How Curt Schilling’s video-game company went bust.

An Englishman’s account of the first modern Olympic games.

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.

A profile of 6’8”, 430-pound Brian Shaw.

How shoes are ruining our feet.

How Sherwin Shayegan pulled off a 3,000-mile, piggyback ride-fueled road trip.

An oral history of WFAN.

“Calça de veludo ou bunda de fora.” Why Neymar, one of the world’s best talents hasn’t taken the money and run.

The playground, the Ivy League, the triangle offense,  and how we dreamed up a “black basketball” and “white basketball.”

A fictionalized account of a moment in baseball history from a contemporary master of detailed Americana.

"Russ wants to believe a thing like this keeps us safe in some undetermined way. This is the thing that will pulse in his brain come old age and double vision and dizzy spells -- the surge sensation, the leap of people already standing, that bolt of noise and joy when the ball went in. This is the people's history and it has flesh and breath that quicken to the force of this old safe game of ours. And fans at the Polo Grounds today will be able to tell their grandchildren -- they'll be gassy old men leaning into the next century and trying to convince anyone willing to listen, pressing in with medicine breath, that they were here when it happened."

An interview with Pavement’s Bob Nastanovich on his career afterlife as a “a clocker and chart-caller” and occasional breeder at an Iowa race horse track.

A profile of Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli.

“Over the past century, coaches have used intuition and discipline to vastly improve athletic performance. Now scientists are taking the last step, helping athletes approach perfection.”

Vindication for an awkward art.

An ode to professional basketball players and why pro ball is the best ball of all.

The Penn State sex abuse scandal as told through a father, a son and “Victim 1.”

The untold story of steroids in baseball.

The controversy surrounding the death of Uche Okafor.

On conspiracy theories in sports, from the ‘85 NBA draft lottery to Michael Phelps’ gold medal performance in the 100-meter butterfly.

It’s a club “filled exclusively with people who do not want to be members.”

The search for a missing ultramarathoner in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, and the life that lead him there.

A Kenyan runner loses himself in Alaska.

Inside the Quidditch World Cup.

One man’s stories from the early days of the NBA.

An investigation into the true identity of a high school basketball player.