Blog

by Arthur L. Caplan & Lee H. Igel People’s beliefs about war monuments, social movements, immigrants, and even the severity of hurricanes seem to be creating widespread division and disagreement everywhere you look these days. Athletes choosing to protest the national anthem shows that sports aren’t immune to discord, either. But leave it to sports to also offer a rare bit of good news about bringing people together, as hockey…

New for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, a driver that goes to a backup car will have to start at the rear of the field regardless of circumstances. Current regulations allow a driver to retain his or her starting positions if the driver starts the race in a car that was used during qualifications. In other words, the current protocol only sends drivers to the…

A woman considered to be one of the top up-and-coming female drivers in NASCAR said she would “love to have a tampon on the side of my car.” Julia Landauer, who competes in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series West, made the statement to Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in a profile of her and her racing career in its Sept. 4 edition. Her point: Female and unisex family brands are missing out by…

Just one race remains before the start of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs and it’s a track where drivers on the outside of the postseason looking in have had success at in the past.  Richmond, the site of Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400, is 0.25 miles longer than Martinsville, but NASCAR still categorizes it as a short track. It’s actually most similar to New Hampshire and Phoenix’s flat…

New York Mets mascot Mr. Met plays to the crowd during the team’s 2005 home opener at Shea Stadium. (Gregory Bull/AP) On June 28, 1871, the Philadelphia Athletics — not, incidentally, the team that later became the Kansas City Athletics and then the Oakland Athletics — traveled to Troy, N.Y., to play the Troy Haymakers in a game of “base-ball.” It was the first season in which a professional league…

Welcome back to another installment of “If the First Half Didn’t Exist,” an annual tradition that serves two purposes. The first is to remind you that we pay far, far too much attention to everything that happens in the first half of the season. The other is to acknowledge that we might not pay enough attention to what’s been happening in the second half of the season. The first half…

Sports. Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist hide caption toggle caption Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist Sports. Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist There should be an industrywide rule that only acts of quality are allowed to name their project something wholly impossible to Google. Luckily for Sports — a Philadelphia-via-Gambier, Ohio twee-punk four-piece — it makes the cut. It’s been two years since we last heard new music from this young…

Roger Goodell returns to Foxborough tonight to attend his first regular-season game since the 2015 AFC championship, when the drama of Deflategate first stirred. Technically it’s not the commissioner’s first trip to Gillette Stadium, but it’s his first real visit since suspending quarterback Tom Brady for four games and cementing his status among Patriots fans as Public Enemy No. 1. Goodell attended the Patriots’ preseason opener on Aug. 10, a…

Editor’s note: This story is part of our Fit Row series that focuses on the health and fitness aspects of racing and its superstar drivers. Presented by Lilly Diabetes, the exclusive diabetes health partner of NASCAR, the series will feature 10 themed stories. Clint Bowyer’s fitness regimen might go light on structure, but it goes heavy on staying busy. Running a 650-acre farm tends to make that a requirement. For Bowyer,…

A woman considered to be one of the top up-and-coming female drivers in NASCAR said she would “love to have a tampon on the side of my car.” Julia Landauer, who competes in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series West, made the statement to Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in a profile of her and her racing career in its Sept. 4 edition. Her point: Female and unisex family brands are missing out by…

Photo by Topps, Inc. 1968 Topps Johnny Bench These days a 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card in good condition will set you back about $690,000. A near mint 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle can be yours for about $145,000. Of course, very few collectors or investors are players at these prices. So I asked Jonathan Celona, co-owner of the Boston-based Champions Sports Cards and Collectibles, to recommend five fun and affordable…

Welcome back to another installment of “If the First Half Didn’t Exist,” an annual tradition that serves two purposes. The first is to remind you that we pay far, far too much attention to everything that happens in the first half of the season. The other is to acknowledge that we might not pay enough attention to what’s been happening in the second half of the season. The first half…

HARI SREENIVASAN: Baseball has a history of teams trying to gain advantage against a pitcher by occasionally stealing signs from the team it’s playing. The idea is to relay information to the hitter about what kind of pitch he will face. There are ways to do it that are acceptable. But the Boston Red Sox are accused of going too far with it last month against their rivals, the New…

Yan Gomes had plenty of hands to slap after hitting a three-run homer Tuesday – the Indians are playing with a 36-man active roster.(Photo: Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images) It is the most asinine rule in all of sports. It’s ruining the fairness of baseball’s playoff races, turning fans and viewing audiences away from the game, and leaving Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred stuck watching four-hour contests. MLB’s archaic September…

More than a half-dozen professional baseball players with ties to St. Johns County finished the minor league baseball season this week. While no one from the county appeared in a major league game this summer, the local athletes ranged all the way from rookie leagues to Triple-A. Here is a rundown of their seasons: High Schools Ricky Karcher (Reds): 7 appearances, 4 starts, 0-3 record, 10.67 ERA, 14.1 innings, 14…

Sports. Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist hide caption toggle caption Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist Sports. Jess Flynn/Courtesy of the artist There should be an industrywide rule that only acts of quality are allowed to name their project something wholly impossible to Google. Luckily for Sports — a Philadelphia-via-Gambier, Ohio twee-punk four-piece — it makes the cut. It’s been two years since we last heard new music from this young…

Blizzard’s ever-growing e-sports ambitions will soon have a new home. Today, the game developer announced plans for an e-sports arena in LA. Officially called Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, the new space will be situated at legendary TV production facility Burbank Studios, and will open next month. Blizzard says the arena “has been custom-tailored to support an exciting live-event experience for local attendees and broadcast audiences around the world.” In addition…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Urban Meyer knows a thing or two about respectfully replacing legends. Twelve years ago, Ohio State’s current coach started a successful run at Florida just four seasons after Steve Spurrier left the Gators. In late 2011, he became the first permanent coach following the firing of Jim Tressel. On Saturday, Meyer will coach against Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, who himself is three months into taking over for the…

The sign indicated curves ahead. The road was so newly paved it didn’t have a dividing line. The asphalt undulated left and right, with an occasional dip before the far-off turn. There were no houses or driveways, just woods on one side, a meadow on the other. It was the perfect road for the Honda Civic Si. At another time in another place, the vestiges of rain dried on the…

StatMuse, the sports statistics database that can be queried using natural language inquiries, just announced that it’s become the second startup accepted into the NFL Players Association’s accelerator. As a refresher the accelerator, called The One Team Collective, was built to help smaller startups get access to player licensing rights in return for equity. We first wrote about Statmuse when it was accepted into Disney’s accelerator in 2015, then again…