May 3, 2020

"Showboating Fighters Get KTFO" — that's knocked the F out — is a popular, and delicious, YouTube genre. But even before the internet, Anthony "Hollywood" Hembrick practically invented the form. An undefeated light-heavyweight contender, Hembrick danced up a choreographed storm with his cornermen before getting KO'd...

May 3, 2020

Diego Luke was a promising youth hockey player in Minnesota—"The State of Hockey"—until kidney disease forced him to step away from the game. His comeback was interrupted by a bout with cancer. Yet he returned to the ice again. Interviewing his mom and a teammate along the way, Luke recounts his traumatic journey...

May 3, 2020

Weight cutting. It's hard. It's painful. It doesn't really give fighters a competitive advantage. And it can be deadly. Andrew Stelzer on some fighters' toughest battle, the one fans never see. Plus: King Kaufman on Billy Conn, "The Pittsburgh Kid," who gave Joe Louis all he wanted — and then gave him a little too...

May 3, 2020

An expanded version of a story that was featured on NPR's "Only a Game": As a football player in high school and college in Houston, Michael Porter played on teams that went a combined 0-77. So what did he do next? Became a coach at his alma mater. This year (2017) was a rough one for his team, starting with...

May 3, 2020

Football in Mexico. Not soccer. American football. Jonathan Tinajero is chasing his NFL dreams in Mexico City. How did a small-college defensive back from East L.A. end up playing pro ball south of the border? Juan Reyes reports. Plus: Paulie Soda, a loser among losers at Fat Nick's candy store in the Bronx, 1953. And:...