The Mercy Rule

Ron Artest Is the Player Fox Loves to Hate

As an athlete and human being who everyone pays attention to, Artest is interesting. But as a political magnet for the daddish anger of a certain type of NBA fan, he's excruciating. Full story

The Mercy Rule

A Confederacy of Assholes

Getting outraged about Bobby Petrino is easy, and kind of fun. Full story

The Mercy Rule

Welcome to Baseball

Still not sure if you’re a fan or a non-fan? Here are some questions you may have about baseball, and some answers that will help you figure out whether America's favorite pastime is for you. Full story

The Mercy Rule

The Black Comedy of Tim Tebow

The most important thing to remember, as Tim Tebow's career makes its official transition into farce, is that it was already, and always, a joke. Full story

The Mercy Rule

The Good Kind of Bad

March Madness is not the sort of thing that can be reasoned with, or through. You fall into it, like a David Lynch movie, or a conversation, or a bad habit. Full story

The Mercy Rule

The Old College Try

The NCAA Tournament is often terrible basketball, but even bad basketball is better than anything else when it is played by emotional teenagers from the boonies, chasing a futile dream. Full story

The Mercy Rule

All-Star Weakened

For All-Star Weekend, the NBA will wrap all the good stuff—the awesome basketball stuff—in lucrative, sponsored artificiality, so that no one would ever possibly care about it. Full story

The Mercy Rule - Linfinite Narcissism

Lin's critics aren't as racist as they've made themselves look. They're just obsessed with themselves and their Provocative and Fearless Opinions. Full story

The Mercy Rule

The Linsanity Defense

It's a favorite trope among certain types of sportswriters to compare various NBA basketball players to one pickup game archetype or another. Full story

The Mercy Rule

Meet the Super Bowl’s Sociopaths

In the interest of helping you enjoy the football-related portion of Super Bowl Sunday more, here is what you need to know about the two teams involved. Full story