A Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention
Bill Simmons: On the “My Favorite Annual Summer Traditions” scale, the National Sports Collectors Convention ranks somewhere between the Fourth of July and Sharknado for me. But after hitting four of...
View ArticleA Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, Part 2
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 ITEMS THAT WERE DEFINITELY HERE THREE YEARS AGO RB: Worst. Fraternity. Composite. Ever. BS: $2,450?? I’m against man-made memorabilia in all forms....
View ArticleA Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, Part 3
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 BEST POP-CULTURE ITEMS THAT WE NEVER CONSIDERED BUYING BS: That’s a Prince concert program from the late ’80s. I don’t know if the look on Rem’s face...
View ArticleA Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, Part 4
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 THINGS WE NEVER WOULD HAVE BOUGHT BUT STARED AT ANYWAY BS: Bear Bryant’s game-worn plaid jacket. (Rem — he’s the guy who coached Forrest Gump.) RB:...
View ArticleA Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, Part 5
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 THINGS WE ALMOST BOUGHT FOR THE GRANTLAND STUDIO BS: In 2013, I didn’t pull the trigger on this Fridge–hot dogs poster right away … and someone else...
View ArticleA Visit to the 2014 National Sports Collectors Convention, Part 6
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 THINGS WE ACTUALLY BOUGHT FOR OURSELVES RB: Just when you think you’ve seen David Jacoby at his giddiest, he stumbles on a 21 Jump Street box and...
View ArticleBest/Worst: A Salute to the Dumbest Penalty in Sports
What was the best in sports this week? What was the worst? It makes sense to have the excessive celebration penalty in the rulebook. I understand why it’s there. I get it. Officials need some kind of...
View ArticleWeek 5 Wrap-up: The Patriots’ Roller Coaster Continues
With a comfortable 43-17 win over the Bengals on Sunday night, the New England Patriots strongly suggested that rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated. In beating what had looked like the best...
View ArticleRazor’s Edge: A Visit to Foxborough on the Occasion of Tom Brady’s Premature...
So, anyway, we were down in the bowels of Gillette Stadium, in the bowl-like lecture hall where the coach and the quarterback meet the press after every home game, and the coach had just finished...
View ArticleThe Trade: Was Belichick to New England the Best Deal in League History?
“I resign as HC of the NYJ.” The story, perhaps apocryphal, holds that Bill Belichick scrawled that phrase on a napkin moments before announcing his resignation to an assembled media throng. Belichick...
View ArticleThe Great Defender
In the days leading up to Super Bowl XXV, then–New York Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick was searching for any weakness the opposing Buffalo Bills might possess. Powered by four future Hall...
View ArticleWelcome to the Super Bag
You know what really sucks? This is an especially good Super Bowl matchup. The big-picture stakes: Either the Seahawks will become the first back-to-back champs in 10 years or the Patriots will win...
View ArticleSuper Bowl Run & Shootaround: So You Want to Play With Magic?
On any given Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday), your NFL Run & Shootaround crew will be gathered around multiple televisions, making inappropriate jokes and generally regressing to the mean. Catch up...
View ArticleSuper Bowl Wrap-up: What Was Pete Carroll Thinking?
We’ll never understand it. I can explain some of the logic behind Seattle’s now infamous second-and-goal play call. I can show you why Russell Wilson threw the pass. I can point out why it might not...
View Article‘He Lives for That S--t’: How 37-Year-Old Tom Brady Dismantled One of the...
It was happening again. Almost seven years to the day after the catch that made David Tyree famous, the Patriots were back in Glendale, Arizona, clinging to a four-point lead, with barely more than a...
View ArticleLooking for a Super Bowl Party, From Nogales, Mexico, to Glendale, Arizona
On Super Bowl Sunday, I woke up in Nogales, Mexico. It was pitch black and there were only a few newspaper vendors making their rounds when I dragged my roller suitcase to the border to cross back into...
View Article‘B.S. Report': Cousin Sal and Bill’s Dad on the Patriots’ Super Bowl Win
Bill calls his dad and Cousin Sal to break down the Patriots’ win, the Super Bowl prop bets, and what this means for Brady and Belichick. Listen to the podcast here. Subscribe to the B.S. Report on...
View ArticleLucky and Good: How Tom Brady Became the Greatest
This is less about Tom Brady and more about greatness in general. Or what it takes to be the greatest. In other words, we’re rounding Take Mountain today and heading straight for Think Piece Junction....
View ArticleRetro Running Diary: Super Bowl XLIX
Super Bowl XLIX was like the last episode of The Sopranos (and I’m not the only one who thought so). I will always remember watching it, I will always be dumbfounded by the ending and I needed 48 hours...
View ArticleHow Far Will Marcus Mariota Fall Before the NFL Draft?
For the entire college football season — literally, from the beginning to the end — Marcus Mariota was the next great quarterback prospect. He could throw, he could run, he could decipher a placard...
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