It was 4th down and 10. Under three minutes remained. The San Diego Surge was down by 9-points to the Chicago Force in the championship game. The entire season, innumerable hours spent training and practicing, countless days spent traveling, the late hours spent studying the playbook an… Read full post »

The game was billed as 'The Gender Bowl,' and the basic premise was to pit a men's football team team against a women's team, because nobody ever seems to tire of 'the battle of the sexes' type contests.

This was the summer of 2005, just at the end of the Pittsburgh… Read full post »

Presbyterian Minister Rae Hodge describes her two-year football career as an awesome time, a wicked, wild ride, the most wonderful time. Perhaps it was the best of times. But one thing is certain:  Hodge and her teammates were women ahead of their time -- way, way ahead of their time.

In 1968,… Read full post »

 “And then they was et by baars,” said Thomas, drawing out the ‘aaa’ sound in 'bears,' so that he sounded like Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter. A little teasing thrown our way as he whizzed by on his way to bring appetizers to another table of diners… Read full post »

I went to see 'The Mighty Macs' on Friday. The movie (loosely) tells the tale of coach Cathy Rush and the Immaculata College Mighty Macs basketball team during the 1971-72 season, in pursuit of a national championship. It's not a great movie (more on that later), but it is/… Read full post »

Sports are encoded on my genetic fabric. They were imprinted on my psyche from a young age. I cannot ever imagine a day when I don’t watch the Stanley Cup playoffs without great interest or get as geeked up about the start of the NFL season as little kids do in… Read full post »

“‘Now you take women champions,’ he said. ‘They’re the bunk.’   

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. I think I’ll do a story about them.’

'Go ahead,’ I said. ‘It’s a good idea.’

‘Lady athletes,’ he s… Read full post »

"Oh. You ordered a Latte, not the Mate?" -- actual overheard conversation in Eugene, Oregon.  

"Are these your coffees today?"

It is, I think, a simple question, given that I am in a coffee house. And that arrayed in front of me are four business cards, dark olive-greenis… Read full post »

As a person of Italian heritage,  I feel that it is my cultural obligation to show up with a giant bowl of some delicious pasta in times of trouble and I have a friend in need. This sauce, I guarantee, is better than your mom's sauce. Unless your mom is Lidia… Read full post »

Pig Ben returns to the field Sunday after serving his four game suspension for conduct unbecoming a grown up person. The questions swirl around. 

What kind of reception will the fans give him? 

What does this mean for team chemistry? What kind of reception did his teammates give… Read full post »

 I woke up to a message this morning that the Coolidge Colts won their first game, a victory over Anacostia by a score of 48-12.

Per Alan Goldenbach at the Washington Post:

 'She ran the down the 50-yard line toward the Anacostia sideline and avoided it, but then Indians… Read full post »

Football, they say, is a young man's game. And if you look through the roster of just about any NFL team, that axiom will be reinforced. But what about the guys who keep on going, long after the others have hung up their cleats. Isn't it a mark of greatness to… Read full post »