich. — This was a game of mistakes, starting with scheduling the game in the first place. This was one of those no-win games, and UConn went ahead and accepted permission not to win.

  • Asjha Jones' Health Important For Sun To Make Playoff Run

    September 21, 2012

    UNCASVILLE — Their Achilles' heel could be the Achilles' heel. Or it could be a collective lack of past playoff success.

  • Jeff Jacobs: UConn Needs To Look Beyond East Hartford

    September 21, 2012

    UConn football could use the Green Monster. UConn football could really use the green monster.

  • No Longer Coach, Jim Calhoun Will Still Be Paid Nicely At UConn

    September 19, 2012

    Jim Calhoun isn't going to stomp the sidelines at any more UConn games, but he will continue to be paid as if he were among the highest-paid basketball coaches in the nation. In fact, he will earn more not to coach the Huskies this season than he did to coach them last season.

  • In A Month Of Wild Assumptions, Girardi's Feeling Good About Yankees

    September 16, 2012

    — Joe Girardi sat there Sunday at Yankee Stadium, rubbing his head, considering Eduardo Nunez, considering Derek Jeter, considering Rafael Soriano's 40 saves after Mariano Rivera was lost. And then the Yankees manager, who doesn't smile enough, broke into a smile.

  • Dealing With Ex In Sickness And In Health

    September 16, 2012

    Maybe there was no escaping the imposing vision of Randy Edsall, 20 feet tall on the two giant video boards at Capital One Field. Maybe there was no escaping Edsall's voice booming as Paul Pasqualoni tried to speak over the former UConn football coach during their postgame interviews.

  • Calhoun: Guts And Glory

    September 14, 2012

    STORRS — The reality of 40 cold New England winters are behind him. We begin with the Jim Calhoun legend now, and when legend becomes fact, they say, print the legend.

  • Calhoun's A Legend; Get A Legend To Replace Him

    September 12, 2012

    We knew the toughest man in the room, the most competitive man in the gym, the greatest college basketball coach in New England history would battle until the end. We knew he'd go the full 15 rounds.

  • Randy Edsall, 'The Deserter,' His Usual Rehearsed Self

    September 12, 2012

    Randy Edsall had his one-liner as ready as that inside handoff on first down that used to go for 2 yards and a cloud of vanilla.

  • Jets' Shocker Involves Tim Tebow, Of Course

    September 10, 2012

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — You knew a Jets quarterback was going to get booed in the season opener. You just knew it. But who could have guessed it would be Tim Tebow when the home team was ahead by two touchdowns in the first half?

  • Any Good Lines Lately?

    September 9, 2012

    EAST HARTFORD — It starts with the offensive line. And it starts with a good line.

  • Saturday Might Cap Off The Summer Of Serena

    September 7, 2012

    NEW YORK — Obviously, it was some of the loudest tennis ever played. There was more sustained shrieking than at a Justin Bieber concert. Yet in enduring the late summer heat, humidity and a swirling wind, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova also gave New York the sort of gritty and competitive match that would do both of them proud.

  • Big Job For UConn Coaches? Get Nick Williams The Ball

    September 6, 2012

    — It was during a special teams meeting last September that George DeLeone emphasized a point many UConn football fans already had made since the days of Randy Edsall.

  • It's Back Down To Earth For Giants

    September 5, 2012

    Tom Coughlin wants to "Build The Bridge." That was his calling card in the preseason. That has been his clarion call for the 2012 Giants season.

  • A Heel And A Cheat

    September 5, 2012

    As a consolation prize, maybe UConn can play in a make-pretend national basketball tournament for players who attend make-pretend classes and earn make-pretend grades.

  • McIlroy Takes Another Bite Of Fame

    September 4, 2012

    The ball hung on the right lip of the cup. It refused to drop. Absolutely refused to fall.

  • Yankees Refuse To Panic As Orioles Stay Close

    September 2, 2012

    Curtis Granderson and his team-leading 34 home runs left in the second inning for New York Presbyterian Hospital. Tight hamstring was the word.

