Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Unbalanced.
XFL Week 1 Recap: 3rd Time's the Charm
As someone who loved the original XFL in 2001, I was so, so elated when the league was coming back in 2020. The XFL returned less than a week after Super Bowl LIV was played, and from what I saw, it looked good. It looked really good. I do admit that the 2001 version did have its problems, but I did love it and enjoy it. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't love the concept of watching professional football in the late winter and early spring months? And the rules were much different from what we saw in the NFL. But while the league looked very upstart-ish in 2001, in 2020, it looked like whatever mistakes were made 19 years prior were fixed. Nothing could stop the XFL this time.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
I Guess That's Why They Call Them the Blues
On June 12, 2019, the St. Louis Blues finally achieved the ultimate goal: they won the Stanley Cup. The Blues' Cup came after over five decades of hard luck and suffering. The Blues' Cup came one season after they ended up as the last team eliminated from playoff contention. The Blues' Cup came just months after they were actually in last place in the entire NHL. It was an amazing story and a terrific ending for a team who had nothing but hardships since joining the league in 1967, and it looked like they would be a juggernaut for years to come.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Pro Football is Year-Round Now, and I Am Here For It
The Super Bowl Champion has been crowned, and with that, another NFL season came to a close, thus beginning the longest offseason in sports. The NBA and NHL take the summer and the month of September off. MLB is off during the winter months, but when the Lombardi Trophy is awarded, the day after kicks off a seven-month offseason, with the NFL Draft being the only relevant blip between the final whistle on Super Bowl Sunday, and the opening kickoff of the following season. For the most part, that had been the case.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Super Bowl LVII Recap: Back to the Top
Super Bowl Sunday. Those are the three sweetest words in the English language. Super Bowl Sunday is the holiest day of the sports calendar year, and it's by a big margin. I always look forward to this day, regardless of who is participating. Even during the many years that we were basically suffocated by the New England Patriots, I still enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday. This year, it was the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, and there were three main storylines in play. One, Andy Reid was coaching against the team he coached for over a decade. Two, brothers Travis and Jason Kelce were facing each other in the big game, and three, this was the first time in Super Bowl history that Black starting QBs would face each other.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
1 vs 8 or Divisional: Which Stanley Cup Playoff Format is Better?
For hockey fans, the road to the Stanley Cup is a fun one. Stressful and nail-biting, yes, but fun. The Stanley Cup Playoffs serves as the best sports stretch on the calendar year; after a wild 82-game season, an even wilder 16-team postseason begins in mid-April and ends with the Stanley Cup awarded in mid-June. There is never a debate regarding how fun the Stanley Cup Playoffs are, because it is immensely exciting to watch 16 teams fight for the greatest prize in sports. The debate, however, is centered on the format.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
38,388 Points...and Counting
On April 5, 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hit his patented "skyhook" from 15 feet against the Utah Jazz. That shot increased his career point total to 31,420, making Kareem the highest scoring player in NBA history, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain. Kareem would add 6,967 more points for his career, giving him a grand total of 38,387 in his stellar career. He had been the all-time leading scorer ever since that evening in 1984, and that exact total stood as the standard-bearer since Kareem's career ended in 1989. Other legends have come since then, players such as Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dirk Nowitzki, but none have come close to Kareem's number. Karl Malone was the closest, but he would fall 1,459 points short.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at Sahara Spars' Heel Turn in WOW - Women of Wrestling
As a diehard women's wrestling fan, I absolutely love WOW - Women of Wrestling! It's been around for over two decades, yet I started catching this a few years ago on AXS TV. A lot of good talent from WWE, AEW, and Impact Wrestling have worked in WOW; women such as Santana Garrett, Diamante, Kiera Hogan, and Nikkita Lyons (who was in WOW as Faith the Lioness). AXS TV dropped WOW in 2020, and the promotion was largely affected by the pandemic, but they are back and have been since the fall of 2022, and their weekly series airs every Saturday evening.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Reviewing the 2023 NHL All-Star Game
I do love the NHL All-Star Game and its festivities. I've been watching this event since the mid-1990s, and if there's one thing I've learned the years, it's this: the NHL's All-Star Game went through so many changes. When this started in 1947, the format back then pitted the defending Stanley Cup Champions against a mixture of All-Stars from other teams. Then in 1969, it was the East Division vs the West Division, but six years later, the format changed to the Wales Conference vs the Campbell Conference. It became Eastern Conference vs Western Conference when the geographical names returned in the 1993-94, but a few years later, the NHL decided that for the All-Star Game, they would pit a team of North Americans (Canada and the U.S.) against The World (mostly European players), before going back to East vs West.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
18-1: 15 Years Later
So of course, we have to talk about the big news from this week. Tom Brady has retired. Again. He says it's for good, but we know what happened the last time he said that. In any event, it's a 23-year career that is now in the books. Now that it's finally over, I think it's about time I finally admit something about Brady that I've denied for so, so long. I feel like the time is right to finally say it. Here goes:
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
A Look at Every Black Quarterback Who Has Started a Super Bowl
Super Bowl LVII features a number of intriguing storylines, but the biggest one is a historic moment that is long overdue. For the first time in NFL history, two Black starting quarterbacks will be featured in the Super Bowl. The NFL is over a century old, and this is the 57th edition of the Super Bowl, yet Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are the first pair of Black starting QBs to headline the biggest game of the year. The ironic thing that came to me as this fact was stated: Super Bowl LVII is in Arizona, the state that infamously didn't recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
NHL January 2023 Review
January means the beginning of a new year on the calendar, but in the NHL, it's the last chance for teams to make some positive noise before the All-Star Break hits. While this review does feature one team from each of the four divisions, for this month, they all have something in common: they are all behind the playoff line. While being out of the loop is a negative, I assure you, not all four of these stories are downers. With that said, here are the four teams who stood out in January.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
The Glorious Career of Bobby Hull
On the morning of January 30, 2023, I woke up to the tragic news that Bobby Hull, a 23-year NHL veteran, passed away at the age of 84--an age he reached just 27 days prior. Bobby Hull is a name I've heard a lot as a hockey fan; one of the great legends in hockey history. Born Robert Morgan Hull on January 3, 1939, Hull's hockey career began in the Ontario Hockey Association in 1954, playing three years for the Gall Black Hawks before joining the NHL's Chicago Black Hawks in 1957. He had 47 points (13 G/34 A) in his rookie season and finished second in Calder voting, and regarding his jersey number, Hull wore #16 and #7 before switching to his famous #9.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
