pr Page 658 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A Father's Small Hope
Paul Solotaroff on his son Luke, who suffers from autism, and a father's small hope:...

A Little Greedy, And Exactly Right: Red Smith On Secretariat
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...

Justin Gatlin Just Beat Usain Bolt In The 100-Meter Dash
Justin Gatlin had been talking a lot of shit heading into his showdown in the 100 meters with the world's fastest man. "I like talking about it, I like getting into the feel of it, so I’m sorry, Usain,” Gatlin said. At tonight's Golden Gala in Rome, Gatlin backed up his words....

Woman Training For Half-Marathon Didn't Know She Was Pregnant
Odds are, part of the reason Trish Staine's pregnancy took her by surprise was that her husband John had a vasectomy. ...

Tim Hudson Once Filled Adam LaRoche's Glove With Human Shit
Last Friday, Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche went on MLB Network's Intentional Talk to rap about huntin' and prankin' with Chris Rose and Kevin Millar. The entire interview is below, but you should skip ahead to the 3:10-mark to hear LaRoche talk about the time he started a prank war that began...

The Black Berets: Red Smith On The Olympic Black Power Salute
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...

Hey Ma, What's For Dinner?
Esquire recently published an e-book collection of sports stories. (It's also available at Byliner.) One of the stories is available on-line and it's a good one—Scott Raab's 2001 piece on Don Zimmer: ...

Chandler Parsons Sent A Girl To Prom On A Party Bus
What does chill bro and Houston Rockets forward Chandler Parsons do when he gets asked to prom by one of his fans? He politely declines, and then sends her a bitchin' party bus....

Night For Joe Louis: Red Smith On Rocky Marciano's Knockout
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...

Gentlemen, Start Your Coffins
Another good one—Rick Reilly's 1986 SI tribute to the columnist Jim Murray—"King of the Sports Page":...

Lost and Found
Here's "Resurrecting The Champ," J.R. Moehringer's classic 1997 takeout piece for the Los Angeles Times. How about this for a lede?...

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...

Antonio Cromartie Drives A Prius, Is Financially Disciplined
In an interview with Newsday, Antonio Cromartie tells Bob Glauber that he has learned from the reckless spending that nearly ruined him in his youth and "[r]ight now, I'm all about saving money."...

The Best-Kept Secret
Another sure-shot for you—David Owen's 1982 Esquire piece on the late, great Murray Kempton: ...

Don't Mess With Texas
If you've never read it, this is a treat: Gary Cartwright's classic 1968 piece for Haper's: "Confessions of a Washed-Up Sportswriter." Here we have a first-hand account of Bud Shrake, Dan Jenkins, Blackie Sherrod and the legendary Forth Worth Press in the Fifties:...

Map: Do You Live In IHOP America Or Waffle House America?
America might be a fast-food nation, but at least it's a rich, greasy tapestry of fast food. In-N-Out Burger is the jewel of the West Coast. Massachusetts seems to breed Dunkin' Donuts franchises the way it used to breed Kennedys. Oklahoma and Wyoming are the only states to have both Hardee's and Ca...

All Night Long
Back in 1969, Jimmy Breslin spent a night hanging out with Broadway Joe Namath:...

Thieves of Time
Dig Charlie Pierce's story on Cool Papa Bell (originally published in The National back in 1990):...

Why Your Children's Television Program Sucks: <em>Super Why!</em>
A look at the awful children’s programming you’re forced to endure before you can finally kick the kids out of the TV room to watch sports for eight hours. Image by Jim Cooke....

"I'm Sure I Have Contributed To False Values": Red Smith, On Writing
Over a three-year period in the early 1970s, Chicago newspaperman Jerome Holtzman interviewed 18 sportswriters. These were men from the previous couple of generations, and they'd devoted their lives to covering sports: Fred Lib, Dan Daniel, John Drebinger, Paul Gallico, Shirley Povich, Jimmy Cannon,...