Concern is growing inside the Chiefs Kingdom. QB prodigy Patrick Mahomes has the keys to the kingdom, but the central question consuming Chiefs fans is: can he be counted on to drive the Chiefs to post-season success? As the season inches closer,…
Category: Other
Mahomes Has Keys to Kingdom, But Can He Drive Chiefs to Postseason?
Tagged with: Arrowhead, Chiefs, Chiefs Kingdom, National Football League, NFL, Patrick Mahomes, sea of red
U.S Open Preview: New York! New York!
The United States Open is coming up. The dates for the final tennis major are August 27th through September 9th. The field has 128 players for the men. It also has 128 players for the women. The seeds for…
Tagged with: Arthur Ashe, Djokovic, Federer, Flushing Meadows, Keys, Maddy Keys, major championships, Nadal, Serena, Serena Williams, tennis, US Open, US open dates, US open draw, US Open seeding, USTA, Williams, Wimbledon
Under the Lights in God’s Country, Part Two
[Here is the second (and final) part of the fictional short looking at Texas high school football. I appreciate all of the positive feedback and glad to know that folks have enjoyed reading these pieces this summer. We will see what…
Tagged with: Big XII, D I football, Friday Night Lights, high school football, Horns, Longhorns, NFL, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Football, Texas Longhorns, UT
McDaniel’s The Church of Michael Jordan
[I noted that Jeffery McDaniel’s poem entitled, The Church of Michael Jordan, was formative for some fictional writing on Texas high school football that I completed last year. I am including this amazing poem here for readers that have not seen…
Under the Lights in God’s Country, Part One
[As we move slowly toward tw0-a-day practices and the beginning of fall football, we will be publishing a multi-part fictional narrative that I wrote last year on the truly amazing spectacle that is Texas football. It is a place where…
Wimbledon: RF for Nine or Some Other Cup of Tea?
[Ah, the All-England Club. When the rain lifts, it is nothing less than a sun-dappled cathedral to the great game of tennis. The question on everyone’s mind, of course, is the resurgent 36-year old Roger Federer and whether he can…
Stumbling on Wins
[You should write down this citation: Berri, David and Schmidt, Martin. Stumbling on Wins. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. And if you share the thinking of the writers on this site, you also should read this book. It is one of…
Malamud’s The Natural
[Sports fiction is a poorly covered and unappreciated craft. It is a hard slog to bring the drama of the playing field to life on the written page. Several authors have done it and arguably none of them with greater…
Tagged with: America's game, Baseball, Bernard Malamud, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Malamud, Max Mercy, MLB, National Pastime, Natural, New York Times, Roy Hobbs, The Natural
Withdrawal for Personal Circumstances, Part Three
[The writing below is the the final installment in Withdrawal for Personal Circumstances. At some point this summer, I also plan to post a longer format piece of fiction on Texas high school football that I put together during the second term. Hopefully readers like…
Tagged with: ATP, Australian Open, championship tennis, Davis Cup, French Open, professional tennis, Roland Garros, tennis, US Open, Wimbledon
Withdrawal for Personal Circumstances (PC), Part Two
[This piece is the second in a multi-part fictional essay that I wrote last fall. As I noted in framing the first section of the essay, it is something that I sought to frame out drawing some inspiration from a Fitzgerald short story called, Six of…
Tagged with: ATP, Australian Open, French Open, Jon Wertheim, major championships, professional tennis, Roland Garros, tennis, US Open, Wimbledon
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
The MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference began in 2007. Over the last decade, it has become the premier sports analytics conference in the world. The event is, quite simply, without peer. For 2018, the overall theme is, “Talk Data to Me.” …
