Tracking The Latest On The Big Ten's Re-Vote

TS Episode: College Football Craziness

Over the weekend, it appeared that the Big Ten's path towards a fall football season would be coming to a head. The conference's Return To Competition Task Force held a positive meeting on Saturday that outlined the safety precautions and testing regulations that need to be put in place to successfully hold a football season this year. From there, Big Ten presidents and chancellors were expected to hold a vote "as soon as Sunday" to decide on whether to reinstate the fall…

Sports IllustratedCaleb S. SpinnerSeptember 16, 2020article, caleb spinner, jd swenson, truesports, big ten, btn, football, college football, ohio state, covid-19Comment

Sun Belt over Big 12, Notre Dame in the ACC and more from college football's Week 2

TS Episode: College Football Craziness

Nick Saban spent the second Saturday in September coaching a scrimmage, then talking to the media through an Internet connection about a game that's still two weeks away. Dabo Swinney checked in with ESPN's College GameDay using FaceTime on his cell phone -- which, inexplicably, he held, arm outstretched, the whole time -- from his team's training room. Ed Orgeron spent the first Saturday that resembled anything close to real college football doing -- OK, we're just going to assume the coach was elbow-deep in some crawfish. At least that would have offered…

ESPNCaleb S. SpinnerSeptember 16, 2020articles, article, truesports, caleb spinner, college football, jd swenson, heisman race, cfb, espn, footballComment

How The Basketball Tournament Is Taking Precautions For This Edition Of The Winner-Takes-All Event

TS Episode: All Eyes on Mugar’s TBT

As the coronavirus pandemic began causing the cancellations or postponements of sporting events in mid-March, Jon Mugar started wondering what would happen to The Basketball Tournament, or TBT, an event he had founded in 2014. TBT had become a staple on the summer…

The Elam Method explained, by Elam himself and the basketball players using it

TS Episode: All Eyes on Mugar’s TBT

So, you tune in to ESPN this summer to watch a little hoops, maybe see some familiar names who played college ball around Philadelphia. Then, what is this? The Basketball Tournament (TBT), the $2-million, winner-takes-all competition in its sixth year, now has this newfangled ending in which the game clock is completely turned off. Announcers start to explain the Elam Method, and…

Baseball's Back, but the Ugly Road to Return Has Diminished the Game

TS Episode: Baseball is Back! The Return from COVID-19

That actual baseball is about to be back on the field under the summer sun is one small step for man…and one giant leap backward for mankind. My god. The moon landing was a piece of cake compared to this. Negotiations are negotiations, yes, and baseball has a long, ludicrous history of turning them into drawn-out battles. But this…this was a new low even

Bleacher ReportCaleb S. SpinnerJuly 2, 2020article

Remembering Pat Tillman's Sacrifice

Memorial Day is much more than an excuse to fire up the grill and watch baseball. The holiday was created to remember and honor those servicemen and women who gave their lives defending the many freedom we enjoy each and every day. In sports, few names hold more reverence than that of Pat Tillman. Tillman was an NFL safety for the Arizona Cardinals from…

TrueSports BlogCaleb S. SpinnerMay 25, 2020TrueSports Blog, Memorial Day, Caleb Spinner, Pat Tillman, NFL, articleComment

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

It’s been over two months since sports came to a screeching halt, following the outbreak of COVID-19. Now, it looks like we are slowly returning to normal, and the return of college and professional sports may be just around the corner. Here are some of the ways organizations are adjusting their operations to get back up and running, while obeying CDC and…

TrueSports BlogCaleb S. SpinnerMay 22, 2020TrueSports Blog, COVID-19, Caleb Spinner, TrueSports, article, NFL, NHL, MLB, NBAComment

How NBA Free Agency Dunked on Baseball

TrueSports Episode: The Battle for Attention: MLB vs NBA

As sports fans around the world freaked out over the insanity of NBA free agency over the past 10 days, baseball players watched the madness with a different perspective. They saw NBA owners shell out more than $3 billion in just a few hours, inspiring a frenzy of attention to a league that won’t play a game for more than three months.

The Wall Street JournalCaleb S. SpinnerJuly 18, 2019article, reference, WSJ, TrueSportsComment