In 1964 Wendell Smith became the first African American to win a race in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, which is stock car racing’s major leagues. The race took place at Jacksonville’s Speedway Park. Smith ran 495 big league races over 13 years with 147 top 10 finishes and the one win. […]

Championships are at least in part a function of luck and random events. It is rare that a team in any sport is so good that it will win under any circumstances. This is particularly true in college football, where one loss at any point in the regular season can derail a team’s title hopes, […]

The one-and-done nature of the NCAA Basketball Tournament is both the blessing and the curse of March Madness. The blessing is that there are exciting upsets and near upsets in continuous elimination games. The curse is that the team that has shown to be the best through four months of play often watches while someone […]

As Regal Magazine readers know better than most, social progress is not free. And while we all hail the success of Jackie Robinson in breaking Major League Baseball’s color line in 1947, it should be remembered that his success led to the destruction of the Negro Leagues, a thriving, high-profile business venture mostly owned and […]

Conventional wisdom says that with the elimination of the Los Angeles Lakers by Dallas, the NBA Finals ratings are in trouble. History indicates that conventional wisdom has a point. The Lakers appeared in the NBA Finals in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2010 against Detroit, Orlando and Boston (twice). In those years the NBA Finals ratings […]

Eight-year veteran and 2007 World Series champion Covelli “Coco” Crisp is a veteran presence on and off the field for a young Oakland A’s team looking to overtake the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Coco Crisp brings the A’s strong defense in centerfield, great speed (32 stolen bases last year), and sets an […]

One of the oldest stories in sports is the one about a once-well-paid athlete facing financial ruin at the end of his playing career. Another version of that story is playing out now as a result of the NFL lockout 2011. Casual fans may not be aware that players are paid thousands of dollars to […]

In Japan, Marc Kroon regularly threw pitches that hit 163 kilometers per hour on Asian baseball radar guns, which equates to 101 miles per hour. He was a highly successful relief pitcher there who turned a one year tryout into a six year career that earned him nearly $20 million. “I would be secure if […]

Harvard’s basketball team won a share of its first Ivy League title this week, ending 55 years of futility. On Saturday, the Crimson will seek to make its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1946 when it takes on Princeton in a tiebreaker game at Yale. Harvard hoops is led by Tommy Amaker, the […]

Monta Ellis of the Golden State Warriors is having another All-Star caliber season. On Feb. 3 we will find out if he will finally receive the recognition due him, or if the league and its coaches will instead give someone like Steve Nash a lifetime achievement berth in the mid season classic. At the halfway […]