  • Welcome To The Next Level UMass

    August 31, 2012

    I don't think we're in the Yankee Conference anymore, UMass.

  • I Think, Therefore I Scam

    August 29, 2012

    This is a philosophical debate on Lance Armstrong. We'll be getting into Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, David Hume …

  • Dawson Fighting Ward, And Perceptions

    August 28, 2012

    He agreed to drop to Andre Ward's weight class.

  • UConn QB Chandler Whitmer Seeing A Childhood Dream Come True

    August 26, 2012

    — It turns out his first spoken word wasn't "mama" or "dada." So when Chandler Whitmer was asked Sunday about when he first dreamed of becoming a Division I starting quarterback, his explanation wasn't entirely surprising.

  • After Blockbuster Trade, Time For Patience

    August 25, 2012

    Can you handle it, Red Sox fans?

  • Wozniacki Retires From Semifinal Match Without Showing Much Pain

    August 24, 2012

    NEW HAVEN — The only discernible wince of pain on this Friday would be on the face of tournament director Anne Worcester. She was disappointed. Understanding, but disappointed. And who in Worcester's position wouldn't be?

  • New Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco Proud Of Connecticut Roots

    August 23, 2012

    Mike Aresco's sister Joanne thought he might be a sports writer.

  • Roger Clemens: An Annoying Skeeter

    August 22, 2012

    There are three places I have no interest in seeing a 50-year-old Roger Clemens: Cooperstown, N.Y.; on a pitcher's mound; or in front of a microphone … unless he finally has decided to hold a press conference to apologize for being a juicer.

  • Fame Can Be Fleeting In World Of Gymnastics

    August 21, 2012

    At the invitation of Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, Chuck Steedman joined the whirlwind media tour by the "Fierce Five" last week in New York. Fresh off a flight from London, America's gold-medal darlings did the "Today" show. They lit the Empire State Building red, white and blue and had their photos taken on the 103rd floor parapet.

  • Equality? Yes. Five Sets For Women? No

    August 20, 2012

    NEW HAVEN — Petra Kvitova recoiled at the question. Should women play five sets in the tennis majors like the men?

  • Lester Wins, Helped To A Degree By Yalies

    August 18, 2012

    In a season when the greatest rivalry in sports has been the Red Sox vs. themselves, let this stand as more than a left-handed compliment:

  • Valentine Fiddles While Fenway Burns

    August 17, 2012

    NEW YORK — Bobby Valentine said he doesn't read it and he doesn't listen to it.

  • Give Howard Baldwin Credit For Trying, But The NHL Dream Is Dead — For Now

    August 6, 2012

    Major league dreams, it turns out, came with minor-league bills Howard Baldwin could not pay. And 2 1/2 years after Baldwin stuck his hockey banner back into downtown Hartford's soil, we can safely say the NHL isn't walking through his door.

  • This Seals It: Calhoun Will Be Back

    August 5, 2012

    The way I figure it, the scalpel used on Jim Calhoun's fractured hip during surgery Saturday night may as well be used to engrave in stone that he'll 100 percent, for sure, take-it-to-the-bank return for his 27th year asUConn men's basketballcoach.

  • Big East Conference Needs To Find Some Stability

    August 1, 2012

    You look at the schools that will play football in the Big East beginning in 2013. You look at the final Associated Press poll from last season.

  • Red Sox Awash In Disconnects

    July 29, 2012

    Carl Crawford says he needs Tommy John surgery.

  • There Was Nobody Faster In 1952 Than Hartford's Lindy Remigino

    July 28, 2012

    Holding two Olympic gold medals in his 81-year-old hands, Lindy Remigino breaks into laughter. The medals show their age. The stories do not. The stories never grow old.

  • Ichiro, Meet The Bleacher Creatures

    July 28, 2012

    Ichiro didn't get it the first time. After he had been traded by the Mariners earlier in the week, visiting Yankee fans at Safeco Field began their familiar Roll Call.

