Free Sport
@Work: The Musher, Hilltown Wilderness Adventures
Marla Brodsky’s boots crunch on the snowy path. In the dog yard behind her house, 18 pairs of ears perk up at the sound. As she approaches, her four litters of Alaskan Husky sled dogs start to stir. Some dogs lift their heads and howl. Some strain at their leashes....
Get Out and Stay Out! 12 of the Pioneer Valley’s best outdoor spaces
Canalside Rail Trail, Turners Falls A handful of beautiful sights crop up along the four miles of this short, scenic bike path, which runs from Deerfield up into Montague along old railroad beds. But the short northern stretch where wooded areas gives way to the...
Full Swing: Adult sports leagues soothe the soul and harden the body
His players say Winston Lee’s life revolved around baseball and softball. When he died in 2011, the players in his Spanish American Softball League were devastated. Hundreds of the inner-city players not only missed the man, but the community he’d built around him....Meet Drew Bledsoe: Powder Skiing Extraordinaire
Looking for the perfect connecting thread between the upcoming NFL playoffs and the recent bounty of winter snowfall? How about this article from Backcountry Magazine: “Out of Pocket: How skiing kept NFL legend Drew Bledsoe grounded.” Wait. Drew Bledsoe is...In Defense of Tim Thomas
Unless you’ve managed to keep your Boston sports mania maintained solely on the Patriots’ place in the upcoming Super Bowl, you’ve probably heard about Bruins star goalie Tim Thomas electing not to join his team when they were honored for last...Register now for the Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon
Chalemont, Massachusetts has yet to be listed as one of the “Best Places to Live” by Outside Magazine, or some other well-known glossy publication. But this March 31st, Berkshire East and Zoar Outdoor are teaming up to organize an event that, in combing...Revolution at The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest media event of the year. The NFL Player’s Association is the most visible union in the country. And some way or another, these two seemingly unrelated aspects of our sports society will meet in Indiana’s capital city this...Losing Teams Win In Socialist NFL
Like some 100 million other folks, I watched the Patriots snatch defeat from the jaws of victory last night, literally dropping the ball on what could have been their fourth Super Bowl Championship. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld (who in turn was paraphrasing himself)...Believe in Magic (Mountain)
In the midst of the worst snow-winter in the history of my recollection, something remarkable has happened on the ski scene: Southern Vermont’s Magic Mountain has become a cooperatively owned mountain resort. “Do you believe in Magic?? 300 shares purchased...Alongside the River and Throughout the Woods
Your cross-country skis, snowshoes, and winter running Yak Trax stabilizers may not serve much purpose on the trails this week, but that doesn’t mean the woods aren’t worth exploring. I recently ventured out on a trail run/hike/unintentional...Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield Rides Off Into The Sunset
The Legend of Tim Wakefield. The Knuckleballer. The Knuckler. It almost sounds as if you’re referring to an outlaw. The Rifleman. The Gunslinger. A meatball-throwing pitcher sent in from baseball’s wild plains of unconventionality to tame the best hitters...BU Questions Hockey Culture After Players Charged with Rape and Sexual Assault
Boston University has 33,000 students. This year, half a dozen of them have been accused of sexual assault, two of whom are prominent members of the school’s nationally ranked men’s hockey team. Which has the university looking into the culture of their...Don't. Trade. Rondo.
I know. I know. He can’t hit a free throw. Or an open fifteen footer. His defense is worse than advertised. He has a bad attitude. He’s moody. He’s a menace to the clubhouse, and the overall chemistry of the team. He’s consistently...Blinded By The Hardwood of Oregon's Matthew Knight Arena
Sometimes, as the Grateful Dead observed, “You get shown the light / in the strangest of places / if you look at it right.” But oftentimes, you don’t. I was flipping through the channels the other night, after thorougly enjoying seeing our local...March Madness: The Good, The Bad, And The Very Ugly
March Madness undoubtedly offers some of the best sports competition of the calendar year (both the men and women’s NCAA Tournament, and the men’s NIT Tournament, too). The single elimination format (bye bye Missouri and Duke…), as well as the...Could This Happen in the U.S.?
