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Katie Muth
The world of sports has become, somewhat paradoxically, a refuge for the mathematically-inclined. Today’s sports enthusiast is confronted with a seemingly endless debate about whether advanced metrics are actually superior methods of measuring accomplishments or so much intellectual hogwash. Eventually, one’s eyes glaze over and the sides become indistinguishable: statistics and sports become perfectly inseparable, each a justification for the other. Read on.
Will You Please Be Quiet Please, or Why I Hate Rick Reilly
Matthew Augustine
Rick Reilly is an acclaimed sportswriter. Rick Reilly’s columns are idiotic. Which would be a forgivable (if annoying) offense if Reilly didn’t so disingenuously misunderstand the very idea of sports.
Pajama Warriors: Martial arts mystique and the denial of reality
Colm O'Shea
The martial arts supply an empowering narrative for those beset by fear, but a distressing vicious circle results as the martial artist goes from fear-sufferer to fear-inducer. Read more.
Lessons in Quitting with Rory McIlroy
by Austin Kelley
Golfer Rory McIlroy was skewed in the media for walking off a round of golf and taking the easy way out. But is quitting really as easy as it seems?
The Great Tom Izzo and Yooper Invisibility
by Matt Nicholas
Michigan State’s basketball coach Tom Izzo is often praised as being both a good coach and an even better guy. Which is why it matters that he hails from a remote area in northern Michigan.
It's a Wonderful Uniform
by Emily Sanders Richards Hopkins
The lamentable influence of groupthink on athletic uniforms sparks a consideration of the ideal uniform. Read all about it.
The Lunatic Fringe
by Austin Kelley
Beginning in 2020, wrestling will be removed from Olympic competition, an announcement that prompts a reflection on the experience of being a high school wrestler. Albeit briefly.
On NBA Nerds and Poseurs
by Matt Nicholas
The term “nerd” gets applied so loosely that it might be worth separating the nerd wheat from the poseur chaff. Even in the NBA.
Pain Don't Hurt: Scenes from PT
by Austin Kelley
A torn rotator cuff lands the author in physical therapy, which turns out to be a proving ground for his masculinity as well as a good place to score Quaaludes. Read more
College Basketball's Counter-Reformation
by Matt Nicholas
Although still hypothetical, the Catholic Seven basketball conference has been meet with enthusiasm and support. But for what exactly?
After the Gold Rush, After Lenore
by Austin Kelley
Super Bowl XLVII features an epic showdown between teams named for a poet’s famed pestering bird and a band of opportunistic prospectors.
A Lonely Seabird in a Land of Big Cats
Patrick M. O'Connell
Some pundits mocked the name change from Hornets to Pelicans for the New Orleans NBA franchise. But what do we want in a team name or team mascot?
The Super Bowl of Empty Metaphors
by Matt Nicholas
The Super Bowl extends far beyond its football context. Here’s a handy guide to some non-football super bowls out there.
Welcome (back)!
by Matt Nicholas
We’re happy to announce that The Modern Spectator has returned from the cyberspace beyond.
Coming Soon! TMS Will Be Back
Get ready for The Modern Spectator. We’re coming back.
Minister of Information
by Matt Nicholas
The most entertaining part of watching a San Antonio Spurs game has nothing to do with the action on the court.
Mancunian
How much Manchester slang do you know?
Everybody Wins: Leisure Olympics II
The Second Leisure Olympics began, appropriately enough, with a blank sign. It had originally been marked with words (white gaffer’s tape on black cotton), but the letters decided they didn’t want to be letters. They didn’t want to be corralled into meaning-making, they didn’t want to pin anything down, they didn’t want to work. So the letters fell off. They relaxed.
Things, of course, went smoothly off the rails after that. We didn’t get to half the sports (Slothathon slumbers on). Our medal ceremony music (10 versions of “Ode to Joy”) sputtered. At some point we ran out of beer. By then, though, we were already doing our best to imitate the ex-letters. We were deep into leisure. And deep into peach-and-plum sangria.
LEISURE OLYMPICS II
Get Ready
for
Leisure Olympics II
Saturday, Sept. 1, 12-5p
Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Get more info and more lovely illustrations here.
“Know Thyself”
New Schedule
12:00-1:30 Practice
1:30 Opening Ceremonies
2:00 Badminton
2:30 Stone Skipping
3:00 Bocce
3:00 Croquet begins
3:30 Paper Airplane
4:00 TRICK
4:30 Slothathon
5:00 Closing Ceremony
Tell your friends to tell their friends’ friends.
Get more info and more lovely illustrations here.
illustration by Marshall Hopkins
Iron Man 3: Xavi
Does Xavi look a little like Robert Downey Jr.?
Look back at our profile of Uruguayan soccer fan Eduardo Galeano and check how you are doing in our pool.
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