Secret Weapon
I loved football. Even though Dad had also taught me to swing a bat, field a ball, shoot free throws, block lay-ups, tee off, and do the elementary backstroke, nothing got me more excited than catching a 30-yard pass
...moreI loved football. Even though Dad had also taught me to swing a bat, field a ball, shoot free throws, block lay-ups, tee off, and do the elementary backstroke, nothing got me more excited than catching a 30-yard pass
...moreAs the 49ers head to the Super Bowl, San Francisco can’t stuff its excitement into a hemp messenger bag fast enough.
In one season, our City—Bill O’Reilly’s favorite punchline for everything fey and un-American—may defeat the nation in baseball and football.
...moreMiranda Popkey of The Morning News on why American football is so attractive and quickly becoming the country’s most watched sport for the wrong reasons.
Popkey investigates the realities behind the popular and easy narratives applied to the sport and its players and teams, calling into question the moral and humanitarian deficiencies that the narratives gloss over.
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If Hollywood could cast the Super Bowl teams, it wouldn’t choose most of the guys who make up the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. It also couldn’t invent the stories of how these people got here any better.
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Once a year, an awful lot of people are forced to pretend to care about football.
I remember being 18 years old, secretly thinking that all the good writers were dead or past their prime. I wanted to be born in the twenties, where wilderness was untamed and fiction was wide open. I knew there must be someone great out there, but the only writers I had loved were the Hemingways and Steinbecks and Fitzgeralds I had come across in English class.
Hey Football Fans,
Have you been watching a lot of NFL preseason games lately? Or have you, like me, mostly been watching breastfeeding?
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A short novel by Michael Knight sees the post-WWII occupation of Japan through the eyes of a confused typist in General MacArthur’s office. It’s Saturday morning. Get the sleep out your eyes and start clicking.
Farhad Manjoo has some solid ideas on how to beat the Kindle. Now, if only Amazon’s competitors will listen.
There is great sadness in Sequoia National Park, at least for someone.
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