Monday, January 29 2007
Lucha Libre Unmasked
Lucha libre and American wrestling are propelled by the same overarching theme: the vicarious morality play, the most important theme in professional wrestling of any sort. So what has kept lucha libre, professional wrestling in the Mexican tradition, out of the American mainstream?
Friday, January 19 2007
More Honest, More Accountable, More Alive: A Conversation with Deadspin.com Editor, Will Leitch
Will Leitch: I don't believe anyone goes to the site to hear what Will Leitch thinks about sports, if you'll forgive my brief venture into the third person.
Wednesday, January 17 2007
Becks Chooses Life
As a football fan, you can’t help feel that, somewhere along the line, it didn’t happen on the field in quite the way that it should have.
Tuesday, January 16 2007
David Beckham for Nothing? The Economics of the Deal
Phillip Anschutz stands to make a few million dollars profit on Mr. Beckham with virtually no downside risk.
Monday, January 8 2007
Football Factory, Greek Style
A look inside a typical European derby, where hooliganism acts as a form of support.
Tuesday, November 14 2006
Monday, November 6 2006
College Football: The Most Important Sport in America. Period.
Bigger than the NFL, more intense than the NBA, more meaningful than pro baseball, NCAA football is the best game in the country.
Tuesday, October 24 2006
The Thin (White) Line between Ballers and Brawlers
Critics of the Miami-FIU fight are condemning the same kind of antagonism, machismo, and mayhem that is regularly reinforced as integral to football as a sport.
Tuesday, October 10 2006
Kansas City Monarch
Negro League great Buck O'Neil (1911-2006) was one of baseball's finest ambassadors.
Wednesday, October 4 2006
Tuesday, September 12 2006
The Apotheosis of Hulk Hogan
If the sports-as-religion metaphor is accurate, then who is god in the professional wrestling world? While numerous potential candidates exist among the pantheon of wrestling superstars, one name shines a little brighter: Hulk Hogan.
Tuesday, July 18 2006
Z/Z: The Headbutt Buzz
The blogosphere's amateur semioticians explain Zinédine Zidane's head-butt seen around the world.
Thursday, May 4 2006
WWE and Kayfabe: Retaining the Real
The ability of wrestling to renegotiate what is real into a new, hyper reality is what makes it so compelling and unique.
Monday, April 17 2006
A Wild Game of King of the Hill
Skating has become a dog and pony show, with each performance crammed full of jumps, spins, and fancy footwork, leaving little time for artistry or elegance.
Friday, April 14 2006
(White) Male Privilege, Black Respectability, and Black Women’s Bodies
The case of some white Duke University Lacrosse team members accused of raping a black woman is all about immorality; but sadly, not the immorality of the violent act alleged.
Wednesday, April 12 2006
Raising the Bar: How Track and Field Leads the Way on Sport’s Most Pressing Issues
The exact specifics of track's hot-button issues may not excite the common sports fan, but their implications should.
Friday, March 17 2006
Federer Redux: More Than a Household Name
Technical perfection blended with human emotional actualization.
Monday, March 13 2006
Let Them Play: Cuba Libré!
Freedom always wins. Unless, of course, you are talking about an American citizen's freedom to travel to Cuba, or a Cuban citizens' freedom to travel to America, the Cuban team's freedom to play in an international baseball tournament.
Wednesday, March 8 2006
U.S.-U.C.K.: America’s Olympic Snide
For the US, the Olympiad is a chance for TV to turn purposefully patriotic, to remind us of the event's one-time regality, and how far it has fallen since the advent of judge bribing and blood doping.
Wednesday, February 22 2006
Paying the Cost to Disobey the Boss
A look at the world according to David Stern, where his players must walk the tightrope between two very different sets of fans.