  • Jeff Jacobs: In Nailing Penn State, Did NCAA Open Pandora's Box?

    July 24, 2012

    NCAA justice was swift for Penn State, conveniently swift, unprecedented and not all together blind to public relations. There also could be no misunderstanding the severity of the punishment.

  • Walter Harrison Cites Fairness In Defending NCAA's APR Reporting Process

    July 18, 2012

    This will not be another exercise in tearing down the NCAA or UConn. This will stand as Walter Harrison's rebuttal to people like me who argued that not only are the latest academic data the fairest data, the implementation of the latest data is entirely feasible.

  • Finally, A Day To Celebrate Hockey In Hartford

    June 29, 2012

    It was 1989 and Todd Krygier, a little-known NHL newcomer, was sitting among a handful of Canadian teammates on the Whalers team bus. They wanted to know where he was from, so the American kid told them.

  • Touching Moments At NBA Draft

    June 28, 2012

    NEWARK, N.J. — Andre Drummond held his mom's hand.

  • Jeff Jacobs: Never A Doubt Webb Simpson Was Coming To Travelers

    June 20, 2012

    CROMWELL — He passed on Letterman. He passed on Leno. He didn't pass on the Travelers Championship.

  • Michael Thompson Is Rising Toward Top Of PGA Tour

    June 19, 2012

    Michael Thompson lived last week on the crookedest street in the world, which is entirely fitting given his profession. He arrives in Connecticut this week all too aware that no sport puts you on the crookedest street of emotions like golf.

  • Nov. 23: Bobby Valentine Will Be Fun With Red Sox, But It Won't End Well

    November 24, 2011

    This started Nov. 3 at the Hartford Club. And make no mistake, it would end spectacularly. This started with an arranged meeting before a World Affairs Council event on Prospect Street. And the prospect of it ending in flames on Yawkey Way isn't really a prospect at all.

  • Shooting Makes Fermi Coach, Manchester Officer Beeler Appreciate Father's Day More

    June 19, 2011

    Edmanuel Reyes, a deranged man with two pistols and a 12-gauge shotgun, would spray 100 or so bullets at arriving police officers, at their vehicles, at surrounding houses. One of those bullets that ugly late May afternoon in Manchester would pierce officer Bill Beeler's left shoulder, going clean through him.

  • Kemba Walker Embraced The Process

    April 13, 2011

    STORRS — Jim Calhoun was using Charlie Villanueva as a comparison, but the truth is the UConn coach could have inserted the names of hundreds of college basketball players. The difference with Kemba Walker, Calhoun insisted, is he didn't have to learn how to work.

  • UConn's George Blaney Not Just Along For The Ride

    April 9, 2011

    By his own calculation, UConn associate coach George Blaney had been to 36 Final Fours before 2004. He sat on the board of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. That meant Blaney always had good seats.

  • Finale Built Brick By Brick

    April 6, 2011

    Sure, it was a rock fight. Yet to focus on the rock is to miss the fact that the UConn Huskies moved a mountain over 28 glorious days.

  • Three For Calhoun In The Blink Of An Eye

    April 5, 2011

    HOUSTON — In one of those simple, brilliant leads that occasionally grace the sports pages, Courant beat writer Michael Arace sent 17 words back to Connecticut from St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 29, 1999.

  • Calhoun Vs. Calipari A Show In Itself

    April 2, 2011

    Coaches, players, Cinderellas, old New England turf rivals, they were all at a banquet to honor their Final Four achievement Thursday night when Jim Calhoun decided the time was ripe to play the "My Three Sons" card.

  • They're Riding High Out Of The West Again

    March 27, 2011

    ANAHEIM, Calif. — The three-pointer by Derrick Williams that would have ended this jubilant, most improbable UConn season bounced off the rim. Kyle Fogg kept the rebound alive and the three-pointer by Jamelle Horne that would have ended this jubilant, most unusual nine-game run bounced off the rim again.

