fl – blog

The Day The War Came For Muhammad Ali

The following is excerpted from Leigh Montville’s new book, Sting Like a Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. The United States of America, 1966-71.

Why Aren't Women's Basketball Fans Following Their Players To The Pros?

We got next. That was the WNBA’s promotional slogan during its first official season of play, two decades ago in 1997. In essence, players were asking the NBA to step aside and let them have a turn on the hardwood to showcase their basketball acumen. No one knew how long the league would last.

This Is The Story About Robert Kraft's Casino Holdings That Rupert Murdoch's Paper Never Ran

It goes without saying (hey there, Las Vegas Raiders!) that the NFL’s gambling policy is a hypocritical mess. But now that I no longer work for Rupert Murdoch, I can plainly state that every word out of Roger Goodell’s mouth about legalized sports betting for the past 20 months has been nothing but lip service.

The Bandit Who Ran The Boston Marathon While Pushing A Canoe, Twice

In the spring of 1991, Bob Elliott had a problem. He and his friend George were trying to sell a canoe cart George had developed, designed for portaging between bodies of water. They had no marketing budget, and sales, it’s fair to say, were slow. Elliott, an effortless athlete, mechanical genius, and creative…

The Stars Of Women's Basketball's First Dynasty Just Want To Be Remembered

On April 2, the 2017 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class was announced. Among the inductees were basketball luminaries like Tracy McGrady and Rebecca Lobo, and lesser-known figures like Robert Hughes, the all-time winningest high school boys basketball coach. Failing to make the cut were the Wayland…

Trump Conspiracy Tweetstorms Are The Infowars Of The Left

The fastest-growing career in America is not, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics would have you believe, in installing and repairing wind turbines. The fastest-growing career is doing 63 tweets in a row about why Donald Trump is a Manchurian president.

How To Get Into The KBO, The Wildest, Most Outlandish Baseball League In The World

The baseball season is almost upon us, but you don’t have to wait for MLB to get started. Opening day for the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) is March 31. Why should you be care? Well … can I interest you in bat flips?

Mikaela Shiffrin Is The Best In The World And She Needs A Nap

Mikaela Shiffrin looked tired. She wasn’t arcing as smoothly in this, her last race of the season; she wasn’t fighting as much. The fact that even that performance at Aspen on Sunday still put her in sixth — one many athletes on the World Cup circuit would love to have, yet considered a lackluster one for Shiffrin…

What Will Trumpcare Mean For My Disabled Brother?

My older brother Sean has cerebral palsy. He also listens to bebop and enjoys teaching our nephew Oliver about the virtues of counting from one to ten in the voice of The Count and was angered when the Bruins fired Claude Julien. He makes a pot of coffee each morning when he wakes up, reads his news feed, and gets to…

The Story Behind The Masked Horror Of The Munich Olympics

The attack began in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, 1972, when eight armed Palestinians affiliated with the Black September Organization snuck into the Olympic Village in Munich. They made their way to 31 Connollystrasse, where the Israeli delegation was housed, killed two men and took nine others hostage.

What Kobe Bryant Was Capable Of

The story originally appeared in The Los Angeles Times Magazine on Oct. 31, 2004 and can be found in Kaye’s ebook anthology, Men: What They Do, How They Think, And Why. It is republished here with the author’s permission.

"I Make Women Bud And Bloom": An Afternoon With Jane Fonda's Lousy First Husband

This piece was originally published in The Chicago Tribune in the late 1960s and can be found in the collection, Latins Are Still Lousy Lovers. It appears here with permission from the author’s estate.

The Perfect End To The World Ski Championships Was An Emotional Slalom

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — If you wanted to script the most fitting, the most unnerving-yet-uplifting race to cap off the two-week World Alpine Ski Championships, you couldn’t have done better than today’s men’s slalom.

Roland Leitinger's Parents Couldn't Even Hide Their Shock At His Success

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — With a line-up like today’s, it’s easy to make the mistake of predicting the podium.

