Category: Sports

Myles Garrett, Football’s Hypocrisy, and the Absurdity of “Consensual” Violence

Posted on by Chris in Sports, Writing

Myles Garrett's violence created a flashpoint for that mindset—it evoked the reaction that it did because, in a game where multiple players were taken off the field with more damage to their skulls and brains than Mason Rudolph received from Garrett's helmet-slam, it revealed just how transparent that line of thinking really was. It revealed complicity and, in doing so, a wash of cognitive dissonance from everyone from nameless twitter eggs to Adam fucking Schefter himself. It revealed the sheer absurdity of football, starkly and plainly, and people just couldn't handle that.

Statistics, Probabilities, and a Reading of Sixteen-Inning Baseball

Posted on by Chris in Criticism, Sports

See, that's the weird thing about probability and chaos—and, by extension, baseball. There's always a chance, however small, to see something rare and special; to watch an electron tunnel through a barrier, or a particle burst into existence, or a player bat a home run off a position player nearly six hours after their game had begun. On any given night, by the nature of the beast, those .32 percent odds might just return a 1.

A Tribute, to the Olympics: The Swansong of the Greatest of All Time

Posted on by Chris in Sports, Tributes

In those core four American sports—your football, your baseball, your basketball, your hockey—I have never been around to watch one that the world would later refer to as the Greatest of All-Time. I was too young for Jordan and Gretzky by a few years, and Aaron, Montana, and Young by many, many more. The closest I've … Continue reading A Tribute, to the Olympics: The Swansong of the Greatest of All Time →