After the 1919 Black Sox scandal, Ring Lardner, America’s first great sportswriter, walked away from the game.

The story of the 2010 NCAA championship game between Duke and Butler, and what would have been greatest shot in college basketball history.

On Baylor’s freshman basketball star Perry Jones and how the new era of one-season careers has changed the landscape of college basketball.

A profile of the highest paid coach in college basketball. A pioneer of one-and-done recruiting, Calipari is also the only coach in NCAA history to have two runs to the Final Four removed from the record books for rules violations.

The story of Nate Fleming—walk-on point guard at Oklahoma State, fan favorite, golden child—and the 2001 plane crash that took his life.

Guz Dominguez says he was trying to help baseball players from Cuba; the U.S. government says he was smuggling athletes. The truth is more complicated.

A 15-year-old dies shortly after collapsing from heatstroke during a high school football practice. Was it has coach’s fault? The state thought so, and put him on trial.

A reporter heads to Istanbul, where Iverson is playing minor league hoops in a 3,200-seat arena and hanging out at T.G.I. Friday’s.

A profile of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, written at the midpoint of his career.

A profile of Yao Ming published during his second season in the NBA.

Brian Windhorst was one of the first reporters to cover LeBron James. He was there in high school. There at the draft. There in Cleveland. And now he’s there in Miami, though the relationship is far from what it used to be.

A profile of Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton, junior college transfer and Heisman Trophy frontrunner.

A profile of Ernie Adams, Bill Belichick’s mysterious right hand man.

The story of a young man killed in Juarez.

Pitching a no-hitter in the middle of a multi-day acid bender was only one of Dock Ellis’ many amazing exploits.

Or, the perils of promoting a middle schooler’s basketball skills. An excerpt from Play Their Hearts Out.

Ten years ago, a pair of legendary TV executives decided it was time to change the formula for football broadcasting. One bet on Dennis Miller. The other bankrolled Vince McMahon and the XFL.

Long before he lied about taking steroids and was indicted for perjury, Clemens was just a good ol’ boy from Texas with a world-class workout regimen.

An interview with Sandy Koufax on “the management of excellence.”

How Madden NFL went from a programmer’s childhood dream to a $3 billion business.

Kevin Hart wanted a scholarship to play Division I college football. It didn’t come. So he made one up–and called a press conference.

Why all soccer fans should root for Holland to lose to Spain.

Ty Cobb, who would go on to be the greatest baseball player of his time, was a 17-year-old minor league prospect when his mother shot and killed his father at home in Georgia.

Argentina’s Lio Messi, the best soccer player on the planet, stands all of 5’7” and needed growth-hormone injections to get there.