The city is paralyzed, everything has completely stopped, classes have been cancelled, everything. Everyone was mobilized behind the team and so happy. I just want to go back to yesterday.
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The Mesquite (AZ) High School Wildcats. (MHS Wildcat/Flickr)
Wednesday - November 30, 2016 Wed - 11/30/16
rantnrave:// The time for choosing is among us – baseball’s HALL OF FAME ballots have been sent out. The issues with the Hall of Fame process are manifold but this year’s class will be interesting. The three highest profile candidates – ROGER CLEMENS, BARRY BONDS, and MANNY RAMIREZ – have PED connections. This will lead to much rhetorical twisting from voters. PETER ABRAHAM of the BOSTON GLOBE says he’ll vote for Bonds and Clemens but not Ramirez. The first two were creatures of their time, he writes, but “Ramirez had to know taking PEDs would endanger his Hall candidacy and he did it anyway.” This is the type of ad hoc reasoning that diminishes the Hall of Fame and creates a sliding scale of moralism. Writers want to punish players for PED use beyond the actual sanction MLB made him observe. If someone finishes a prison sentence, haven’t they served their punishment? If sportswriters supersede the rules – creating retribution that baseball itself doesn’t insist on – then haven't they enlisted themselves with too much power?… Along with Ramirez, VLAD GUERRERO and PUDGE RODRIGUEZ headline the new players eligible for the Hall, and both could make it, along with holdovers JEFF BAGWELL and TIM RAINES... US SOCCER’s new head coach, BRUCE ARENA, is not a fan of analytics – an interesting direction for the team to take. Soccer was among the first sports to delve heavily into analytics and top clubs invest in it. Will this be another competitive disadvantage for the U.S.?... Should high schools drop football? An interesting idea coincidentally floated the day after a study drops saying that even one year of high school football could lead to functional and structural change in the brain… CLEMSON coach DABO SWINNEY with another tone deaf comment, this time after his players were accused of calling opposing players racial slurs. His response: deny and blame the media... The plane crash involving the Chapecoense soccer club was tragic and, luckily, something we do not see often in sports. Plane travel, as normal as it is, is also an occupational hazard for sports teams. Let's hope we do not have to mourn again soon.
- Mike Vorkunov, curator
touchdown
Esquire
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil: Inside One High School's Decades-Long Secret
by Eric Lewis
He was the head football coach at an elite prep school. He was also a serial pedophile who openly terrorized students for twenty-five years. So why did nobody stop him?
MMQB
Matt Patricia, Belichick’s Rocket Scientist
by Tim Rohan
How an aeronautical engineering grad from noted football hotbed Rensselaer Polytechnic became Bill Belichick’s right-hand man, entrusted to run the Patriots’ defense.
The New York Times
Chapecoense Grief: 'I Just Want to Go Back to Yesterday’
by Simon Romero
A scrappy upstart team from a humdrum industrial city, now devastated by a plane crash, was a remarkable modern success story in Brazilian soccer.
Vice Sports
Friday Night Lights Out: The Case for Abolishing High School Football
by Patrick Hruby
A Nevada school board candidate wants to eliminate high school football, and a handful of others are making a medical, ethical, and financial case against America's favorite prep sport. Their arguments are unpopular. But are they right?
Deadspin
The Story Behind The Perfect Photo Of Sports' First Streaker
by David Davis
When freelance photojournalist Ian Bradshaw went to Twickenham Stadium in the spring of 1974 to cover a rugby union friendly between England and France, he expected to shoot nothing more than another bloodbath between two fierce rivals. He returned instead with an instantly iconic photograph that signaled the start of a cultural phenomenon.
The Guardian
Mark Taimanov obituary
by Leonard Barden
Russian chess grandmaster who was also an international concert pianist.
WSJ
Stephen Curry Still Plays Like He Has Something More to Prove
by Jason Gay
Underestimated for most of his life, Stephen Curry redefined basketball to become one of the most electrifying and relatable players ever. But he still plays as if he has something more to prove.
UPROXX
Sean McDonough's Winding Path To Becoming The Best Play-By-Play Guy On TV
by Martin Rickman
He's your favorite broadcaster's favorite broadcaster, and he's appreciating every moment he has at the top.
ESPN.com
LeBron 'breaks all the passing rules,' and he's loving it
by Brian Windhorst
Fourteen years in the making, LeBron James' penchant to be a freewheeling distributor is being expressed like never before this season, as his assists have peaked and shots have dwindled.
ThinkProgress
What Colin Kaepernick got right -- and wrong -- about Fidel Castro’s legacy
by Lindsay Gibbs and Lauren C. Williams
It’s complicated.
punt
Yahoo! Sports
Tiger Woods' comeback hinges on an old friend
by Dan Wetzel
If there is hope for a Woods late-career resurgence, a return to competing for tournament victories after injuries to his back/knee/Achilles/pride/and who knows what else, well, maybe that is the key - the precious putter. "I've put some old clubs back in the bag," Woods said.
Bleacher Report
Cheat or Go Home: Inside the 'Dysfunctional Hell' of Becoming a CFB Coach
by Matt Hayes
Is it possible to win in college football without cheating? To get a sense of the landscape that programs and their potential coaches are facing, Bleacher Report posed this question to more than 30 current and former FBS head coaches--most of whom chose to remain anonymous for fear of harming their current or previous universities. The overwhelming answer: Probably not.
USA Today
Mercer embraces future, will broadcast game vs. Davidson on Facebook Live
by Nicole Auerbach
“We know this is the future,” Bears AD for external relations Daniel Tate says.
The Undefeated
Books before basketball: Kenyon Martin schools his son on the importance of academics
by Marc J. Spears
The former NBA star gives his son a hard lesson off the court.
FiveThirtyEight
The World Chess Championship Is Going Into Overtime
by Oliver Roeder
Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the world No. 1 and defending champion, raced to a draw in the championship’s final regulation game with his challenger, Sergey Karjakin of Russia, the world No. 6, in 30 moves over 35 minutes. It was reportedly the fastest world championship game ever played. The players’ best-of-12 match is now deadlocked at 6 points apiece.
Rolling Stone
Why Don't More Female Athletes Have Signature Sneakers?
by Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Nike introduced Air Swoopes in 1995, but female athletes have had a hard time getting their own sneakers since then.
Sports Illustrated
Vinny Paz: Where is boxing's comeback champ now?
by Ben Baskin
An inside look at Vinny Paz's postboxing life and the historic comeback that made him, as portrayed in the new film "Bleed for This."
The Guardian
Fidel Castro, cricket, and a crackpot Foreign Office plan for Cuba
by Andy Bull
The revolutionary leader’s decision to join a scratch game of cricket in Barbados in 1998 led to one of the more curious British Foreign Office schemes: to take the game to Cuba
The New York Times
ESPN Pays Top Dollar for Football, but Audience Isn’t Buying
by Richard Sandomir
ESPN pays $1.9 billion annually for its N.F.L. rights, nearly twice what NBC shells out, but “Monday Night Football” is not the powerhouse it once was.
ESPN.com
How Elena Delle Donne learned to accept -- and embrace -- her height
by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
When you're 6-5, it's just assumed you'll play hoops. But it wasn't until Elena Delle Donne questioned her path that she really stood out.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
via YouTube
"Oxford Comma"
Vampire Weekend
“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’”
@JasonHirschhorn


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