Tim Taylor Dies

I could never understand why he got so many Coach-of-the-Year awards, but it's still sad to see him go. I wonder if he got to see Yale win the NCAAs.

Here's the CHN page and the USCHO page.

Jim Hyla
I could never understand why he got so many Coach-of-the-Year awards, but it's still sad to see him go. I wonder if he got to see Yale win the NCAAs. Here's the CHN page and the USCHO page.

COTY can be for longevity or in his case longevity combined with raising the program to the next level. In Taylor's case, the next level was leading Yale to its first NCAA appearance in 46 years. Plus he may have been a nice guy and respected by his players. It may also be Yale cared about having a team in that gorgeous building and less about whether they got above .500, until a couple years ago. The obits say one national COTY and three ECAC COTY awards.

The Hartford Courant obituary noted, "Taylor lived in Guilford [CT]. He did not maintain close ties to the Yale program after leaving the program, but remained close with Allain, his first goaltender with the Bulldogs in 1976-80." Compare that with Cornell lax coach Richie Moran who left as head coach two decades ago (1997) and still is a fan of Cornell and Cornell sports and was there cheering on the Red Saturday in the Meadowlands. [elf.elynah.com]

Adam W. tweeted his article from 2006 when Taylor got the boot, an interesting read for those who care. RIP Tim.

Tim Taylor - Yale

In short: >>> [Wodon] In a sport filled with great gentlemen, Tim Taylor is perhaps at the top of the list. An extremely friendly and engaging guy, his burning desire to win was often not easy to notice, but it was there. Unfortunately, there were many more losses than wins for Taylor ...

New York Times obituary today (4/30): [www.nytimes.com]. Fairly lengthy, because Tim Taylor was of the Boston Globe Taylors, the controlling family, and the NY Times bought the Globe.

billhoward
New York Times obituary today (4/30): [www.nytimes.com]. Fairly lengthy, because Tim Taylor was of the Boston Globe Taylors, the controlling family, and the NY Times bought the Globe.

I like this quote:

Taylor, who turned around a losing program at Yale and coached the Elis for 28 seasons,...

Turned around a losing program into a most often losing program? I'll give them that it was better under him, but maybe it could have been worded differently.

Jim Hyla

billhoward
New York Times obituary today (4/30): [www.nytimes.com]. Fairly lengthy, because Tim Taylor was of the Boston Globe Taylors, the controlling family, and the NY Times bought the Globe.

I like this quote:

Taylor, who turned around a losing program at Yale and coached the Elis for 28 seasons,...

Turned around a losing program into a most often losing program? I'll give them that it was better under him, but maybe it could have been worded differently.

To be fair, the team he inherited in 1976 really was spectacularly bad. In the prior 9 years they had finished at best 11th in the 17-team ECAC, and in the prior 2 they were 1-39-1 in conference play. Under Taylor within 2 years he had them close to .500 and within 3 they were in the playoffs (top 8).

Although Yale did yo yo back and forth from the bottom in Taylor's tenure they had some very good teams. I think we are a little biased in our estimation because Cornell completely destroyed Yale during most of that time. From the 1968 through 1996 seasons Cornell went 48-13-1 in RS against Yale, and most of the good work (31-12-1) was done against Taylor.

Ken Schott reports that the Hockey Commisioners Association names its Rookie of the Year Award after Tim Taylor

I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

ftyuv
I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

Soon enough, it will. 5 Tim Tebow sports coverage tips for the lucky Boston sports columnists

billhoward

ftyuv
I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

Soon enough, it will. 5 Tim Tebow sports coverage tips for the lucky Boston sports columnists

Ha! I love it. Dan Shaughnessy will fall into all of those traps and more, I'm sure.

ftyuv

billhoward

ftyuv
I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

Soon enough, it will. 5 Tim Tebow sports coverage tips for the lucky Boston sports columnists

Ha! I love it. Dan Shaughnessy will fall into all of those traps and more, I'm sure.

Shaughnessy is one of the all-time greats of sportswriting (but even the legends have off days). Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy are sportswriting's equivalent of the (sorry) 1927 Yankees.

ftyuv
I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

Um, excuse me, Mr. Moderator? There needs to be ONE BLEEPING PLACE I can go on the Internet without having to see anything about that football guy...

Give My Regards

ftyuv
I misread the title and thought it was about Tim Tebow. I thought it was going to be a dig against the Pats.

Um, excuse me, Mr. Moderator? There needs to be ONE BLEEPING PLACE I can go on the Internet without having to see anything about that football guy...

Who? Belichek?

billhoward
Shaughnessy is one of the all-time greats of sportswriting (but even the legends have off days). Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy are sportswriting's equivalent of the (sorry) 1927 Yankees.

This is like a parody of Boston self-absorption from The Onion. Add Mitch Albom and you would have the Mount Rushmore of overrated hacks.*

(* this is not quite fair to Gammons, who had talent before being swallowed into the Bristol maw).

Trotsky

billhoward
Shaughnessy is one of the all-time greats of sportswriting (but even the legends have off days). Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy are sportswriting's equivalent of the (sorry) 1927 Yankees.

This is like a parody of Boston self-absorption from The Onion. Add Mitch Albom and you would have the Mount Rushmore of overrated hacks.*

(* this is not quite fair to Gammons, who had talent before being swallowed into the Bristol maw).

Agreed. Shaughnessy sucks. He's one of those people who sounds erudite to morons but in actuality is about as deep as a puddle.

But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Kyle Rose

Trotsky

billhoward
Shaughnessy is one of the all-time greats of sportswriting (but even the legends have off days). Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy are sportswriting's equivalent of the (sorry) 1927 Yankees.

