Sticky Wickets

The 2008 Stickies

[11.Jan.09] :. 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.

The Thinking Voice of the NFL: A Conversation with Mike Carlson

[14.Dec.08] :. "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."

Change Some Can’t Believe In

[1.Dec.08] :. 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.

Open Season on Zebras

[29.Oct.08] :. 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?

The Life and Death of the English Football Song

[23.Sep.08] :. 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.

Olympic Addiction? Guilty as Charged

[13.Aug.08] :. Collins appeals to the Pope for forgiveness of his Olympics addiction -- human rights issues be damned.

Lucha Libre London

[31.Jul.08] :. Twenty and 30-something Londoners, all eager to dive headfirst off the turnbuckle into another culture, weren’t going to be disappointed.

Brian Johnston: Tickled with Cricket

[17.Jun.08] :. 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.

The Stars of Track and Screen

[21.May.08] :. People who love sports love sports stars turned actors far more than we love actors playing sports stars.

A Formula One Fairy Tale

[23.Apr.08] :. Gather round children, and I’ll tell a tale tragic yet true of the demise of the sport old timers once called Formula One.

Surviving Le Crunch

[17.Mar.08] :. On rugby rivalry, Anglo-French relations, and places in Paris that Englishmen should avoid.

A Little Personality Goes a Long Way

[28.Feb.08] :. 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.

The Flying Dartsmen

[23.Jan.08] :. “Steve Beaton -- The Adonis of darts, what poise, what elegance -- a true roman gladiator with plenty of hair wax.”

The Zen of Cheating

[4.Jan.08] :. 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.

Transatlantic (American) Football

[19.Nov.07] :. PopMatters columnist, hyperventilating with hero worship, rushes the NFL in London.

What’s in a (Nick) Name?

[23.Oct.07] :. 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.

Three Strikes You’re Oot!

[3.Oct.07] :. 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.

A Cultural Preview of the 2007 Rugby World Cup

[29.Aug.07] :. Rugby 101: the proverbial game for ruffians played by gentlemen (as opposed to soccer, a game for gentlemen played by ruffians).

Direct from the Speedy Streets of London

[25.Jul.07] :. 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.

The Fannish Inquisition

[27.Jun.07] :. 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.

Hearts of Lions

[23.May.07] :. The 1997 British & Irish Lions and the greatest sports movie of all time.

A Look Back at the Decline of English Soccer. Spring, 2057

[25.Apr.07] :. 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.

Coming ‘Out’ to Play

[8.Mar.07] :. 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.

A Hopeful Immigrant’s Letter, Intercepted

[25.Feb.07] :. 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.

Burning Ambitions

[25.Jan.07] :. The Ashes is among the oldest sporting rivalries in the world. It just happens to define two nations.