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Thom Loverro

Thom Loverro

tloverro@washingtontimes.com

Thom Loverro has been a professional journalist since 1977, working for a number of newspapers, including eight years as a news editor and reporter for The Baltimore Sun, where he covered government, politics, and crime. He moved into sports writing when he joined The Washington Times in 1992. He moved to The Washington Examiner as a sports columnist in 2009 and returned to The Washington Times in 2013, where he is currently the lead sports columnist.

Columns by Thom Loverro

Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson (1) catches a ball on the opening day of Washington Redskins Training Camp at Bon Secours Training Center, Richmond, Va., Thursday, July 24, 2014. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

LOVERRO: Redskins should be great before declaring greatness

The Washington Redskins seems to exist in two worlds. There is the world where they look at themselves in the mirror and say to everyone, "Damn, we're great. How can we lose? Then there is the world they have won 149 games and lost 212 since they last time they were great and couldn't lose.

July 29, 2014
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, left, and general manager Bruce Allen, center, make their way out to practice at Redskins Park, Ashburn, Va., Wednesday, August 21, 2013. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

LOVERRO: These are Bruce Allen’s Washington Redskins now

Allen has become the most powerful person owner Daniel Snyder has ever employed since he purchased the team in 1999. He arrived here in the final weeks of the 2009 debacle, the valet for soon-to-be-hired head coach and executive vice president Mike Shanahan, and now rules over everything Redskins.

July 24, 2014
FILE - This Oct. 3, 2010, file photo shows former New York Giants player and current CBS analyst Phil Simms gesturing during the Ring of Honor Ceremony during an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants at New Meadowlands Stadium, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)

LOVERRO: CBS Sports leaves broadcasters hanging in Redskins name debate

This winter, CBS paid $250 million for the rights to broadcast eight Thursday night games. Upon announcing the deal, Sean McManus declared, "The NFL is the most powerful programming in television." Apparently, not as powerful as any broadcasters who, after announcing Redskins games throughout their career, may have suddenly decided they can't live with themselves anymore and will no longer use the name.

July 22, 2014
Washington Wizards basketball and Washington Capitals hockey teams owner Ted Leonsis gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

LOVERRO: Who are the men behind D.C. 2024 curtain?

The local Olympics bid is likely going to be some form of Maryland, D.C., and Virginia effort. Local organizers are trying to do all they can to hide their bid and keep the public in the dark as long as possible, until, perhaps, through some sort of cursed miracle, all of a sudden you wake up one morning and find out the Olympics are coming to the Washington region in 2024.

July 20, 2014
Washington Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond signs autographs for fans before a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

LOVERRO: Ian Desmond could follow Jeter model in D.C.

Jeter hit the trifecta for a sports icon — money, love and respect. Desmond should have been paying close attention to Derek Jeter's All-Star evening. He, too, has that rare opportunity to win that triple crown.

July 17, 2014
FILE - In this March 21, 2001, file photo, Red Klotz, 80, owner of full-time Globetrotters' opponent the New York Nationals, smiles inside his office at his home in Margate, N.J. The basketball barnstormer who owned the Washington Generals and other teams that lost thousands of games to the Harlem Globetrotters died Monday, July 14, 2014. Louis "Red" Klotz was 93. (AP Photo/Chris Polk, File)

LOVERRO: Red Klotz an unquestioned winner despite 14,000 losses

Klotz, who died Saturday at 93, was best known for being the coach of the biggest losers the game of basketball has ever seen — the Washington Generals, the patsy for the Harlem Globetrotters — from 1953 to 1995. He lost and lost and lost. And people loved him for it.

July 15, 2014
FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2010, file photo, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James waits for play to resume in an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Hornets in Cleveland. Four years after he left for Miami, a widely criticized departure that damaged his image and crushed a long-suffering city's championship hopes, James is coming back to play for the Cavaliers to try and end Cleveland's half-century title drought. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

LOVERRO: As King James returns home, all is forgiven

James was the best player on the Miami Heat, leading them to four straight Eastern Conference titles and two NBA championships. But he was never the most beloved player on that team — the man. Now James returns to the Cavaliers, more empowered than ever, ruling over a basketball franchise that will surely respond to his every whim, however petty, to keep the King happy.

July 13, 2014
Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter speaks during a media availability in the dugout before an interleague baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Monday, July 7, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

LOVERRO: Suck-up Buck Showalter needs history lesson

Buck, the reason for the very existence of the franchise you work for now is because the owner of the Washington Senators was kind enough to let them have a team in Baltimore. And the reason you have this wonderful ballpark to play in is because of Washington and its baseball fans.

July 10, 2014
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann pauses in the dugout during a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at Nationals Park, Sunday, July 6, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

LOVERRO: Jordan Zimmermann validates wisdom of Nats’ Strasburg shutdown plan

I'm not going to argue the merits of the Strasburg shutdown yet again. But often overlooked in all the debate about Strasburg was the fact that this was the recovery plan the organization came up with for the pitcher who preceded Strasburg in the surgery and recovery path — and has made two All-Star teams since returning.

July 8, 2014
Pouring it on for Lou Gehrig and others. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

LOVERRO: ‘Luckiest man’ Lou Gehrig gave us gift of perspective 75 years ago

On Friday, July 4th, America will rediscover its connection with Lou Gehrig by the reminder of the courage of the Iron Horse's words on July 4th, 1939 — 75 years ago, when a courageous man dying of an incurable disease stood on the field at Yankee Stadium and told everyone he was the "luckiest man on the face of this earth."

July 3, 2014
Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams (9) looks at the lineup in the dugout before a spring exhibition baseball game against the New York Mets, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in Viera, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

LOVERRO: Nationals Park’s new reality series: ‘The Lineup’

Lineup cards are a baseball manager's game plan, except it is tacked up there for all the world to see, typically 3½ hours before the game is even played. It's the twin document, along with the box score, of the daily tradition of baseball, year in and year out. Opposing managers might want to be careful handling the Nationals lineup cards — they could be bloody.

July 1, 2014
Fans celebrate as the United States scores a goal against Portugal while watching a World Cup soccer match, Sunday, June 22, 2014, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

LOVERRO: American soccer hysteria just hipster hype

Soccer will grow in America. And someday, it will have a significant place at the sports consumer table in this country. But it won't be because of the hipsters who are watching now, who will go back to their "True Blood" and "Top Chef" viewing parties when the World Cup is over.

June 24, 2014
Tiger Woods struggling this week at Congressional in his return from back surgery might finally get the general public to feel sorry for the man who used to be the greatest golfer in the world. (associated press)

LOVERRO: Tiger Woods a sympathetic figure after surgery?

Maybe opening up his back — and age (he's 38) — will finally make Tiger Woods human. First, maybe Tiger needs to recognize he is human. He is making a superhuman recovery, coming back to play just four months after they cut into his back.

June 22, 2014
** FILE ** In this Sept. 23, 2012, file photo, Washington Redskins punter Sav Rocca carries a football in his helmet before an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Landover, Md. The U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday, June 18, 2014, that the Washington Redskins nickname is "disparaging of Native Americans" and that the team's federal trademarks for the name must be canceled. The ruling comes after a campaign to change the name has gained momentum over the past year. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)

LOVERRO: Hypocrites will get their way on Redskins’ name

That's the offensive part in the Washington Redskins name debate — the hypocrisy of people perfuming their righteous vanities who couldn't have cared less about the plight of Native Americans before they were told they should be offended by this name, and who will go back to caring even less if and when the name is changed.

June 19, 2014