This is like a parody of Boston self-absorption from The Onion. Add Mitch Albom and you would have the Mount Rushmore of overrated hacks.*

(* this is not quite fair to Gammons, who had talent before being swallowed into the Bristol maw).

Agreed. Shaughnessy sucks. He's one of those people who sounds erudite to morons but in actuality is about as deep as a puddle.

But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Seriously, Lupica is one of the worst.

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Seriously. I sat for a minute trying to come up with the name of any major-market sportswriter who I know I enjoy reading. Most are terrible, and seem to care more about having bronzing sessions or facelifts so ESPN will put them in one of the 60 screaming-head panel/game show slots, because TeeVee! I finally came up with Jim Caple and Tim Kurkjian. The former is more of a humorist than anything, and the latter must be a good writer, because he has the on-air personality of a halibut. I think I've also enjoyed some of Richard Justice's writing, but I don't remember any specific examples.

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Tony's great, but he doesn't write. He'd be the first to tell you.

Jordan 04

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Tony's great, but he doesn't write. He'd be the first to tell you.

Alls I knows is his daughter went to Cornell, so that wins a tiebreaker.

RichH

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Seriously. I sat for a minute trying to come up with the name of any major-market sportswriter who I know I enjoy reading.

Charlie Pierce?

jtwcornell91

RichH

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Seriously. I sat for a minute trying to come up with the name of any major-market sportswriter who I know I enjoy reading.

Charlie Pierce?

(on NPR nerd soapbox) I like him a lot as a guest panelist on "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and his weekly segment on "Only a Game" (off NPR nerd soapbox). He does have some "pompousness" that might alienate some people. But at 7 am on Saturdays (when Only a Game" airs in my local market) my "pompousness" radar is not yet functional.

RichH
[Kurkjian] must be a good writer, because he has the on-air personality of a halibut.

I love his on air personality because it's so obvious that he just absoluely loves baseball. I remember watching him talk about a game a few years ago when Texas put up 30 runs against the Orioles. He was positively gushing about what happened, not because he cared about who won or lost but because it was a remarkable ballgame. I felt the exact same way. ) I speciifically remember his voice cracking in the way that it does as he explained how the last pitched for the winning Rangers got a save in a 30-3 game.)

I like Charlie Pierce.

If you read NBA coverage:

Zack Smith at Grantland is fantastic- consistently bringing insight in his pieces.

John Hollinger has always been good at using numbers rather than his opinion- unfortunately too good, he doesn't write anymore and got picked up by the Grizzlies.

There was another guy at ESPN who wrote about the NBA and was good, can't recall his name. He did the same things Smith does with including videos and breaking them down.

BMac
I like Charlie Pierce.

If you read NBA coverage:

Zack Smith at Grantland is fantastic- consistently bringing insight in his pieces.

John Hollinger has always been good at using numbers rather than his opinion- unfortunately too good, he doesn't write anymore and got picked up by the Grizzlies.

There was another guy at ESPN who wrote about the NBA and was good, can't recall his name. He did the same things Smith does with including videos and breaking them down.

And maybe to your point, the sportswriter who matters going forward is a sportcaster.

RichH

Trotsky

Kyle Rose
But, FWIW... the same is true of pretty much all sportswriters. New Yorkers (Lupica included) are no exception.

Certainly. In the kingdom of the blind, even Tony Kornheiser can be king.

Seriously. I sat for a minute trying to come up with the name of any major-market sportswriter who I know I enjoy reading. Most are terrible, and seem to care more about having bronzing sessions or facelifts so ESPN will put them in one of the 60 screaming-head panel/game show slots, because TeeVee! I finally came up with Jim Caple and Tim Kurkjian. The former is more of a humorist than anything, and the latter must be a good writer, because he has the on-air personality of a halibut. I think I've also enjoyed some of Richard Justice's writing, but I don't remember any specific examples.

Does Joe Posnanski count? He's fantastic.

KeithK

RichH
[Kurkjian] must be a good writer, because he has the on-air personality of a halibut.

I love his on air personality because it's so obvious that he just absoluely loves baseball. I remember watching him talk about a game a few years ago when Texas put up 30 runs against the Orioles. He was positively gushing about what happened, not because he cared about who won or lost but because it was a remarkable ballgame. I felt the exact same way. ) I speciifically remember his voice cracking in the way that it does as he explained how the last pitched for the winning Rangers got a save in a 30-3 game.)

I guess I should clarify that I'm a fan of Kurkjian partly because his knowledge and enthusiam sidestepped the usual telegenic requirements needed to get on-air. Despite possessing a squeaky and squauky voice and lacking matinee-idol looks and charisma, he's just substantially good at what he does. And that's rare these days.

RichH

KeithK

RichH
[Kurkjian] must be a good writer, because he has the on-air personality of a halibut.

I love his on air personality because it's so obvious that he just absoluely loves baseball. I remember watching him talk about a game a few years ago when Texas put up 30 runs against the Orioles. He was positively gushing about what happened, not because he cared about who won or lost but because it was a remarkable ballgame. I felt the exact same way. ) I speciifically remember his voice cracking in the way that it does as he explained how the last pitched for the winning Rangers got a save in a 30-3 game.)

I guess I should clarify that I'm a fan of Kurkjian partly because his knowledge and enthusiam sidestepped the usual telegenic requirements needed to get on-air. Despite possessing a squeaky and squauky voice and lacking matinee-idol looks and charisma, he's just substantially good at what he does. And that's rare these days.

Agreed.