"2.
Airman Thompson possesses outstanding talent in writing. He has imagination, good use of English, and can express his thoughts in a manner that makes interesting reading
3. However, in spite of frequent counseling with explanation of the reasons for the conservative policy on an AF base newspaper, Airman Thompson has consistently written controversial material and leans so strongly to critical editorializing that it was necessary to require that all his writing be thoroughly edited before release." - A memo regarding Airman Second-Class Hunter S. Thompson's reporting for the base newspaper.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns
on Oct 13, 2012 -
27 comments
"I'm just looking for a second chance. Other people get second chances. Alcoholics. Drug addicts. Spousal beaters. Not gamblers, though. But, if you want to put something on my tombstone that was very important to me, it’s 1,972. That’s how many winning games I’ve played in. So that makes me the biggest winner in the history of sports. No one else can say that." Here, Now is a short documentary that looks at baseball legend Pete Rose, as he lives his life today.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 23, 2012 -
45 comments
Mr. George said in a telephone interview that his goal for “The Announcement” was not only to tell the inside story of Mr. Johnson’s personal deliberations but also to “make people aware this thing hasn’t disappeared.” He added: “People are still dying of the virus. People are living very tough lives because of it. It’s falling off the national agenda, I believe, and this in some way helps us reintroduce it.”*
On March 11, 2012 at 9pm Eastern, ESPN will air the documentary
The Announcement, about Magic Johnson's diagnosis with HIV and his decision to go public with his diagnosis. The film is directed by
Nelson George, a award-winning author and noted filmmaker whose sister is
Andrea Williams, an
HIV+ activist for AIDS causes in Brooklyn (and who
inspired George's HBO movie
Life Support, which won Queen Latifah several awards
for her role as a fictionalized version of Williams).
posted by hippybear
on Feb 20, 2012 -
14 comments
The Tao of Poo We can exhaustively explore every aspect of athletic life -- victory, defeat, violence, racism, drugs, brain damage, paralysis, death -- but nothing reveals as much about the physiology, psychology and sociology of sport as the excretory experience of athletes.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero
on Apr 19, 2011 -
48 comments
Quickish is a new site offering "real-time-ish" short-form sports news and analysis links, gathered and recommended by the site's proprietor, Dan Shanoff. Link suggestions from readers are welcome.
NiemanLab interviews Shanoff. If his name sounds familiar, it's because he used to do the
Daily Quickie on ESPN.com.
posted by beagle
on Apr 13, 2011 -
4 comments
On Sunday, ESPN aired an acclaimed documentary about the University of Michigan's
Fab Five. In one segment the members of the Fab Five discuss their hatred of the Duke University basketball program, and Jalen Rose goes so far as to say that at the time he felt like Duke players were
"Uncle Toms".
Link goes to clip of relevant segment (1:24), after a short ad.
Grant Hill, who played for Duke against the Fab Five,
responded in today's New York Times. [more inside]
posted by auto-correct
on Mar 16, 2011 -
88 comments
FollowupFilter - After a two year hiatus (read:
punishment ban), Gregg Easterbrook (founder of Beliefnet, Brookings scholar, ex of Slate & NFL.com) one of ESPN's most popular football writers
returns, with no acknoledgment of where he went or why. Hopefully he'll keep his mouth shut about ABC and/or Disney related projects this time. As a side note, his two seasons worth of back articles are apparently not available, as they were purged (permanently?) when he was fired.
posted by jonson
on Apr 25, 2006 -
16 comments
What have you told your children about Muhammad Ali? "I was frequently left with tingling all over because I had been in the presence of such a great
man and still humbled by his compassion, tolerance and understanding." Inspired by this weekend's airing by ESPN Classic of most of
Tyson's fights, I started thinking about the difference between these two men. Ali obviously transcended his sport and has become
more than just a boxer while Tyson is clearly a lost and troubled
soul. And yet Tyson's story still
inspires reflection.
