Blog

Regular season baseball is not football. It is not subject to seismic narrative shifts on a game-by-game basis. Postseason baseball, however, transforms to resemble the sport which supplanted it as America’s pastime. The equilibrium of a six-month, 162-game season gives way to a topography full of peaks and valleys. When baseball comes to the forefront of sports-talk discussion every October, the conversation is full of voices that, whether intentional or…

i Founded in 2011, ESPN’s popular sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down on Friday. Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Jun Tsuboike/NPR Founded in 2011, ESPN’s popular sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down on Friday. Jun Tsuboike/NPR Known for its talented writers and in-depth reporting, ESPN’s sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down early Friday afternoon. The sports media giant released a…

Danica Patrick says growing recklessness by some IndyCar drivers on ovals — her strength and favored form of racing — concerned her and helped spur her move to NASCAR.(Photo: Kevin D. Liles, USA TODAY Sports) MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Adjust your wikis and biography material accordingly: Danica Patrick is no longer an open wheel driver making a mid-career shift to NASCAR. She’s fully vested. In making her 115th Sprint Cup start this…

Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a resolution urging FIFA, the international soccer governing body, to pay its female soccer players the same as their male counterparts. “Gender discrimination is wrong, all of us know that,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). “But we have a budget to pass. We have a debt crisis to fix. We have an education system that needs reform. We have a humanitarian crisis in Europe that…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Slipping through to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs might just have made Jeff Gordon one of the favorites to win the championship. Gordon has had a mediocre season and goes into Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway winless on the year. But there’s no better track for him to spark a run toward a fifth championship. Gordon has eight career victories at Martinsville, which makes him…

ENLARGE Kansas City, Mo. On Wednesday night, John Nguyen packed four kids into the car and drove downtown to a haunted house called Edge of Hell. Visiting this scare-inducing haunt—a Kansas City landmark since 1975—is a Halloween tradition for Nguyen, who was prepared to drop $130 on tickets. But to his dismay, the Edge of Hell on Wednesday evening was closed—a casualty of World Series Game 2 between the Kansas…

Regular season baseball is not football. It is not subject to seismic narrative shifts on a game-by-game basis. Postseason baseball, however, transforms to resemble the sport which supplanted it as America’s pastime. The equilibrium of a six-month, 162-game season gives way to a topography full of peaks and valleys. When baseball comes to the forefront of sports-talk discussion every October, the conversation is full of voices that, whether intentional or…

Negro League Baseball Museum, Kansas City. (Missouri Division of Tourism) They were among the best baseball players in the United States, traveling cross-country to play the game they loved before cheering fans. But they were often forced to sleep on their bus and eat peanut butter crackers. “They could fill up the ballpark but couldn’t get a meal or a place to stay from the same fans that had just cheered…

CARACAS, VENEZUELA— Venezuela’s raucous, boozy and affordable baseball games have long provided respite from the growing gloom in the economically struggling country. Now, a more than quadrupling of ticket prices is putting a damper on the national pastime, with the season kicking off this month to sometimes half-empty stadiums and featuring players who say their per diems don’t go far enough to buy lunch. On…

0) { %> 0) { %> 0) { %>

Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against daily fantasy sports titan FanDuel, striking another blow to a nascent industry already reeling from the harsh reaction to its swift emergence. Garcon sued FanDuel on behalf of all National Football League players for using his name and likeness in both advertisements and the contests it offers without compensation. FanDuel uses a handful of players’ names in its…

i Founded in 2011, ESPN’s popular sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down on Friday. Jun Tsuboike/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Jun Tsuboike/NPR Founded in 2011, ESPN’s popular sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down on Friday. Jun Tsuboike/NPR Known for its talented writers and in-depth reporting, ESPN’s sports and culture website, Grantland, was suddenly shut down early Friday afternoon. The sports media giant released a…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

Regular season baseball is not football. It is not subject to seismic narrative shifts on a game-by-game basis. Postseason baseball, however, transforms to resemble the sport which supplanted it as America’s pastime. The equilibrium of a six-month, 162-game season gives way to a topography full of peaks and valleys. When baseball comes to the forefront of sports-talk discussion every October the conversation is full of voices that, whether intentional or…

David Bean and Hugh Kellenberger(Photo: The Clarion-Ledger) The Clarion-Ledger has named new editors over digital operations and sports. David Bean, who has served as sports editor since this spring, is taking over digital operations for ClarionLedger.com. Hugh Kellenberger, who became a columnist after serving for three years as a sports beat writer at The Clarion-Ledger, is now the new sports editor. “David and Hugh are talented member of our staff,…

Ratings were up significantly, the future schedule is loaded and there are developing stars galore, but none of that could stop Ken Hershman on Friday from announcing his resignation, effective at the end of the year, as president of HBO Sports. Hershman was hired in 2011 and took over in 2012 to replace Ross Greenburg, who resigned under pressure. “I think I’ve built a pretty strong program here,” Hershman told…

In August 1987, in the midst of one of the darkest periods in English soccer history, a countercultural movement sprung into existence in the stadium of the Manchester City Football Club when a man named Frank Newton brought a five-foot inflatable banana to a game for a laugh. Laughs being rare in the stands at that time, other fans embraced the idea of inflatable bananas and a trend bloomed. Vendors…

It’s Sunday morning, and 26-year-old Ethan Sturm logs on to his computer at home in Boston and begins his search. Scrolling through the thousands of potential competitions he can enter via the daily fantasy sports site FanDuel, Sturm picks out a few contests and starts crafting his lineups. He doesn’t want to get into any of the larger tournaments, preferring to face off against 100 or so competitors…