Up close and personal wasn't needed by Smith in matter of top pick
April 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A.J. Smith calls April “Liar's Month.” And he's right, of course. NFL general managers find it terribly difficult to tell the truth when it isn't April, let alone draft time, when prevarication becomes the verbal brush work of Michelangelo and Da Vinci. In this case, A.J. didn't really lie. He just didn't tell the truth.
There is a difference.
More Nick Canepa Columns
April 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Dripping in drama, or perchance to scream: To some, the NFL draft is a bonanza, one of the best days of the year on the sports calendar. To others, it's a long, boring day filled with talking heads on TV. Today, Union-Tribune columnists Tim Sullivan and Nick Canepa debate the merits of the NFL draft:
April 22 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
L.A. might have Bolts magnet: Should San Diego Chargers fans worry about Ed Roski Jr.? I'd say, yes, absolutely. He's not only a billionaire, he's not your everyday, nutty billionaire. Roski has a pedigree that does not include “rash.” He has a reputation of not doing things willy-nilly.
April 18 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
McGuire turns Enberg into play-by-playwright: Dick Enberg, Al McGuire and Billy Packer. They made up the greatest college basketball TV team of all time. Only that threesome could be mentioned in the same sentence as Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford.
April 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Decision to pull Wolf wasn't 'kid' stuff: It was the night of July 21, 1970, so the Padres were babies, playing in what then was their womb, San Diego Stadium. Those of us who were around then remember it as The Night Preston Gomez Pulled “The Kid.” It's a cult classic.
April 15 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
April is forked tongue month for NFL GMs: Mocks are crocks. Really, is there anything in sports more ridiculous than a mock NFL draft? There's a better chance of correctly filling out the entire NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket than getting one of these stupid things right.
April 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Take a chill pill, people! It's one game out of 162: Trevor Hoffman saved a Padres baseball game yesterday afternoon! Maybe the city should have a parade in his honor. Maybe the next 100 babies born in San Diego County should be named Trevor. Maybe Mike Aguirre should look into this. It's never happened before.
April 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
It's too late to get nasty about Beijing Games: Politics and sports make a bad, bitter cocktail. It's hard to sweeten. The two ingredients also make horrible Chinese food.
April 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
'Bama boys Peavy, Rivers share that fiery streak: It's Alabama Heat. There must be something to it, down there in the deep, soggy South, where Bear Bryant used to roam the woods in his houndstooth hat.
March 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
For Towers, Pads' outfield no comedy act: Sez Me . . Kevin Towers believes. As Padres GM, it's his job, of course, to believe. But, if he does, he deserves the benefit of the doubt around here, even if his outfield is an Abbott and Costello routine. “Who's in left? Who?” “Who's in center? Who?” “Who's in right? Brian Giles. Well (for now).”
March 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Tiger can thank our S.D. native golf sons: The biodegradable golf balls Billy Casper and Gene Littler swatted off the retired carrier USS Midway into the harbor yesterday morning were not the fastest things to leave that flight deck. Not by, well, a long shot.
March 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
As pure shooter, The Long Ranger was pure delight: Sez Me . . . Kim Goetz has died, and I am saddened. He was “The Long Ranger.” I dubbed him that when I covered San Diego State basketball, and I am not ashamed I did, nor did he mind. He was a good guy, the kid from Moscow, Idaho, and he could flat shoot it. I mean, way beyond shoot it.
March 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Castillo touches down with troops in Afghanistan: “You have been to Afghanistan, I perceive.” – Holmes to Watson, “A Study in Scarlet.”
March 18 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Home-court advantage can mean everything: Mountain West Conference basketball finds itself stuck between Pikes Peak and a hard place. It only has the obvious destination for its tournament, and the obvious destination, Las Vegas, would be perfect – if its university didn't participate in its own building.
LAS VEGAS, March 16 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
No NCAA Tournament berths, but SDSU models solidarity: It was an act of class. I don't know if it was unprecedented, but in that it's San Diego State, my alma mater, I have to guess it was, in that it's SDSU and it's had so many problems doing things right athletically physically and athletically mentally.
March 15 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Better half wins: LAS VEGAS – There was a dramatic day-and-night difference here for San Diego State basketball, and the day part was unexpected and the night part almost was as predictable as my luck at the craps tables. In other words, forget about it. I can't shoot there, either.
LAS VEGAS, March 14 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
March Madness in San Diego continues: I was on the hotel elevator early last evening with Aztecs forward Lorrenzo Wade, the hero of yesterday's men's basketball piece. He was leaning back against the wall. He looked drained.
March 12 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Hoops fever: Catch it while you can: HOOSIERVILLE – OOPS, ALCALA PARK, Calif. – OK, so I'm at the University of San Diego, which suddenly has become the basketball capital of the West. There's supposed to be a buzz here, a hive. I'm on campus and see many young women in flip-flops, the worst fashion statement of my lifetime, and not one is wearing a “Go Toreros!” T-shirt.
March 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
James tops Bryant as NBA's best: Sez Me . . The debate will last much longer than what the Democratic presidential hopefuls have gone through for months, except it will be nowhere near as boring or repetitive. LeBron James or Kobe Bryant? Which one? Which one's the best basketball player in the world?
March 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Newell coaching tree has distaff branch: It's rare when we see Bob Knight emotional, at least in a good way. But he was Tuesday night, when he personally inducted Pete Newell into the Breitbard Hall of Fame. Bob Knight, one great basketball coach, long has idolized another great basketball coach, Pete Newell, and it was a great thing he did.
March 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Padres in the genes: With Cory Vaughn, it's many different things. Before he entered San Diego State on a baseball scholarship last summer, he barely was 6 feet 2, weighing 195 pounds. He's now 6-3½, 230 pounds, a striking athlete.
March 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Joe Louis: He still packs biggest impact: My father loved boxing. He loved Joe Louis even more. He lived through fellow Italian-American Rocky Marciano, and then Muhammad Ali and Joe Frasier, and the later heavyweight pretenders. But, as we were watching “Friday Night Fights” when he happened to be home from his commercial fishing trips, he'd always return to Joe.
Feb. 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Combine sillier than 'Survivor': I think the NFL Combine is stupid, often counterproductive and almost always degrading. It should take place in Rome's Colosseum. You half expect these football prospects, clad in modern loincloths, to say, “I'm Spartacus!” “No, I'm Spartacus.” “No, I'm Spartacus!” And then run like gladiators.
Feb. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Moores has advice for fellow team-owner Spanos on site for next stadium: When Padres owner John Moores answered his cell phone, he was in the Caribbean, hanging around, just, you know, being a rich guy. He recently had deposited CEO Sandy Alderson and his Gilligan friends at the club's spanking-new digs in the Dominican Republic.
Feb. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sampson sunk by modern evil: the cell phone: Sez Me . . . Kelvin Sampson has fallen victim to one of the worst modern-day curses – the cell phone. And the “former” Indiana basketball coach has no one to blame but himself – and his service provider.