Recently, at a hockey game in Canada, “a Toronto Maple Leafs fan named Alicia was escorted onto the ice wearing a blindfold,” reports the Huffington Post. “When the blindfold was removed, she looked up at the video scoreboard and read a message from...Where Have All the Banners Gone?, or NCAA Tournament Demands Garden Without Championship Banners, or The Latest, Greatest Reason the NCAA is Unbelievably Lame
It was nice to see Syracuse, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Cincinati battle it out on the Garden’s parquet hardwood this past weekend. But insisting that the 23 championship banners (more than any other sports arena) and retired numbers (including Cam Neely’s...More to the Miami Heat
As a diehard Boston fan, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Avery Bradley (not to mention Rajon Rondo) Celtics absolutely dismantle the usually championship-driven (but still (admittedly snobbishly in an old school northeast curmudgeony sort of way) expansion-feeling)...Red Sox 2012: Brand vs. Baseball Team
When does brand massaging take too much precedence over team management? In the case of the current ownership group of Boston’s beloved Red Sox, I’d say sometime last summer. Welcome back worry. It’s been a while. But with the current state of Red...The First Rule About Castro Is: You Do Not Talk About Castro
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Ozzie Guillen, the Venezuelan-born manager of the newly-christened Miami Marlins, who was hired in part (in addition to leading the 2005 Chicago White Sox to their first World Series championship since 1917) to help boost...Boston Marathon: 40 Years Co-Ed and Counting
Happy Marathon Monday! Patriot’s Day is always special in the Bay State. The running of the world’s oldest annual marathon. An early Sox game at Fenway. Early crowds at Boston’s many bars. The rememberance of “the shot heard round the...Are You Read for El Clasico?
By all accounts, this weekend is jam-packed on the sports front. The Yankees are in town to help the Sox commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. The Bruins host a pivotal game 5 against the playoff-upstart Capitals. The Celtics continue their intriguing...Seventh Heaven! Seven Springs Ski Area Re-Opens!
If there were a magic portal from the Valley to southwestern Pennsylvania, I would be at Seven Springs today, as they re-open their ski area after getting a foot and a half of snow over the past few days. But there’s no magic portal that I know of. So instead,...Gone Hunting in Panem. Be Back Soon …
The real reason Matt Light is retiring?Long Distance Reading and Running in the Bold World of the James Joyce Ramble
As you cross into your ninth kilometer, exhaustedly trudging along the banks of the Charles River with thousands of other runners, you just might hear an actor reciting prose. The actor might be dressed in period garb common to the early twentieth century. And the...Which Is Worse: Gore-Tex Trail or Donald Trump State Park?
I recently came across a blog post about the Gore-Tex company sponsoring a long distance trail in Scotland. And how trail sponsorship is one way conservation groups and outdoor recreation organizations can raise the needed funds to protect and create access to the...KG Slams Wealthy Hawks Owner
Athletes far too rarely chuck the cliches and speak honestly from their unique individual perspective. But that’s exactly what Kevin Garnett did in last night’s post game press conference after he lead the “ancient” Celtics past the upstart...The Beastie Boys and the Birth of Snowboard Culture
Following the death of founding member Adam “MCA” Yauch, it’s been easy to reminisce about the Beastie Boys. Their music has been a constant for the soundtrack of youth culture and adolescent angst over the past few decades (strange to think...Back to the Eighties with the Celtics-Sixers Series
Put on your parachute pants, get out your boom box, and pop in your Thriller casette tape. The Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, the two teams with the NBA’s best uniforms by far (if they had a throwback game, no one would notice – unless they cut...A Schilling For Your Hypocrisy
Nothing ruins one’s staunch criticism of the nanny state like suckling from its coffers. Former Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios, was lured to Providence, Rhode Island from its offices in Maynard, Massachusetts by a $75 million...Unpredictable Celtics Predictably Pacing Themselves