  • With Jeremy Lamb, March Comes In Like A Lion

    March 25, 2011

    ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kemba Walker blinked. College basketball's omniscient guard, the god who sees all, knows all, does all, blinked.

  • Not Women's Or Men's, Just Greatness

    December 22, 2010

    Tina Charles flew in from Russia. Kemba Walker, Randy Edsall, Richard Blumenthal — the who's who of Connecticut — descended from all parts Nutmeg. In the middle of Geno Auriemma's postgame press conference on this historic night, even the President called.

  • Sebastian Gambling Case Is No Surprise

    November 19, 2010

    News that Joe Schlosser, aka longtime radio bad boy Sebastian, was arrested this week on sports gambling charges came with all the shock of the sun rising in the East.

  • Howard Baldwin Knows It Wouldn't Pay To Fight For Two Letters

    September 21, 2010

    The old Howard Baldwin probably would have fought this fight. In those days, the 30-year-old blond WHA rebel would be told he shouldn't do something by the hockey establishment, do the opposite and then dare the old codgers to do something about it.

  • Watson Triumphs On A Day That Had It All

    June 28, 2010

    If you saw the pitching wedge Bubba Watson topped from a fairway bunker into the water on the 17th hole, you saw a piece of it. If you saw his monster drive on 18, the one that bounced off the cart path 396 yards into Travelers Championship legend, yes, you saw another piece.

  • Micheel Has Special Delivery For Ill Mother

    June 27, 2010

    — The ball has traveled from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast and it remains in a safe spot in Shaun Micheel's golf bag. The three-iron from 239 yards turned into only the second double-eagle in the 110-year history of the U.S. Open, and considering it occurred on Father's Day, any other time Micheel would gladly have presented the ball to his dad.

  • Rebuilding The Love Of The Game

    June 26, 2010

    — Seems like such a great life, doesn't it? Courtesy car is waiting at the airport. Mint chocolate is on the hotel pillow. Wake up and rub elbows with the big boys on the range.

  • Thursday Usually A Day For Dreamers At Travelers

    June 25, 2010

    Thursday in Cromwell can mean only one thing.

  • At The Travelers Championship, Wounded Soldiers Get Many Thanks

    June 24, 2010

    You watch Dan Nevins make his way slowly up the 18th fairway on two prosthetic legs. You look at Dan Perry's face, a face that has paid the price, a face that breaks into a huge smile after he chips in at the second hole at TPC River Highlands.

  • Howard Baldwin Makes First Move

    March 20, 2010

    Howard Baldwin is back and this time he insists he's not leaving. He has moved into an office at 100 Pearl Street and dug in for long days of work. Maybe the address is only fitting. For Baldwin will continue to swim out in the sea of his biggest dreams, 100 percent committed to finding the great pearl in the mouth of the whale.

  • Dobratz Always Had Time For Kids

    February 10, 2010

    They met skiing at Powder Ridge. Ray was months out of Maloney High in Meriden, soon to head for basic training in the National Guard. Paula was a Newington girl, still in high school.

  • Dixon's Journey Made Him A Leader

    January 3, 2010

    Andre Dixon took us into his locker room. Randy Edsall took us into his heart.

  • Aug. 26: UConn Football, Expect Big Year From Howard

    August 26, 2009

    Jasper Howard is a talker. He talks to his mom in Florida twice a day. He talks to the wide receivers in drills, oh, twice a minute.

  • Money, Allegations Squeeze Romanticism

    April 3, 2009

    For days I have been unable to get the thought out of my head. It creases my brain when I'm awake. It arrives in black and white footage in my dreams.

  • Greed? Arrogance? It's Waist Deep

    March 26, 2009

    First off, Coach, it wasn't a blog. The investigative piece was the result of six months of industry by Yahoo! Sports, one of the world's most visited websites. Calling it a blog, whether by intention or ignorance, sounded dismissive and the last thing you and UConn need today is to come off dismissive.