So, you’ve seen the flick “Moneyball” and now you think you understand how the traditionally low-budget Oakland A’s still managed to capture the American League West title again this season. That film starring Brad Pitt as A’s general manager Billy Beane taught you all ...

The headline of a recent story on ESPN.com read: “Small School QBs Have Big Talent.” OK, you’ve got my attention, MAS thought to himself. So he read on, expecting to find out about hot quarterback prospects from colleges like Valdosta State or Mt. Union ...

“My new favorite ballplayer is Nick Castellanos (Detroit Tigers outfield prospect) — I just found out his father is a lung surgeon.” — Manager Jim Leyland Jim Leyland spanked his box of Marlboros and slid a ciggy out as he motioned to MAS to ...

Up front, I admit it: MAS has a huge man-crush on “Johnny Football.” That, of course, would be Johnny Manziel, the sensational Texas A&M quarterback who last season became the first freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy. MAS likes and envies everything about ...

It’s hard to feel sorry for Pittsburgh sports fans, given all the Super Bowls, Stanley Cups and World Series titles their pro teams have won over the years. Pittsburgh even calls itself “The City of Champions”. Still, though, you would have to be pretty ...

In this age of overlapping pro sports seasons, the MLB All-Star Game is more than just a sign the baseball campaign has reached its halfway point. The Midsummer Classic is now also our annual heads-up that NFL training camps are just around the corner. ...

“Not one (championship), not two, not three,” a beaming LeBron James promised Miami fans at a raucous 2010 celebration held soon after he joined the Heat. “More than that,” was left unsaid, but implied. And then, after a brief pause, James resumed counting. Everyone ...

When a man is in the eye of the hurricane, he is sometimes blissfully unaware of the turbulence all around him. Such was the case with Davey Johnson, both as the manager of the Washington Nationals last season and as a trailblazing Yomiuri Giants ...

What if they held a world heavyweight title fight and no one in America showed up? Or even cared. Well, then, you would be talking about virtually every title tilt involving heavies this century, most of which transpired in Europe. Because of the absence ...

It must irk major leaguers to no end when a media twerp like MLB-TV’s Bob Costas ? the type who has never worn a protective cup ? makes snarky, disparaging remarks about their playing abilities. The Houston Astros have been getting a lot of ...

After me, the deluge. For some reason, when NBA center Jason Collins recently became the first active player in any of the big four American sports to announce he was gay, that famous line uttered by France’s King Louis XV immediately popped into MAS’ ...

One cool thing about being an old coot like MAS is that when Hollywood cranks out a historic docudrama, you often remember experiencing the event portrayed first-hand. So it is with “42″ — the movie about Jackie Robinson breaking the big league color barrier ...