Sports Perspectives

In the NFL, the gap between the haves and have-nots is growing wider

Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden walks off the field following their 42-28 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. As the Raiders unload players, the question is: Is Gruden is a long-term visionary or a $100 million embarrassment?<br>Nhat V. Meyer, Bay Area News Group/TNS

The NFL is a zero-sum enterprise. When fantastic teams like Kansas City and New Orleans blaze through the league, someone has to soak up the losses. But the poles are further apart this season than ever, likely for reasons beyond plain flukiness.

Under pressure from Army's Cole Christiansen, Air Force quarterback Donald Hammond III gets rid of the ball during a game at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y., Nov. 3, 2018. Army won, 17-14.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

COLUMN

Defiant Air Force football team promises to topple Army next time

Quarterback Donald Hammond III made a gigantic promise, and he made the promise twice. “We’re not going to lose to them again,” Hammond said of the Army team that defeated Air Force, 17-14.

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora gets ready for a game against the Washington Nationals in July, 2018.<br>Stars and Stripes

OPINION

What Alex Cora can teach America's leaders

What did Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora do, exactly, that made him so special? It is worth considering this seriously because there are ways in which Cora faces an environment just as hostile as our elected officials in Washington.

Midshipman Ricky Dobbs (4) dives across the pile for a 4-yard gain during the fourth quarter of the Nov. 15, 2008 college football game between the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Notre Dame.<br>U.S. Navy

Column

Notre Dame football owes huge debt to Navy

“We were out of business during World War II,” former Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh said in a 1992 interview with the South Bend Tribune. “Navy came in and kept us afloat until the war was over.” That does much to explain why Notre Dame has continued to annually schedule Navy.

David Price, seen here before a game in July, 2018, called Thursday "one of the most special days I've ever had on the baseball field" as the Red Sox won the American League championship.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

COLUMN

Red Sox want to be immortalized as greatest team in franchise history

If the Red Sox win the World Series, finishing the year with 119 victories — the third highest total ever attained in baseball history — they may be forever immortalized.

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa watches as the Boston Red Sox celebrate after winning the baseball American League Championship Series on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in Houston.<br>David J. Phillip/AP

COLUMN

Astros left wondering what went wrong after season ends in ALCS

Many around the game, even many outside their own clubhouse, believed the Astros were the most dangerous, most flawlessly constructed and most formidable team in baseball right up until the moment, at 11:41 Central time Thursday night, when it was proved they weren't.

“You better be a disciplined person, or you’re not going to survive here," says Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo. "This place spits you out if you’re not."<br>Stars and Stripes

PERSPECTIVE

'Sheer mental will' drives college football players at Navy

At Notre Dame, the history drips … from Knute Rockne and The Four Horsemen to Rudy and Touchdown Jesus. At Navy, cell phone alarms roust Midshipmen all across Nimitz Library in a new-age tribute to the most treasured commodity on campus: REM sleep.