excerpts - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Lost Legend And Secret Legacy Of Table Tennis Master Rong GuotuanThis is an excerpt from Eric Nusbaum’s new weekly Substack newsletter Sports Stories, where he’ll be writing about sports, history, and sports history. He hopes you will subscribe here, and share these stories with your friends, families, and table tennis practice partners. The version of this in t...

Did Bum Phillips Ruin Earl Campbell?Like most Oilers—or “Earlers,” as they were known as their star galloped his way to Rookie of the Year and two MVP trophies his first couple of years in the league—Earl Campbell loved playing for the cowboy-hatted, easy-going Bum Phillips, who was always easy with a wisecrack. Bum once said of the t...

What Gymnastics Did To Jessica HowardWhen Jessica Howard entered the world of gymnastics in 1987, she was three years old and wore a pink leotard adorned with poodles. She would go on to become a three-time national champion and later serve on the board of USA Gymnastics. The experience would nearly kill her....

The NFL Holdout That Caused A Homicide (Justifiable, The Jury Said)

In the 1981 offseason, feeling underpaid and unhappy about Oilers owner Bud Adams’s treatment of former coach Bum Phillips, Earl Campbell asked for a raise. Only a year earlier, at the close of Campbell’s second season, the normally tightfisted Oilers had agreed to restructure Campbell’s rookie cont...

The Night The Dodgers And Pirates Decided To Hold Their Brawl Off The Field

Sagging through the dog days, the Dodgers needed a jolt. Luckily, they had an ideal jolter in their clubhouse. Reggie Smith wasn’t the same player he’d been even recently, his damaged shoulder leaving him unable to throw and limiting him to pinch-hitting duty in every one of his 20 appearances throu...

Jerry Remy On His Son's “Unforgivable” Crime

On August 15, 2013, Jared Remy, a former Red Sox security staffer and son of longtime broadcaster Jerry Remy, fatally stabbed Jennifer Martel, his fiancée and the mother of his daughter. Jared had a history of violence toward women, assault, and steroid use. He is currently serving life in prison wi...

When The Allies Wanted A German Nuclear Scientist Dead, They Sent A Ballplayer To Kill Him

The following is an excerpt from The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb, by Sam Kean. The book is out today and can be purchased here....

Twenty Years Ago, Bobby Valentine Snuck Back Into The Dugout And Woke Up The Mets

This is an excerpt from Matthew Callan’s book Yells For Ourselves: A Story Of New York City And The New York Mets At The Dawn Of The New Millennium....