An investigation of sports’ biggest conspiracy theories, starting with the 1985 NBA draft: “I believe in the fix. I believe in the hidden hand, that sports have a secret, redacted history. I believe that Game 6 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals was a sham, that Spygate was a cover-up of a cover-up, that […]
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The Other League
The AFL’s story is a quintessentially American tale of a group of outmanned, outcast insurgents working on the margins, forced to break with the old way of doing things and in the process creating a brasher, more exciting version of the mainstream—a mainstream that then remade itself in the insurgents’ image. And Sid Gillman, Sonny […]
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Da Bears! An Oral History
Twenty-six years ago, Sweetness, Samurai, Iron Mike, the Fridge, and a comic book’s worth of superheroes roared out of Chicago, taking the NFL by storm. By the time the season was over, they had shuffled their way to the Super Bowl. Andrew Santella retraces their glorious season—and finds out why they never built a dynasty.
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Jason Taylor Dedicates The Rest of His Season to His Agent, Gary Wichard
Every NFL player has a first phone call. He’s on the team bus, the game is over, his body’s a wreck and he needs to tell someone about it. Some call their wives or their girlfriends or their buddy or the pizza man. Jason Taylor always calls his agent. After the New York Jets upset […]
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Rex Ryan: Bringing It Big
In his first season, Rex Ryan took the Jets to within one game of the Super Bowl. In Season 2, the expectations are even higher
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An investigation of sports’ biggest conspiracy theories, starting with the 1985 NBA draft: I believe in the fix. I believe in the hidden hand, that sports have a secret, redacted history. I believe that Game 6 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals was a sham, that Spygate was a cover-up of a cover-up, that […]
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It’s still remembered as “That Night”—when bowler Bill Fong stunned the crowd at the Plano Super Bowl: Most people think perfection in bowling is a 300 game, but it isn’t. Any reasonably good recreational bowler can get lucky one night and roll 12 consecutive strikes. If you count all the bowling alleys all over America, […]
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The Top 10 Longreads of 2012
About This List Thanks to everyone who has participated in the Longreads community this year, and to all of our guests who shared their favorite stories of 2012. The below list represents our editors’ favorite stories of the year, for both nonfiction and fiction. Longreads is edited by Mark Armstrong and Mike Dang, with Kjell Reigstad, […]
