NPR Columns: Sports with Frank Deford Podcast

For years, non-baseball experts have been ringing the death knell for this game. But sports commentator Frank Deford says popular team games are so deeply ingrained in our culture that they're here to stay.

Frank Deford isn't impressed with the style of play — or the style of uniforms — in this year's March Madness.

Sports commentator Frank Deford wants to know: When did we stop arguing about sports in the time-honored bar-stool fashion?

For commentator Frank Deford, it seems unfair that students who pursue other extracurricular talents — like music — should be placed in a subsidiary position to their classmates who happen to play sports.

A powerful leadership group — the Catholic Seven — is stepping forward and heading in a bold new direction: basketball. These schools want out of the Big (football) East Conference.

Student-athletes are really sucker-athletes under the organization's structure, says sports commentator Frank Deford. Will no college president speak the words that will break the organization's spell?

We often put athletes on a pedestal. But after the latest accusations of bad behavior — accusations that include a murder charge against Oscar Pistorius — it may be time to lower that pedestal several notches, says Frank Deford.

Last month, Brent Musburger was accused of being sexist when he gushed about "what a beautiful woman" Miss Alabama was during the BCS Championship game. Commentator Frank Deford says if Musburger was guilty of anything, it was failing to note what a cliche he was perpetuating.

We used to have three bona fide dynasties: the Yankees in baseball, the Celtics and Lakers in basketball, and the Cowboys in football. We even had dynasties in college sports. But no more. Commentator Frank Deford says our dynasties are melting as fast as the Arctic ice cap.

It's rare in sport for someone to declare that this will be the finale and then go out a winner, says commentator Frank Deford. But, on Sunday, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis hopes to do just that.

Aside from basketball, it's a pretty quiet sports week, which means, it's a pretty quiet week for sportswriters. Commentator Frank Deford says it's a perfect opportunity to recognize their work, and cut them some slack.

Enthusiasm for sport can be a convenient cover to excuse the worst in us, says Frank Deford, because concussions for young men are the price of our love for football.

Frank Deford bats around the impact of allegations of drug use by some players and laments that debating who should be in the Hall of Fame isn't as fun as it was in the past.

Sports betting happens every day. But betting on the outcome of a professional game is only legal in Nevada because of a 1992 federal law. Morning Edition's commentator says that's not just unconstitutional — it also defies the reality of illegal betting on sports.

At Christmastime, it's long been the fashion for sports columnists to write an annual column about what various people in sports want to find under their tree. Let's celebrate some of the peace and good will we'd like to find in sport in the year ahead.