HUNTER ATKINS
REPORTER
The Houston Chronicle
Courtesy of Great American Bull Run
Running of the Bulls Begins in U.S.--And Why I Ran it Seven Times
“I don’t want a goring. But would a goring be bad for business? Probably not.”
PETERSBURG, Va. -- It was here, out in the sticks of southern Virginia, on a drag strip covered with dirt on which man tempted beast at the Great Bull Run -- the first event of its kind held on American soil -- that I learned the consequences of insatiable bloodlust. A year ago, Rob Dickens and Brad Scudder, co-owners of Rugged Maniac, a series of 5-kilometer obstacle racing events held across the U.S., conceived a classic idea. Why go abroad, when we could just outrun death here in America? If it offered frequent danger -- the near-death kind -- it would be a success.
The Houston Chronicle
Before Alabama, Nick Saban flexed unflinching authority with Oilers
When Jerry Glanville got fed up with Keith Bostic falling asleep in meetings, he deployed his most dutiful mercenary to fix the problem: Nick Saban. Before Saban would forge a legacy as the head coach at Alabama, which will pursue its fifth national championship under Saban on Monday night against Clemson, he flexed his authority as defensive backs coach with the Oilers in 1988 and 1989.
The Houston Chronicle
As LSU plays home football opener, reminders of floods' lasting trauma
A gurgling sound coming from the bathroom roused Alisa and Russell Gage Sr. out of bed around 4 a.m. Days of storms had swelled the nearby Amite River in rural Baker, La., 20 minutes north of Baton Rouge. The water had climbed over ridges, rushed through forests, blanketed roads, surged up a sloped lawn and infiltrated the Gage's elevated house. Russell Sr. discovered sewage belching from the toilet.
INSIDE CHICAGO'S ENDLESS CYCLE OF GUN VIOLENCE
How the death of beloved basketball star Mikey Haynes led to more killing
“He was flirting between the street and basketball. Mikey did want to live up to that street life.”
Early in the evening on July 26, 2012, Michael Haynes was cruising around Morgan Park on Chicago's Far South Side when he and his friends, Harry "Slick" Fullilove and Lester "Doogie" Freeman, got word of a fight about to break out. Haynes — who went by Mikey, though also answered to "Big Bro," "Lil' Bro," and "God Bro," because so many Morgan Park residents considered him family — was a 22-year-old basketball star five days away from heading to Iona College in New York. Slick owned the Buick and was letting Mikey drive to take a farewell victory lap of the neighborhood.
“Looking back on it now it does feel like a glimpse. It feels like it went too fast, like as soon as you get your hand on it, it’s gone.”
To make it to the majors, a player must advance five or six rungs through the minors, outplaying any number of other draft picks along the way. One of the many players left on the discard heap was Michael Moras. His distance from the majors is now measured by how far he sits from his television, watching broadcasts of Mets games.
“They definitely do a lot of funky stuff that other teams don’t do, a lot of stuff that’s outside the box. And it’s working for them.”
During Tampa Bay’s three-game sweep, manager Joe Maddon not only loaded the right side of the field against left-handed Yankees hitters, which is common enough, but also tilted his defense to the left against right-handed batters, which is a more unorthodox strategy. Where there used to be hits, there were now outs.
Mens Journal
Why Won't Baseball Trust Ron Wolforth, the Pitcher Doctor
On a 20-acre ranch deep in the sticks of Montgomery, Texas, Ron Wolforth gathers his pupils under the arched ceiling of a 3,600-square-foot corrugated-steel hut. They arrive from all over the country during the off-season, lured by Wolforth's guarantee that he can get virtually anyone throwing 90-plus miles per hour, injury-free.
