thenational - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Death Of A CowboySometimes you read a story and everything about it is in harmony—narrative, character, setting, emotion, and insight. Such is the case with Peter Richmond's 1990 tribute to Lane Frost. I'll get out of the way now and let you appreciate it for yourself:...
Bill Murray, The Sports FanSince we're talking Chicago this week, it's a good time to revisit Peter Richmond's story about hanging with Bill Murray that we reprinted earlier this year....
Thieves of Time
Dig Charlie Pierce's story on Cool Papa Bell (originally published in The National back in 1990):...
And This Is Why We Need Grantland
If you haven't yet read Charlie Pierce's Grantland essay about his time at The National, you should, and not just because it's Pierce hanging out in Bill Simmons's house, and not just because it's the best appreciation of the much-appreciated National you'll find. You should read it because it's ess...
Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 3,296
Ryan Leaf, having long ago surpassed the vaunted trifecta of failure, has just signed a three-part book deal. The CougFan.com columnist and former NFL player will write three books about the greatest tale of human tragedy known to sports: Ryan Leaf....
Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 987
It seems like twice a year there's a new Ryan Leaf story published, updating us on the whereabouts of the NFL's bust-of-all-busts who is always on the verge of a personal rebirth. Here we go again....
Another Eulogy For <em>The National</em>
Bud Shaw has a nice reminiscence of his time at The National, the short-lived sports daily over which media people of a certain age get understandably wistful, at least when they're not getting wistful over Spy. [Mental Floss]...
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Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders. Part 87
New blue blood/great white hope, Ryan Leaf has finally kicked his silly vicodin addiction and is busy starting his life over (again) in "environmentally soothing" Vancouver, B.C. He says he's finally found the cause of his personal problems — football....
Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 47
New blue blood/Great white hope, Ryan Leaf was finally captured at the US-Canada border after dodging Texas authorities for close to a month. [San Diego Tribune]...
Remembering The Long-Dead "The National"
Old-time media people might remember the short-lived "The National," a daily national sports newspaper founded by Frank Deford and featuring a lot of names you probably didn't know in the early '90s but certainly do now (Chris Mortensen, Keith Olbermann, Scott Ostler). As romantic as the idea of a d...