Life After NFL a Challenge for Many

After retiring from the NFL, a large percentage football players find adjusting to real life a struggle:

“Terrell Owens hasn’t officially retired yet, and he already has blown the $80 million he earned during his career. Warren Sapp recently filed for bankruptcy. Former first-round picks Michael Bennett and William Joseph currently face federal charges of tax fraud and identity theft. Not every player falls into these traps, but a 2009 Sports Illustrated study said that 78 percent of NFL retirees have ‘gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce’ within two years of their careers ending. ‘You’re talking about an identity crisis,’ said NFL vice president of player engagement and former Pro Bowl cornerback Troy Vincent. ‘Every athlete has to face the same question when they’re done: “Who am I?”‘”

Source: ESPN
Published: May 31, 2012
Length: 10 minutes (2,647 words)

The Glass Wall

Forty years after Title IX, the number of female college athletes has soared, but the number of female college coaches has dropped. What happened?

“Some blame the dropoff on a shallow pool of female candidates, who often aren’t as eager to apply for jobs, let alone pack up and move, as men. But there are more pernicious reasons as well. First is an old-fashioned sexism that gives men a chance to coach women’s programs but squelches any thought of hiring a woman to coach men. There is also an ingrained homophobia that quietly pressures women to hire male assistants so as to combat any appearance of a ‘gay’ program.

“One other theme came up again and again during espnW’s dozens of interviews: a lack of second chances for female coaches. Male coaches, particularly in men’s sports, often pass through a revolving door whenever they lose a job—from Bob Knight to Rick Neuheisel to Rich Rodriguez. But women fear they are much more likely to be one and done.”

Source: ESPN
Published: Apr 2, 2012
Length: 25 minutes (6,406 words)

‘Because of Frazier, We Know How Great Ali Was’

Back then, [Ali] had called Frazier an Uncle Tom, said he was much too ugly to be a champion and called him, on the occasion of their third fight, a gorilla. Frazier, unable to fight back verbally, for words were never among his weapons, remained hurt and bitter long after the fights were over.

When Ali finally apologized, he accepted the fact that he had wounded another, very worthy man. “Joe’s right (to be bitter). I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn’t have said. Called him names I shouldn’t have called him. I apologize for that. I’m sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.”

Ali’s apology was both magnanimous, and long overdue. What he had said at the time was cruel and unacceptable. He had taken Frazier, the least political of men, and cast him in the most unlikely of roles, that of the great white hope, a role that Frazier in no way deserved.

Source: ESPN
Published: Nov 1, 2001
Length: 8 minutes (2,109 words)

The History and Mystery of the High Five

I was calling Sleets because I wanted to talk to the man who invented the high five. I’d first read about him in 2007 in a press release from National High Five Day, a group that was trying to establish a holiday for convivial palm-slapping on the third Thursday in April. Apparently, Sleets had been reluctantly put in touch with the holiday’s founders, and he explained that his father, Lamont Sleets Sr., served in Vietnam in the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry — a unit nicknamed The Five. The men of The Five often gathered at the Sleets home when Lamont Jr. was a toddler. They’d blow through the front door doing their signature greeting: arm straight up, five fingers spread, grunting “Five.” Lamont Jr. loved to jump up and slap his tiny palms against their larger ones. “Hi, Five!” he’d yell, unable to keep all their names straight.

Source: ESPN
Published: Jul 30, 2011
Length: 12 minutes (3,128 words)

‘86.74 Is Going to Stand for a Long Time’

No athlete has ever mastered that equation better than Yuriy Sedykh, who refers to his elegant throwing motion simply as “the dance.” But his physical gifts are far from the only reason his record is so untouchable. Sedykh entered his prime just as the Soviet sports machine was at its peak, creating an environment in which even hammer-throw success was considered essential to national pride. The machine provided him with advantages that today’s hammer throwers can only dream of: generous financial support and state-of-the-art coaching. It also blessed him with that one key factor that few aspiring record-breakers can live without. A nemesis.

Source: ESPN
Published: Jun 21, 2011
Length: 12 minutes (3,074 words)

Revisiting the 1987 NFL Replacements

A persistent man with an offer was calling, but Robert Williams had to be practical. He was turning 25, and it was time to be an adult. He had a wife to think about, plus a couple of kids. He had a stable, albeit ordinary, job in Waco, Texas, and that was just fine. See, a time comes in every man’s life when a dream dies, and Williams apparently had come to peace with that when his phone rang in the fall of 1987. If he could just … get this guy from Dallas … off the phone …

Source: ESPN
Published: Jun 9, 2011
Length: 12 minutes (3,023 words)

The Mystery Guest Has Arrived

If you ask Erik Spoelstra how he rose up through the ranks from The Dungeon all the way to the Miami Heat head coaching position, he’ll offer you a self-deprecating variation of Woody Allen’s old adage that 80 percent of life is just showing up. His willingness to stay late and do the work nobody else wants to do is enough to keep him around. As people come and go from the organization, he invariably moves up because Pat Riley and the organization prefer to tap someone in-house over bringing in someone from the outside.

Source: ESPN
Published: Jun 2, 2011
Length: 18 minutes (4,743 words)

The Life and Times of Harvey Updyke

“The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn, Ala., because I lived 30 miles away, and I poisoned the two Toomer’s trees. I put Spike 80DF in ’em.” … Harvey Updyke hung up the phone. He had just ruined his entire life in 62 words. Soon, the police would connect him with Al from Dadeville and nothing would ever be the same. “I’ll [be] honest with you,” he says. “I realized it was a bad idea when I was doing it. You know, I’m not stupid … “

Source: ESPN
Published: May 23, 2011
Length: 12 minutes (3,021 words)

Deadly Games

A white cross rising above the Macacos slum marks the spot where people are burned alive. A starving horse, his ribs poking out, is hitched close by with a thin rope. A nearby soccer field is dotted with pieces of melted rubber. No games are played here. The Amigos dos Amigos gang that runs this favela has a ritual: Members stack tires around their enemies, pour in gasoline and light the tires on fire. This is called microwaving. Black smoke rises into the air. At a school down the hill, near the famous soccer stadium where the 2016 Olympic opening ceremonies will be held, the students hear the screams and cover their ears. This is Rio in real life.

Source: ESPN
Published: May 10, 2011
Length: 20 minutes (5,001 words)

Why You Should Care About Cricket

The guy walking across the parking lot is famous. That’s easy to tell from the reactions. Crowds part for him. Security guards mirror his every step. Other cricketers who made this same trip to the locker room tiptoed around the puddles. He strides over them, head up, confident. I am following an Indian cricket superstar, but I don’t know who he is. That’s the kind of trip this is going to be — one of constant confusion and mystery. … “Who is that?” He looks at me like I’ve got three heads. “Sachin Tendulkar.” Oh.

Source: ESPN
Published: Mar 29, 2011
Length: 42 minutes (10,736 words)