Tagged with: 538, Boston, Microsoft, MIT, MIT Sloan, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Moneyball, Nate Silver, Obama, President Obama, sports analytics, Steve Balmer
Super Bowl LII Preview
The size and scope of the Super Bowl is amazing to consider. The Super Bowl is the most watched event in U.S. television (both FIFA’s World Cup and, depending on the participants, the Cricket World Cup can be bigger). Americans…
Tagged with: AFC, AFL-NFL merger, Belichick, chicken wings, Chiefs, Cricket World Cup, Eagles, FIFA World Cup, Kansas City Chiefs, National Football League, NFC, NFL, Patriots, Pats, Super Bowl, Super Bowl 52, Super Bowl advertising, Super Bowl LII, television sports, Thanksgiving, Tom Brady, U.S. Bank Stadium, Vikings
An MLB Alternate Universe
[We are starting to get within an outfield throw of Opening Day. And once we get past the Super Bowl, it will be the only thing to keep us going (at least until March Madness tips off). And so, it should come…
Federer Wins Down Under
Roger Federer is inarguably the greatest male tennis player of all-time. He has won an amazing 20 grand slams (four more than Nadal). And with this win in Australia, the ageless 36-year old became the oldest player to win a major championship…
Tagged with: All-England Club, Australian Open, Cilic, Fed, Federer, John McEnroe, major championships, Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports Illuistrated, tennis, Werthiem, Wimbledon
The Grand Daddy (of Rowing) of Them All
“Rowing is perhaps the toughest of sports,” wrote Daniel James Brown in his classic The Boys in the Boat. “Once the race starts, there are no time-outs, no substitutions. It calls upon on the limits of human endurance.” Held on…
Friday Night Lights (Dimming)?
The fall football landscape has been filled with noise this fall. Everyone is talking about the Chargers and their stadium filled with fans of their opponents; and the Twittersphere has been filled with pictures of empty seats across the League.…
The Moose Is Loose
On Wednesday, September 20th, Mike Moustakas hit his 37th home run of 2017. The “Moose” now holds the record for the most home runs in a single season by a Kansas City Royal. Moustakas…
Tagged with: 2015 World Series Champions, Eric Hosemer, KC, KC Royals, Major League Baseball, Mike Moustakas, MLB, Moose, Moustakas, Ned Yost, professional sports
The Final Slam: US Open 2017
Flushing Meadows incapsulates the best things about tennis. The final tennis slam of the year may not have the whites of the All-England Club or the sun-dappled splendor of the clay at Roland Garros. The U.S. Open is tennis with an…
Ben Hewitt: The Town That Food Saved
Ben Hewitt’s The Town That Food Saved chronicles the rise of the local foods community in Hardwick, Vermont. Hewitt makes the compelling case that a collection of agri-preneurs helped “save” this small Northeastern town. The…
Sporting KC Owner Neal Patterson
Neal Patterson, businessman and long-time owner of the professional soccer franchise Sporting KC, passed away this last weekend. He was 67. On Tuesday night at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Mr. Patterson was recognized during the match against FC Dallas in…
Tagged with: cancer, Children's Mercy Park, Cliff Illig, FC Dallas, Lamar Hunt, MLS, Neal Patterson, NLP, Sporting KC, U.S Open Cup
Going, Going, Gone: A Quick Look at the Home Run Derby
[The Midsummer Classic is a great midpoint to the summer. It is a tradition that dates to 1933 and, in my opinion, is one of the best all-star formats in major professional sports (along with the MLS which, as many readers…
Iconic Sportswriter Frank Deford Passes Away
He was, without a doubt, one of the true giants in the field of sports journalism. Benjamin Franklin “Frank” Deford III passed away at his home in Florida this week. The American sportswriter and novelist was 78. In chronicling his…
Tagged with: death of Frank Deford, Frank Deford, NPR, Over Time, Sports Illustrated, The Old Ball Game
Readership Jumps (Again!)
MyESPNforkids.com is a commitment from a small group of students that love sports. We hail from cities all across the country, giving us different teams that we champion. We also follow certain games with more intensity than others. We hope the result…
NCAA: Final Four Cancelled!
