February 26, 2015
Moneyball II: Charles Barkley, the Sports Media, and the Second Statistical War
How advanced statistics have become the new battleground for the age-old struggle between sportswriters and athletes.
Read more
Titus’s Top 12 NCAA Power Rankings: Attending the Saint Mary’s–Gonzaga Grudge Match at McKeon Pavilion
Heavy analysis on the best teams in college basketball.
Read more
Press, Press, Boom: How a Bit of Brilliance Decided a Suffocating Tactical Battle Between Leverkusen and Atlético
Two über-aggressive pressing sides rammed heads and locked horns for 90 minutes — only for the game to be decided by a subtle moment of brilliance and a sudden thunderbolt.
Read more
Alex Rodriguez: The Hall of Fame Heel Baseball Could Have Had
Baseball’s long history includes a lot of legendary players; what it lacks is a legendary heel. So while Alex Rodriguez lies awake and wonders where he’d be if he’d stuck to the straight and narrow, we wonder what would have happened if he’d strayed even further from the righteous path.
Read more
NBA Shootaround: Villain Ball
Harden vs. Paul, Z-Bo vs. Boogie, and the rest of Wednesday night’s NBA action.
Read more
The 10 Most Burning NHL Trade Deadline Questions
Will the Coyotes make a move? Will veterans be changing addresses? Could it all be — ugh — one big nothing?
Read more
The Plate-Glass Ceiling: Marty Jannetty, Paul Orndorff, Arn Anderson, and the Silver Age of Wrestling Second Bananas
Who are the most famous second bananas in pro wrestling history?
Read more
Mind the Gap: Has Baseball’s Minors-to-Majors Jump Really Gotten Harder for Hitters?
Last year, highly touted prospects like Gregory Polanco and Javier Baez struggled mightily when they reached the majors. But was it a blip or a trend? With blue-chippers like Kris Bryant and Joey Gallo poised to earn the call, it’s time to explore whether it has actually gotten harder for minor league hitters to successfully make the jump to the major leagues.
Read moreFebruary 25, 2015
L’Affaire Pacquiao: Dissecting the Cross-Cultural Beef Between Daniel Orton and the Filipino Champ
How to understand the controversy over Orton’s comments about Pacquiao and the Philippine Basketball Association.
Read more
Selling Reigns: Predicting the Matchups on the ‘WrestleMania’ Card
A month away from WWE’s biggest event of the year, we predict which wrestlers will square off in the ring.
Read more
The Game Is Round: Kevin Garnett’s Career Reaches a Rare Full Circle Back in Minnesota
Can KG complete the perfect NBA life cycle?
Read more
Derrick Rose and the Seven Stages of Twitter Injury Grief
There’s a script to how we process injuries now, and it’s happened so often with Derrick Rose that you can’t help but notice the blueprint.
Read more
Grantland Features: ‘Son of the Congo’ Trailer
Serge Ibaka escaped the war-torn streets of the Congo and played his way to the top of the NBA. In ‘Son of the Congo,’ he returns to his native country, revisiting the empty lots where he slept and confronting the stark reality facing Congolese youth.
Read more
Celebrating Boston’s Tacoma Twosome: Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley
Given all the deadline movement among NBA backcourts, we’ll forgive you if you didn’t notice that Isaiah Thomas’s move to the Celtics meant he’d be reunited with Avery Bradley.
Read more
Maker’s Mark: The Modern Hype and Reclassification of Thon Maker
The decision to move up a grade is simple, and purely individual. This is a kid with NBA dreams, and reclassification brings him one year closer to realizing them. Nothing else about Thon Maker, or our perception of him, is that simple.
Read more
Could SMU’s Basketball Team Beat SMU’s Football Team … in Football? A Speculative Investigation
You’re probably thinking: This is preposterous, there’s no way an undermanned basketball team could defeat a full squad of FBS talent. Well …
Read more