Air Force Flyover Severs Cable Cam, Nearly Downs Ski Lift At World Ski Championships

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — There was a crash today at the men’s giant slalom in the Alpine World Ski Championships, but it wasn’t a racer that hurtled to the ground. It was a cable camera, its wires severed by a too-close flyover from the Swiss Air Force. That was frightening enough, but it was just inches from true…

Smokey Robinson Is The Greatest American Songwriter

If you love American music, it’s more than likely that in 2016 your favorite songwriter either published a bestselling memoir, died, or won a long-shot Nobel prize. This means that you probably read a greater-than-average number of essays and considerations about songwriting itself, and about some of the biggest…

Betsy DeVos Is Coming for Your Children

Even among all the billionaires, ideologues, and straight-up racist goons Donald Trump has nominated for his cabinet, Betsy DeVos, who was confirmed earlier this week as the Secretary of Education, stands out for how seemingly unqualified she is. As the doomed critics of her nomination were quick to say, she has never…

Let Us Now Praise The Patriots' Super Bowl Defense

Much of the blame for the Falcons’ monumental choke job in Super Bowl 51 fell on Kyle Shanahan for his aggressive play-calling, and that’s fair. It’s screamingly obvious Atlanta should have run the ball more or milked the clock to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots from even having a chance to storm all the way back. But…

The Falcons' Defense Is Basically Fucked

Patriots-Falcons in Super Bowl 51 is being billed as a showcase of the NFL’s two most prolific offenses, at the height of their powers. The Patriots, of course, are the known entity: Tom Brady and [insert name here] on offense, along with a defense that frequently schemes its way into being greater than the sum of its…

How Do You Follow Up The Biggest Tragedy In X Games History?

There’s always buzz in the weeks leading up to the X Games about what insane, unprecedented maneuvers you might see. Max Parrot might try the quadruple underflip. Marcus Kleveland may go for the first quad cork. The 1620 is the new 1440. These promises, of things we’ve never seen before, are the reason we watch.…

Tom Brady Owns The Steelers

There are no alternative facts. Even dead-ender Steelers fans, the ones who kept insisting he’s just some pretty boy cheating cheater, can no longer hide from the reality: The Steelers belong to Tom Brady.

Athletes Pick A Side At The Women's March

On the eve of the Women’s March in Washington, a group of female athletes gathered together at a tiny Mexican bar minutes from the Capitol building.

The Steelers Are The First Real Test For An Underrated Patriots Defense

We’ve arrived at another conference championship weekend featuring the Patriots. They still have Bill Belichick, and they still Tawmmy Whatshisnuts, same as it ever was. And this year they’re packing the NFL’s best defense in terms of points per game allowed. As they prepare to host the Steelers and their…

Ortiz Vs. Sonnen Will Give You What You Want

Saturday night, at the end of the first full day of the Trump administration, a former UFC champion will compete against a perennial UFC title challenger, but it’ll go down in Bellator, which is probably more appropriate for where we’re all psychically at right now. All fights have a theme, and this one’s is America’s…

No Team Has A Ground Game Quite Like The Falcons'

Matt Ryan and Julio Jones are the household names powering the NFL’s highest-scoring and most efficient offense. But the Falcons wouldn’t be hosting the Packers with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line without equally significant contributions from running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. Atlanta really does…

The Time I Didn’t Have Time For Donald Trump

I thought I was just shooing away another clown. I couldn’t have known at the time that I was shooing away a clown who would wind up becoming president of the United States.

The Cowboys' Defense Will Be Holding On For Dear Life

The Cowboys’ charge to the NFC’s No. 1 seed has been powered mostly by their offense, which ranked third in DVOA during the regular season. You know all about the new triplets, Dak Prescott’s rookie surge, Ezekiel Elliott’s budding superstardom, and Dez Bryant’s constant big-play potential. But with Aaron Rodgers…

Which Ben Roethlisberger Will The Steelers Get This Week?

The Steelers have arguably the most dynamic offense in the NFL. They also have one of the league’s uniquely talented quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger. Yet Pittsburgh has won eight in a row, including Sunday’s thumping of the Dolphins, despite some remarkably inconsistent play from Roethlisberger. The Steelers’ hopes…

Rex Ryan Was Too Human To Be A Great NFL Coach

Rex and Rob Ryan surprised absolutely no one when they swung by the Hooters in downtown Indianapolis. It was at the NFL combine three years ago, and the Brothers Ryan—Rex beginning his final year with the Jets, Rob having finished his first season in New Orleans—posed for a photograph with the wait staff that the…

Tom Brady Is A Marvel

Let’s leave the MVP discussion for Skippy and Goatface and All Takes Matter and that Sunday morning show featuring Mike Lupica that nobody watches anymore. The conversation worth having right now is the one about Tom Brady. Because Tom Brady is incredible.