In an amazing development, the NCAA has cancelled the Final Four tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. Many theories are circulating on the Internet and social media surrounding the cancellation. Among widespread speculation, here are several theories that seem to carry…
Tagged with: Arizona, College Basketball, Ducks, Final Four, Final Four 2017, Gonzaga, Jordan Bell, NCAA, NCAA Tournament, Oregon, Oregon Ducks, Phoenix, Roy Williams, South Carolina, Spike the Bulldog, Suns Gorilla, UNC, UNC Tar Heals
March Madness: Coach Cal’s Cats Gone Wild
[Even our baseball expert Adam “Shem” Shemesh has caught the Madness! You have to love the single-elimination craziness that is March. Adam weighs in here with a piece on the Cats and their win in Memphis. My position on Calipari is well-established (and documented),…
NCAAB: One Shining Moment
March Madness is the pinnacle of college sports. One only has took look at the annual March Madness video. It offers the Why. Last-second heroics. Stunning upsets. Blinding emotion. It is quintessential encapsulation of the iconic phrase, “the thrill of…
Tagged with: Allen Fieldhouse, Chapel Hill, Christian Laettner, College Basketball, Diaper Dandies, Dick Vitale, Dicky V, Duke, Final Four, Frank Mason, Gonzaga, Jayhawks, Jimmy V, Josh Hart, KU, KU faithful, Lorenzo Charles, March Madness, March Madness Bracket 2017, NC State, Nova, One Shining Moment, Roy Williams, Sprint Center, Survive and Advance, UNC, Villanova, Villanova Wildcats, Wolf Pack
MLB: Show Me the Money!
[The Reserve Clause. It used to be that contracts in Major League Baseball (MLB) contained something called the Reserve Clause. It meant that once a contract for a player expired, the team continued to control the rights to that player.…
Tagged with: Baseball, Chris Davis, Curt Flood, Jose Bautista, Major Leagues, Mark Trumbo, Mets, MLB, Nelson Cruz, New York, New York Mets, New York Yankees, professional baseball
John Feinstein: A Transformative Author
[Every kid that loves sports and reading has enjoyed the books of the great John Feinstein. A number of years ago, I did a report on Coach Bobby Knight in lower school. A Season on the Brink, a Feinstein classic,…
Super Bowl 51: One Central Question
After several weeks of build up, it is finally here. One game. One global stage. One key question. Does the experience of the Belichick-Brady team prove determining against Matt Ryan and an amazing, diverse array of offensive weapons? Can Belichick…
Baseball is in Mourning this Morning
[This morning, we all mourned the passing of Yorando Ventura and Andy Matte. Our thoughts go out to their families, friends and teammates. Senior East Coast Correspondent Ezra Troy delivers for all of us with a touching article about both…
NFL: Conference Playoff Clashes!
[This article was written and adapted from my school paper. It should be an incredible weekend of football before we take a one-week break and prepare for the event that the late great Lamar Hunt helped bring to life and…
2016 Postmortem: Can 2017 Possibly Come Close?
[As we reflect on our website over the course of 2016, one of the standout dimensions has been the work of Ezra Troy and also new correspondent Roey Herzfeld. The DC duo has made a big impact with some really great…
Tagged with: A-Rod, Arnold Palmer, Big Papi, Buddy Ryan, Calvin Johnson, Craig Sager, Dennis Byrd, Gordie Howe, Jared Allen, Jose Fernandez, Justin Tuck, Kevin Garnett, Kobe, Marshawn Lynch, Michael Phelps, Muhammed Ali, Pat Summit, Peyton Manning, Tim Duncan, Usain Bolt, Vin Scully, Will Smith, Yogi Berra, “Peanut” Tillman
2016: An Epic Year in Sports
[2016 was an incredible year –for better and for worse. We cheered for the Cubs as they broke their 108-year Curse. We bemoaned Kevin Durant as he said a fair weather goodbye to OKC. It was, like every year, what…
Tagged with: 2016, Baseball, best moments in sports, Best Moments in Sports 2016, Bolt, Cam, Chicago, Chicago Cubs, Cubbies, Cubs, ESPN, Exposed, Goalzo, Golden State, Golden State Warriors, Incredible, Jamie Vardy, Jose Fernandez, Kaepernick, Lengendary, MLB, National Football League, NBA, Newton, NFL, Sports
Should College Football Embrace the Madness?
