John Jeansonne

John Jeansonne 4/10/12 Jeansonne: Lenzi's lesser-known Olympic tale

Here is my personal Mark Lenzi story, on the occasion of his death on Monday ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/17/12 NCAA: Cinderellas having a ball

For those college basketball fans (and probably some coaches and players) who long have believed ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 2/14/12 What happened to the high school mile?

Valentine's Day is as good a time as any to ask whether America's romance with ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 2/2/12 On politicians and Super Bowl wagers

In their unending quest to be populists, politicians can't seem to resist the notion that ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/25/12 The dichotomy of Joe Paterno's legacy

Though Joe Paterno's reputation was that of a humble man with sincere efforts to emphasize ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/11/12 New book explores Tiger Woods' collapse

While golf, as Mark Twain said, may be "a good walk spoiled," Orin Starn's new ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/15/11 Penn State community strives to move forward

What Penn State is searching for, now that Joe Paterno has been fired and the ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/1/11 Missouri in the middle of it all

This latest round of conference roulette is all the fault of my school, the University ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/21/11 ESPN's 'Renee' looks at sex change in sport

Renee Richards' struggle with personal identity and public acceptance is an obvious enough narrative in ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/3/11 It's tradition: Roddick serves as mentor

Andy Roddick had just given Jack Sock a hard lesson in big-time tennis Friday night ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/2/11 Is code of conduct stifling personality?

With daily U.S. Open crowds far in excess of 50,000, it might be difficult to ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/31/11 U.S. Open winners embrace the chaos

What separates the U.S. Open from the three other Grand Slam tournaments is the rumpus. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/30/11 Is Serena Williams the greatest ever?

It is in the domain of the hypothetical to ask whether Serena Williams belongs in ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/23/11 The appeal of John McEnroe, then and now

It was New York Post columnist Maury Allen, preparing a John McEnroe yarn on a ... Read more »

Horseracing 6/11/11 Jeansonne: Valdivia had clean trip through slops

Air quotes aren’t ever necessary to describe the “clean ride” by Ruler On Ice jockey ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/2/11 Jeansonne: Include Duque in golf's return to Cuba

A New York Times report last week that the Cuban government has given preliminary approval ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 5/1/11 Jeansonne: Winning couple makes own sweet music

Yesterday's royal vetting, a thorough inspection of fitness levels among more than 8,000 participants in ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/28/11 Jeansonne: Forget conferences, it's about teams

This is a modest argument against the appropriateness of basketball-conference boasting during the NCAA basketball ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/1/11 Old rivalries still alive in tennis expo

What Monday night's Madison Square Garden tennis exhibition proved, apparently, is that opposites attract great ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 2/4/11 Playing mind games with Tiger Woods

Remedial golf, for Tiger Woods, would entail old training techniques to reestablish Woods' proven ability ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/11/11 Luck's NFL decision is nobody's business

Here's some free advice for Andrew Luck - as if he needed more right now: ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 12/10/10 Big East may be developing identity crisis

What the Great Conference Shuffle of 2010 proves is that football still is king in ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/13/10 Jeansonne: Nadal shows an ability to adjust

Beyond the combatants themselves, swashbuckling Rafael Nadal and mutineer Novak Djokovic, last night's U.S. Open ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/13/10 Federer held off young challengers

Champions and former champions know the drill: Revolution always is in the air and nobody ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/30/10 Do top stars hog titles or motivate others?

Supposing - and this is a colossal, absurd "if" - that Roger Federer hadn't been ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/21/10 Jeansonne: Rocket shot himself in the foot

Much worse than acknowledging steroid use, legal experts agree in the matter of Roger Clemens, ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/14/10 What should be the limits for righting a wrong?

HARTFORD - There may be no more delicate surgery than rewriting history. No solitary action ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/13/10 What should be the limits for righting a wrong?