It’s difficult to get a good read on this year’s Celtics team. One quarter, they look like championship contenders. The next, they look like they’ll never score another basket. If the Celtics close out the Sixers tonight in Game 6 of their best of...Paddle On! Green Connecticut River Gets Blueway Status
Looking for a good Free Sport way to ring in the Memorial Day Weekend (aside from watching Game 7 of the Celtics-Sixers series, of course)? Head on over to our country’s first National Blueway, the Connecticut River, right here in our very own Pioneer Valley....If You Can Play, It Doesn't Matter If You're Gay
With the Bruins long gone, and the Celtics still stumbling forward, I won’t be watching much of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals. But when I do look in on the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup, I’m hoping to see a nationally televised commercial/PSA...Paddle Your Way to the 5th Annual Fort River Celebration Day
Backyard exploration is a hobby often overlooked, and easily underappreciated. A river runs freely here in the Valley, and conservationists and recreationists of all ages will be at its edge this weekend with paddles in hand for the 5th annual Fort River Celebration...Tom Brady Is Wicked Funny
The folks over at Funny Or Die have hit another home run (or should that be last-minute touchdown drive?) with this wicked funny video featuring California native, Pats quarterback, and Under Armour celebrity athlete spokesperson Tom Brady, who clearly does not have a...Anatomy of a Game-Clinching Shot
At its simplest, sports games are a series of moments. A fast ball to home plate. A face-off in the red zone. A 35-yard field goal attempt. Most times, the action of these moments are rendered insignificant by successive plays. But other times, these moments have a...King James vs. The Franchise Formerly Known as the Seattle Supersonics
As the dust settles on this past Celtics season, and likely on the era of the new-look Big 3, Bay State hoops fans seem likely to put their rooting muster behind the NBA’s newest franchise: the Oklahoma City Thunder. After all, OKC is centered by former Celtic...Kermit the Frog, Forgetful Jones, and Eddie Vedder on the NBA Finals
It’s not often that one finds actual hoops commentary on Sesame Street. And less often, still, that such commentary is applicable to the NBA Finals. Nevertheless, in considering the current championship series between athletic-center-of-the-universe (be it his...Former Sox GM Theo Epstein Calls Out Uber-Capitalism in Professional Sports
Concerned fans want to know: Is Theo a communist? For a sports culture endowed with so many over-analyzing media outlets, issues of team ownership and the business of sports don’t receive their necessary attention. That changed for a couple of minutes during a...Go Beyond the Bullseye with the Amherst Archery Academy
Recently, I sat in on a class over at the Amherst Archery Academy, and shot my first bow and arrow in decades. Re-engaging with archery was really enjoyable, and its pursuit offers much for anyone looking to engage in a meaningful recreational activity outdoors this...The Fascinating History of Baseball in Western Massachusetts
It appears that historians also dig the long ball, especially when it comes to the extensive history of baseball in the Valley. Yesterday’s Bill Newman Show featured a conversation with John S. Bowman and Brian Turner, authors of The Hurrah Game: Baseball in...Local Journalist Reports on Murder in the High Himalaya
“On September 30, 2006,” reads the book’s back cover, “climbers preparing to summit Cho Oyu, a mountain nineteen miles east of Mount Everest, watched in horror as Chinese border guards fired at a group of Tibetans fleeing to India via Nepal....Jimmy Kimmel, Rajon Rondo, and The Other Wes Moore
In case you missed it, enigmatic Celtics guard and franchise player of Boston’s basketball future Rajon Rondo made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently, participating in a Skype scavenger hunt against New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler. For the...Soccer As Cultural Divider and Unifier: When Dynamo Kiev Defeated Hitler
As much as we Americans don’t like to admit it, no sport is as capable of unifying cultures and nations like soccer (football, to the rest of the world). Likewise, no sport is as capable of dividing nations and cultures like soccer. The sport’s divergent...Hilarious LeBron James Inbox from Grantland
Tending to one’s email inbox can be an experience that is often more tedious than enjoyable. But I thouroughly enjoyed reading through the Gmail inbox of LeBron James (see enlarged image here), which was somehow obtained by the good folks over at Grantland. The...Sox Fans, Meet the Fandom of Liverpool FC
