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Linda Robertson

Age now is just a number for Olympic athletes

Last updated Monday, May 21, 2012 - 5:23pm

DALLAS -- Michael Phelps intends to make the 2012 London Games his third and final Olympics while gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson hope to be Olympians for the second time this summer. Shooter Kim Rhode will compete in her fifth dating to 1996.

London Olympics, Olympic Sports, Sports Read more Comments

Pat Summitt a pioneer for women

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Monday, April 23, 2012 - 11:14pm

Pat Summitt won 1,098 games, more than any other college basketball coach. She won eight national titles and an Olympic gold medal. Every single player who spent four years at Tennessee on Summitt's teams graduated with a degree.

College Sports, Sports, Women's sports Read more Comments

Dolphins of 1972 would gladly put cheese on a toast

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - 2:34pm

Dolphins of 1972 would gladly put cheese on a toast

By Linda Robertson

McClatchy Newspapers

MIAMI -- The champagne is not on ice. Dick Anderson, Nick Buoniconti and their 1972 Miami Dolphins teammates are not itching to pop the cork. None of them owns an Aaron Rodgers voodoo doll. And they do not plan to be perched, vulture-like, in front of the TV on Sunday, waiting to see if the Green Bay Packers' winning streak dies.

The 1972 Dolphins are serene. Their place in history is secure.

NFL, Pro Football, NFL Football, Sports Read more Comments

Danica Patrick will become a hit in NASCAR in no time

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 6:00pm

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Danica Patrick's husband gave her a stock car last Christmas. She threw a party to show it off to her friends.

"But in order to go in the garage and see it, you had to drink a shot of moonshine," Patrick said. "I thought that was such a NASCAR thing to do."

NASCAR, Sports, Auto Racing Read more Comments

Nothing matches purity of prep football

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Monday, September 12, 2011 - 6:30pm

MIAMI -- I took my son to his first high school football game Friday night. He is a 14-year-old freshman at Coral Gables High. His school was playing my alma mater, Palmetto High.

I was torn.

Prep Sports, Sports, Football Read more Comments

Scarred by scandals? Colleges show turnarounds can be quick

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - 5:15pm

MIAMI -- Barry Switzer knows what it's like to mired in the middle of a messy football scandal. His Oklahoma Sooners had just been sentenced to three years of NCAA probation for recruiting violations when, in a span of weeks, one player shot another in the team dorm, a woman was gang-raped and the quarterback was arrested in an FBI cocaine sting.

"Thoroughly disgusted," Oklahoma governor Henry Bellmon said back in 1989.

College Football, College Sports, Sports, Football Read more Comments

Miami Heat's Anthony earned success 'the old-fashioned way'

Linda Robertson, McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Sunday, May 22, 2011 - 5:07pm

MIAMI -- Joel Anthony was a long way from home and a very long way from the NBA when he arrived at Pensacola Junior College.

Not only was he jolted by the culture shock of moving from Montreal to the Florida Panhandle, but he was hit by a barrage of balls. Basketballs, volleyballs, tennis balls, medicine balls -- Anthony had to catch a stream of balls while wearing cotton gloves every day during practice.

Sports, Basketball, NBA Read more Comments

Sport of kings dwindles as gamblers take to casinos

Linda Robertson, McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Sunday, January 2, 2011 - 6:00pm

MIAMI -- The horses prick up their ears as a flamingo hue bleeds into the dawn sky. They chortle through their velvet nostrils. They nod their silky heads. The sun is rising at Calder racetrack, and the horses are ready to run.

Gambling, Sports, Animals, Horse Racing Read more Comments

For Gator Nation, Urban Meyer era is over

Linda Robertson, McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Thursday, December 9, 2010 - 11:58pm

MIAMI -- Urban Meyer has resigned again. He won't be coming back, at least not as the University of Florida football coach.

Gators fans hoping Meyer will change his mind -- as he did within 24 hours of his resignation last December -- will have to acknowledge that the Meyer era is over. It almost ended a year ago, when Florida lost to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game. Early in the morning of Dec. 6, Meyer was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment of chest pains.

He hasn't been the same since. He seemed distant throughout this 7-5 season, the worst of his coaching career. Like his heart wasn't in it. Like he wished he was elsewhere.

College Football, College Sports, Sports, Football Read more Comments

Athletes use fame for those who will never be famous

Linda Robertson, McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Saturday, November 20, 2010 - 5:21pm

MIAMI -- Udonis Haslem began giving back to his hometown in small ways, first by donating Thanksgiving turkeys to his mother's church, then by providing financial and emotional support to the two children of a friend who died.

MLB, Charity, Sports, NBA Read more Comments

NBA's global appeal on display with Moscow team's visit

Linda Robertson, McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Friday, October 15, 2010 - 4:50pm

MIAMI -- While driving to AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday, brothers Pavel and Yuri Kopeche listened to Russian rap music to get into the mood for the Heat's game against CSKA Moscow.

Sports, Basketball, NBA Read more Comments

Vancouver's 'real world' outside Olympic bubble

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Thursday, February 18, 2010 - 9:49pm

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Kelly Flanagan has not attended any parties for fur-frocked Olympic VIPs. Nor does she have tickets for figure skating, snowboarding or hockey--although she would love to see a curling match. She never has been skiing at Whistler, a snow resort.

Olympics, Sports Read more Comments

Borich case shows damage hits can cause

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 9:46pm

Mike Borich died among strangers. He met them at a bar. Later that night he passed out and couldn't be revived. He was 42.

Drugs, Sports, College, Football Read more Comments

Eddy the Jet ready to take aim at speed skating trials for U.S. Winter Olympic team

Linda Robertson McClatchy Newspapers

Last updated Thursday, September 3, 2009 - 9:55pm

MIAMI -- As a kindergartner, Eddy Alvarez was known as "Eddy the Jet." He would put on his inline skates and fly down the sidewalk. On weekends, he performed tricks and jumps to the delight of tourists on Ocean Drive.
Thirteen years later, he has the same nickname but now he flies around the ice, in the combustible sport known as short track speedskating.
Alvarez is so fast he's among the favorites to make the U.S. Winter Olympic team during trials starting Tuesday in Marquette, Mich. He will be competing against two-time Olympic gold medalist and "Dancing With the Stars" champion Apolo Anton Ohno -- among others -- for one of five spots.

Olympics, Sports Read more Comments