The Best Possible BCS Championship
Seven college football teams enter Thursday undefeated, including five from major conferences. While all the talk will be about who "deserves" to play for the national title, we determine which teams...
View ArticleTwenty Steps To Get A Free Stadium
Let's say you want your own stadium, because who doesn't want their own stadium? They're big, shiny, and fit a lot of people. How do you get your own state-of-the-art, modern structure without spending...
View ArticleThe NFL's Dumbest Tailgating Rules
Believe it or not, NFL tailgaters are sometimes subject to draconian rules and restrictions. We've taken a look at the guidelines for all 31 stadiums and accompanying city regulations to expose some of...
View ArticleTax-Benefit Analysis
The French government's plan to tax businesses that employ millionaires is causing owners of Ligue 1 teams to strike. Which American leagues would be most impacted by such a tax? One could argue that...
View ArticlePass Fail
The statistical case is mounting that all teams should pass a lot more and run a lot less. In fact, 13 teams pass for more yards per play than the NFL's very best run offense. Once in a while, though,...
View ArticleHotspur Gone Cold
After selling one of the best scorers in the world (Gareth Bale), Tottenham have netted only nine goals this season. Regardless of whether 12 games is an adequate time frame to judge a summer spending...
View ArticleUnintended Consequences
T.J. Ward's hit that ended Rob Gronkowski's season was legal by NFL standards. Yet Ward said that he was going low because he was consciously aware of being fined for going high, highlighting a new NFL...
View ArticleNFL By The Numbers
What does an average NFL game look like? How many passes? How many penalties? How many replay reviews? What's the final score? How long does it last? Allow us to take you on a tour (and please maintain...
View ArticleGoofy English Soccer Mascots
What do a computer, a fat man, a dinosaur, an anthropomorphic alien and a giant red bear with horns have in common? No, they're not part of a terrifying Disney movie or from your wacky dream last night...
View ArticleThe Best and Worst NFL Announcers
NFL broadcasters take a lot of criticism, some warranted and some unfair. But with so much attention paid to them without actual hard data, we charted 32 games to figure out which announcing crews make...
View Article2013's Dumbest Sports Controversies
Like any other year, 2013 saw plenty of sports "controversies", when the media got in a tizzy over...well, we're still not really sure what. Let's pretend for just a second that if we look back on...
View ArticleThe Best Is Yet To Come
This has been one of the EPL's most interesting, open seasons in recent years. Instead of five or six teams battling for four spots, we have eight with even the top teams showing vulnerabilities....
View ArticleThe Joy of Victory
After watching the game in Tallahassee, I could say some things about how everyone acted when FSU took the lead, then gave it back, then took it again for good. Honestly, everyone behaved pretty much...
View ArticleThe NFL Way
The "Patriot Way" concept is back, and the disease is now spreading to other NFL teams. Recently, Redskins GM Bruce Allen began talking about "The Redskins Way" (apparently sans irony) during an...
View ArticleChanging the Conversation
In reality, Roger Goodell's proposal to eliminate the extra point wouldn't change touchdown math, but it would change the way we think about the situation. And for loss-averse coaches, reframing the...
View ArticleThe Numbers Game
Because it's the Super Bowl, you're going to put a non-trivial amount of money on an outcome you have absolutely no informed opinion about, from the coin toss to scores by quarter, from anthem length...
View ArticleThe Advertising Football League
You may think that the NFL playoffs are about football and celebrating the achievements of those on the field, but that's a myth. The NFL really exists as a way to get your eyeballs on ads for trucks,...
View ArticleThe NFL In the Future Tense
Johnny Manziel cracking beers on the sidelines? The Browns drafting senior citizens? The 2014 NFL season is sure to be unpredictable -- but we looked into our crystal ball to see what the biggest...
View ArticleHow To Play The Best Sport Ever
Don't know the rules of curling? Worse, don't know what curling even is? That's too bad, because curling is elegant, fun and competitive. Even better, it doesn't demand world-class speed or the muscles...
View ArticleDon't Jump to Conclusions
This week in the Premier League, it's important to react rationally. Liverpool's 5-1 trashing of Arsenal is the type of result that can cause us to overrate Liverpool and underrate Arsenal, when really...
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