March Madness is the pinnacle of sports. 68 teams. Underdogs. Upsets. Yale beating Baylor. It is a single-elimination thriller that has become one of the greatest events in sports. As a result, many fans think it makes sense for college…
Tagged with: 8 team football playoff, Boise State, bowl games, CBS, CFB, college football playoffs, Fans, football, football playoff, Longhorns, March Madness, NCAA, NCCA, Playoff, Robbed, Texas, UT
MNF: Panthers v Skins
[I am still reeling from a disastrous Sunday loss by the Chiefs. Arrowhead was a frozen tundra, and Kansas City squandered a consistent lead throughout the first three quarters to fall to defeat on a last-second field goal by former Chief Ryan Succop from 53…
Tagged with: Benjamin, Cam, Cam Newton, Carolina, FedEx Field, Kirk Cousins, Panther, Redskins, Washington
NCAAF: It’s Time to Go Bowling
[The College football playoff system has taken a little bit of the luster from the bowl game tradition. If you love the game of football and like to assess talent striving to play at the next level, however, you are still excited about…
Tagged with: Badgers, bowl games, bowls, Cardinals, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Lamar Jackson, Louisville, LSU, Penn State, Rose Bowl, Trojans, USC, Wisconsin
Best Books on Sports: The Blindside
The Blindside: The Evolution of the Game You probably have seen the movie. Everyone seems to have watched it. And while movies almost never are better than the book, I don’t subscribe to the notion that you can’t enjoy them both.…
Best Books on Sports: Ballpark Mysteries
Ballpark Mysteries by David A. Kelly The Ballpark Mysteries is a fantastic series written by David A. Kelly. Two young kids, Kate and Mike, are the main characters. They solve exciting mysteries while teaching you a lot about baseball. There…
A-Disgrace? A-Rod and His Path Back to MLB Respect
[MyESPNforkids is lucky to have our own Peter Gammons: Adam “Shem” Shemesh. When you contemplate the biggest names in baseball during our time as young fans, you have to think about Alex Rodriguez. At the same time, the word steroids…
Tagged with: A-Rod, American League, Fox, Fox Sports, Major League, MLB, New York, New York Yankees, NY, Rodrigues
NFL Jersey Rules: Here is the 101
The NFL has not been without controversy this year. National Anthem Boycotts. Concussion Protocol. Declining TV Ratings. Amid the journalist and social media noise, let me add another topic: fan jerseys. In my family, there are a set of longstanding rules surrounding…
Tagged with: Arrowhead, Brody Croyle, Browns, Chiefs, Croyle, Dallas, Dallas Cowboys, Donald Trump, Kansas City Chiefs, National Football Conference, NFL, NFL jerseys
Let’s Spur Some Debate: How Would Golden State Do Against San Antonio in the David Robinson Era?
[The NBA season began on October 25th. It seems amazing to think that a new season has commenced. With Kevin Durant joining the already stacked Golden State Warriors, most pundits are assuming that Curry and Co are poised for a World Championship…
Tagged with: Curry, Durant, Golden State, National Basketball Association, NBA, San Antonio, Spurs, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Warriors
A Puzzling Pat: The Curious Trades of Bill Belichick
[I have had the chance to read a couple of great books on the enigmatic Bill Belichick, including The War Room and also the awesome The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam. ESPN once called him the greatest enigma in sports. Some…
Big Controversy in the Big D: Tony Romo or Dak Prescott?
