By BEN JACKEY One Great Season I never saw his swing in person. I never witnessed his majestic home runs. For much of my life, Harmon Killebrew was a legendary name and nothing more. Perhaps it was fitting that in an old historic ballpark, Harmon Killebrew became a real man to me. I was working for WFIE-TV in Evansville, Ind., and Killebrew was in town promoting hospice...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season As you know, we're locking the doors on OGS here pretty soon and there will be no new content after mid-June. In the meantime, we've got a couple of requests for you, especially if you're among our New York readers or you're in some way savvy about the city: + I have about two weeks left here. Recommend a restaurant, particularly...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season I'm very excited to announce I'll be returning to the daily buzz and excitement of a local television newsroom. I've accepted the job of Digital Media Manager at WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach, Fla. This is a great opportunity for me, as WPBF was looking for an experienced day-to-day leader who could also tackle big-picture goals with creativity...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season Surely you've read about My Mom's Chili a time or two on these pages. Perhaps you've even watched the video. But if you're looking for some smaller snack foods for your Super Bowl Final Four Kentucky Derby party, the OGS Culinary Team has a few ideas for you, especially if you're in a pinch for easy-to-make, last-minute...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season The entire OGS crew is disappointed about not being able to cover or attend this weekend's Kentucky Derby, but we've got a solid backup plan for you. We reached out to some of our good buddies and asked them what's so great about the event. Mark Ennis, College Football Blogger — The best thing about the Derby is its connectedness...

By BEN JACKEY One Great Season There are so many things to love about the Kentucky Derby, which renews itself for the 137th time at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Saturday. But here are five things we hate about it: The Weather — Ask anyone in Louisville about Derby weather and you'll either get a roll of the eyes or a laugh. It could be 70 and sunny all week long...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season Rashard Mendenhall is the latest pro athlete to make controversial comments through social media. And to have them dissected on ESPN. And to have his team brass issue a statement. And to issue his own statement. I have nothing but respect for the Pittsburgh Steelers organization and I hope the Rooney family stays in charger forever there. I realize...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Remember a few years ago, when Francisco Liriano was getting all kinds of hype as the Twins' future ace? He hasn't delivered on those expectations, but it was nice to see him finish off baseball's first no-hitter of the season Tuesday night. It wasn't the shiniest of gems; Liriano walked six White Sox and only struck out two...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Boise State's athletic department has earned itself the dreaded lack-of-institutional-control tag by the NCAA. An internal investigation launched in 2009 found more than 60 football players received illegal benefits totaling less than $5,000. For those not named Rain Man, that's about $80 per player, which in my opinion is harmless....

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season As you know, we like to keep things pretty sporty here at OGS, but when an international news story breaks like the one that did late Sunday night, your instincts take over and you leave your quiet and dark Brooklyn neighborhood after 1 a.m., head to the subway that you know will take at least 20 minutes to show up and you go and gather some content...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season The news of Osama bin Laden's death spread quickly thanks to cable televisio, the Internet and social media late Sunday night. In case you missed the fun on Twitter, here's a sampling: + @daveweigel: "2031: 'Dad, where were you when we learned bin Laden died?' 'Kids, I was saying stupid crap about it on Twitter.'"...

By BEN JACKEY One Great Season I was afraid when I went to sleep Thursday night that I would wake up to the sounds of white horses, seven trumpets and earthquakes. And this morning, I frantically reached for a remote to search for a weather forecast in Hell. My gut told me it might be nippy down there. A feeling I had never felt before swept over me. It was foreign. It was frightening...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + The NFL Draft is a lot like Groundhog Day. Chris Berman comes out of hiding, annoys us briefly, then reminds us there are still four months left of the offseason. + Reggie Bush is such a little girl. "It's been fun New Orleans" slipped from his Twitter feed Thursday night after the Saints drafted Mark Ingram. True as it may...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + The NFL Draft is the most overhyped event in sports. It's hard to fault ESPN for being so outstanding at promoting it for so many years, and it does end up playing very well on television for the WWL. But all it is is the day (or three days now) that football teams select 21-year-old kids who hope to become key contributors two or three...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + I've written before about how ESPN and others should show more gestures of sportsmanship during their game broadcasts. The postgame handshake line in college basketball is an easy target, and especially considering the NCAA has a weak ad campaign promoting the importance of sportsmanlike behavior, you'd think there would be a clause...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season The Daily Q wasn't expecting to spend so much time writing about the Indians and Royals this week, but since we followed the series fairly closely, it's hard not to wonder one thing. At what point do you stop prefacing your baseball opinions with, "I know it's still early?"

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Josh Elliott will be sorely missed from the ESPN "SportsCenter" morning crew for many reasons, but the one serious question I have is who will read the tragedy scripts? If he was on the desk when a dramatic story broke, it was almost always the professional and savvy Elliott who got the read. Hannah and Sage are too concerned with...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season Is the argument for a college-football playoff losing steam this offseason? What do you think is the best way to determine a national champion?

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Those poor New York Rangers. They took a 3-0 lead into the third period at home, looking poised to tie their series with No. 1 seed Washington at two games apiece. But the Capitals scored three goals in the final period and sent Game 4 into overtime at what became a spirited Madison Square Garden. Rangers fans rocked the "Can You Hear Us...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Just a day after we riffed on North Carolina and Ohio State possibly giving college basketball a sorely needed elite team or two next year, Kentucky was dealt a serious blow to its candidacy for greatness in 2011-12. Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and DeAndre Liggins all declared for the NBA draft on Wednesday morning. None has hired an agent...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + As outstanding as the Ohio State basketball team was in 2010-11, Jared Sullinger's decision to return makes the Buckeyes a threat to be even better next season. But don't expect OSU to stand atop one single preseason poll next fall. That honor should go to North Carolina, which will be stacked now that Harrison Barnes has announced he...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season Because I know none of you is watching the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, we can keep talking about the NBA postseason. I will admit it's been an excellent first two days, but can we at least agree that a best-of-seven series in the first round is a little too much? If you could re-organize the format of the NBA Playoffs, how would you do it?

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + Is it just me, or do the NBA Playoffs feel like the NCAA Tournament? Upsets, huge individual performances, big shots and late drama were the norm for the second straight day. After fighting back to take the lead on a pair of Matt Bonner three-pointers, the Spurs gave the cushion right back to visiting No. 8 seed Memphis, which held on for the nailbiting...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + I read a pretty interesting column by Mel Kiper Jr. on Saturday. He wrote that at some point, NFL teams need to think about drafting the successor to their longtime star quarterback. Obviously, the Colts and Patriots come to mind first, as Peyton Manning is 35 and Tom Brady will turn 34 this summer. The current Manning situation is much like Brett...

By JOHN P. WISE One Great Season + From the yawny legal file that inquired yesterday whether you cared about the Barry Bonds trial, are you paying much attention to the NFL talks? Ten years ago, we'd be whining about how greedy NFL players and owners are, but I think our culture has become more accepting of the huge business sports — particularly pro football — has...