It seems to make sense to enquire about the “primordial” roots of either
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/09/18/more-on-why-no-gather-sports/
Do we need to answer the question “What is a sport?” in order to address questions about which sports are better than others, or how to improve any given sport or spectator’s experience? I ...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/07/28/when-is-a-sport-not-a-sport/
Dazzling offensive plays are the pop music of sports. Like catchy tunes, they are hard not to love. Even more, they are like the vocals and the melody of pop-music hooks. (You can sing these your...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/07/20/soccer-vs-american-sports-part-3-going-with-the-flow/
I’m obviously making this up as I go along; but if you’ve read Why is hockey analysis (almost) always so lame? Part 1 and Part 2, thanks for bearing with me. So far I have talked mostly about...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/05/10/why-is-hockey-analysis-always-so-lame-part-3-its-hard/
I don’t remember a world without instant replay; although I was born into such a world. After clever but misbegotten attempts to use instant replay from the mid-1950s on, it is generally conced...
3.7 million people tuned into live coverage of the NFL draft this past weekend. And that figure surely doesn’t include my father, since he was watching in Mexico. My dad never really stops foll...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/04/26/does-watching-the-nfl-draft-qualify-as-watching-sports/
In the last post I sketched out some of the reasons why Tiger fans (and some Tiger haters) like golf. And by “like” in sports I don’t mean merely “enjoy” it or have a “revealed prefer...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/04/11/more-on-what-makes-golf-great-and-not-so-great/
Real NFL fans should like the new overtime rule — especially once it gets applied to the regular season — for the same reason that most of the real NFL coaches hate it. It holds out the prom...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/03/26/why-new-nfl-ot-rule-is-better/
On Tuesday the owners of the NFL franchises agreed to change to the rules for how to deal with playoff games that end in a tie after “regulation” time. (On average, about one of the 11 games ...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/03/23/old-nfl-overtime-rule-not-unfair/
There’s an irresistible cliché for broadcasters of many sports: the “chess match.” Often an announcer is simply pointing out that there’s a tight back-and-forth battle going on. But to m...
https://thissportinglife.net/2010/02/28/chess-on-ice-chess-board-on-pants/