There are 33 item(s) tagged with “sports” on this site.
Other tags used by these items: biography, basketball, history, memoir, baseball, politics, football, fitness, psychology, race, skiing, math, statistics, animals, self-help, military, health, cars, faith, comedy, economics, tennis, business, olympics
“Airsoft is like paintball, but without paint. Airsoft guns shoot rubber pellets that don’t burst and aren’t filled with anything. Obviously, in paintball, it’s obvious if you get hit. In airsoft, it’s not obvious, and you have to ‘call your hit.’ This makes it easier to cheat in airsoft, and lots…”
“Yes. When you are an official ‘athletic booster,’ the NCAA prohibits you from doing certain things involving athlete recruitment. To be considered a booster according to the NCAA , you have to have done any of the following activities: Provided a donation in order to obtain season tickets for any…”
“In the context I decided to investigate, it refers to the starting defense of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. To differentiate players during practices in the 1960s, the Nebraska coach put his defenders in black jerseys, and the name stuck. When Nebraska keeps opponents to a low score, it…”
“This book is … a lot. I just started watching basketball as a hobby. I was perhaps not the right audience for this book. Bill Simmons is a sports columnist. He’s the ultimate sports bro. He knows everything. He has an opinion about every subject. He rattles off statistics in a stream of…”
“This is just another name for ‘bear.’ It was a name of a bear in a Dutch children’s fable from the 12th century. Most people know this as the name of two major sports teams: the UCLA Bruins in college sports, and the Boston Bruins in NHL hockey. The UCLA team is very prominent with the bear…”
“This is hard to describe in words. You sort of have to watch it visually. Here are two great videos (literally the first two results when searching YouTube for how to play cricket ): How to Play Cricket (2:00) How to play cricket: The Basics (7:06) It’s tempting to compare this to baseball, because…”
“This refers to the outside-most defensive players that rush the quarterback in American football. In a 4-3 set-up, it’s the defensive ends In a 3-4 set-up, it’s the outside linebackers Those players are on the ‘edges’ of the defensive line scheme – the edges of whatever format is expected to rush…”
“I had trouble connecting with this book. It describes Grand Prix and rally racing of the 1930s – the ‘Golden Age of Auto Racing,’ this era is called. Racing, especially then, is, by nature, visceral and sensory, and I felt disconnected from it. The central theme is that Hitler and the Nazis used…”
“No one agrees where this came from. One story: there was a person that waited down the driving range to see where the ball landed. This caddy was known as a ‘fore-caddy.’ Yelling ‘Fore!’ was a way of warning the fore-caddy that a ball was on the way. However, there are other origin stories. Here’s…”
“This is a relatively new track-and-field event. It’s a multi-event – like the decathlon and heptathlon – where athletes compete in multiple disciplines over two days for a combined score. There are 20 events (it’s sometimes called the ‘double decathlon’). They appear to be held in quick succession,…”
“First off, this book has nothing to do with tennis. Well, maybe five percent to do with tennis. The rest is about the mental side of any skill. It’s mostly about self-doubt, self-criticism, and the urge to micro-manage ourselves into performance. The author talks about ‘Self 1’ and ‘Self 2.’ Self 1…”
“So, it’s tough not to like this book, because Sam Acho is an engaging writer and seems like a lovely person. But the book is unfocused, and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. The title (and subtitle) hint that’s it about letting the world see ‘the real you.’ But the result is really just a bunch of…”
“Steven Adams is only the second New Zealander to play in the NBA. And he’s had a decent career too. He’s never been an all-star, but he had five solid years with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and at one point signed a $100 million contract with them. Adams is known to be one of the nicest guys in the…”
“ ‘Piste’ is French for trail or track. So, ‘off piste’ is a skiing term for backcountry skiing, meaning to ski in areas that are not groomed slopes at ski resorts. As an idiom, ‘off piste’ could mean to do something unexpected or outside the ordinary. ”
“This is a compelling auto-biography. It reads fast and stays interesting. Agassi claims to hate tennis. His father groomed him to be a tennis player, and the stories he tells of his childhood border on abuse. He grew up hating the game. But he dropped out of school in the 9th grade, so that’s all…”
“Until 1968, professionals were not allowed to compete in the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments: the Australian Open, the French Open, the U.S. Open, and the British Open (Wimbledon). These four tournaments were reserved for amateur players, to make them ‘fair’ to players who could not devote their…”
“I had a conversation with my friend Ben about this. Ben (and his son) was a competitive runner in college: Me: In a running race, what’s the purpose of a pacesetter? Ben: The pace setter helps make sure the pack of runners doesn’t get out too fast or slow. This is often used when some runners are…”
“For most everyone, there probably is no difference – the terms are likely interchangeable. But, in a strict sense: Parkour is about efficiency – moving from point A to point B in the least amount of time Freerunning is more artistic and incorporates acrobatic movements for style alone The word…”
“Entertaining history of Nike from its beginning in 1962 through to when it went public in 1980. Those 18 years were run on a shoestring budget, and the company was constantly, hilariously broke. In the last chapter, Knight catches up to everything that’s happened since 1980. That sounds rushed, but…”
“There are five alpine (meaning ‘gravity-based’) skiing events in the Olympics: All of them involve navigating a course down the side of a mountain while turning to go through ‘gates’ demarked by flags. They’re differentiated by how close the gates are, which dictates how often the skier has to turn…”
“This book explains (it doesn’t ‘claim,’ it just explains) that Black humans are generally better athletes than White humans. It goes deep into the different regions of Africa, and shows how significant portions of athletics are simply dominated by athletes from those regions. In particular, the…”
“This is a sport – it’s kind of like ping pong, but it’s played on a curved table, with a larger ball, and you can only use your feet. (So, perhaps it’s nothing like ping pong?) It was invented in Hungary in 2012, so it’s quite new. It’s gradually being adopted around the world, and there’s a small…”
“Truly, one of the most perfect books I have ever read. I wanted a comprehensive history of the NBA, and that’s what got, with style and beauty to go along with it. The history is organized well, the writing is superb and goes beneath superficial observations, and the artwork is just amazing – like,…”
