american Page 179 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Miracle Of Coogan's Bluff: Red Smith On The Shot Heard ‘Round The World
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...
This Punt Return Is A Polish Football League Highlight
Clarence Anderson destroyed the NAIA record book as a wide receiver for the Ottawa (Kan.) Braves, but his NFL dreams fell a bit short. He's playing these days for the Warsaw Eagles of the Polish American Football League, which is a thing....
The American Athletic Conference Reveals Its Logo
The American Athletic Conference (or "the American," as the cool kids say) unveiled its new logo this morning. The member schools are said to be thrilled, at least after their first choice of logos was turned down....
The Last American Hero
And since we're talking classics, how 'bout Tom Wolfe's 1965 Esquire story on Junior Johnson? ...
New Year's Baby
Check out this 1951 column by Red Smith on Mickey Mantle:...
Let it Bleed
Head on over to the Columbia Journalism Review for this appreciation of Red Smith by his son, Terence Smith:...
Grand Master
Spring brings with it a bum's rush of new sports books. This year, one of the most prized titles comes from the distinguished Library of America—American Pastimes: The Very Best of Red Smith (edited by Dan Okrent). Smith is our most venerated sports columnist and we'll have much more on him and this...
G-L-O-R-Y!
Here's a gem: "Glory!" It's a story written with great empathy and care by Jeanne Marie Laskas about the Ben-Gals cheerleaders:...
Look, Up in the Sky
From Leigh Montville's wide-grin of a book, Evel: The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend, here's a two part excerpt....
The Major Leagues Were Never Really As Black As You've Been Told
Today Tyler Kepner’s New York Times story about the dearth of African-American players in the Major Leagues quietly distinguished itself from other articles in that vein, in that it didn’t cite a popular and wrong figure about the peak of black representation in baseball....
The Old Big East Gets An Uninspired New Name
With the defection of the "Catholic 7," and the loss of the Big East name, the conference formerly known as the Big East needed a new moniker. Something that feels focus-grouped to death. Something that emphasizes its spiritual co-option of Conference USA's "we'll take anyone" business plan. Somethi...
Andrew Wiggins Goes Between The Legs On Reverse 360 Dunk
This happened at yesterday's McDonalds All-American Dunk Contest. Despite not winning the contest, Maple Jordan nearly shut the gym down with this ridiculous dunk. ...
Ronald McDonald Inspires Hockey Team With Herb Brooks's <em>Miracle</em> Speech
Fresh from your condiment-colored nightmares, here's a corporate mascot firing up a minor league hockey team, and also you. Oh, and clown trigger warning....
Infographics: Where Do High School Basketball Stars Come From, And Where Do They Go?
Last month, the McDonald's All-American Game released its 2013 rosters. The game is a showcase of some of the best high school talent in the country, which this year largely came out of Texas (five players), California (four), Florida (three), and North Carolina (two). Of these 14 players, only five...
Have Rio's U.S. Gymnastics Darlings Already Arrived? Meet Katelyn Ohashi And Simone Biles
WORCESTER, Mass.—None of the stars from the "Fierce Five," the highly meme-able gold medal team from the London Games, competed in Worcester for the American Cup last weekend. The American Cup is the only international gymnastics competition held in the U.S., but these girls are still on the final l...
ESPN Asks: When Will Anyone Pay Attention To A Famous Football Player In This Super Bowl?
OK, now that two different reporters have battled for the chance to drag the mother of a victim in the Ray Lewis murder case to the graveyard, what else can the members of the press corps do to demonstrate that their Super Bowl coverage is about the unexpected and unappreciated angles? Looks like it...
Cincinnati Will Host The 2015 MLB All-Star Game
The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that the Reds will host baseball's All-Star Game in 2015, the first time since Riverfront Stadium hosted in 1988. Bud Selig will officially announce it on Wednesday, but it's a done deal—after seven years of lobbying by the team....
College ShameDay: Why Is A Physics Professor Running The Fiesta Bowl? Your Non-BCS-Title Bowl Games FAQ
Our weekly college football shame index previews the rest of the Not National Championship bowls. ...
The "Best" American Sports Shouting 2012: An Anthology Of People Screaming Into Microphones On TV And Radio
As the guest editor of this year's edition of the Best American Sports Writing anthology, American sports television host Michael Wilbon, a former columnist, seized the opportunity to hold forth on the sorry state of the craft. Here he is, for instance, discussing the book in a November interview:...
College ShameDay: Would Air Force Losing To Rice Be Our Country's Most Shameful Military Defeat? A Shitty Bowl Games FAQ
Our weekly college football shame index previews the bowls through New Year's Eve. ...