"Now when I screw up, people from all over Charlotte mindlessly come to Belk looking for Magic Johnson." Thee entertaining screw-ups from author and sports columnist Joe Posnanski. [more inside]
posted by whir on Mar 20, 2008 - 14 comments

China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]
posted by homunculus on Aug 9, 2007 - 43 comments

The experiment has ended. Roughly 8 months ago, the Star Tribune joined forces with blogger Twins Geek. The hope: a productive union of traditional journalism and online weblogs. The verdict: an unholy marriage, apparently. And this was just a baseball blog.
posted by panoptican on Mar 29, 2005 - 3 comments

If this article toes the line, then this one completely jumps overboard. In the wake of basketball player Kobe Bryant's recent legal problems, ESPN freely insinuates that perhaps his legal troubles are caused by his desire to boost the sales of his endorsed products. But don't sell Kobe short on marketing power, as we meFites can already attest. [more inside]
posted by cohappy on Jul 10, 2003 - 12 comments

Frank Keating , one of the UK's finest ever sports writers has retired from the Guardian. Mathew Engels appreciation concludes with links to ten of his finest pieces. This is brilliant writing which happens to concern itself with sport, so there is no need for any "doesn't this belong on Sportfilter" type snideness.
posted by Fat Buddha on Oct 7, 2002 - 4 comments

(Note to young sportswriters: Always make your steroid question your last question.)
Sports Illustrated Übercolumnist Rick Reilly asks Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa if he would be willing to undergo a test for steroids. After all, Sosa has said he would be "first in line" if baseball required tests for steroids. Reilly asks, "Well, why wait? Why not step up right now and be tested? You show everybody you're clean."
Sosa chuckles ruefully, pats Reilly on the back, and replies, "No, sir, that would weaken the player's union, and besides, your question is quite inappropriate."
Just kidding. Actually, Sosa yells and screams. His answer includes the word "motherfucker." "You're not my father," he tells Reilly. Journalists writing to the letters page of Jim Romenesko's Media News disagree on the appropriateness of Reilly's request.
posted by Holden on Jul 3, 2002 - 29 comments

How creepy is this? Man poses as sportswriter for USAToday and/or SI For Kids who wants to interview female collegiate athletes. Some he only gets as far as the phone, one met up with him with her family acting as Scooby Gang. Police say he hasn't done anything to merit charges. Harmless person with mental disorder or person perfecting routine before he escalates?
posted by sillygit on Jun 29, 2002 - 3 comments

Sporting News Predicts the Future. It's 9:30 pm EST and the closing ceremonies have been on for 1 hour, but the Sporting News has provided us with a complete recap of the night, including Rogges final words to Salt Lake City. They must have hired Ms. Cleo recently.
posted by smcniven on Feb 24, 2002 - 6 comments

Fear and Loathing in the MLB : Gonzo progenitor Hunter S. Thompson kicks off his all-new ESPN column with a modest proposal on speeding up baseball.
posted by kevincmurphy on Nov 6, 2000 - 19 comments

This is the first time I ever heard of people being threatened for blogging. Rule 59 of the IOC code states that an Olympic athlete is not permitted to record his thoughts of his Olympic experience and have it posted on the Internet. Doing so would be tantamount to an athlete acting as a journalist. And that is grounds for being thrown out of the Games.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Sep 2, 2000 - 18 comments