Maybe the IOC helped fix the future, delivering the message that it would not tolerate ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/10/10 Jeansonne: World Cup soccer has its toehold

There still is another World Cup game to appreciate Sunday. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/7/10 Jeansonne: LeBron's reputation at risk

An hour television special for LeBron James to announce where he intends to play ball ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/4/10 Hot topic: Not everyone is enamored of the LeBron free-agency phenomenon

Never has so much been made by so many for so long over so little. ... Read more »

Basketball 7/3/10 Jeansonne: Not everyone enamored by LeBron

The whole affair feels like the Hot Stove League on steroids. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/21/10 Jeansonne: Soccer is big in U.S., too

Not a soccer nation? The United States has been making landmark progress. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/19/10 One name is the game in Brazil

Part of the mystique of Brazilian soccer, like the inconceivable angle from which Maicon scored ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/16/10 Jeansonne: Brazilian players' names shine

John Jeansonne examines the unusual nicknames of Brazil's most famous athletes. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 5/24/10 Jeansonne: Despite loss, SBU's journey was fun

Stony Brook may have lost, but their unexpected run to the NCAA lacrosse quarterfinals was ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 4/24/10 Jeansonne: Study gives thumbs up to trading down

Yale professor show that it's basically a coin flip that a player is better than ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/30/10 Jeansonne: St. John's isn't St. John's anymore

With some high-profile coaches turning down St. John's, many say the program just isn't what ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/19/10 Jeansonne: Focus more on grades, not hoops?

A proposal by the Secretary of Education would force NCAA teams to graduate 40 percent ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/16/10 Jeansonne: Golfing is exactly what Woods should be doing

So Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf at the Masters on April 8, 19 ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/13/10 Jeansonne: Are colleges signing athletes too young?

Where should college coaches draw the line when offering scholarships? ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 2/23/10 Jeansonne: Positive HGH test must wake up MLB

London rugby player's positive test for HGH should make MLB rethink its stance on drug ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 2/12/10 Jeansonne: In search of relevance, a little danger has been added to Winter Games in recent years

No edition of the Olympics arrives without some stewing over whether such an expensive, ephemeral ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/23/10 Jeansonne: Baseball insiders down on McGwire

Many well known people within baseball are still very displeased with Mark McGwire. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/22/10 Jeansonne: The Fourth's amendment on McGwire

Adolphus Busch IV, whose family used to own the Cardinals, had harsh words for Mark ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/22/10 Jeansonne: College coaches' salaries keep soaring

The salaries of big-name college football coaches have skyrocketed, though spending does not always equate ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/14/10 Jeansonne: Scholarship football at Nassau CC a smart move?

Is this a good idea? Nassau Community College announced Thursday a plan to award football ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/7/10 Jeansonne: Of celebrities, sports and TMZ

Tiger Woods is proof that sports are big-time celebrities in today's obsessive pop culture world ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/6/10 Gilbert Arenas an affront to late owner's legacy

Time for another fan vote in our nation's capital. Twelve years ago, a plebiscite was ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 1/6/10 Jeansonne: Arenas an affront to late owner's legacy

Gilbert Arenas faces possible jail time as well as the indefinite suspension issued by the ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 12/21/09 Jeansonne: Big-time aspirations can't fund small college football

Fan excitement and desire for football on campus overshadow financial realities. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 12/17/09 Jeansonne: Hofstra football cuts part of a trend?

There is no rule that a college must have a football team. Academia, in fact, ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 12/4/09 Jeansonne: Nike turning uniforms into costumes

The outfitter has taken well-known college uniforms and transformed them into unrecognizable cartoonish suits. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 12/2/09 Do the math: AP Football Poll is biased

Far more shocking than his statistical study that found regional and familiarity bias among The ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/30/09 Jeansonne: Serena's tarnished image follows her

Williams punished for U.S. Open tirade; $82,500 fine is largest in Grand Slam tennis history. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/13/09 Jeansonne: The great ponytail pull

The general public pays attention to women’s sports when something outrageous happens. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/11/09 Jeansonne: WADA has made an impact on sports

Ten years after its creation, the World Anti-Doping Agency has clearly made a difference. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/10/09 Jeansonne: How to get a key to the city? Just ask

Usually, you have to be a hero to get a Key to the City; sometimes, ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/6/09 Jeansonne: Keflezighi critics uninformed, ignornant

Pundits targeting Keflezighi's heritage are way off base ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/23/09 Before A.J.'s pie-racy, there was Soupy

The death of loopy comic Soupy Sales late Thursday is a reminder that the Yankees ... Read more »

Yankees 10/23/09 Jeansonne: Soupy Sales and the art of pie-throwing

The death of loopy comic Soupy Sales late Thursday is a reminder that the Yankees ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/22/09 'Underdog' Hughes training hard for 2010 Olympics

Once again, Emily Hughes is working on a dramatic entrance. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/20/09 Jeansonne: Swooning over MLB stars a century-old pastime

Charles ‘Babe’ Adams had plenty of female followers after his dominating performance in the 1909 ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/16/09 Jeansonne: Jimmy the Greek's influence clear

Before his racist career-ending comments, Snyder brought sports gambling into mainstream. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/13/09 Jeansonne: Fan base growing for U.S. soccer

Though the mainstream media mostly missed it, the U.S. soccer team qualified for another World ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/8/09 Captain Weight ready to lead young Islanders

Weight relishes role of captain, task of mentoring younger players. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/2/09 Chicago's failed Olympic bid a true shocker

What blindsided Chicago's Olympic bid team, and even some members of the International Olympic Committee ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/2/09 Jeansonne: Will Yankees brand mean success for bowl game?

