Rick Ankiel succumbed to Rick Ankiel's Disease, then conquered it to become a productive Major Leaguer and retire on something like his own terms. There have been many better players in his generation, but few whose virtuosity came with more struggle attached.
Some notes from Sochi, including but not limited to happy-drunk Estonians, the Utah Jazz hats of Sochi, a surprise visit by Xzibit, and where snow comes from in 60-degree weather.
More updates from Sochi, regarding Canadian media, the heated underground economy in Olympic pins, the persistence of 4 Non-Blondes, and a slogan so spectacularly vacuous that it comes all the way back around to profundity.
At its highest level, basketball is a game played by some of the most graceful and determined athletes in the world. It is also played at other levels, and this New Hampshire men's basketball league is one of those.
The new issue of The Classical Magazine features some new contributors, some recognizable names, and a collection of art and essays that are mostly about books, but always about sporps. Don't stop. Get it, get it.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was all wrong as Art Howe, but was perfect anyway. For all his dazzling talent, it was Hoffman's willingness to doing more -- to do the most -- that made him great. It might have unmade him, too.
Basketball just looks a lot easier when Paul George plays it than it usually does. That hasn't stopped him from working hard at it, which is just another reason why George is one of the NBA's truest must-watch stars.
Susan Cain's "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking," destroys the myth that categorically extroverted qualities like "charisma" and "gregariousness" are requisite to leadership and performance. Jason Brickman is the NCAA assist-record challenging embodiment of that.
With the Whitney Biennial, one of the biggest events in contemporary art, opening in New York this weekend, there's no better time than the present to present the art analogues for every NFL team. Yes, there is an artist who resembles the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a winner at Daytona this year. His triumph at the place where he lost his father 13 years ago was inspiring, but for a young writer dealing with the loss of his own dad, it's what Junior did during those years of growing up in public that really makes this triumph meaningful.
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