Walk into the Village Chess Shop on Thompson Street and you will see graying men huddled over a game and hear classical music in the background.

Until midnight regulars strategize on how to protect their king, throw the dice for a game of backgammon, or stop the clock during a move in speed chess.

Located a few blocks from the boards at Washington Square Park, the Village Chess Shop opened in 1972, the same year Bobby Fischer became World Champion.

Owner Larry Nash describes his shop as peaceful and apart of “old” New York, but admits every once in a while a competitor might leave with a bloody nose.

Also known as a “chess museum” because of the novelty chess sets displayed in the window, Nash says, “Even in the best of circumstances, it’s hard to be a business like this.”

Listen to why people have been going to the Village Chess Shop for over 35 years.

The Spanish Olympic men's basketball team making their eyes slanted during a team photo before the games: Dumb. (photo from NPR.org)

A week ago at Huffington Post, Myles Brand wrote an article titled “The ‘Dumb Jock’ Myth is Dumb.” The article focuses on the dumb jock stereotype as it pertains to D-I college athletics:

Student-athletes in Division I — where the dumb jock myth is most firmly attached — graduate on average at a higher rate than the general student body, according to data gathered by the federal government. Student-athletes graduate at a rate of 63 percent, one point better than all other students. Given that more than 100,000 student-athletes participate in Division I, the differences in federal rates are statistically significant.

While I was a dumb jock myself (Division III sadly, so my graduation means nothing in the context of this article), I don’t take any gratification from the article. I don’t think it disproves the stereotype at all. I’m not even sure the stats are meaningful.

First off, claiming the myth is “most firmly attached” to the college level is opinion on the part of Brand–an opinion I don’t agree with. I met and played against plenty of dumb jocks in college, but I met more in high school. Think about it: going to college isn’t a requirement. High school isn’t either, but more families expect their kids to complete high school than to attend college.

How many kids did you encounter in high school that had no plans of continuing their education? Maybe it’s different for me because of Maine’s stellar public high school reputation, but I encountered a few. Of those few, the majority were involved in athletics.

Also, the fact that this study is based on Division I athletics is important. Because Division I players are under scholarship, they are, in a sense, the property of the their respective institution’s athletic program. Friends of mine on athletic scholarship have told me horror stories of insanely rigorous preseason workouts where complaints were met with, in essence, “if you don’t like it, kiss your free ride good bye.” You do as your coaches and trainers tell you to do.

So when team study sessions are set, (a policy that most teams follow) you go. And since it is in the program’s best interest to keep you academically eligible — you are their investment after all — if those study sessions aren’t enough, there are tutors that will be found to help you. If you’re at a bigger school, these tutors will travel with you. The result: grades good enough for you to graduate.

Later in the article, Brand cites a different study, this one looking at employment rates in addition to graduation rates:

In 2004, the NCAA studied a group of regular students and student-athletes who graduated from high school in 1994 — ten years earlier. Of that group, 88 percent of all student athletes had graduated in the 10-year window, 21 percent had obtained advanced degrees and 91 percent were employed in full-time jobs. All those numbers were higher than their classmates who were not student-athletes.

To play devil’s advocate here, I would need to see the names of the players (and the sport that they played) before I can take this seriously. Division I college athletics are a huge deal in some states. If you are a player of any sort of notoriety, or even simply a player on a team of notoriety, the chances of you getting a job opportunity are markedly higher than those of a regular Joe (unless it’s Joe the Plumber, of course).

Think about it, given two similarly qualified applicants, who would an employer be more likely to hire: someone who they watch play football every Saturday for their favorite college team, or a person they’ve never met before?

Lastly, it’s important to look at professional sports if we’re talking about a sports stereotype. Since they draw the most public attention, they set the precedent. And sadly, there are still plenty of dumb jocks in professional sports.

The thing is, more and more pro athletes don’t graduate from college. They either skip school entirely, or they enter the draft before their senior year. Are they gainfully employed? Yes. Does that make them smart? No.

I’m not saying that I think all athletes are dumb. I disagree wholeheartedly. I believe that, given the percentage of athletes in the country, there are the same number of stupid people as you would find in any other general bisection of a community. Athletes just tend to be under more public scrutiny.

