Welcome to SportsHistory.us.  This site is dedicated to exploring sports ideas. Please come back soon as new material is always on the way. 

I have participated in (and run) my fair share of NCAA Tournament pools, and I have been filling out brackets since the age of 12. I thought that was as good as it could get. But in 2005, while I was literally on the other side of the world from March Madness, I was looking for a new way of conducting a pool and stumbled upon the auction format. The tournament auction has numerous advantages over traditional office pools, is easy to set up, and is extremely fun. Join me on my tournament auction journey and you will understand why I'm never going back to a regular office pool again.

A look at the 1972 United States Olympic Men's Basketball Team, which still refuses to accept its silver medals. 

What if I told you there was a surefire way to get rid of the prevent defense, the squib kick, and even all of the fouling that wastes so much time at the end of basketball games?  Would you be on board?  Are you sure?   

Big-time sports and reality television have finally collided in a most unnecessary way.  Understanding why The Contender is different from other reality shows is important to understanding the place of sports in society. 

The two men who won a batting title in 1985 did it in very different ways.  Their contrasting batting styles have a lot to do with the way they process, and the value they place on, the information they receive in an at bat.  

There were two bubbles forming in the late 1990s: a dot com bubble in the stock market and an offensive bubble in the NFL. Both burst quickly, and both are instructive in helping us understand the value of blocking and tackling in sports and in life.  

Tired of being beaten in the office pool by the company's fax machine every March, I did what came naturally to me: I blamed the system.  I joined the nations premier group dedicated to office pool reform, AUBNMBTP. 

By choosing a side in the 2005 World Series, you're also taking a side in a philosophical debate that goes back thousands of years.  

The stories of Hank Gathers, the Amoeba Defense, and the remarkable 1990 NCAA men's basketball tournament are almost forgotten.  Today these two former combatants look very different.  Which one would you rather be?

The home run, according to Craig Kilborn, is "baseball's special moment."  But there are numerous other moments that become just as special because they exemplify the opportunities baseball creates for truly heroic acts. 

Other sports are more violent and intense, but baseball adheres to its own "honor code" with a fierceness that outstrips all the others.

Sports Illustrated has anointed 1998 as the greatest sports year in history, and it seems many sports fans claim it as well.  They can have it.  Here is why 1991 is greater than 1998.

However you look at it, golf is different from other sports.  There's one thing, though, that makes this sport very different from the others.

We love to compare baseball players and say who belongs in the Hall of Fame.  The designated hitter rule has complicated this kind of evaluation.  A lot. 

Sports and Division of Labor

Division of labor was a driving force in the industrial revolution, and its logic applies to many other areas.  It used to apply to sports.  Today, many teams are beginning to resemble collections of redundant talent rather than complementary pieces of a puzzle. 

Spring Training 2004

My trip to St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training. 

The Wave, the Rain Delay, and the Blue Rectangle on My Pants

The story of what may be the most interesting night I'll ever spend at a ballpark.