Colin McGowan
There's No Soccer Team Like Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao, La Liga's Basque-only team, does everything differently. It doesn't make life any easier for them, but staying stubborn makes them great.
Kevin Love's Dislocated Season
Kevin Love did everything he could in Cleveland, and caught hell for it all year long. It makes sense that a season of being bullied by fate would end like this.
The Bad Vibes and Bad Luck Following Cleveland Out of Boston
The outcome of Sunday's extra-chippy, ultraviolent Game 4 between the Cavaliers and Celtics was never really in doubt. The question is how the hangover plays out.
The Toronto Raptors In Purgatory
The Toronto Raptors have built a decent team in a smart, state-of-the-art way. That team isn't good enough to compete for a championship. What now?
Lost and Found at the Josh Smith Game
Just a few months ago, Josh Smith seemed to be gliding, as elegantly as ever, right out of the NBA. On Tuesday, Smoove was Smoove again, and it was good.
The Bloody, Beautiful Renaissance of the Madrid Derby
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will settle up in a Champions League quarterfinal match today. How did this once-dead rivalry come back to life?
FC Porto's Sketchy Business Model and Beautiful Team
FC Porto runs itself as a business first and a soccer team second. Which makes it remarkable that their latest crop of mercenaries is so fun to watch.
Chandler Parsons Hobbles Towards His Moment
The Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks have a nice, nascent rivalry going. Chandler Parsons should be at the center of it, if only his knee would let him.
The Warriors' Quest to Defeat History
The Warriors are stupid good, we all know this, but NBA history suggests they're due some hell in the playoffs. Can they defeat the past?
The Majestic Orneriness of the Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are banged-up, aging, unlucky, and a team that no one wants to play in the playoffs. Once again, their orneriness is a thing of beauty.
The Atlanta Hawks are a Fragile, Perfect Machine
No one expected the Hawks to be one of the best and best-balanced teams in the NBA. Even after a season of it, it's tough to believe. It's time to believe it.
Eduardo Galeano and the Art of the Elegant Fact
Eduardo Galeano wrote passionately, perceptively, and lucidly about a great many topics. But no one has ever written about soccer quite like he did.