Nietzche's statement that "What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do" is perfectly illustrated by the twilight years of these two legendary boxers.
posted by spicynuts
on Nov 27, 2005 -
47 comments
Happy 18th Birthday Maria Sharapova! A music video by ESPN's Bristol Bob and the
Page 2 Crue, made in honor of Maria Sharapova's 18th birthday. Make sure you crank the volume knob up to 11, because now you, too, can sing along to the tune of The Knack's "My Sharona."
posted by MmmKlunk
on Apr 20, 2005 -
25 comments
I saw a feature on ESPN last night about
Britt Gaston and Cliff Courtney, two Georgia teenagers who are indelibly linked to history as the kids who
ran alongside Hank Aaron after the famous 715th home run. Then I googled around a bit and discovered
Jim Leavelle, the former Dallas cop who will forever be known as
the guy in the hat watching Ruby take care of Oswald in the precinct basement. And then there's
Mary Ann Vecchio, a 14-year-old runaway who was photographed wailing over a dead body at Kent State in 1970. And, of course, there's
Afghanistan Girl. Can anyone think of other bystanders to historical events whose faces we all know but identities remain anonymous? Is there anyone who has not yet been rediscovered?
posted by PrinceValium
on Apr 7, 2004 -
25 comments
Several people here are fans of Gregg Easterbrook's excellent column Tuesday Morning Quarterback, available (until this week) at ESPN.com. Unfortunately, in his side gig as a writer for the New Republic, in a blog entry savaging the movie Kill Bill, Easterbrook
made comments that came across as perpetuating ugly stereotypes about Jewish people. He immediately claimed 100% responsibility for the ugliness, and
apologized completely and without reservation. Within a week, he was fired by ESPN, all his archived columns (nearly two years worth) removed, and the search engine rigged such that searches for his name, the name of his former column, or the nickname for his column all return only the front page of ESPN, as though the search itself had never taken place.
Many are beginning to suspect, however, that this isn't a case of political correctness, as much as corporate punishment, as ESPN is owned by Disney, which produced Kill Bill.
posted by jonson
on Oct 19, 2003 -
80 comments
On sunday, Rush Limbaugh commented that Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, was overrated and was only seen favourably by the media because they want to see a black quarterback do well.
McNabb responded, and earlier tonight
Limbaugh resigned from his post on ESPN's pre-game show. N.D. Kalu, one of the Eagle's defensive ends, offered this choice quote: "He speaks well, he's well-read, but he's an idiot."
posted by The God Complex
on Oct 2, 2003 -
100 comments
In the 1980's, Mark "Gator" Rogowski was on par with Tony Hawk at the top of the nascent world of professional skateboarding. Contrasting the path Hawk took in the 90's (video games, ESPN tie-ins), things did not go so well for Gator. After surviving a hideous accident in 1989, Mark turned to Jesus, and then shortly thereafter he brutally
raped & murdered a female friend of his ex-girlfriend's. The
documentary of his rise & amazing fall appears today in limited release.
posted by jonson
on Aug 15, 2003 -
43 comments
The dark side of being a sports mascot. Assault and battery by opposing coaches and fans. Having to do acrobatics in foul-smelling costumes in 80-degree heat. Lawsuits. Injuries. "I've got really good accidental death and dismemberment insurance," [NBA mascot Kirk] Johnson said with a laugh. "You never know what's going to happen." Behind that frolicsome giant stuffed animal lies a bleak world of terror and pain. [no more inside, wasn't that enough?]
posted by Slithy_Tove
on Mar 15, 2003 -
10 comments
ESPN Motion It's been years in the making, but I can finally say that the Internet has finally met TV, through the medium of sports.
ESPN and MSN have introduced ESPN Motion. Along with their site redesign, the once static front page is now a video. Right? You think. Usually this stuff doesn't work, but it doesn't require streaming or waiting (I must concede though that I am on a *very* fast internet connection). Basically you have to register for espn.com and then download a 500 KB file and run the installation. After a few minutes, it works fine. I think the program keeps the video updated in a cache on your hdd but it would require more research.
Note: you are required to have Windows 98 or higher, a fast internet connection, and Windows Media Player.
posted by meanie
on Feb 18, 2003 -
12 comments
There Ultimate Standings. ESPN has done a ranking of the relative value of each major U.S. sports franchise not in terms of mere victories, or championships, or even felony convictions, but in terms of how much value (as calculated
here) each franchise is providing its fans. Stunned to see perrennial winners such as the Yankees & Lakers pushed down to the 20s, while small market teams like Green Bay, San Antonio & Sacramento dominate. Clearly life IS better in the small towns, at least for sports fans.
Here's a more in depth explanation of what it all means.
posted by jonson
on Jan 21, 2003 -
39 comments
Jay Mohr sells Pete Rose's chewed gum on eBay. There's no satire like self-satire, is there? ESPN talk-show host Jay Mohr had Pete Rose chew a piece on air, took it from him ("I have to touch it so I can tell the story," he said (more or less)), put it in a beaker that Rose then signed, and is now selling it on eBay to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It's currently at -- no kidding -- US $1,050.00.
posted by mattpfeff
on Apr 9, 2002 -
11 comments