Regardless, if Brand wants to help disprove this stereotype, he’s going to need to do a better job.

Update: To appease the masses, here is an example of a smart athlete. In a recent New York Times article, Josh Childress speaks about his decision to become the first player of note to leave the NBA to play in Europe:

“I get paid double, my role increases, I have no expenses and I move to a nice city?” Childress said. “How many guys wouldn’t do that, regardless if you’re a lawyer or a doctor? In a business sense, if I were to tell people that I passed on that deal, I would be stupid. That would be the next headline: Josh Childress Shouldn’t Have Gone to Stanford. He’s an Idiot.”

Here I am, sitting on my couch and stuffed with Taco Bell, confused. The Met shines gloriously on my high-def TV as they take a 2-0 lead against the Marlins. As it stands, the Mets are 1 game out of the playoffs. There are just about 13 innings of baseball left to be played in good old Shea Stadium and the place looks like it’s 3/4 full. 

A life-long Mets fan who attended last night’s 6-1 Met loss told me the stadium was filled with emptiness of orange and blue seats. With the team fighting for a playoff spot and closing the building on Sunday, why can’t Met be there to root for the team they say the love?

One excuse I heard was fans stayed away because of the rain. The rain? Are you kidding me. Last Sunday night hurricane Ike could have been sitting directly on top of Yankee Stadium while the place was surround by tornados and the every seat still would have been occupied. 

All year, every year, I have to listen to Met fans complain about the Yankees and their fans. And that’s fine. That’s  just he way it goes. I don’t hate the Mets. I actually like them. They are like your cute kid brother who can be really annoying at times but who is always pretty much just harmless.

Tomorrow may very well be the end of the road for Los Mets and their stadium. I do not expect to see any empty seats. But like any Met season and any Met game, you never know how it will turn out.

Most Yankee fans agree that the farewell to Yankee stadium on Sunday night was a memorable tribute.  Even if you didn’t watch the farewell ceremony Sunday and aren’t a Yankee fan, you can read this nostalgic essay by Billy Crystal (and there are other links on the left to more essays) to get a sense of what Yankee stadium embodies to its fans. 

But since Sunday night, others have pointed out that something was missing from the ceremony.  Or rather, two people were missing.  Both Joe Torre and Roger Clemens, two Yankee greats, were completely excluded, for different reasons, from any mention in the pre-game ceremonies.

On a night when the Yankees wanted to be remembered with class, for all the memorable moments the organization has had over the years and all those who have contributed to those moments, it was only fitting to include Torre and Clemens.  After all, Torre’s legacy brought the Yankees to twelve consecutive playoff appearances, not to mention the four World Series titles won under his management.

And how could the Yankees leave out the seven time Cy Young award winner?  The guy who brought the Yankees to World Series wins in 1999 and 2000, not to mention a handful of ALCS victories?  The guy who is second in all-time strike-outs only to Nolan Ryan?  And while playing for the Astros in 2003, recorded both his 300^th career win and 4,000^th career strike-out on June 13 at none other than Yankee Stadium?  How could these credentials possibly be overlooked?

Yes, Roger Clemens still sits in the midst of the whole steroid scandal.  Some believed that if he had been in Yankee Stadium in person he would have been booed.  Speaking as a Yankees fan, he should have at least been included in the pitcher’s montage.  Overlooking his achievements is what one blogger compares to a “Communist party whitewash.”

It was clear that in not mentioning Torre, the Yankees still hold a grudge against him for turning down the one-year contract offered to him following the 2007 season.  The organization clearly still has it’s own issues with that.  But with Clemens, the matter was one of hypocrisy, as many were quick to point out.

Clemens, whose chances as a future hall of famer are slim now with the allegations of steroid usage, has had an arguably better career than most of the Yankee players who are hall of famers.  But apparently the Yankees see his steroid usage as a touchy subject, and enough of a reason to have left him out of Sunday’s festivities.  But why then did the Yankees allow both Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi, both admitted steroid users, to start in Sunday’s game? 

It’s clear the Yankees themselves didn’t really think through what they were doing by not mentioning these two men.  One thing is clear though: it did offend a lot of fans (read comments to this blog here to see what some fans are saying).

