The persistent, tragic behavior of professional athletes.

Tracing the Boston Marathon route via the people who live and work along its course.

One year before his death, Mickey Mantle describes a life of drinking.

Amidst the football-obsessed culture of small-town Christian colleges in Kansas, a player is killed at a party.

“This is the story of Billy Conn, who won the girl he loved but lost the best fight ever.”

A combat veteran trains to be a college football placekicker.

Life after scoring 100-plus points in a basketball game.

The brilliant, tragic life of Hall of Fame second baseman Johnny Evers.

A profile of Robert Cade, a University of Florida professor and inventor of Gatorade.

A high school baseball team responds to a loss.

A profile of the oft-shirtless tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Life as an elite Scrabble player at the “first-ever four-day, 54-player, 24-match $100,000 Scrabble Superstars Showdown.”

Three years after her gold-medal performance – and amidst rumors of a fall from grace – the author travels to Transylvania to track down gymnast Nadia Comaneci. He also enjoys several drinks with her coach, Bela Karolyi.

Part of our Olympics primer, on the Longform blog.

The untold story of steroids in baseball.

A profile of the “acrobatic genius of the trapeze”:

As he spoke, he looked up at the pipes and swings in the arena ceiling. A mechanic was working on the rigging, but Tito spoke thoughtfully, for he seemed to be seeing something else. "Sometimes I see movies of myself in the air and I say, 'Jesus, how can I do that?' I wonder who do I think I am ... but, yes, I do admire myself in films sometimes as if I am watching another person. I have sometimes dreamed my tricks at night, you know, and then tried to master them from the dream."

The story of a high school star who died minutes after hitting a game-winner to end an undefeated season, and the family and friends he left behind.

On Mike Powell, a Chicago-area high school wrestling coach who hasn’t allowed a life-threatening illness to interrupt his life’s work.

On the late Angelo Dundee, who trained Muhammad Ali.

On Clifton “Pop” Herring, the then-26-year-old high school basketball coach who famously left Jordan off the varsity squad as a sophomore.

The Vancouver riots and an unforgettable image.

Bill Russell, race, and the NBA of the 1960s.

Live from Kingston for Frazier vs. Foreman.

Eight years after Moneyball, nearly every MLB front office has integrated statistical analysis into its strategic process. So where does that leave a former wunderkind like Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein?

What happens to 7-footers when they step off the basketball court?

The story of a college town and the most devastating tornado in Alabama history.