Some TEXAS MONTHLY Stories on Sports
Bowl-O-Rama »
Remember the Alamo Bowl!
by Jason Cohen [December 2008]
False Start »
Vince Young, off his game.
by Bryan Curtis [November 2008]
Come Early. Be Loud. Cash In. »
How did the University of Texas build the most successful college sports program in history? One visionary coach at a time. One world-class athlete at a time. One state-of-the-art stadium at a time. And with an ambitious, aggressive business model that’s the envy of its rivals everywhere.
by S. C. Gwynne [November 2008]
Bully for You »
Rooting for Goliath.
by Jason Cohen [October 2008]
Blazing Saddles »
Guns up! Way up!
by Bryan Curtis [September 2008]
Bass-O-Matic »
How a fish called Ethel (seventeen pounds, ten ounces) caught by a fishing guide named Mark (Stevenson, in 1986, on Lake Fork) revolutionized a once-sleepy sport.
by Katy Vine [August 2008]
Season on the Brink »
Politics as sports (and sports as politics).
by Jason Cohen [August 2008]
Sprinting »
Jeremy Wariner on being an Olympic sprinter.
Interview by Brian D. Sweany [August 2008]
A Loss for Words »
Where have you gone, Yogi Berra?
by Bryan Curtis [July 2008]
Empty Netter »
The puck stops here.
by Jason Cohen [June 2008]
Sportswriter High »
Three cheers for Sportswriter High.
by Bryan Curtis [May 2008]
Avery Johnson »
Avery Johnson on how to be an NBA coach.
Interview by Evan Smith [April 2008]
Ticket to Ride »
The case against the case against ticket scalping.
by Jason Cohen [April 2008]
Untitled Mike Flynt Project »
A veteran Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t have come up with a better narrative arc: Seeking redemption, 59-year-old reenrolls at university he was once asked to leave, tries out for football team, makes it, becomes one of oldest-ever players in NCAA history. Or at least that’s how the hero wants it to be told. The full story may not be quite so neat and tidy, but . . . aw, hell, roll cameras anyway!
by John Spong [March 2008]
Once More Unto the Breach »
The miserable lives of Texas Rangers fans.
by Bryan Curtis [March 2008]
Dave Stephenson »
42, sports marketer, Dallas
[February 2008]
2028: The Year in Sports. »
by Jason Cohen [February 2008]
Cat Osterman »
24, pitcher/coach, Houston/Chicago
[February 2008]
The Old Bowl Game »
I wish I were in the land of Cotton (Bowl).
by Bryan Curtis [January 2008]
That Championship Season »
Long before the BCS, long before anyone thought to publish insider newsletters for boosters, the Aggies were the best college football team in the nation—for the first and only time. The long-gone glory days remembered.
by Stacy Hollister [December 2007]
College Try »
Does it matter if college athletes graduate?
by Jason Cohen [December 2007]
Above the Norm »
Why Norm Hitzges matters.
by Bryan Curtis [November 2007]
Endless Summerall »
What the double-breasted buffoons in today’s broadcast booths can learn from a legend of the game.
by Gary Cartwright [October 2007]
The Natural »
Why all the fuss about Craig Biggio?
by Paul Burka [October 2007]
Playola »
Cheating then and now (and not just at OU).
by Bryan Curtis [September 2007]
Go! Fight! Win! »
The twenty best Texas high school football programs of all time.
by Drew Webb [September 2007]
Jody Conradt »
Jody Conradt at the buzzer.
Interview by Evan Smith [August 2007]
Bronx Cheer »
In hate with Roger Clemens.
by Bryan Curtis [July 2007]
Go Fire Yourself! »
It’s the best thing Jerry Jones could do for the Cowboys.
by Gary Cartwright [March 2007]
EEEEEEAAAAOOOOWWW!!! »
On November 5, 181,500 people crowded into a former cow pasture north of Fort Worth to watch 43 race cars drive really, really fast for five hundred miles. That day, the Texas Motor Speedway would be, measured by population, one of the largest cities in the state. Welcome to NASCAR, Texas.
by Michael Hall [February 2007]
Check Mates »
Fernando Spada and Fernando Mendez are the Karpov and Kasparov of Brownsville: chess champions whose lifelong competition has produced a rivalry every bit as fierce as those of Ali and Frazier, McEnroe and Borg, or Nicklaus and Palmer. Did I mention that they’re in the fourth grade?
by Katy Vine [February 2007]
Par Excellence »
The best golf holes in Texas, according to the legends of the game.
Interviews by Drew Webb [January 2007]
Ready For Some Futbol? »
Race and racism at the state soccer championship.
by Oscar Casares [November 2006]
Open Season »
Yes, deer: It’s that time of year again.