[Here is another solid piece from Adam Shemesh, looking at the drama playing out in Jerry Land. Jones has a big stadium in a big state with a big appetite for football. He also has a big QB controversy. Adam gives us a fresh, timely set…
Tagged with: Beldsoe, Brady, Dallas, Dallas Cowboys, Drew Brees, Montana, National Football Conference, National Football League, NFC, NFL, Philips Rivers, Steve Young, Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Walsh
NFL: Color Rush Match Ups
[MyESPNforkids regular Ezra Troy joins together with his DC-based friend Rami Sloan for a fun look at the top color rush match ups in the National Football League.] Dolphins vs. Bengals (Week Four) Dolphins – The all-out orange is straight-up…
NFL: Upside Surprise
[There is a new voice shaping the narrative at myespnforkids.com. It’s Roey Herzfeld. The Washington, DC-based Herzfeld has a passion for sports, a keen eye for the top storylines and weighs in with his second piece in as many a days on something…
Tagged with: Bridgewater, Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Cardinals, Carson Wentz, Chiefs, Doug Pederson, Eagles, Gary Kubiak, Lamar Hunt, Patriots, Pats, Peyton, Peyton Manning, Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl, Teddy Bridgewater, Tom Brady, Vikings
In Memoriam: Jose Fernandez
This morning, I was sitting with my friend and he showed me his phone. It was an ESPN alert “Breaking.” It said, “Marlins Pitcher Jose Fernandez has been killed in a boating accident”. No way! I thought. It must be…
Tagged with: boating, boating accident, ESPN, ESPN app, Florida Marlins, Jose Fernandez, Marlins, Sports Center
2016 World Series: Chicago vs. Cleveland
The tale of two cities. Cleveland and Chicago. With the baseball season coming to an end, the remarkable seasons of both the Cubs and the Indians led me to wonder which team is more destined to win it all this…
Tagged with: Chicago, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Cleveland Indians, Cubs, Illinois, Indians, Ohio, Tribe
Great Eight: Troy’s Top NFL Performers in Week Two
[Here are Ezra’s top performers in Week Two. I am calling this list the “Great Eight.” It is a QB-heavy catalog with some marquee running backs and wideouts rounding out the second half of his short list. Every time you…
Tagged with: Browns, Corey Coleman, Crowell, Eli, Fitzpatrick, Giants, Manning, Matt Forte, Matt Ryan, Stefon Diggs, Tannehill
Readership Growth Continues!
It is a great time of year for sports as the MLB pennant race heats up, the NFL kicks off and CFB ramps into high gear. There are lots of storylines to cover. We have had some solid new articles…
Ole Miss and a Small Winning Tide: A Look Back at Ole Miss and Alabama
[It was a great weekend of college football. Unfortunately, it included a devastating loss for my Texas Longhorns to the California Golden Bears. Among the other big games, Ole Miss and Bama was one of the better match ups. Ole…
Tagged with: Alabama, Bama, Crimson Tide, Ole Miss, Oxford MS, Roll Tide, SEC, SEC football, September 17
NFL: Week Two Picks
[Ezra gives us one more installment of his thinking before the whistle sounds on NFL game day. You will quickly see that he has my Chiefs as one of the top three games of the week. We not only won…
Tagged with: Alex Smith, Bengals, Chiefs, JJ Watt, Kansas City, Kansas City Chiefs, Packers, Steelers, Texans, Vikings
A Hat Tip to the Major Sports Leagues for Getting 9/11 Right
There has been controversy in recent weeks surrounding the National Anthem prior to the start of NFL games. It has dominated Talk Radio and Social Media alike. As 9/11 approached, the NFL again “braced for possible widespread player demonstrations…at…
NFL: Top Week One Performers
[Here is the second in a series of pieces from the great Ezra Troy. If you are playing Fantasy, you need to be reading his stuff. You also can be glad that he isn’t playing with you –and winning your…
Tagged with: 49ers, AJ Green, Andrew Luck, Antonio Brown, Brandin Cooks, Carlos Hyde, CJ Anderson, Drew Brees, National Football League, NFL, Saints, Willie Snead
Will “Tebow-ing” Make It to a Ballpark Near You?
