An NBA lottery pick and drug addict tries to rebuild his life.

A profile of Jimmy Connors on the eve of the 1978 U.S. Open. His legendary confidence, honed by his mother since childhood, was in free-fall. (He would go on to win the final in straight sets.)

He set a world record in the 100-yard dash as a teenager. He was mentored by Muhammad Ali and a man who orchestrated the largest bank embezzlement in U.S. history. He was homeless for part of his adult life before making a comeback at age 34. Throughout it all, Houston McTear was really, really fast.

Carried away by love—for risk and for each other—two of the world’s best freedivers went to the limits of their sport. Only one came back.

The story of the Refugee Olympic team.

A profile of Ken Griffey, Jr., six years after he last played a baseball game.

On being — and playing for — Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt.

Just before his first NBA game, an 18-year-old LeBron James was asked about the pressure of controlling the combined fortunes of a city, major corporations, and the league. “I can handle it,” he said.

Five years after they leave the league, 60 percent of NBA players have nothing left. In the NFL, it’s closer to 80 percent after just two years. On the economics of professional sports.

The NBA sideline reporter works the playoffs as he battles cancer.

A profile of a previously unknown rookie pitcher for the Mets who dropped out of Harvard, made a spiritual quest to Tibet, and somewhere along the line figured out how to throw a baseball much, much faster than anyone else on Earth.

In an era when America’s great sportswriters were as big as the athletes they covered, W.C. Heinz may have been the best of the bunch.

On the talent, ego, and late father of Bryant Gumbel.

The Rattlesnake Derby is like a bass-fishing tournament, except you really don’t want a bite.

Kobe Bryant in twilight.

How the Caltech basketball team, losers of 310 straight conference games, figured out a formula for winning.

On God, childhood, and baseball.

Michael Phelps returns to his Olympic training after a 45-day stint at The Meadows.

Investigating the unsolved murder of a former NBA player.

Australian Rocky Perone, age 21, made his minor league baseball debut with a stolen base in 1974. Except he wasn’t Australian, wasn’t named Rocky Perone and most definitely wasn’t 21.

The story of a sudden death amid a high school recruiting scandal in Texas.

A profile of Yankee legend Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday.

The story of a small town just outside Pittsburgh that has suffered through a half-century of economic decline, racial tension, and endless crime. Despite that trajectory, or perhaps because of it, Aliquippa has also produced an astounding number of NFL players.

On the start of the high school football season in Odessa, Texas. An adaptation published alongside the release of Bissinger’s 1990 book of the same name, which led to the movie and the show.

The life and death of the racehorse Secretariat.