“Rio is about far more than Phelps adding to his legacy. It’s the next step toward achieving the same peace and balance on land as he’s had in the water.”

On NFL siblings Michael and Martellus Bennett, who “tend to perplex people.”

In the midst of a tribal burial, Jim Thorpe’s third wife burst in to remove his body, setting in motion a decades-long battle over the Native American athlete’s final resting place.

On the mysterious death of a high school basketball star in Dallas.

A father’s death, an obsession with the Navy SEALs, and a life unraveled.

A playoff push. A torn Achilles.

“The pitch meeting kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as 'Steph-on.' ... It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured Kevin Durant's name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials.”

A profile of the Carolina Panthers quarterback, this season’s likely MVP.

On the quarterback everyone loves to hate.

How a disgruntled group of University of Miami football fans got the head coach fired by flying insulting airplane banners high over Sun Life Stadium.

What happened after the first openly gay player in Division I men’s basketball came out.

Paul Phua rose from a Borneo numbers runner to being the biggest bookmaker in the world. Then he found poker.

Everything that happened before former NBA star Lamar Odom suffered multiple strokes on the floor of a Pahrump brothel.

Race and Ole Miss football.

Roger Goodell, the Patriots and one huge “makeup call.”

The life of the former defensive tackle, who was paralyzed during a kickoff return.

“The concussion that led Borland to retire came on a routine play, and that’s precisely his point.”

The running back’s life since he was indicted on charges of beating his son and suspended from the NFL.

“In an industry in which millions of people are invested in his success – in which he’s constantly being advised, praised and berated, often by total strangers – Revis’ tranquillity might be his greatest asset. He isn’t just an island. He’s a fortress.”

Joe Namath believes hyperbaric oxygen treatment can reverse the brain damage he and others suffered playing football, so much so that a treatment center carries his name. The science, however, doesn’t support his claims.

The mysterious death of one of college basketball’s most promising coaches.

The team’s grand, analytics-driven experiment led by a business school grad who won the GM job after giving a “PowerPoint presentation that Sixers executives now recall as an ‘investment thesis.’”

Lester Cotton’s transformation from reluctant football player to top Alabama recruit, and the hopes and dreams of a neighborhood that ride on his shoulders.

On former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, who died Saturday, and his battle with dementia.

When should a football player, and in particular one who has suffered three concussions in 10 months, retire?