[Adam Shemesh, one of the best writers on the great game of baseball, weighs in with a pitch perfect piece on Tim Tebow and his foray into baseball. September is a great month where we have both baseball at its highest…
Crisp Autumn Air, Smash-Mouth Football and Storied Rivalries
When former Ohio State Coach Jim Tressell spoke at his opening news conference, he said, “You will be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.” Setting…
The Devil is in the Details: A Deeper Look at the Angels Draft Picks
[Editor’s Note: Our longtime readers know Adam Shemesh and his reputation as one of the best thinkers and writers on what is happening in the game of the baseball. This piece speaks for itself.] In 2009, the Angels drafted…
Big Man on Campus: Three QBs to Watch this Fall
In The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks, Bruce Feldman writes, “You don’t play quarterback. You are quarterback.” The QB position, as Feldman rightly suggests in his masterful book, requires a leader. The success of a young athlete in stepping…
Tagged with: books on QBs, Bruce Rosen, Feldman, Shane Buechele, Texas, Texas A&M, Trevor Knight, UCLA
Top Sports Moments of All-Time: Number Four
We turn from college football to the tennis court. As long-time readers of the site know, I am fond of the graceful, poised play of the inestimable Roger Federer. He is one of the great champions of the modern era.…
My Top Five Sports Moments
Sports bring us joy. They make us cry. They inspire us. Over the next several days, I will be posting my top sports moments of all-time. It is impossible for team and geographic bias to not play some meaningful role…
What is the Best 30 for 30?
[Editor’s Note: We get another great story from Kansas City-based Mac Trigg looking at 30 for 30. Every reader of this site loves this series. You may disagree with his picks, but you surely agree that 30 for 30 is…
Tagged with: 30 for 30, Blue Devils, Christian Laetner, Duke, ESPN, Fenway, Marcus Dupree, Miami Hurricanes, Red Sox, SMU
Federer: Game, Set, Match?
In the Wimbledon semifinals, the inestimable Roger Federer fell to Canadian Milos Raonic in an epic 5-set thriller. His age was evident, particularly as the match progressed. It left his fans wondering if the best player ever to live was…
Tagged with: Fed, Federer, Flushing Meadows, major champion, major tennis championships, Roger Federer, tennis great, U.S Open, Wimbledon defeat
YES! Readership Growth Continues
It is a phenomenal window in the “wide world of sports.” NBA offseason activity has been feverish with the Durant departure for Golden State causing a major splash. Wimbledon has been amazing with Federer and Venus Williams providing compelling narratives as…
Lovable Losers: Part Two
[Ezra Troy writes his second in a two-part series called, Lovable Losers. This piece looks at two tragic lists: a) most losses in a row; and b) most wins only to come up short in pursuit of a championship.] Lovable Losers come…
Brad Gilbert’s All-Court Broadcasting Game
We find ourselves in the grandest window of the major tennis season. The All-England Club offers pageantry. The Wimbledon Championship evokes passion. The end result is a magical two-week smorgasbord of tennis without parallel in the sport. For those of…
Tagged with: Agassi, All-England Club, Brad Gilbert, ESPN tennis announcers, ESPN tennis coverage, Open, Wimbledon, Winning Ugly
Lovable Losers: Part One
[Washington, DC-based Ezra Troy offers the first of two articles on a topic that will be (devastatingly) dear to the hearts of anyone that resides in one of the cities on this list. He alliteratively calls it, Lovable Losers. The key thing, of…
Do the Warriors Need Even More Splash? Dodson Dissects the Roster, Details Offseason Plan
[This piece is the second of two articles from Golden State super fan Lucas Dodson. He explores the changes the team needs to consider, and make, to not only return to the NBA Finals, but to prevail in the postseason. Lucas isn’t content to…
Tagged with: Brandon Rush, Curry, Golden State, Golden State Warriors, Splash Brothers, Thompson, Warriors, Warriors front office
Golden State: Season of Sweetness With a Final Blow of Despair
[Editor’s Note: This article is the first of a two-part series exploring the post-season journey of the Golden State Warriors from the perspective of one of their great fans. Lucas Dodson bleeds blue and yellow. Fortunately, as he contemplates a long offseason,…
Tagged with: 73, Cavs, Curry, Golden State, Golden State Warriors, Lebron, NBA, NBA Finals, Splash Brothers, Thompson, Western Conference
Blooming Rose or No Rose Without a Thorn?
