Posts by Michael Weinreb
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The Toledo Scenario: Far-Fetched Playoff Dreams and the Future of College Football
This sport is better when even the far-fetched feels like a realistic possibility. Just ask the Rockets.
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Part Mangum, Part Machine: BYU Chases Renewed National Relevance, One Hail Mary at a Time
BYU has ridden two Hail Mary passes from a backup quarterback to a 2-0 record. Is a spot in a power conference or the College Football Playoff next?
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#MACtion’s New Man: Division III Legend Lance Leipold Hits the FBS
You may not know much about the Buffalo Bulls. You may not have heard of Lance Leipold. But if the D-III wizard can continue dominating now that he’s made the FBS jump, you’ll be tweeting about both before long.
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College Sweethearts: Todd Graham and Rich Rodriguez Bring the Golden Age of College Football to the State of Arizona
In a way, Todd Graham and Rich Rodriguez are analogues: Each is entering his fourth season at his school, and each has already elevated his football program to new levels of success. They’re both innovative, and aggressive, and fiercely ambitious, and pathologically competitive. And they hope that spells success in the Pac-12 South.
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Power Up the Pony Express: Chad Morris and the Quest to Bring SMU Football Back From the Dead
It’s fair to say that the expectations at SMU haven’t been this high since Ron Meyer took over in 1976. That’s good news. The bad news? If first-year head coach Chad Morris fails, the death penalty that hampered the program for so long could again begin to feel like an insurmountable obstacle.
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California, Here He Comes
USC’s Cody Kessler has managed to fly under the radar despite posting astonishing numbers while occupying one of the nation’s most typically high-profile positions. The small-town QB doesn’t want to talk about the Heisman, or the temptations that have undone some of his predecessors, or the burden of expectation. But when you play quarterback in Los Angeles, you can’t stay out of the spotlight for long.
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Jason’s Day, Spieth’s Year: The PGA Championship and Golf’s Thrilling Future
Here’s the thing about this sport: When it transcends the ordinary, there is the golf story and there is the story. This is where Jordan Spieth is now: He is the story, even if he’s not the golf story.
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His Jurassic World: Author Michael Crichton’s Entertainment Odyssey and Lasting Cultural Impact
Few writers in modern history have married high-concept ideas and base-level entertainment as well as Michael Crichton did. His books are the ultimate union of the geeky and the pulpy. Which is why one of this summer’s surefire blockbusters, ‘Jurassic World,’ and one of this fall’s signature HBO series, ‘Westworld,’ are both based on ideas that originated in the mind of a man who died almost seven years ago.
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Stephen Curry Tells His Own Story
The same narrative that applies to Curry applies to the Warriors as a whole: We keep expecting them to get overpowered, to fail in some way, to get exposed for their weaknesses of their unconventional makeup.
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Heir Jordan: The Most Exciting Player in Golf Got Himself a Green Jacket
Jordan Spieth, of course, is not Tiger Woods. He is not a transformative cultural figure or a racial pioneer; he’s just a kid from Dallas who seems courteous and well brought up and has a heartwarming personal story. But he is also, it would seem, one hell of a young golfer, gutsy and steely and unafraid of taking the difficult shot at a difficult time.
