Peak Performance is a website featuring dozens of articles on just about every aspect of sports science, including large sections devoted to cycling, swimming and sports psychology. Some of my own favorites deal with the beneficial effects of Omega-3 fatty acids, the Chinese government’s plan to dominate the Olympics, Veronique Billat’s 30-30 running workouts and how to increase growth hormone levels naturally.
posted on Apr 30, 2007 - View this thread

Baseball's White Elephants: When the Philadelphia Athletics joined the American League, Muggsy McGraw derided the team as White Elephants ^. Though the team has moved on, the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society still follows the Elephant Trail.
posted on Oct 8, 2006 - View this thread

Justin Gatlin is now the fastest man alive (in fact, he's faster than anyone not alive, as well).
posted on May 12, 2006 - View this thread

My eensy-beensy alma mater in eastern Wisconsin currently has the only undefeated men's basketball team in the nation. This is not just in the NCAA, but in the NAIA as well. It's a Division III team, and its only loss this season didn't count--it was to Division I UW-Madison in an exhibition game. Like most Division III schools, Lawrence offers no athletic scholarships whatsoever. Its immediate past president, Richard Warch, in a 1987 speech at the NCAA national convention, controversially called for abolishment of all athletic scholarships.
posted on Feb 24, 2006 - View this thread

Asafa Powell has set a new 100 meters world record.
posted on Jun 14, 2005 - View this thread

Anyone up for a quick game of Murderball?
posted on Jan 24, 2005 - View this thread

The Naked Olympics
Sex, nude sports, violence, boozing; a scholar's view of ancient Olympic practices.
posted on Aug 12, 2004 - View this thread

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 on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread

New 100m world record
"Once again, the 100m record holder is truly the fastest man on earth"
posted on Sep 15, 2002 - View this thread

Great feat, but not a great athlete. Let the Cyclist bashing continue.
As a follow up to the pointless Bicycles and cars don't mix column, Ron Borges over at MSNBC wonders if Lance Armstrong is even an athlete.
He says Athletes must do more with their bodies than pump their legs up and down. For his money, being the greatest athlete in the world involves strength, speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness and the ability to make your body do things that defy description. Anyone who has ever been in a bike race (Road or MTN) knows it does indeed take all that and more. Anyone who writes about sports, rather than participating, would of course have no clue it takes more than moving your feet up and down.
posted on Jul 26, 2002 - View this thread

Run faster, jump higher. What happens when you cross stilts and pogo sticks? The next 'extreme sport' on the verge of the big time, or a new and fun way to really injure yourself?
posted on Mar 29, 2002 - View this thread

ESPN hosting show on the world's sexiest athletes. 32 men and 32 women vie for the big crown(s), to be announced Jan. 27. The website has profiles on all 64 and will have a place for you to vote for your favorites. Don't all chime in with who you're going to vote for (that's what espn.com is for, not MeFi), but who'd they leave out? I say race-car driver Dario Franchitti and track star Suzy Favor Hamilton.
posted on Jan 7, 2002 - View this thread

PETA is at it again, but this time they know not with whom they trifle. PETA's Kristie Phelps sent a letter to Dr. John Palms, president of the University of South Carolina, requesting that USC "bench" their athletic teams' moniker "The Fighting Gamecocks," because, well, it's funnier to read the press release and letter for yourself. The letter elicited this response and this news story in The State, our local paper. (Note the further link from there to the readers' forum, which is pretty damn hilarious in its own right.)
posted on Oct 18, 2001 - View this thread

Gymnast vaults into gender-equity flap. "For more than two decades in Massachusetts, boys have been allowed to compete on girls' teams (and vice versa) if their school doesn't have a team for their gender. But everywhere else in the region, they're still banned."
posted on Mar 16, 2001 - View this thread