[Washington, DC-Based Ezra Troy makes the case that the Knicks were the big winner in the Derrick Rose Trade. His argument is as solid as the Rose highlight reel.] Sitting at the dentist yesterday, I got hectic texts from my…
Freedom’s Frontier Award: Thank You
Missouri became a state in 1821. Then, after passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, the North and South flooded the territory that is now Kansas as the issue of whether it would enter the United States as a “free”…
Tagged with: Baseball, Border War, Freedom's Frontier, Kansas City Baseball, MLB, Negro Leagues, NLBM, Truman Library, U.S History and Baseball
The Future of U.S Soccer: A Deeper Look at Three Rising Stars
It is truly the summer of soccer. With Euro 2016 and the Copa America Centario consuming significant bandwidth on every sports fans calendar, it can be difficult to focus on the youth aspect of soccer. We focus on the marquee names of…
Summer Reading: Tennis
With Nadal a no-show for the French Open, the tournament held the risk of being a rather dual affair. Instead, it offered a compelling story around Novak Djokovic and his amazing ascent (12 majors). It also foisted Andy Murray onto…
Tagged with: Agassi, All-England Club, Andy Murrary, Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Open: An Autobiography, Serve to Win, Wimbeldon
Top NFL Drafts of the Modern Era
[Editor’s Note: I want to welcome Washington, D.C.-based Ezra Troy as one of our new staff writer for myespnforkids.com. With school closing out in the DC area, Ezra will be a growing presence on the site this summer. He brings not only…
To Bee or Not to Bee: Is the National Spelling Bee a Sport?
The fervor. The despondency. The joy. No, we are not talking about the final games of the NBA conference finals. We are talking, instead, about the Scripps 2016 National Spelling Bee. I can already imagine the outrage from our readers.…
Tagged with: Frank Deford, National Spelling Bee, National Spelling Bee is a sport, Quizlet helps spelling champion, Scripps 2016 National Spelling Bee, Spell to win, Spelling, spelling is a sport, Sports, Sylvie Lamontagne, Sylvie Lamontagne and Scripps 2016 National Spelling Bee, Sylvie Lamontagne Spelling Bee, Ties are the death of sports
Sporting KC: Where the Fan Comes First
The Sporting KC ownership team is one of the best in Major League Soccer (MLS). The Sporting Club mission statement says it all, including phrases like “high performance” and “experiences” brought to life within “world-class facilities.” Cliff Illig, Cerner Corporation…
Tagged with: Blue Hell, Cerner, Cliff Illig, Eric Hosmer's girlfriend, Hud, Kacie McDonnell, MLS, Nate Bukaty, Neal Patterson, Rex Hudler, Sporting KC
The Tennis Parent
The tennis parent is a special breed. What are his core attributes? He brings a force-fed practice regiment; showcases a troubling amount of competitiveness; and delivers an irksome level of meddlesomeness during tournament play. In a phrase, insane parentes. Let’s begin with a…
Tagged with: Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Johnny Mac, parents in sports, tennis, tennis parent, Tiger Woods, Todd Marinovich
MyESPNforKids: Readership Skyrockets
This note is a short one to say: thank you. A number of us write for this site because we have a deep love of sports and an interest in sharing our thinking with others that share that passion. We aren’t…
Are Youth Athletics Too Competitive?