Storied football (aka soccer) franchise and Fenway Sports Group investment project Liverpool FC was in Boston’s Fenway Park to play an exhibition match against AS Roma last night. The two European clubs both have Beantown connections, with Kevin Garnett owning a...Non-Hiking Hiking Book: Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks
Jeremy Davis, founder of the absolutely outstanding New England Lost Ski Areas Project (NELSAP) website, just released his third book, Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks (to go along with his first two: Lost Ski Areas of the White Mountains, and Lost Ski Areas...Run For Holyoke With NFL Hopeful Harry Melendez
As NFL training camps prepare for the upcoming preseason, and hundreds of players battle for final roster spots, countless others, undrafted and unsigned yet hopeful nonetheless, continue to train for what they hope will be their eventual NFL career. Like Holyoke...America's Greatest Synchronized Swimmer? Michael Phelps vs. Martin Short
By all accounts, Michael Phelps is one of the greatest swimmers that the world, let alone the U.S., has ever known. He has won 22 Olympic medals, 18 of which are gold. That’s double the number of medals won by Olympic legends like Carl Lewis, and Mark Spitz. In...And Heracles said: Let there be Bikini Beach Volleyball! And Gyrating Cheerleaders! And Unlimited Beer for Everyone!
A recent Philadelphia Metro article asks, “What if every Olympic sport was photographed like beach volleyball?” And then answers its own question by providing a series of crotch shots of male athletes competing in events including basketball, gymnastics,...The Sports Illustrated Cover vs. The Female Athlete
Something amazing happened on the way to this year’s summer Olympics: a Sports Illustrated cover didn’t have any men on it. Under the headline: “Five Stars: America’s Game Changers,” SI’s Olympics preview issue cover featured the...Happy 75th Anniversary Appalachian Trail!
Looking for an excuse to get lost in the woods this weekend? How about celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Appalachian Trail? (As a bonus, you may bump into some thru-hikers, who began their trek in Georgia last spring, and are trying to make it to mid-Maine...Occupy's Tax Dodgers Make Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
“Sports,” suggests Noam Chomsky, “keeps people from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about.” Or do they? Visitors to the legendary Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY have...Run For Holyoke With NFL Hopeful Harry Melendez, Part Two
Few figures in sports have so effectively combined their personal athletic accomplishments with a larger social significance as Muhammad Ali. Among Ali’s more memorable and inspirational insights is this: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by...San Francisco 49ers Become First NFL Team To Make “It Gets Better” Video
Here’s some good off-the-field news on the football front. The San Francisco 49ers recently became the first NFL team to record a video for the It Gets Better Project. The football 49ers follow in the footsteps of the city’s baseball Giants, who were the...“We Built This” RNC Takes Place In Tax-Subsidized Sports Arena
Apparently unwilling to divorce themselves from the overly cherished myth of the self-made man, Republicans took to the offensive for their convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum this week, and christened their slightly-less-than-week-long celebration of all things...Surfonomics: Can Economics Save Surfing?
The North Shore. Endless Summer. Sunshine, sandy shores, and sultry surf breaks. The often-stuffy study of economics is just about the last thing most of us think about when considering the activity, the sport, the lifestyle of surfing. Yet a new type of economics,...MInnesota Vikings Punter Drop-Kicks Maryland State Senator Over Marriage Equality
Chris Kluwe, punter for the Minnesota Vikings, kicked off his 2012 football season by writing on open letter to Emmett C. Burns, Jr., Democratic State Senator from Maryland, voraciously criticising the senator’s suggestion that Baltimore Ravens linebacker...Born To Run: How To Run – For Fun?
“Here are some who like to run. They run for fun in the hot, hot sun. Oh me! Oh my! Oh me! Oh my! What a lot of funny things go by.” – Dr. Suess The other day I picked up, and started reading Christopher McDougall’s 2009 meditation of all...E-Edition
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