myths - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The John Smoltz Urban Legend That Was Too Good To CheckJohn Smoltz is, at this point in his second career as a color commentator, not really that good at the job. He understands the game well, but he’s also drowsy and grouchy in all the ways that old ballplayers tend to be: checked out and skeptical and reflexively salty about today’s players, grumpily ...

The Totally Unexpected True Story Of Yi Jianlian's Magical Mystery ChairMention Yi Jianlian, and the first thing that comes to mind is probably that video of him working out against a chair. The baseline drive, the juke, the spin move around the defenseless chair and the ferocious slam. Do you remember it?...

How Muhammad Ali's Rope-A-Dope Myth Suckered America Myth now dominates our misunderstanding of Muhammad Ali, who was once the most accessible celebrity in the world. The truth of the man is nearly irretrievable. With Ali having receded into an exile of his own choosing, the jokes and half-truths and outright lies he once told to entertain us have h...

<em>Remember The Titans</em> Is A Lie, And This Man Still Wants You To Know It

Not long after the release of Remember the Titans, the uplifting 2000 blockbuster about the integration of the T.C. Williams High School football team, former coach Herman Boone ceased to be the Titan his players all remembered. Instead, in public appearances, he began to play the role of Herman B...

Everything You Know About Cramps Is Wrong, And Gatorade Is Full Of Shit

It looked bad, LeBron getting Paul Pierced off the court, a Finals opener sliding wetly to an uneventful end, Gatorade trolling down from the ramparts of for-profit pseudo-science....

The Competitive-Balance Argument Against Paying Athletes Is Bullshit

High on the list of myths thrown out as excuses to delay or prevent the advent of pay-for-play is that the price-fixing engaged in by the 351 schools in Division 1, and especially the now 128 schools in FBS who play football, is necessary to ensure competitive balance across the sport. ...

How The Myth Of The NCAA "Student-Athlete" Was Born

Excerpted from Taylor Branch's The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA, published by Byliner and newly relevant today as Northwestern football players seeking to unionize argue before the National Labor Relations Board that they are employees of the school. Byliner has unlocked The...

The Truth About The NFL, The Super Bowl, And Sex Slavery

Originally published at Sports on Earth....