When CBS pushed aside Dan Marino for Tony Gonzalez, was it a straight-up ‘asshole-for-good-guy’ trade?

FOX’s NFL pre-game show — with Curt, Terry, Jimmy, Michael et al — kills CBS’ show in the ratings, so this off-season, CBS had a shake-up: Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe out, Tony Gonzalez (recently retired) in. Things like this had been… Continue Reading

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Twenty years after Kerrigan vs. Harding vs. Baiul, this week could be Yuna Kim vs. Julia Lipnitskaia vs. Gracie Gold

I watched The Price of Gold last night, and it was really solid — I almost forgot how big a three-ring circus that whole period of time was, especially Kerrigan screaming “WHY????” and then Oksana Baiul actually winning the gold, and the… Continue Reading

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How do figure skaters like Gracie Gold, Yulia Lipnitskaya, and Ashley Wagner spin so much without getting dizzy? Thank Malcolm Gladwell.

I’ve been watching the Olympics semi-consistently and some pretty interesting themes have emerged over the first couple of days. I like skiing, for sure, and seeing Matthias Mayer get a gold was cool (sorry, Bode Miller), but what’s been the… Continue Reading

Marcus Smart (black) pushed Jeff Orr (white). Smart is a top college basketball player, but is he now a thug? No.

First, this happened: Then stuff like this happened: Marcus Smart is a thug and seriously lacks composure ?? — Olivia Coiro (@livcoiro) February 9, 2014 Then the Internet dug deeper on the fan in question, and this happened: There’s more info here on Jeff Orr (the… Continue Reading

Hello, friends: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms are probably working 23 NFL games as announcers in 2014

Some people love the Nantz/Simms pairing, and others hate it (I think you’d find that about most lead announcing crews for any sport on any network; no one is completely revered, even Pat Summerall). Next year you’re going to get… Continue Reading

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Is Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or soccer ultimately responsible for the best NIKE ad of all-time?

NIKE isn’t an official sponsor of the next two grand-scale global sporting events — the Winter Olympics, starting tonight, or the World Cup, starting this summer — but it’s really hard to talk about sports and marketing without talking about… Continue Reading

Torstein Horgmo and Shaun White are already out of slopestyle at Sochi. What’s going on with this course?

That’s a little teaser trailer for the official mobile game of Sochi, slopestyle edition. Slopestyle as an event is debuting at Sochi in terms of the Olympics, i.e. it’s never appeared at an Olympic Games before. Here’s a pretty brief… Continue Reading

Mikaela Shiffrin, Nolan Kasper and others will be big skiing names at the Sochi Olympics. You can thank Burke Mountain Academy.

Even though I don’t completely understand why a city would pay for the Olympics, they do start up in a few days — and that’s somewhat exciting, if only for my misguided feelings of nationalism. (I jest.) I’ve started trying… Continue Reading