It’s got to be the single most famous baseball play in which a hitter didn’t take the bat off his shoulder. Oct. 19, 2006, bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded, the Cardinals clinging to a two-run lead in Game 7 of the NLCS, and the Mets’ most feared hitter at the plate. Baseball drama doesn’t get much higher,…
Ten years ago today, the fifth-place Chicago Cubs played the first-place Chicago White Sox, lost 7-0, and gave us one of the most purely satisfying moments in baseball history, when catcher Michael Barrett responded to A.J. Pierzynski running right over him at home plate even though he didn’t even have the ball by…
Just in terms of sheer unlikeliness, Randy Johnson vaporizing a dove with a pitch is one of the most improbable things to have ever happened on a baseball diamond. That fact that it was Johnson, an ornery flamethrower if there ever was one, makes it feel almost inevitable in retrospect. The birds should consider…
It was two years ago today that T.J. Oshie helped the U.S. beat Russia at the Olympics, thanks to his shootout prowess—which was pretty much the only reason he was there. I don’t really remember how the rest of that tournament went, though.
It was one year ago today, a Sunday night game between the Giants and Cowboys, when Odell Beckham Jr. made his one-handed catch. I have absolutely nothing to add to this commemoration, other than gifting you the blessed memory of the totally fucking awesome thing that happened.
The tough thing about writing a definitive guide to anniversaries is that every couple should, quite rightly, handle them differently.
Journalists are inherently sick fucks. Of course, we need to be—that’s how we get the news, and telling the stories of disadvantaged, voiceless people is just about the best reason to get into this racket. But there’s still something gross at the heart of the impulse to turn Tragedy into Content—even amazingly great…
It definitely ain’t over ‘til it’s over. The 116-win 2001 Seattle Mariners were one of the greatest teams, in any sport, to not win a championship. Led by Lou Piniella, the team was built for success: they boasted great pitching, an impeccable knack for getting on base (their .360 OBP was the highest in the majors), a …
You charge the mound because you’re furious. Because you want to hurt someone. You know you’ll be ejected, fined, suspended, but it’s all worth it for brief taste of revenge. You never do it thinking that it all might go horribly wrong, and you might wind up on the receiving end of one of the most iconic beatdowns in…
Larry Clark and Harmony Korine’s Kids was released 20 years ago this week, but if you want to have a celebratory home screening of it, you’re going to have a harder time than you might have expected. Once as controversial a cultural property as the soon-to-be-a-Broadway-musical American Psycho was back in the day, Kids…
Baseball’s still on a break, so take a second to remember an unexpected feat that happened five years ago today: Bengie Molina hit for the damn cycle.
As we wait with increasingly dwindling patience for the U.S. women to get their shit together, I thought we could all do with some happy America fuzzy-memory time. June 23, 2010, five years ago today, Landon Donovan’s World Cup stoppage-time goal saved the USMNT from elimination, won them the group, and proved…
Seventeen years ago today—May 28, 1998—Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter made the decision to intentionally walk Barry Bonds with the bases loaded. It’s the rarest of baseball strategies, but it didn’t feel nearly as wrong as it might have: Bonds was, after all, the most fearsome hitter of all time.
“I was on my way home from bingo and got caught up here in the riots,” says Benita Buttrell, a nosy neighborhood gossip played by Kim Wayans on the ‘90s sketch-comedy show In Living Color. As she sits at a bus stop, decked out in mismatched jewelry with her signature plastic curlers still setting her hair, neighbors…
25 years ago today, Buster Douglas shocked the world and knocked out Mike Tyson, becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. This profile appeared in Sports Illustrated three years later, after Douglas had lost his title to Evander Holyfield. It has been reprinted here with the author's permission.
With all this focus on the unimaginably dumb scandal that has swallowed the brains of the stupids in the sports world, it's good to remember that there was once a time when people were justifiably shocked at behavior during a sporting event. Like the time Manchester United great Eric Cantona jumped into the stands and…
It's still stunning how quickly everything fell apart for the world's greatest golfer, last seen being a humorless prick. And it all began five years ago today: a car crash, and cheating allegations that spiraled into one of the biggest sports scandals we're ever likely to see.
The original and still the best. This is video of the Dolphins' entire game-winning drive, but the clock play itself comes at about the five-minute mark—the video should be cued up.
It was 10 years ago tonight that the Pacers and Pistons came to blows, sparking the strangest, scariest, and still, today, the most improbable NBA happening of our lives. Players fighting fans in the stands; fans fighting players on the court. It was unforgettable.
Theoretically, Lost was a career-making show. That's certainly been true for the people behind the scenes, starting with co-creator J.J. Abrams, who parlayed his infinite geek cred into control of both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. He's essentially double-fisting holy grails. Showrunners Damon Lindelof and…
