Stand by Your Horse (With Apologies to Tammy Wynette)

[SMA's horse specialist, Los Angeles-based Steve Brady, offers us his assessment of Saturday’s running of the 139th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Post time is scheduled for approximately 6:30 p.m. ET, with television coverage set for 5 p.m. ET on ABC.]Stand by your horseEven as his odds keep risin'The payout could be surprisin’If tracks are fast or sloppy.Stand by your horseAnd

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Shut Up and Play: Sheffield’s Attempt to Clarify GQ Interview Falls Flat

A year or so ago, I heard some jabber on sports radio about current major league baseball players who will or won’t make the Hall of Fame. When the name of Gary Sheffield came up, the consensus seemed to be that he wouldn’t. In fact, as I recall, there was little debate on the matter. But hold on a second. As I write this, Sheffield has 468 career home runs, 1,533 career RBIs, and a career

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Weenie Greenie: ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg Gives Us All a Lesson in Arrogance

If it was ever in doubt before—and it certainly wasn’t to me—ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg officially entered the category of “weenie” this past Thursday morning. He also entered a few other categories as well, like “arrogant SOB,” “cheapskate,” and let’s throw in “insensitive, presumptuous boob” while we’re at it. I suppose he also enters the category of “stupid guy,” for telling the story that

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The All-Asian Major League Baseball Team

There’s been much talk of late about the decline in the numbers of African American major league baseball players. Commensurate with this trend has been the rise of the Latin ballplayer. Indeed, there are so many guys named Cabrera and Gonzalez on MLB rosters these days, it gets dizzying trying to keep them all straight. But after years of fairly halting progress, the major league ranks are

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AFS (Adjusted for Steroids): A Sabermetric Approach to the Bonds Question

The closer Barry Bonds gets to Hank Aaron’s home run record, the higher the hairs rise on the back of my neck. I keep trying to figure out if I’d be less agitated if Bonds was a nice guy. No matter. He seems to be such a surly SOB that it’s easy to let the resentment rise, where it will probably move easily into contempt. (If I’m wrong, Barry, and you’re really a sweetheart of a human being, then

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The Good Stuff

This is a mediawise site, with focus on print and electronic sports journalism, and so being critical is too often a big part of our mission. But every once in a while we like to focus on the strictly positive. This time out, we celebrate a personal story that helps to remind us of the good things—about family, people and sports. Sports Media America is proud to announce that Leo Joseph Brady,

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Oh Maryland, My Maryland—The 2007 Preakness Stakes

[Editor’s Note: Intrepid L.A.-based handicapper Steve Brady gives Sports Media America readers the lowdown on the 132d running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes, Saturday, May 19, at Baltimore’s Pimlico Racetrack. NBC television carries the action beginning at 5 p.m. ET; post time is 6:05 p.m ET.] Man, those two weeks went fast. It seems it was just yesterday I was wiping my tears away with my

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