Steven Leventhal's blog

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By Steven Leventhal, YourSportsFan.com Sports Director

What the BCS (or as we call it around here, the Bogus Championship Series) needs is a healthy prescription to remedy the only collegiate sport that, in reality, doesn't crown its champion on the field. Sure, everybody has a quick fix for what ails Division I college football. Since you can't please all the people all the time, however, perhaps you can please all the skeptics some of the time. Or maybe you can please all the pundits some of the time. Well, you get my drift.

College officials have long maintained a stance against having a "second season" in college football on the basis that they didn't want their student-athletes' (yeah, right) seasons to carry over into the spring semester. Funny, it never seemed to upset the basketball teams, whom I might add, play more than one game per week as opposed to their football counterparts.

note: On our site, we recognize that womens sports are growing rapidly in popularity. I am reproducing a column by our newest reporter, Alison Moran, who has been hired to write about women's sports and her take on men's sports from a female perspective.

TOKEN FEMALE: TAKING GIRRRRL POWER TO THE NEXT LEVEL
By: Alison Moran, YourSportsFan.com Columnist

CAN MARYLAND DO IT AGAIN?

Basketball was never better than in the 2006 NCAA Division 1 Women's Final. Last April, in Boston, the #2 Maryland Terrapins took on #1 Duke in the finals of the NCAA Women's Tournament. The Terps rallied from a 13-point deficit, took the Blue Devils to overtime on then-freshman Kristi Toliver's three-pointer at the end of regulation, then made two free throws with 35 seconds left in overtime to capture their first NCAA Women's Basketball crown. Final score: Maryland 78 Duke: 75.

This was written by one of my colleagues, but I thought I would share it with all Koolse members

CLIP JOINT
By Mark Meyers, YourSportsFan.com Columnist

Check the NBA standings today and you'll find that the team leading the Pacific Division is the Los Angeles Clippers. That probably won't come as much of a shock to you, and that in itself is shocking. The Clippers have the look of a team that will not just simply qualify for the playoffs, but also do some serious damage once they get there.

The Clippers rallied from 14 points down to beat Dallas Wednesday, giving Mike Dunleavy's squad four wins in five tries despite not yet having played an impressive game. Point guard Shaun Livingston has been extremely inconsistent, center Chris Kaman has been mostly a no-show, and All-Star forward Elton Brand has been, well, exhausted (more on that later). Still, the team is in first place and there is a definite buzz surrounding this ball club, which got me to wondering: Which is "L.A.'s Team"…Lakers or Clippers?

By Steve Leventhal, YourSportsFan.com Sports Director

In FM, a somewhat forgettable 1978 movie (save for the soundtrack), a corporate suit is sent to rev up radio station Q-sky's sales. Regis Lamar, from the home office, attends a packed concert sponsored by the station, and seeing the sizeable crowd, vows to get every possible account on the station with "wall to wall commercials!" Program director Jeff Dugan sarcastically replies, "Too bad we can't get rid of the music completely." Without even thinking, Lamar replies "Yeah!"

Oddly prophetic. We have finally reached an era when sporting events seem like one continuous three-hour commercial. From kickoff to the final whistle, and from the national anthem to the final pitch, everything at the stadium (including the stadium name itself) is for sale.

CHECK, RAISE, OR FOLD:
CONGRESS AIMS TO CURB ONLINE GAMBLING

By Steven Leventhal
YourSportsFan.com Sports Director

Once again, the government is sticking its omnipotent nose in everyone's business.

The recent passage of Unlawful Internet Gambling Act has sent seismic repercussions through the online poker community.

For those of you who don't know, this bill, passed by Congress on September 30, ostensibly attempts to remedy perceived inadequacies in the 1961 Wire Act that forbade gambling over the phone. In 2001, a federal district court judge ruled that the statute applied only to betting on sports. Legislators had been struggling with ways to attack the thriving business of online gambling. This new law attempts to thwart the process by making it illegal for bank and financial institutions to knowingly allow funds to be transferred to online gaming companies.

A Heidi-esque afternoon on an NFL Sunday

originally written September 17, 2006

It's great to work in sports, because one of the perks is having Sunday Ticket at the office. Perhaps the best feature of NFL coverage on satellite is "The Red Zone" channel. It seamlessly switches to the best action moments in EVERY game. Mostly live, with some replays; it's fabulously entertaining, especially if you're not obsessively following a team outside of your home TV area.

I was reminded (sort of) about the fiasco forever to be known as "The Heidi Game" while watching Bear game coverage on the local Fox affiliate in Chicago. There was a Heidi- worthy moment shortly after the conclusion of the Bears' 34-7 victory over the Lions.