LESAProject

[Warning, the following contains extreme levels of geekiness, use appropriate protection.]The NFL is down to the Final 12.  Eight division winners and four wild card teams begin the tournament that decides the NFL champion.  Fans and observers often predict the tournament results and, because no one can quit while they’re ahead, to provide an erudite justification for their picks.   As the legions struggle to predict the unforeseeable, we will also witness the perennial stampede of archaic and foolish sports clichés.  Here's some of the more palling pabulum: It’s going to come down to which team wants it more.  ...

Rick Pitino’s University of Louisville Cardinals beat John Calipari’s University of Kentucky Wildcats 80-77 on Saturday afternoon.  Every basketball fan in the Commonwealth of Kentucky was watching the game.  Everyone except the Bullitt East Chargers’ fans seated in Birdville Coliseum just outside Ft. Worth, Texas.  Kentucky’s top-ranked prep cage team was playing in the 55th annual Whataburger basketball tournament. The Chargers’ third-round game against Houston’s Spring Westfield Mustangs inconveniently began at the same time as the Commonwealth’s civil war cage match.  Half of the Chargers’ supporters were Wildcat fans, the other half were Cardinal fans.  With one eye on their ...

If you are wondering what the Olympic medal winner Bode Miller has been doing since the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, you need not worry.Miller has had a busy and interesting 2012. It started nine months ago when he had microfracture surgery on his knee, which he is still rehabbing. Miller, who was taking in the World Cup Downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colorado a couple of weeks ago, told the Associated Press that he was not going to rush his recovery. "No one wants to reinjure themselves when they come back from an injury," said Miller, ...

Let me begin by saying this is never an article I envisioned I would ever have to write.There are times in the world where we, the fans, lose sight of what is important in the world. We become so obsessed with free-agency signings, poor performances, wins, losses and lockouts that we forget that the games we become so obsessed with our merely that: games.We clamor for the big-name player, victories, championships and heroes. We at times consider selling all of our possessions just for the opportunity to gain access to a ticket to the big game.We put things like key games, ...

ESPN's First Take frequenter Rob Parker has been suspended by the network Friday as it conducts a full review in the aftermath of Parker's comments about Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III on Thursday's broadcast.Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated broke the news on Twitter: Rob Parker has been suspended by ESPN "until further notice." ESPN says "we are conducting a full review."— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) December 14, 2012 The comments were racially tinged and elicited a strong, negative response. Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk documented what Parker said on air:My question is, and it’s just a straight, honest question:  ...

Imagine for a second you're a young athlete, somewhere between the age of eight and 14. You are yet to play high school sports or get into one of the ever-competitive after-school boxing gyms that abound in urban neighborhoods throughout North America. It is likely that in today's day and age you are more concerned with playing "Call of Duty" or "Madden" on your XBox 360 or Playstation 3. If you're lucky you have an iPad, or at least an iPhone, that you use to bump your favorite hip-hop joints while playing said video game. If we're being real honest, the 8-to-14-year-old ...

It's the time of year for the three most nauseating words in our nation’s college sports landscape: “The Bowl Season.” It is the time of year where rivalries between strangers are forced upon us, and matchups between teams are created using every piece of logic except that which is in the game’s (and the fans') best interests.    This year we will be smothered with 35 games, involving 70 schools, stretched out well over the next month.  To put that into perspective, there are 120 total schools in the NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (there's a mouthful), meaning that almost 60 percent ...

It’s the holiday season and I’m sure many of you are either looking for gift ideas for the sports fan in your life or you’re compiling your gift list for Santa. Here’s a list of the LestersLegends’ top ten sports movies.1. Raging BullRobert DeNiro gives an unbelievable performance as Jake LaMotta. Not only is this one of my favorite DeNiro films, it’s one of my favorite Martin Scorsese films, as well. Joe Pesci is also amazing.2. RockyGiven the fact that I was born in Philadelphia, I should probably have this in the top spot. I guess that illustrates how much ...

While there might be more competitive marathons in the world, there are few more popular than the New York City Marathon.Runner's World named this event the favorite marathon of the United States and of the world. The course goes through all five boroughs and gives runners and spectators a great scenic tour of one of the most beautiful cities on Earth.Due to the race's worldwide popularity, many celebrities choose to compete to benefit various charities. These are the biggest names that will be running to make a difference on Sunday, November 4.Begin Slideshow

What happened to Ben Wilson could have happened to anyone.The difference is that Wilson was the top high school basketball player in the country before he was shot and killed on Chicago's South Side in November 1984."Benji," the latest in ESPN Films' 30 for 30 series, painted a haunting picture of a young life, full of promise, cut short. It shows how fragile life is, whether you are a budding star on the basketball court or not.Here was a kid with a wealth of potential. Wilson was the pride of Chicago, and led Simeon Vocational High School to its first ...