review Page 728 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
This Is The Most Important Passage In Ta-Nehisi Coates's New Book
Last Tuesday, The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates dropped his second book, Between the World and Me, to nigh-unanimous critical acclaim. It deserves it, because it’s an indescribably enlightening, enraging, important document about being black in America today. Coates is perhaps the best we have, and th...
Only the Lonely
Over at The New York Review of Books, check out this essay by the late Mark Strand on Edward Hopper:...
<i>Dope </i>Is A Buoyant '90s Throwback That Does Most Of The Right Things
1. Dope is a movie about ’90s hip-hop and black culture, but it feels like a throwback in other ways, too. That decade, somewhat amazingly, was the last time movies like this existed on a semi-regular basis: ambitious, original, almost-raw movies by black people about black life, aimed at a national...
Ty Cobb Was No One's Antihero
For no obvious reason, 2015 has become the summer of Ty Cobb. Two new books about the famously belligerent outfielder are in print this year, one from SI editor Charles Leerhsen and another, more ambitiously-subtitled one—War on the Basepaths: The Definitive Biography of Ty Cobb—by independent histo...
Here Is Everything You Need To Know About Every Women's World Cup Team
This here blog post is where you can find our previews on all 24 nations competing in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. ...
Women's World Cup Group F Preview: Everyone's Fighting For Second Place
Here’s your Group F hub, where you’ll find team previews, fixtures, and our predictions. ...
If Colombia Are Going To Win, They're Going To Have To Win Ugly
There are two ways to look at Colombia’s women’s national team....
If Beautiful Soccer Makes You Happy, Root For France
It’s simple, really. If you’re American, and watching the 2015 World Cup out of national pride, you should root for the United States of America. If you want to see the best team just flat-out overpowering their overmatched victims, don’t miss a Germany game. But if you’re tuning in to have fun, to ...
Can Mexico's American Players Deliver <i>Las Tri</i> Their First World Cup Win?
Three weeks ago, Mexico played the United States in a friendly before the World Cup. At half, the score was 1-1. At full time, the score was 5-1. Both scorelines felt about right....
The Only Shot England Have Of Winning The World Cup Is Losing
You want to believe that this is England’s time. They destroyed their competition in a near-perfect World Cup qualifying campaign, only conceding once, winning all 10 matches, and only needing nine matches to punch their ticket to Canada. They’ve matched their highest ranking ever. They’re deep, and...
It's Their First World Cup, But Don't Count Spain Out Just Yet
Among World Cup teams, Spain are an anomaly; a debutant with the potential to advance deep in the tournament, or at least to knock off a heavyweight. If you are surprised that a country with as rich of a soccer heritage as Spain has never before qualified for the World Cup, well, let me introduce yo...
South Korea's Attack Might Soon Be The Most Fearsome In The World
In the year 2017 or 2019, we might be talking about South Korea as a darkhorse candidate to win the World Cup. But since it is 2015, this tournament will serve as a kind of measuring stick to size up the Taegeuk Ladies’s progress. South Korea have always existed in the awkward middle ground of Asian...
Will An Innovative Approach To World Cup Training Pay Off For Brazil?
You probably remember this moment triumphantly, but Brazilians certainly don’t. The quarterfinal matchup at the 2011 World Cup between Brazil and the United States went into extra time, and Marta scored just two minutes in. The Americans, down a woman since a 65th minute red card, assaulted the goal...
For A Minnow, Costa Rica's Young Team Is Fun To Watch
There has always been a very clear pecking order in CONCACAF women’s soccer. The United States are the dominant team, and lose infrequently to Canada and even more infrequently to Mexico. They are the only three teams to ever qualify for the World Cup from the continent, but in 2014 Costa Rica becam...
Women's World Cup Group D Preview: The Group Of Death Needs More Chill
Here is your Group D hub, where you can find everything you need to know about the Group of Death....
What Happens If The Nigerians Just Start Wrecking Shit? What Then?
Listen: No one is saying Nigeria are definitely going to descend into the Group of Death, do battle with three of the top 10 teams in the world, emerge on the other side unscathedish, demolish whatever knockout-stage horrors await them, and take a real shot at this thing. No one is saying that. But,...
This Is Sweden's Last Best Chance At World Cup Glory
Sweden are good—very good—and have been for some time. They have qualified for each and every World Cup; they rumbled all the way to the final in 2007; in 2011, they made history by being the first and only team to ever beat the United States in a World Cup group stage match en route to a third-plac...
After Years Of Climbing, Have Australia Finally Reached The Mountaintop?
There’s a narrative that national teams understandably try to claim for themselves during World Cup years. That narrative goes something like this: Since our inception, we have slowly climbed the mountain, making slow, sure strides toward the summit. There are hiccups and rockslides and detours and ...
If Anything, The USWNT Might Be <i>Too</i> Stacked
When the United States Women’s National Team takes the pitch, they’ll be tasked with navigating the largest and deepest World Cup field ever. Though the Olympic gold medal more or less belongs to the USWNT—remember this?—they have tended to come up short on the sport’s biggest stage. They’ve advance...
Women's World Cup Group C Preview: The Champs And A Bunch Of Newbies
Here’s all our Group C stuff for your reading pleasure....