The Snapple folks proudly and cleverly proclaim their beverages are made with the “best stuff on earth.“ What, then, is a nice company like Snapple doing with a drink like this—Venom Death Adder? Venom Death Adder is made with stuff, but it is not necessarily the best stuff on earth....

We live in strange and contradictory times. Two bumper stickers, seen on the same car, sum things up nicely. One said, “Save the Bay.“ Another said, “Raise my taxes, lose my vote.“ There is a correlation between those ideas. Cities, counties and states need money to operate, and...

This column was originally going to be about noodling, the mostly insane practice of angling for catfish with one’s hand popular in parts of the country where people often have more all-terrain vehi cles than teeth. I was all set to go noodling (what does that say about my sanity - or total teeth?)....

In New York City in 2008, 75 people with no prior criminal records were charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. All agreed to plea bargains that reduced the charge to at tempted possession of a weapon in the second degree. According to statistics from the New York state Division of...

S100 batting helmet The first major-league baseball game I saw in person was the Cleveland Indians vs. the Washington Senators in 1965. When Rocky Colavito came to bat for Cleveland, I noticed he was wearing the same cap to hit as he wore in the field. I pointed this out to my father, who said Colavito...

Do the University of Richmond Spiders have what it takes to hold on to their football title? Sports columnist Paul Woody gets a lift from a few players while he considers that.

All the games Brett Favre has played, all the touchdowns he has thrown, all the toughness he has shown will sound great at his Hall of Fame induction. That will take place five years after Favre’s NFL retirement. If he ever retires. At the moment, Favre is on the verge of becoming a laughingstock....

SANTA CATALINA ISLAND, Calif. For most of his adult life, Eddie Harrison operated a glass bottom boat, giving tours to visitors of this mountainous island 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles. In his spare time, he was a poet. My fellow hikers and I dis cover this in the middle of a grueling almost-three-hour...

You wouldn’t know it to hear him talk, but sports columnist Paul Woody is a voracious reader of classic books—as long as they’re about hockey or basketball.

Sorry, golf is not an Olympic sport. Any sport that has its own channel, has a country club aura and is on television almost every weekend does not fit the description of an Olympic sport. Badminton, now there’s an Olympic sport. Tomorrow, the International Olympic Committee will announce the two...

My first thought after hearing about Urban Meyer’s new contract was, “Whew. Now he can give up that part-time job at the convenience store.“ My second thought was that $4 million per year must be the top salary in the country for a college football coach. My first thought was a weak...

For 26 years now, Hugh Crittenden has been putting on the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. It’s the longest running and best-attended show of its kind in the state, despite focusing exclusively on hunting. Crittenden, a full-time taxidermist, could put forward the same show every year with the...

The quote, “Millions for defense, not a cent for tribute,“ often is attributed to Thomas Jefferson. In fact, it was said by someone else—Washington Red skins owner Dan Snyder. Actually, it was said by Robert Goodloe Harper, a South Carolina congressman, in 1798. It’s a better...

Ever wanted to learn a new language? Gain some culture? Impress your friends? Let me suggest one. All it will cost is $2 for a slender paperback book. It’ll take lots of work, but if you stick with it, you’ll soon be fluent. The best part is you barely have to leave your back yard. The language?...

International swimming holds the attention of sports fans once every four years, during the Olympics. So, it was a bit of a shock to watch the Beijing Games and see men and women stand on the starting blocks wearing slick black wet suits. As a fashion statement, it was da bomb. As a competitive statement,...

Sports columnist Paul Woody handicaps the Hall of Fame chances of baseball great Pete Rose and the newly retired (again) Brett Favre. Also, expect a cameo by “The Mezmorizer.“

This being Virginia, history is deposited everywhere like sediment from the flooding of a mighty river. America’s first colonists washed ashore at Jamestown, and a stone’s throw away at Yorktown, the British surrendered to George Washington. Just more than an hour west of there is Richmond,...

Late in the 1919 baseball season, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and several other players made an agreement on the outcome of the next day’s contest. All except Cobb placed bets on the game. It wasn’t that Cobb was a paragon of virtue. He just was not able to get his money down in time. When Ban...

Michael Vick now is free to move around the country, provided he checks with his probation officer. Vick is far from free to join an NFL team. He remains suspended indefinitely by Commissioner Roger Goodell. A decision on Vick’s football future needs to be made as quickly as possible, not for Vick’s...

If you are interested in tightening your abdominals or improving your sex life, Men’s Health magazine has plenty of advice for you. Every issue, or so it seems, has stories on those topics. That’s all well and good. But there is one thing about Men’s Health that is not so good. In the...

Fish and I fall for lure hook, line and sinker I’m a sucker for infomercials. It’s embarrassing, but true. It started years ago with the AB Dolly, a plastic board on wheels that promised to turn my flabby abs into cold, hard steel. It continued early one morn ing this past fall. I turned...

I take Whitman’s words down to the water. The Potomac is warm today, almost warmer than the air this July 4, another strange day in a string of them this young summer. But it’s a good day for leaning and loafing, and this is as fine a place as I’ve yet found for idle pursuits.

The ideal place for government involvement in sports is on the sidelines. The ideal rarely is met. Politicians use public funds to build stadiums. Government officials woo professional franchise owners with tax breaks and other subsidies. Without government involvement, Major League Baseball probably...

Charles Barkley is right. Sadly. Barkley, a former NBA star and current TNT basketball analyst, long has insisted athletes should not be viewed as role models. Still, we cling to the idea, the hope, that these men who are capable of such amazing performances on the field are equally amazing off the field....

At its best, NASCAR superspeedway racing is a captivating combination of speed, power and strategy. At its worst, superspeedway racing with restrictor plates on the engines is a dangerous en deavor, a catastrophe waiting to happen. The Coke Zero 400 at Daytona on Saturday night was the best and worst...

By my estimation, there are two things unique to Richmond—its history and the James River. I’m not alone in this thinking, I know, because each was identified as one of seven “foundations” for the downtown master plan. I live where I do—the Woodland Heights section of Richmond—because...

There’s a lot in the news about the economy turning around. Here’s a headline about foreclosures leveling off. There’s one that says housing starts are up. Says here the stock market is rallying and consumer confidence is improving. I say blah, blah, blah: Let the bad times roll. Before...

As omens go, the start of the SunTrust Indy Challenge seemed to have a very bad one. Jacques Lazier ran into the wall before completing the first lap, bringing out a caution flag. During his interview soon after that—a guy who doesn’t finish a lap gets interviewed?—Lazier managed to...

Two big-time racing circuits, IRL and NASCAR, would benefit greatly from Danica Patrick’s presence in 2010. Patrick seems intrigued by the challenge presented by NASCAR. Danica Patrick is not just a driver on the Indy Racing League circuit. She is “a brand.“ And that brand is . . ....

I’d like to say anyone can make the trip to Occoneechee State Park and truly experience its almost 2,700 acres as I did. It’s true, anyone can rent a pontoon boat at the park near Clarksville and explore miles of undisturbed coastline on Buggs Island Lake. And, yes, anyone can reserve a campsite,...