explainers Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
What Are The Laws Of War, And Why Do They Matter?
There are laws in war....
The Complete Guide To Understanding Chess
You probably remember the rules of chess, but what’s actually happening there on the board? How many moves are Grandmasters really thinking ahead? Why do they never actually checkmate the opponent? Is my life just like a game of chess?...
The Complete Guide To Understanding Rugby
Rugby union is the closest sporting equivalent to a demolition derby. Why are they lifting each other up in the air? Why was that not a penalty for straight-up killing someone? Why am I hurting just watching it on TV?...
The Complete Guide To Understanding Darts<em></em>
Although none of us will ever be in the same supreme physical shape as professional darts players, we can still watch them with envy. Why aren’t they aiming for the bullseye? Is that a referee or the town crier? Is anyone in the crowd driving home?...
The Complete Guide To Understanding Australian Rules Football
Aussie rules footy! The greatest sport ever invented! Is it the same as rugby? Why aren’t they wearing helmets? Did that team just earn a point for missing the goals?...
Who's Getting What Now? NFL Free Agency For Dummies
If you’re an NFL fan paying attention to free-agency news, you’ve likely been inundated all week with breathless reports of interest and consideration and the occasional chatter about monster deals. (Monster!) You’re also probably seeing a lot of financial figures getting tossed around, and many of ...
Canadian Super Bowl Broadcaster Forced To Air Stupid American Ads For Free<em></em>
This morning, a spokesman for Bell Media announced that the company would be laying off an undisclosed amount of workers at over two dozen locations. With over 6,000 employees, Bell is Canada’s largest media company. They are the parent company of Canadian sports giant TSN and they have broadcast pa...
The Complete Guide To Understanding Cricket
If you aren’t familiar with cricket, it can be a difficult game to follow. There are a number of elements similar to baseball, paired with others that are utterly unique and sometimes baffling. It can be difficult to understand what strategies the players are pursuing, and even fundamental questions...
The Casual Observer's Guide To The Tour De France
Professional cycling is pretty damn boring as a televised spectacle. The bike guys ride for like six hours; they go up and down hills; they occasionally crash; the only highlights are one bike guy going faster than the other bike guys. There are no dunks, no tackles—just different groups of the same...
A Brief Guide To The Panama Papers
A big, bold news story, speaking truth to power. You feel compelled to pay attention, but also feel your eyes glazing over trying to process it all. In terms of sheer scale, the Panama Papers leak is a lot to digest, even for professional news digesters. So a summary for the lazy: the politically po...
A Beginner's Guide To The Inane Supreme Court Nomination Process
This morning, after weeks of speculation, President Obama tapped Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the D.C. Court of Appeals to assume the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Justice Scalia. But the president’s formal announcement of his choice from among many attractive, well-qualified candidates i...
Motorized Doping, Explained: Your Guide To The Weirdest Sports Scandal Of The Year
This weekend, Femke Van den Driessche, a 19-year-old Belgian cyclocross racer, lined up at the U-23 World Championships. She’d previously won the Euros and the Belgian championships, and she was the favorite to get herself a set of rainbow stripes. But she had a bad race, and was forced to exit with...
Everything You Need To Know About Les Miles' Job Status
Les Miles is one of the most accomplished coaches in college football. He’s won a national championship, a pair of SEC titles, and has kept LSU near the top of the SEC standings for a decade. Under Miles, LSU has secured a top-10 recruiting class almost every year. And yet, it appears that Miles is ...
Your Guide To The Craziest Sports Scandal You Aren't Paying Attention To
I get it. You see a headline like “Real Madrid Star Karim Benzema Charged In Sextape Blackmail Case” or “Transcript: Karim Benzema Helped Facilitate Blackmail Plot Against Teammate Over Sextape” and you aren’t quite moved. Sure, words like sex tape and blackmail seem juicy, but who is Karim Benzema ...
Who Is Paul Dunne? Your Guide To Golf's Hottest Amateur
Unless you’re a huge UAB men’s golf fan, chances are you didn’t know who Paul Dunne was before this weekend. So let’s get caught up to speed....
Let's Explore The Corrupt Town That Inspired <i>True Detective </i>
How are you enjoying #TrueDetectiveSeason2 so far? It’s okay, right? I don’t know, maybe it kind of sucks. Anyway, if you’re like me, you’ve spent a good chunk of the first three episodes being a little confused by the city-corruption storyline. We’ve been told that there are a lot of “deals being d...
The Astros Are Good Now. What The Hell?
If you’re like a lot of sports fans, there’s a good chance that you are just now starting to pay attention to baseball. You’ve finally recovered from all those sleepless nights spent watching NBA playoff games, the world around you is starting to fall into a summer malaise, and you’re ready to spend...
They're Gonna Crucify Me: A Heathen's Guide To Easter
Life gets more complicated and demanding as you become an adult. Children are not expected to know much of anything—or to understand the meaning and significance of stuff, or to buy their own beer—so long as they interact with the world sweetly and cutely, and from time to time throw in an unprom...
No Jokes, Period: A Polite Guy's Guide To A Girl's Time Of The Month
Sometimes the most basic piece of information is also the most helpful, and so, as we begin what I should warn you up front will be a long, intense treatise on this topic, let me tell you this: No two women's periods are alike. Our periods are as unique as we are, which, of course, makes understandi...
46 Times Vox Totally Fucked Up A Story
If you work in the media, you're going to get things wrong. Accuracy and timeliness are in conflict, and when you're dealing with vast amounts of information, accuracy will sometimes suffer. No one is happy about this, but it's how it is, and this is the tradeoff you implicitly accept when reading n...