The Scars Prove You Were There

Nobody wants to be on a first-name basis with her orthopedic surgeon.

But Will is cool. I met Will after one of my bike accidents – the first time I flipped over my handlebars, after a red-winged blackbird thought I was getting a little too close to his baby momma and pinged himself right off the front part of my helmet. If you’ve never been attacked by a red-winged blackbird, I can assure you:  the little dudes do not hold back. At first, I didn’t realize what had hit me. I hit my brakes hard, forcing my bike to buck like a wild mustang, throwing myself from the seat and over the handlebars. Continue reading →

The Five Most Resilient NFL Myths

Never listen to Phil Simms EVAR

Luckily in America we can turn on the TV device every Sunday morning and hear hours worth of misinformed brain-diarrhea analysis about what’s happening on the football field. Most of this is due to dementia-addled murderbots former players who believe that their former glory gives them special insight beyond what the pencil-necked virgins statistics experts can tell him.

So just as baseball has Joe Morgan and the “Moneyball” haters, football has Tom Jackson and Phil Simms. Let’s look at five of the most common myths that football traditionalists like to shove up our brain holes on a weekly basis. Continue reading →

Why You Should Care About Minnie Miñoso

Whether you’re a fan of sports or not, you’ve probably heard of Jackie Robinson. The first African-American to ever play in the MLB, he broke barriers and paved the way for thousands of black athletes, doing it all under the shadow of vile racism and awful treatment from opposing players. Maybe you’ve heard of Roberto Clemente, the first Latin American ballplayer to ever get elected to the Hall of Fame, widely recognized for his humanitarian efforts. Well it’s time you learned about Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta, also known as Minnie Miñoso. Continue reading →

QOTD: Sporty Things of 2011

Sporty things! They happen! And they’re exciting! And sporty! They often involve balls, and people, and people doing things to balls. How can anything be better than that?

And so, in honor of the Crasstalk Day of Sporty Things, the Question of the Day: In Your Opinion, What was the Greatest Sporty Moment of 2011? Continue reading →

10 “Unique” Gifts For Your Soccer (Football) Fan

Do you have a soccer fan who already has every jersey, scarf and Official Team Wine of his or her favorite club? Are you racking your brain trying to figure out what to get him or her, be it a birthday or holiday? Here’s a list of more, er, unique gift items for your favorite ultra:

(1) Auto valve cap: For the extremely detail-oriented car owning fan (offered by Borussia Dortmund). Continue reading →

The NFL’s Perpetual Emergency Quarterback

Injuries happen every year, yet this year the bug has seemed to bite the quarterback position particularly hard. The Houston Texans are starting TJ Yates, who I swear played eight collegiate seasons at North Carolina. The Chiefs are starting Tyler Palko, a guy who was cut from the United Football League’s California Redwoods in 2009. If you looked at the Week 13 starters in the NFL Rex Grossman wouldn’t even be in the bottom five, and that’s quite a thing. Continue reading →

All I Need To Know About Football (And Basketball), I Learned From Being A Cheerleader

When I was sixteen years old I was a member of the Junior Varsity Cheerleading Team for Claremont High School in Southern California. I was your typical cheerleader in that I had a ready smile, some athletic and dance skills, and above all team spirit.

My family is the average “football family;” games are always playing during family gatherings, my uncle was the assistant coach for Grambling State University (an HBCU in Louisiana) for several years, plus my cousin played for the Seattle Seahawks in the early 1980’s and now his sons play for their high school and junior high teams. As for other sports, my Dad has been a fan of the Lakers since they were in Minnesota (hence why they’re called the Lakers…as in “Land of 10,000 Lakes”) and a cousin of mine had season tickets for the Kings. We’re quite the sporty sorts. Continue reading →