tldr Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Why Are Canadians So Bonkers About Curling?
A white-haired man in a kilt is hustling around the tunnels of Maurice Richard Arena, right next door to Olympic Stadium in Montreal, trying to get organized. "Come on, ladies!" he shouts, at nobody in particular. "We've got four minutes and we're on!"...
The Big Book Of Black Quarterbacks
On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks walked all over the Denver Broncos, 43-8, to win Super Bowl XLVIII. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson passed for 206 yards, ran for 26 more, threw two touchdowns, and made National Football League history. He became the second African-American quarterback ever to st...
How Greg Jackson Is Changing The Parameters Of Coaching
Last year, we spent a week with Greg Jackson, a top fight trainer, as he and his team prepared four athletes to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. We were granted unusual behind-the-scenes access so that we could answer a fairly straightforward question: Just what does a great coach do, ...
Did Football Cause 20 Deaths In 1905? Re-Investigating A Serial Killer
On the last day of the 1905 college football season, Harvard hosted Yale in the 26th meeting between the two teams. At one point in the typically low-scoring affair, Harvard's Francis Burr trotted back to return a punt. As the ball fluttered through the air, Burr called for a fair catch. Then things...
How Will Muschamp And Florida Sold Their Disastrous Season
I wasn't yet in Gainesville for the first press conference, held immediately after the season opener. Will Muschamp's Florida Gators had just demolished Toledo in a tune-up, an easy victory foreseen by just about everybody. The Gators had gone 11-1 the previous regular season, and only BCS politics ...
I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot
Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team. At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was because of my recent activism for same-sex marriage rights, and I was very careful in how I ...
GSP Is Being Honest; It's The Best Thing That Could Happen To Fighting
So UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is disappearing from the fight game for an indefinite and unspecified period of time, relinquishing his title and taking time to rest from a career that's seen him spend more time fighting in the UFC than anyone else ever has. Whether or not he ever ret...
Finding Gillooly: What Happened To Figure Skating's Infamous Villain?
"Twenty years," said Jeff Stone, standing at the door of his home in Clackamas, Ore. "Is that what it is?"...
Jameis Winston Isn't The Only Problem Here: An FSU Teacher's Lament
We love the game. We love the players, too, even when they scare us....
What Happens When Teammates Rape A Teammate?
This piece originally ran at The Sport Spectacle....
Can Dirtbags, Pretty Ladies, And Twitter Save Horse Racing?
If you're like the average American, your experience of major horse races centers on one: the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps you know a bit more about the sport and follow the Preakness and the Belmont as well, putting a bit of money down in the same spirit in which you'd pick a bracket and talking up Trip...
Unspinning The Mythical Gyroball, The Demon Miracle Pitch That Wasn't
Once feared, now largely forgotten, the gyroball retains a stubborn hold on the baseball imagination. Perhaps Red Sox closer Koji Uehara can put the pitch to rest:...
No Punter Left Behind: How One Guru Made The Art Of Kicking A Science
It's just past noon on Oscar Sunday and Chris Sailer is leading film study in a creaky, sun-drenched auditorium in the bowels of Notre Dame High School's Spanish–style campus in Sherman Oaks, Calif....
The Man Who Doesn't Exist: How Canelo Álvarez Became A Myth
Juanacatlán, Jalisco, sits on the slopes of lush foothills, 20 miles southeast of Guadalajara. To reach the town from the highway, you have to pass through its industrial neighbor El Salto, then cross the Río Grande de Santiago, one of Mexico's most polluted rivers, on a two-lane bridge adorned with...
Why Do Tennis Players Say "Come On!" So Much?
On Tuesday, in front of a small crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the inconsistent Serbian Ana Ivanoivc had an early lead on Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round at the U.S. Open. At the end of a 14-shot rally late in the first set, Ivanovic slapped a weak forehand into the net. ...
How An ESPNer Found Out The "Battle Of The Sexes" Was Probably Fixed
As usual, this one started with a tip. It came courtesy of Hal Shaw, a 79-year-old man who lived in Florida. ESPN investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr. knew him. The two had met when Van Natta was researching his 2011 biography of Babe Didrikson Zaharia. Shaw once worked at the country club that...
The Helmet Con: How To Make A Buck Off The Concussion Crisis
"It helps with the ringing in my ears." James Harrison was on the phone, explaining that he collided with other human beings with such ferocity that his ears would ring for hours after games. He was worried about this....
The Long Con: How The Manziels Conquered America
When news broke eight days ago that reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel faces an NCAA investigation into whether he sold autographs, the college football world reacted with either confusion or outright skepticism. After all, the press had created an image of the Manziel family that sugges...
Can Diamond Dallas Page Save Wrestling's Walking Dead?
Diamond Dallas Page needs to make some phone calls. He's sitting in a high-backed chair at the head of a gigantic, cherry-wood table in the dining room of his home in Smyrna, Ga. He calls this his Sons of Anarchy room, because the table reminds him of the one the bikers in the television show sit ar...
The Chargers' Doctor Is A Drunk Quack. Why Haven't They Fired Him?
The California Medical Board believes that David Chao should lose his medical license. Nearly two dozen former patients who have sued him since 1998—alleging in all the medical superfecta of malpractice, personal injury, negligence, and fraud—would agree. Dissenting: the NFL and the San Diego Charge...