The coach and the senator: Nick Saban and Joe Manchin have friendship that dates to 1950s
In an age when power morphs into celebrity and celebrity translates into power, it may not raise an eyebrow that the most successful coach in college football is close friends with the most powerful senator in Washington. Game respects game. But to focus on power and celebrity as the foundation of the relationship between Alabama […]
A toast to Dan Jenkins, who humanized gods and changed sportswriting
Dan Jenkins is gone, and everyone who loves college football, golf and the crisply struck one-liner will raise a glass. Preferably of J&B. If you don’t know the work of Jenkins, who died Thursday night in his beloved Fort Worth, Texas, at age 90, you are in for a treat. He didn’t invent sportswriting, but with his […]
As family of Tyler Hilinski grieves, an ESPN writer shares in its sorrow
The Mark and Kym Hilinski who will appear on Outside the Lines on Friday (SportsCenter on ESPN at noon ET) have made a long journey since I profiled them in September 2018. They continue to grieve Tyler, their middle son, the Washington State quarterback who died by suicide in January of that year. But their […]
I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye
Untold times a day I glance at the photo of my son with his sisters, the wallpaper on my phone. His older sister, now employed for four years, a millennial professional with an expense account and a career, stands next to him in cap and gown. She is holding her college diploma, a big smile […]
On Loss and Grief
We lost Max a year ago last week, lost being a poor euphemism for his death. We actually don’t know when we lost him, when our 21-year-old son, our middle child, our two daughters’ only brother, began to slip silently from our embrace. It is the largest of the many unanswerable mysteries he left behind. […]
Ducks run past Seminoles
PASADENA, Calif. – Give a game ball to the data geeks, the emotionless analysts who crunched the numbers and determined that No. 2 Oregon would beat No. 3 Florida State and advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T. Those of us governed by the pit of our stomachs, the ones who […]
The new standard for Iron Bowl lore
AUBURN, Ala. — Someday, someday, there will be a greater Iron Bowl finish than this one. Babe Ruth died, and the Yankees continue to play. Sinatra has come and gone, and people still sing. Forty-one years after “Punt Bama Punt,” Chris Davis caught a field goal nine yards deep in the end zone, and started […]
Pack Mentality
Editor’s note: Since we published this story in 2006, a few things have changed: Cal is now coached by Justin Wilcox, for example. But the divide between Us and Them has grown—and not just in football. I have covered approximately 300 college football games over the past 20 years. My work has taken me to […]