Articles

Grit and Bear It: Notes From the Pro Tennis Hustle

Lindsay Gibbs

The 2012 US Open is now underway, but twenty-two-year-old professional tennis player Michael McClune won’t be competing. Instead, he’ll be watching it on television with the rest of us. But fresh off a competitive run at the Winston-Salem Open, McClune knows better than to take his eye off the ball just yet.

3rd and Long (Ding)

Andrew Crawford

As debates rage about its place in the culture of its homeland, a fledgling, self-sufficient American football culture is developing in the cities of China. Although they have limited resources and even more limited access to teaching tools for the game, that hasn't stopped teams from springing up in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Duhui and Hong Kong. The only question left is: who is going to be the one to bring Chinese football to the big time? 

Inside Indie Wrestling's Garden of Eden

Tom Breihan

Wrestling has its share of great buildings: Madison Square Garden, Chicago's Allstate Arena, Philadelphia's just-shuttered ECW Arena. And the American Legion Hall where Pro Wrestling Guerrilla holds almost all of its shows belongs on that list. 

The Artless Dodgers

Eric Freeman

The Los Angeles Dodgers are far from the first or worst example of the nouveau riche in sports. But their flagrant displays of wealth, and the extent to which they persist, could determine if one of the best franchises in baseball history becomes an ideal model of success once again, or a very expensive joke.

Glenn Stout Lives Way Up There

Kevin Koczwara

As the editor of the Best American Sports Writingseries, Glenn Stout is one of the most important people in the sports journalism business. He also lives in the remote, ice-bound wilds of Vermont, rocks a ponytail, and is otherwise utterly unlike what you might expect the nation's resident sportswriting curator-king to be like.

The People's Champs?

Max Rivlin-Nadler

The Green Bay Packers and Barcelona FC are among the two most successful franchises in any sport, by any measure. They are also owned by the communities that support them. So who's to say that couldn't work in MLS? 

Pommel Horses and Protestors

Gaar Adams

Inside a stuffy, ramshackle warehouse on the northern outskirts of Yemen’s capital, a dozen male gymnasts line up at the end of a tattered vaulting runway. They are hoping to be able to "jump big" as they do in their dreams. But obstacles, both inside and outside of the gym may prevent them from jumping to their biggest dream of all: a return to international competition. 

Yakkin' About Baseball: Entering Jeremy Guthrie Country

David Roth

 et al.

From the clammy doldrums of baseball's dog days, two heroes rise to free-associate, analyze Rick Sutcliffe's understanding of immigration law and herald the arrival of Jeremy Guthrie Whatever.0. What, it's August.

Kickstarter Corner: Norman Einstein is Alive and Well and Living on Kickstarter

David Roth

For two years, Norman Einstein's Sports and Rocket Science Monthly was one of the best things on the internet, both for people looking for smart, unhurried sportswriting and in general. Einstein has been laying low since 2011, but a recent Kickstarter campaign for the Normanthology, a collection of the site's best work, has brought Norman back to life. We talked to founding editor Cian O'Day and frequent contributor Graydon Gordian about the rebirth.

The Branding of Melky Cabrera

Nick Bond

Melky Cabrera is not Manny Ramirez, in any number of ways. But the currently disgraced Giants outfielder could learn a lot about what to do, and what not to do, from his similarly free-spirited big league predecessor.