The recently retired Manny Ramirez was one of the most inscrutable players in recent history. Ben McGrath of the New Yorker attempted to figure out Ramirez's motivations in this 2007 piece.
posted by reenum on Apr 11, 2011 - 32 comments

ESPN takes a look at how Madden NFL became a franchise video game.
posted by reenum on Aug 5, 2010 - 48 comments

Wade Boggs is known to like his beer. Well, now a Tapper-style game where Boggs drinks beers, throws away girlie drinks, and eats burgers to sober up has been created. [more inside]
posted by reenum on Jun 25, 2010 - 11 comments

Strange Games "What do you get if you cross a large rubber ball used for physical therapy with the medieval sport of Jousting? Yoga Ball Jousting."
posted by feelinglistless on Jun 30, 2009 - 18 comments

Did you grow up anticipating sports where death would be likely, if not certain? Almost certainly played by convicts, possibly with robot limbs? And which would be even more likely to have chainsaws and flamethrowers not usually found in the sports of today? Those We Left Behind’s look at Future-sports of the past, in videogames, movies and comics is for you!
posted by Artw on Sep 11, 2008 - 41 comments

In the grand tradition of Killer comes Humans Vs. Zombies, a campus game that's growing in popularity. From its origins at Goucher, it's spread to a reported two dozen colleges. An interview with the game's moderator is here, and you can watch the 45-minute documentary from one of the games on Google Video
posted by Pope Guilty on Jul 12, 2007 - 18 comments

A Field Guide to Chess Tactics. Chess tactics explained in plain English, with hundreds of examples. A great site for beginning to mid-level players. Includes a large library of positional problems, organized thematically, with the solutions explained and discussed. For example, learn about knight forks, then quiz yourself on the same topic.
posted by Rumple on Jun 19, 2007 - 76 comments

Dominoes now on ESPN! What's next? Watching Solitaire?
posted by usedwigs on Apr 3, 2006 - 57 comments

The Third Annual World Quoits Championship will be held tomorrow in Amityville, PA. This ancient game, related to the discus, involves pitching rings at a peg in the ground. Once widely played in the UK and US, the game of quoits has declined in popularity over the years, replaced in the US by its derivative--horseshoes (which are easier to throw and more likely to score “ringers”). Today, it’s a regional pastime, played primarily in PA, NJ and NY. Learn everything there is to know about quoits here. They’ll even find you a partner.
posted by jrossi4r on Sep 9, 2005 - 6 comments

EA Plays Hardball Just in case locking up the NFL license wasn't enough...
posted by ga$money on Jan 18, 2005 - 36 comments

World Conker Championships
posted by Mwongozi on Oct 10, 2004 - 9 comments

The Official Rules of Calvinball "Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game. The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone the player is in. " It's so clear now. (via linkfilter)
posted by owillis on Mar 7, 2004 - 27 comments

Whirly Ball looks like a ton of fun. It's Jai Alai meets basketball meets bumper cars. What a great sport for those of us who are athletically challenged!
posted by Fantt on Jan 28, 2004 - 20 comments

William Shatner's SpplatAttack was one of the biggest paintball events in 2002. There were a couple of other mefi threads on it earlier last year [here and here]. In December Shatner released a DVD of the event. Maurice Gibb, who died just the other day, owned a paintball shop and other celebs like Tommy Lee are rumored to be huge paintball fans. Is this the next extreme sport? How many mefi'ers play?
posted by billman on Jan 15, 2003 - 38 comments

I'm here to tell you about the ultimate sporting clash of the titans-Air Hockey! That's right, the ultimate rec-room sport of the '70's is alive and well. There's leagues galore including one in Austin, Texas(home of numerous MeFite's.), and cool Flash animations of some slick moves. Ever since I bought my first table at age 10 at a yard sale, this has been my game. Nice to know it's still out there. There's even places to buy nifty tables if you're in the market. Me and the missus used to love playing at the local arcade on this beauty with the nifty flourescent puck. Now drop the puck and play!
posted by jonmc on Apr 7, 2002 - 3 comments