Notre Dame is a stand-in possibility should a Big East or Big 12 team not ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/30/09 Olympic sites up for grabs; Let the schmoozing begin

Handicapping an Olympic host city vote, such as the one that will play out in ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/29/09 Jeansonne: Russian owner? Times have changed

Mikhail Prokhorov taking over an American sports team 20 years ago would have been unimaginable. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/14/09 Jeansonne: So many story lines at '09 Open

Wow ... what a couple of weeks in Queens. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/13/09 Jeansonne: Serena meltdown reminds of bad times

Williams' tirade recalls other ugly moments ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/10/09 Jeansonne: When will U.S. Open raise the roof?

It's time for a dome in Queens. ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/8/09 Oudin next American tennis star? Not so fast

This is no time to curb the enthusiasm for Melanie Oudin, the 17-year-old ray of ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/22/09 Gender: Sport's toughest question

When sports talk goes from X's and O's to X's and Y's - chromosomes - ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/22/09 The yin and yang of Hawk-Eye technology

Anecdotal evidence indicates that the tennis world is beginning to cast an occasional wary eye ... Read more »

Olympics 8/21/09 Jeansonne: Gender dispute not as simple as it seems

When sports talk goes from X’s and O’s to X’s and Y’s — chromosomes — ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/11/09 Jeansonne: Owens-Long relationship celebrated

Few Olympic gospels of peace and brotherhood are more powerful than the one that will ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/29/09 Phelps, swimmers face wardrobe crisis

Are increasingly buoyant, friction-reducing suits providing a "performance-enhancing” boost? ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/28/09 L.A. set the bar for future Olympics

An Olympic patriot must mark July 28, 2009, as a significant date, the silver annivesary ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 3/18/09 Iditarod: Dogged determination

It is difficult to pay attention to a sporting event when ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 11/4/08 Despite deaths, race is relatively safe

Should there be an outcry over the fact that two ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/25/08 THE HOT TOPIC: Media's drunk on Joba & Isiah

One thing that clearly emerges from the fog of uncertainty, ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/18/08 THE HOT TOPIC: All this info makes one's head hurt

When the wonderfully satirical news source "The Onion" ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 10/11/08 Have the Bosox sold their souls?

There must be a Broadway musical in this down the road: ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 9/27/08 Hey, we're paying for this

This new version of trickle-down economics - more like ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/9/08 In end, it's The Mother Nature Rules

Whether reflecting a Yankees mollycoddle or a willy-nilly ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 8/6/08 Politics always played part in Games

It would be a great leap forward if everyone simply would ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/26/08 Please pardon the skepticism

In a not-so-instant replay review of her lying in federal ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/25/08 Brawl brings WNBA a higher profile

This week's WNBA rumpus may appear to be nothing more than ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/19/08 THE HOT TOPIC: Reluctance to retire is natural

Being immortal isn't all it's cracked up to be if a fellow ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/19/08 No aces for Liberty at Ashe Stadium

Location, location, location. Lately, it doesn't seem to ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 7/5/08 Hammon grasps Olympic spirit

Becky Hammon's declaration of independence, that among her ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/28/08 Humor? Only if you win

If the Mets this season really are a joke to their fans ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/21/08 CROSSFIRE: Media sent mixed signals on Randolph situation

Mets management might want to think of its critics, who all ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/14/08 Fans are inclined to believe the 'fix'

Almost as poisonous as those bad tomatoes haunting the FDA ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 6/7/08 A HORSE AS HERO? BET IT!

Can a racehorse be considered an American hero? ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 5/31/08 Triple Crown: The best bet

Big Brown aside, what can the Triple Crown do for you? This ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 5/24/08 THE HOT TOPIC: Curses! Can't bury the past

Harrison Ford barely has returned to the silver screen as ... Read more »

John Jeansonne 5/17/08 Hunt for right coach gets a head start

Now that opinionated NBA types, expert commentators and ... Read more »