You play the game until it's over. | | | | River Plate fans celebrate a 1-0 win in Copa Libertadores Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
(Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “You play the game until it's over.”
|
| |
| | rantnrave:// Forget about CLAYTON KERSHAW’s mid-'90s heaters and pinpoint control or even DALLAS KEUCHEL’s fiendish breaking pitches and purposeful wildness. The players to watch in the WORLD SERIES are YASIEL PUIG and YULIESKI GURRIEL, who faced incalculable risks to get to baseball’s grandest stage. During Puig's harrowing journey from CUBA, he and his mother were at the mercy of black market smugglers and the Mexican cartel. Gurriel’s escape wasn’t as fraught, but he, too, spent a decade before getting a chance to play in the majors. Regardless of how they perform over the next week, after years held captive by their homeland, these two defectors have proven Cuban players can compete with the best in the world... JAMAL CRAWFORD has lasted 18 years in the NBA and not only looks as if he’s escaped the ravages of time, he’s still relying on the same ill-conceived 20-footers and off-balance floaters. Like all true gunners, he's either unwilling or unable to be swayed by the tut-tuts of efficiency wonks, making him both a delightful anachronism and a dying breed. I fondly recall helping nurse a significant other back to health and simultaneously sneaking away to watch Crawford nail 16 straight janky, confidence-fueled buckets against the MIAMI HEAT in 2006, a rare moment of pure joy for one of ISIAH THOMAS's more doomed and grim KNICKS squads... If Crawford has a spiritual heir, it’s NICK YOUNG, who has found a home with the defending champion WARRIORS. There’s more to his story than the viral, eye roll-inducing gifs, even if he can’t and won’t stop being SWAGGY P... Dogs are extremely good, which makes it all the more heartbreaking to see a team of IDITAROD dogs were doped to the gills. Hopefully, the dogs' musher, a four-time Iditarod winner, is telling the truth when alleging that someone else introduced a banned substance without his knowledge. And if any fine member of CONGRESS wants to introduce legislation banning animals in sports, he or she's got my vote … THE DAILY BEAST has a disturbing report on a soccer stadium in RAQQA that was converted to a prison when ISIS took over, and where torture and beheadings were commonplace. I can't help but be reminded of a documentary called “BENEATH THE VEIL,” in which a reporter asked a TALIBAN official why they were using a UNITED NATIONS-built stadium to execute prisoners--often by running them over with trucks--and not playing soccer as the UN intended. His response: If the UN would build another stadium where they could hold their executions, the Taliban would be happy to play soccer here. | | | - Robert Silverman, guest curator |
|
|
 | The Daily Beast |
| In the locker rooms, showers, and gym beneath the stadium, ISIS created a prison and torture chambers for its feared security arm. | | |
|
 | Sports Illustrated |
| Whether it's in the NBA, a half-empty gym or on your block-Jamal Crawford is always balling, creating moments and memories along the way. | | |
|
 | Vice Sports |
| Yasiel Puig and Yulieski Gurriel are dominating this postseason, and a fitting symbol for a new baseball order. | | |
|
 | MEL Magazine |
| It’s only the beginning for football concussion lawsuits. | | |
|
 | The Undefeated |
| 'Going from the bottom to the top, it was hard. But I made it through.’ | | |
|
 | The New York Times |
| Guide dogs are taught to keep the blind safe. Now they’re being trained to help guide visually impaired runners in road races - and maybe, someday, in a marathon. | | |
|
 | Alaska Dispatch News |
| Seavey denied he gave his dogs a banned painkiller and said he has withdrawn from the 2018 race in protest of officials' handling of test results. | | |
|
 | SB Nation |
| Most are dumb, but there is a morality to some. Here’s how Bell violated one. | | |
|
 | Kotaku |
| Venezuela is in the midst of an economic collapse. What was once the wealthiest major economy in Latin America is now suffering from shortages of essential goods like food and electricity, as well as spikes in crime and unemployment. To put dinner on the table, many are turning to unconventional jobs. Like gold farming. In an MMO from 2001. | | |
|
 | Waiting For Next Year |
| Joe Thomas' season ended with a triceps injury last Sunday. Now, with the future more uncertain than ever for Thomas, we look back at what he has meant to Cleveland fans and why his time in Cleveland was not remarkable, but just ordinary Joe. | | |
|
 | Literary Hub |
| Sara Novic examines her love for a game with a persistent misogynist legacy. | | |
|
 | The Atlantic |
| Despite sluggers aplenty on Houston and Los Angeles, each club's title chances hinge on the pitching prowess of Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw. | | |
|
 | Deadspin |
| Jim Boeheim spoke with the press on Friday, per Syracuse.com, touching on Syracuse’s upcoming attempt to bounce back from a 19-15 NIT campaign, UNC’s last-minute dodging of NCAA penalties, and the fact that, actually, jersey sales aren’t really that high, so college athletes should probably be happy with their Pell Grants and just shut the hell up. | | |
|
 | The New Yorker |
| "Dungeons & Dragons" seems to have been waiting for us somewhere under the particular psyche of this generation. | | |
|
| Vice Sports |
| The outbreak of a viral infection forced WWE to make key changes to its TLC pay-per-view, which resulted in the return of Kurt Angle and one of the best shows in recent memory. | | |
|
 | ESPN |
| In 2012, the Bulls were primed with young MVP Derrick Rose, rising star Jimmy Butler and a promising core of talent. In 2017, the biggest noise in Chicago has come from punches thrown on the practice court. These moments defined their downfall. | | |
|
| The Undefeated |
| 'Progress doesn't always occur quickly -- but it's important that it occurs.' | | |
|
| SB Nation |
| NFL owners were probably too lazy to collude against Colin Kapernick, and that's really sad. | | |
|
 | The Root |
| If you could choose one person who understands the controversy surrounding the NFL protests for justice and equality, someone who played more than a decade-and-a-half in the National Football League might have insight on the issue. | | |
|
| Sports Illustrated |
| Inside ESPN's decision to swiftly end its relationship with Barstool's most popular podcast. | | |
|
 | YouTube |
| | | | | | It's second wave ska, fellow kids! |
| | |
|
|
| © Copyright 2017, The REDEF Group |
|
|