[Editor’s Note: I want to welcome one of our new writers for this summer, Mac Trigg. He brings a passion for basketball and also plays football, tennis (and a little bit of lacrosse). Many of our readers play competitive and…
Forget Bobbleheads. Think Monarchs Fedora.
Promotional nights are, for the most part, a B-team distraction. If you love the game of baseball, you don’t head to the ballpark for a bobblehead (Writer’s Note: If you are under the age of ten, I am going to…
NFL Draft: The Biggest Busts of of All-Time
[Editor’s Note: As long-time readers of the site know, Adam is one of the best junior writers on baseball. He recently did an awesome National History Day on Babe Rush, laying out his impact on baseball and the country. He weighs…
Shaping Baseball with Words
This piece is the first in a series of profiles on the top sportswriters and broadcasters of all-time. Peter Gammons was one of the true greats. He changed how we read, watch and think about baseball. About thirty miles outside…
Baseball is Back (With the Longest First Pitch in History)
As the late, great broadcasting legend Mel Allen liked to say, “How about that!” As the tulips bloom, convertible tops come down and the spring air hits us like a screaming line drive, baseball is back. In Kansas City, the Royals are…
March Madness: A Longhorn Stampede?
As Ronald Reagan famously framed his 1984 campaign, “It’s morning again in America.” No, we are not talking about American politics. We are talking about an end to the so-called Dead Zone. It is the awful window between the Super…
A Morning with Bulldog Bob and the Team at 610 Sports
When Bob Fescoe was in elementary school, he began contemplating a career in sports broadcasting. He loved the legendary John Madden (former coach of the Oakland Raiders turned CBS commentator and namesake to EA’s Madden video game). If Fescoe couldn’t…
Why Sports Matter
Some people think that sports are just sports. They say it doesn’t really matter. Games are, well, just games. I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately as I have been researching Negro Leagues Baseball and its impact…
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: A National Treasure
As the Super Bowl festivities kick into full swing, I am thinking instead of the great Roger Hornsby. He once famously said, “People ask me what I do in the winter when there is no baseball. I will tell you what…
Beware the Phog! The Best College Basketball Venues
In the late 1980s, on the front end of a game between KU and Duke, a large banner was placed inside Allen Fieldhouse. It reads, “Pay Heed, All Who Enter: BEWARE Of ‘THE PHOG’”. It is a tribute to the namesake of the…
Top Sports Moments of 2015
Have you been reading the list of top sports moments in 2015? Do you like what the major media players like the Associated Press, PTI and Sports Illustrated have to say about the big stories of the year? Simply put, does anyone that…
Tagged with: Alex Morgan, Blake O'Neill, Donald Trump, Kansas City Royals, Malcolm Butler, Roger Federer
Let’s Talk Dinner with Three Greats
Which Leading Sports Figures (not to exceed three) Would You Invite to Dinner? There are many important and interesting people in the sports world. Therefore, it makes a question like this very hard to answer. However, if I could only…
Rug Burn Ball (RBB): Even a Great Game Needs New Rules
Let us begin with an obvious question: what the heck is Rug Burn Ball? The game is an evening staple at Play-by-Play Sports Broadcasting Camp in Boston (www.playbyplaycamps.com). It is a pastime in which players advance a foam tennis ball…
Ringing in Our 2014 Predictions
It’s a new year, and with that, it’s a whole new ballgame in sports. In our first article of the New Year, let’s ring in 2014 with the three top predictions from myespnforkids.com for the coming calendar year. Winter Olympics:…
Why you should read My ESPN for Kids
In the world, there is not a lot of sports coverage by kids, for kids. One of the main reasons is the monopoly of children’s sports coverage by SI Kids magazine. I have often wondered why ESPN has not started…
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A sports blog for kids by kids
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