The high-altitude slopes of the world’s highest mountain–Mt. Everest–might seem like a strange place to indulge in fisticuffs but that’s precisely what happened on April 27: It takes a lot to rattle Swiss climber Ueli Steck….on April 27, while attempting to climb Mount Everest, it wasn’t the mountain that nearly killed him but a mob ofContinue reading “Brawling at Twenty Thousand Feet: The Everest Punchup”
Category Archives: Sports
Twenty20 Franchises and the Evolution of Modern Cricket
As the fixing-scandal ridden sixth season of the Indian Premier League ended on Sunday, I thought it might be time to revisit the opening section of my concluding chapter in Brave New Pitch: The Evolution of Modern Cricket, where I had attempted to assess where the world of cricket might be headed in response toContinue reading “Twenty20 Franchises and the Evolution of Modern Cricket”
Rebuilding the Squat, One Set at a Time
Writing lifting reports can be extremely self-indulgent: look at me, I lift weight. But they can also be honest reckonings of weaknesses, failures, setbacks and all the other roadbumps that interfere with our smooth progress towards long-set goals. So I write ’em; I haven’t done so too often out here but this year, I hopeContinue reading “Rebuilding the Squat, One Set at a Time”
Brooklyn is Back in the Playoffs, Or, The Lure of Tribalism
Tribalism in sports is a funny thing. Like most Brooklyn residents, I was upset and dismayed by the rushed development deal for the Atlantic Yards project, the centerpiece for which was the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, transplanted from across the river, where they functioned as the New Jersey Nets. (Back in thoseContinue reading “Brooklyn is Back in the Playoffs, Or, The Lure of Tribalism”
‘OK to be Gay if You’re a Woman’: Brittney Griner Comes Out
Brittney Griner came out on Wednesday and it didn’t make news: [Even as] there is increased speculation about whether a male athlete — any male athlete — will come out while still playing a major professional team sport, one of the best female athletes in the history of team sports comes out, and the reactionContinue reading “‘OK to be Gay if You’re a Woman’: Brittney Griner Comes Out”
Do Sancho Panzas Trump Don Quixotes?
In Stendhal‘s The Charterhouse of Parma, the Conte says to ‘our hero’ Fabrizio: A half brainless individual, but one who keeps his eyes open and day in day out acts with prudence, will often enjoy the pleasure of triumphing over men of imagination. It was by a foolish error of imagination that Napoleon was led toContinue reading “Do Sancho Panzas Trump Don Quixotes?”
Academic Arguments, Sports, and Urban Policing as ‘War’
In the introduction to The Social Construction of What? Ian Hacking writes: Labels such as ‘‘the culture wars,’’ ‘‘the science wars,’’ or ‘‘the Freud wars’’ are now widely used to refer to some of the disagreements that plague contemporary intellectual life. I will continue to employ those labels, from time to time, in this book, for my themesContinue reading “Academic Arguments, Sports, and Urban Policing as ‘War’”
A Crossfit Party with Strong Women
Last night, I attended a Crossfit party. During the party–held at Crossfit South Brooklyn–two very strong and fit women, Annie Thorisdottir and Lindsey Valenzuela, performed a grueling workout for ten minutes. (Perform as many rounds as possible of the following combination: five shoulder to overhead movements of a seventy-five pound barbell, ten deadlifts of theContinue reading “A Crossfit Party with Strong Women”
Olympic Lifting: The Power and the Glory
Olympic weightlifting might just be the sexiest sport there is, a near-perfect blend of strength, agility, complexity and grace that if done right, brings the lifter face to face with an acute combination of the strong and the beautiful. When an Olympic lift comes off, body and mind come together. An Olympic lift–the clean andContinue reading “Olympic Lifting: The Power and the Glory”
Whitewater Rafting on the Cheat River: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again
In May 1990, (more precisely, during the Memorial Day weekend) I went whitewater rafting on the Cheat River in West Virginia. A fellow graduate student talked me into joining a group expedition that went every Memorial Day; it was run by a husband and wife pair and was described in suspiciously glowing terms. I hadContinue reading “Whitewater Rafting on the Cheat River: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again”
Samir Chopra 