At least in November, when the Stadium officially closes, the Yankees have one last chance to redeem themselves.  Hopefully they will pull off some class and give Clemens and Torre the credit that is deserved.

Now that the gates have officially closed at Yankee Stadium, fans may be craving a little nostalgia from the good old days of baseball.  Julia Ruth Stevens, who threw the last “first” pitch at Yankee Stadium Sunday night in the house her father built, might just have the remedy.

Although she admits to being a Red Sox fan, Ruth Stevens published a book in 2008 filled with photographs and memories of the Babe, especially his time spent in pinstripes. The book titled Babe Ruth:  Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos & Memorabilia is a pricey $35.00, but captures why this one man from Baltimore became a worldwide legend.  Sure she mentions all of the records he set, broke and how he is still considered the greatest player ever to swing a bat, but she also writes about his humble beginnings and how he was simply a great dad.  

One chapter in the book, Ruth Stevens describes her father’s special breakfast we would fix, just for her.  She describes how the Babe would wake her up early in the morning before he would go hunting or fishing. He would butter bread and fry an egg in a whole, cut in the middle of the bread, and top it off with a slice bologna.           

Ruth Stevens really balances the legend of her father and showing how he was just an ordinary man who had a great passion.  Considering the state of baseball today, with the million dollar salaries, steroid use or human growth hormone, expensive ticket prices, and “misremembering” clubhouse conversations, it is refreshing to look back on why baseball is an American pastime. 

Although I am not a Yankee’s fan, I can remember the first time I went to a game at the Stadium.  My older brother and I had tickets in the bleachers.  We sat in the furthest row from home plate, and in the furthest section of right field.  We had the worst possible seats in Ruth’s house.  There was not one person behind us and we both just laughed about it and looked around and saw the perfect view of all the devoted fans in the entire stadium.  My brother gave me nudge and told me to shut up, so he could have a “moment” at Yankee Stadium.    

Photo courtesy of NBA.com

In a haphazard display of free speech, Josh Howard says he doesn’t celebrate the Star Spangled Banner because he’s black.

Josh Howard Remarks
While attending a charity flag football game sponsored by Allen Iverson, the Dallas Maverick forward was captured on what appears to be a cell phone video that was later posted on YouTube.

Howard’s remarks follow a laundry list of PR nightmares:

• Admitted to smoking weed on The Michael Irvin Show, an ESPN radio show in Dallas
• Arrested for street racing in North Carolina
• Planned a birthday bash following game four of the playoffs last season despite being told not to party by Dallas Maverick’s coach Avery Johnson

Sports columnist J.A. Adande takes an intelligent and thought-provoking look at the Howard controversy, calling into question the lack of principle and rationale behind Howard’s comments rather then the comment itself. Check it out by clicking on this link and let me know your thoughts.

Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of the end. The final ten games in at Yankee Stadium had been scheduled to begin at 7:05. But rain pushed back the start of the very last home stand. The Yankee’s season is done. According to everyone and everything except the math. All that’s left is to finish out the season and reserve tee times for October.

The close of the season ends the legacy of the greatest sports cathedral ever built by man (and that’s not an opinion). The building that would have you believe was put together solely by the hands of a man named Babe and held together for 85 years by those followed – Gehrig and DiMaggio, Mantle and Maris, Munson and Mattingly, Jeter, Rodriguez and Rivera – will be gone next spring.  

If there are any ghosts left, who have not yet cleaned out their lockers and moved in across the street, they will all have to put in extra BP over the next 10 days. Not because the Yanks are fighting for a division crown or even the wildcard. After all, they’re not. But because the nine men who will dress in pinstripes and stand on the the greenest diamond in the Bronx over the next week-plus owe their very best to the hundreds to those who stood on that field before them and to the millions who have sat in the bleachers and nose-bleeds and cheered their hardest for them.

Rain has delayed the end. Hopefully the extra night will give those about to play the chance to think about it. Over 6600 games have been played at Yankee Stadium. There are only ten more chances for anyone to ever play a baseball game there. Ten more chances to make a memory. Ten more chances to become a legend.

Ten more.