Portfolio by Brent Humphreys [November 2006]
Take a Hike »
Travel by foot along these thirty carefully chosen routes—from the South Rim in Big Bend to Lost Maples near Vanderpool—and you’ll take in the sights, sounds, and smells of Texas in ways you never thought possible. Lace up your boots and go.
by Charlie Llewellin [October 2006]
Great Guns »
In my 86 years I’ve come into the possession of an assortment of firearms: a Colt .32-caliber semiautomatic pistol that my grandfather bought at a hardware store in Cuero; a Remington Model 870 pump, 20-gauge shotgun that my Aggie uncle-by-marriage used to shoot birds; the Winchester Model 06 pump .22 rifle I got on my tenth birthday; and many others. And each one has a story.
by John Graves [October 2006]
Thank God It’s Friday »
And Saturday. And Sunday. The arrival of fall means weekends spent watching football, up close and on-screen, and yet another opportunity to love the greatest game on earth for all the usual reasons. Forty-nine of them, in fact.
by Jordan Breal, Paul Burka, David Carr, Gary Cartwright, David Courtney, Patrick Fitzsimons, S. C. Gwynne, Michael Hall, Amy Hallford, David A. Herron, Stacy Hollister, Christopher Kelly, John Spong, Brian D. Sweany, Katy Vine and Drew Webb [September 2006]
Coach Class »
A salute to some of our favorite gridiron heroes.
[September 2006]
The Rookie »
Having suffered through the ineptitudes of the Texas Rangers for nearly three and a half decades, having sat as solemn witness to their stumbling pretenses to be major league material, I assume that the hiring of a 28-year-old to run the team is yet another mistake. Jon Daniels, prove me wrong.
by Gary Cartwright [May 2006]
Perfect 10 »
The reviews of the Vince Young show are in—and, of course, they’re all raves. Gary Cartwright and Bud Shrake argue that the Texas quarterback is the best ever but wonder if his throwing motion is an obstacle to NFL greatness. Plus: Mack vs. “Delbert.”
by Gary Cartwright and Bud Shrake [February 2006]
Good Knight? Good Luck! »
When Texas Tech University hired Bob Knight to coach the Red Raiders basketball team, in 2001, he was, er, a known quantity. And in every possible sense, he’s lived up to his billing.
by Steve Delsohn and Mark Heisler [February 2006]
Game Highlights »
Editor Evan Smith talks about watching the Rose Bowl, text-messaging University of Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds, and putting Vince Young on the cover.
Interview by Patricia Busa McConnico [February 2006]
Yao Got Game »
China’s most famous athletic export arrived in the U.S. as a seven-foot-four-inch seventeen-year-old who excelled at every move except America’s most glorified one. Given his upbringing, getting him to stuff the ball in the hoop in rim-rattling fashion was no slam dunk.
by Brook Larmer [November 2005]
Made in China »
Brook Larmer, Newsweek’s Shanghai bureau chief and the author of Operation Yao Ming, on basketball sensation Yao Ming, sports in China, and writing his first book.
Interview by Patricia Busa McConnico [November 2005]
Flipping Out »
The letter-sweater-wearing, pom-pom-shaking, pep-rally-leading girl next door has been a beloved Texas icon for generations. So why do so many people today— lawmakers and lawyers, preachers and feminists—think cheerleading is the root, root, root of all evil?
by Pamela Colloff [October 2005]
Six Brothers »
The tragedy of the Von Erichs—the state’s first family of pro wrestling—is well known not just to fans of the sport but to the many groupies who oohed and aahed at the matinee-idol athletes over the years. Still, you haven’t really heard the story until it’s told by the sole surviving sibling, whose eldest son may be the next one to step into the ring.
by John Spong [October 2005]
The Last Von Erich »
Associate editor John Spong on retelling a tragic family epic—the rise and fall of Dallas’ pro wrestling dynasty.
Interview by Ryan Vogt [October 2005]
The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Him »
And why wouldn’t they be? As the head coach of the UT football team, Mack Brown is responsible for the way millions of Texans feel every day.
by Michael Hall [September 2005]
Man of the Cloth »
Senior editor Michael Hall on tackling Mack Brown—UT’s minister to footballers, alums, and Saturday fans alike—who’s made donning burnt orange cool again.
Interview by Ryan Vogt [September 2005]
Fields of Dreams »
Where high school football memories are made.
Portfolio by Jeff Wilson [September 2005]
45 Years (Sat Nov 22 at 5:28 PM)
Can You Spare Some Change I Can Believe In? (Sat Nov 22 at 4:10 PM)
Even Worse, They're Cutting Back on Monocles (Fri Nov 21 at 8:39 AM)
