Writing Worth Reading
Cyclists behave, get treated, as though they were pedestrians. They don't feel bound by traffic rules. Drivers don't respect them. They need to jump species barrier, behave as motorists
Date of publication online: 3 September 2010Well-judged analysis of cricket betting scandal. No purpose served by abandoning Pakistan; compassion may be in short supply but they should be helped to recover
Date of publication online: 29 August 2010Gripping profile of Lance Armstrong, asking whether drug scandal will tarnish his cancer work. Portrays him as brave but ruthless, admired but disliked
Date of publication online: 21 August 2010As identified by a serious geek. So expect algorithms, game theory, Monte Carlo analysis, and a Nash equilibrium or two. Spoiler: "jazz" wins for most game sizes
Date of publication online: 13 August 2010Entertaining big-money soap opera. Owners of Los Angeles Dodgers divorce ferociously, spend $20m on lawyers. Got lucky in Boston real estate. Famous for living large, even by local standards
Date of publication online: 12 August 2010And it's not Tiger Woods. A Lusitanian Spaniard named Gaius Appuleius Diocles earned the equivalent of $15bn in the course of a 24-year career as chariot-racer in ancient Rome
Date of publication online: 2 August 2010Star-struck history of breakthrough American-football video game, made by Electronic Arts working with coach John Madden. Great read if you're into games or football, otherwise pass by
Date of publication online: 22 July 2010Profile of Gary Loveman, who left Harvard to run Harrah's Entertainment. "There are a number of people who think gambling is the devil's work, and that I am a consummate devil because I am a smart devil."
Date of publication online: 5 August 2010Stunning photo essay from the world's greatest cycle race. Wonderful combination of landscape and action, with much to appreciate even for non-cycling fans
Date of publication online: 26 July 2010Unsparing portrait of two-time world snooker champion, Hurricane Higgins—flawed sporting genius who mesmerised with his manic, twitching play, while inflicting extraordinary abuse on himself and others
Date of publication online: 26 July 2010Constantly disappointed bar manager runs gauntlet of Afghan bootleggers, police in search of drinkable wine. Lovely piece mixing social commentary, humour and dash of wine snobbery
Date of publication online: 23 July 2010Advances in genetics make it possible to debate sensibly the part played by genetic endowment in sporting success—including racial differences, previously a taboo subject
Date of publication online: 21 July 2010Enjoyable anecdotal history, recalling 100 years of the Col du Tourmalet, the first mountain to be included in the Tour de France. Perfectly practicable, said the original route planner, after falling down a ravine and having to be rescued
Date of publication online: 22 July 2010World Cup encouraged a lot of high-flown theorising about soccer and life, but really, it's just a game now—globalised, homogenised. Geopolitics have drained away. No more festering WWII resentments.
Date of publication online: 21 July 2010How sumo fell into the grip of gangsters, and why a recent gambling scandal could presage a showdown between police and Japan's biggest organised crime group
Date of publication online: 21 July 2010Great read. Retired Las Vegas weather-man turns to casino surveillance, spots a way of beating "The Price Is Right", inveigles himself and friends on to show, walks away with jackpot
Date of publication online: 12 July 2010Authoritative overview of the marketing of Bordeaux wine from 2009. Up close for non-oenophiles but still interesting. Some chateaux sold out within 30 minutes, months before the wine even reaches the bottles
Date of publication online: 4 July 2010The best sort of humour. Builds slowly, so that only by the very end do you suspect you are being made a fool of. Even then, some of the ideas—a shorter pitch, two balls, free substitution—have a plausible ring
Date of publication online: 27 July 2010Profile of San Francisco's shy, eccentric, ice-cream-making genius, Jake Godby. Flavours include "hibiscus beet", "government cheese"—and "secret breakfast", made with bourbon and toasted cornflakes
Date of publication online: 29 June 2010Apparently yes, since so many players do it, even in the World Cup. But wouldn't it be great if more footballers chose to tell the truth, setting an example for spectators and other players?
Date of publication online: 28 June 2010For sports fans only perhaps, but the best post-mortem on England's under-achieving football team. "When the end came, it was a real coup de grâce, flavoured with controversy, delivered by merciless opponents"
Date of publication online: 28 June 2010Brief, eccentric, very enjoyable history of the football, from waterlogged leather skull-shaker to much maligned Jabulani. Apparently Jabulani means rejoice in isiZulu. Adidas expects to sell 13m of them at up to £80 each
Date of publication online: 26 June 2010Behavioural economist asks, and answers, two footballing questions. Why do players take dives so often and so obviously? And why do national styles of play persist over generations?
Date of publication online: 22 June 2010One for the annals. Ten-hour match goes to 59-59 in the fifth set. "The man who was once Mahut is now a string-bag of offal. The man who was Isner is a parched piece of cow-hide"
Date of publication online: 23 June 2010
The man and the memoirs: a collection of essays, diaries and polemics portraying Britain's former...
Great read. Retired Las Vegas weather-man turns to casino surveillance, spots a way of beating "The Price Is Right", inveigles himself and friends on to show, walks away with jackpot
Classic newspaper reporting. Complex national issue brought alive in local, human terms. Interviews with families in Kentucky town where 52% are obese—and fast food the only entertainment
Nicely judged mix of serious information and derisive snark. Especially recommended to non-football-fans who want a rough idea of what everyone else is talking about in the month ahead
"I now drink relatively carefully". A whisky, a half-bottle of wine at lunch, same at dinner. "Not always more, but never less". Great virtue of alcohol: makes other people less tedious