Sunday, January 11 2009
The 2008 Stickies
To celebrate the past 12 months of infuriating and entrancing sports culture, PopMatters proudly presents the Sticky Wickets Awards for the best and worst in Global Sports.
Sunday, December 14 2008
The Thinking Voice of the NFL: A Conversation with Mike Carlson
"If I was doing the same thing in the States, I’d probably be getting lot more criticism, not only from the fans but also from the people themselves."
Monday, December 1 2008
Change Some Can’t Believe In
Lewis Hamilton, the precocious, handsome son of a black father and white mother (remind you of anyone?), is the Formula One Champion of the world.
Wednesday, October 29 2008
Open Season on Zebras
If prime time sports were a new invention, as opposed to the end result of well over 100 years of recreational history, would the powers that be entrust management of the games to old men with whistles?
Tuesday, September 23 2008
The Life and Death of the English Football Song
Collapsed Lung's "Eat My Goal" is but one indication that the cute, fun, just 'getting behind the team' football song of days gone by had now become big business.
Wednesday, August 13 2008
Olympic Addiction? Guilty as Charged
Collins appeals to the Pope for forgiveness of his Olympics addiction -- human rights issues be damned.
Thursday, July 31 2008
Lucha Libre London
Twenty and 30-something Londoners, all eager to dive headfirst off the turnbuckle into another culture, weren’t going to be disappointed.
Tuesday, June 17 2008
Brian Johnston: Tickled with Cricket
French historian Jacques Barzun famously wrote that to understand America, one must understand baseball. Perhaps to understand the English, he should have tuned in to Test Match Special.
Wednesday, May 21 2008
The Stars of Track and Screen
People who love sports love sports stars turned actors far more than we love actors playing sports stars.
Wednesday, April 23 2008
A Formula One Fairy Tale
Gather round children, and I’ll tell a tale tragic yet true of the demise of the sport old timers once called Formula One.
Monday, March 17 2008
Surviving Le Crunch
On rugby rivalry, Anglo-French relations, and places in Paris that Englishmen should avoid.
Thursday, February 28 2008
A Little Personality Goes a Long Way
If sport is the new entertainment, its stars need to astound, amuse and bemuse us. I’m not asking for the full Bobby Fischer, but an occasional bit of craziness would definitely be welcome.
Wednesday, January 23 2008
The Flying Dartsmen
“Steve Beaton -- The Adonis of darts, what poise, what elegance -- a true roman gladiator with plenty of hair wax.”
Friday, January 4 2008
The Zen of Cheating
While cheating is allegedly the bane of every sportsperson and sports fan’s existence, the only crime, from the cheater’s point of view, is being caught.
Monday, November 19 2007
Transatlantic (American) Football
PopMatters columnist, hyperventilating with hero worship, rushes the NFL in London.
Tuesday, October 23 2007
What’s in a (Nick) Name?
A good nickname can show the reverence fans or the media have for the athlete, and it can demonstrate a wicked sense of humour, but always, it should demonstrate that sport, at its essence, should maintain a sense of fun.
Wednesday, October 3 2007
Three Strikes You’re Oot!
Billions of us around the world have never had the opportunity to swing at a split-fingered fastball or slide into second on a steal. Maybe that's why anytime we’re in America (or Canada), we dash to the baseball stadium.
Wednesday, August 29 2007
A Cultural Preview of the 2007 Rugby World Cup
Rugby 101: the proverbial game for ruffians played by gentlemen (as opposed to soccer, a game for gentlemen played by ruffians).
Wednesday, July 25 2007
Direct from the Speedy Streets of London
Reports of the Tour De France’s death have been greatly exaggerated. London's million-strong crowd was unrelentingly optimistic about the race and its future.
Wednesday, June 27 2007
The Fannish Inquisition
Loyalty to the local team doesn't hold much water, these days. There's a hardcore Diaspora of sports fans who stubbornly refuse to go with the crowd.
Wednesday, May 23 2007
Hearts of Lions
The 1997 British & Irish Lions and the greatest sports movie of all time.
Wednesday, April 25 2007
A Look Back at the Decline of English Soccer. Spring, 2057
The early 2000s was a time of great sporting innocence around the globe: the NFL still claimed to have an active drugs policy, Tiger Woods’ alien DNA was still undiagnosed, and it was three years before the revelations about Barry Bonds and Dick Cheney’s clandestine relationship would shock America.
Thursday, March 8 2007
Coming ‘Out’ to Play
American sports fans may consider themselves a more level-headed bunch than their seemingly always rioting European equivalents, but they excel at hurtling vitriol at 'out' gay players.
Sunday, February 25 2007
A Hopeful Immigrant’s Letter, Intercepted
A tip for the riff-raff trying to squeeze through the INS bureaucracy or slip past the US Border Patrol: try bending it like Beckham.
Thursday, January 25 2007
Burning Ambitions
The Ashes is among the oldest sporting rivalries in the world. It just happens to define two nations.
