frank-deford - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Salute to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, the show that sports fans neededReal Sports with Bryant Gumbel has been on the air for 29 seasons. Unfortunately, it will not make it to 30. Gumbel has decided to step away from the show and there will be no replacement. According to the Los Angeles Times, HBO has decided to end Real Sports, and no reason was provided....

Only the NBA has teams in all three of Atlanta, New Orleans and Memphis and the league is much better for itAt Smoothie King Center in New Orleans they serve frozen daiquiris, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta there is a barbershop, at FedExForum in Memphis they regularly play, from the Oscar winning film Hustle and Flow, “Whoop that Trick.” ...

A 'NATIONAL' DISASTER: How wild, reckless spending sent this country's first and last sports daily to an early grave — from someone who was thereBorn on death row, The National Sports Daily perished of its own hand 30 years ago today, June 13, 1991....

How Frank Deford Helped Pro Wrestling Journalism Become Very Real

To understand what Frank Deford, who died at 78 this past week, did for professional wrestling, you need to go back to one of his most famous articles, one which profiled what was, at the time, the other most popular entertainment sport in America. “The Roller Derby,” which was published in the Marc...

Iconic Sports Writer Frank Deford Dead At 78

Frank Deford, the legendary sports writer who worked for Sports Illustrated and NPR for decades, died yesterday in his home in Key West. Deford wrote some of Sports Illustrated’s most celebrated profiles, and he began to work as a correspondent for NPR’s Morning Edition in 1980. He retired from the ...

Almost a Hero

"Almost a Hero," Frank Deford's 2001 SI bonus piece on Max Schmeling:...

Jimmy Breslin, Jerry Izenberg And The Old Days

Back in 2008, my pal Todd Drew wrote about going to see Jimmy Breslin speak at the now-closed Barnes and Noble on 66th street, across the street from Lincoln Center, and just a few blocks north from where bar-restaurants like The Ginger Man and Saloon and O’Neal’s Ballon used to stand:...

Battle Of The Sexes

Next month, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "The Battle of the Sexes," American Masters will premier their show on Billie Jean King. It's the first time in the program's history that a sports figure has been profiled. And this Sunday over at ESPN, Outside the Lines will feature a segment on Kin...