Articles by George Mitrovich

The lead story in Wednesday’s Washington Post, was written by two reporters telling us what might happen to Democratic candidates running for president, in a race that doesn’t end until November 3, 2020 — a mere 615 days away. You might say I’m a political junkie, but I’m not reading speculative junk by two reporters about a subject I may know more about than they — if being in and around politics for 53 years counts for anything. As I’ve written, let the Democratic candidates run, and let med...

NOTE: This op-ed was submitted to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Worcester Telegram, Commonwealth Magazine, and the Montreal Gazette (a slightly expanded version tied to Jackie’s debut with the Royals in ‘46). Too bad, really. It would have been nice for readers of any of the above publications to know that the greatest athlete and perhaps the most important African-American in our history, would have been 100 today. Rejections are irritating, but I’m reminded of how angry the late Senator E...

THE GAME OF THE DAY SATURDAY WAS OHIO STATE/WISCONSIN, and the Badgers losing, 27-21, seems fitting, since it adds to the already chaotic state of a chaotic season. Who’s in? Who out? Who’s up? Who’s down? Can we do this dance all-around? What is almost certain, Clemson will be ranked number one in the polls by the AP and coaches, and in the one that matters most — College Football Poll. THAT WILL HAPPEN BECAUSE WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER “DABO” SWINNEY’S TIGERS BEAT THE HURRICANES OF MIAMI, 38-...

I just finished reading “Trump, Putin, and The New Cold War” that appeared in the May 6 issue of The New Yorker (the online title is different in the magazine). Written by Evan Osnos, David Remnick, and Joshua Yaffa, it is likely the longest article I have ever read in the magazine -- which I’ve been reading for many years. I note this to underscore my judgment as to the article’s importance. I did not read it in a single sitting. I've done that with many New Yorker articles, but not this one....

"THE GAME OF THE YEAR,” shouted NESN’s Dave O’Brien, as the Red Sox beat Cleveland on a three run walk-off HR by Christian Vasquez in the bottom of the 9th. The dramatic 12-10 win came in one of the most implausible games of this season – or any season. The two starting pitchers, Carlos Carrasco for Cleveland and Chris Sale for Boston, entered the game with a combined record of 23 wins and eight losses; their respective ERAs were 3.57, Carrasco; 2.27, Sale. By the end of inning two the Indian...

Seventy years ago today, April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson was a baseball player and four-sports star at UCLA – football, basketball, baseball, and NCAA record holder in the broad jump – but if you think of him only as an athlete, you do not understand Jackie or his story. But as an athlete, the argument can be made that Jackie was America’s greatest; that while he made baseball’s Hall of Fame, there are those who say base...

Tonight’s NCAA Championship Game between mighty North Carolina and the little school that could, Gonzaga, will mark the 40th anniversary of the last game Al McQuire ever coached – and the last game he ever coached was the 1977 NCAA Championship Game, won by his Marquette team over Dean Smith’s North Carolina five, 67-59. The next year Al McGuire returned to the title game, but this time as an analyst for CBS Sports, joining Dick Enberg and Billy Packer, in what would become the best basketball ...

PUERTO RICO BEAT THE NETHERLANDS 4-3 IN 11 INNINGS LAST NIGHT AT DODGER STADIUM, and will play the winner of tonight’s USA/Japan game tomorrow evening in the Ravine, still haunted by ghosts of displaced Hispanic families. The contest last night was brilliantly played by both sides, as have so many of these games of the WBC, and whoever wins Wednesday night, whether USA, Puerto Rico, or Japan, will be true world champions. The game last night turned on an extraordinary relay play in the top of ...

In round one yesterday of March Madness, the premier spectacle of American sports, 32 teams went to the free throw line 634 times and converted 438 of their charitable gifts (you are not reading this anywhere else). Sixty-nine percent ain't that good; but it ain't the bad, either. But you are reading this because winning teams from the free throw line outshot their opponents in 12 of yesterday's 16 games. In several games the difference was critical to the game's denouement. In the Princeton...