[Indianapolis Monthly]
In this month’s issue of Indianapolis Monthly, I’ve got a long feature on Milan, Indiana — the small town that inspired Hoosiers and that’s struggled ever since. The magazine’s website is in the middle of a redesign, so the story didn’t make it online. I’m posting a slightly longer version of it below the jump.
[Deadspin]
Over at Deadspin, I’ve got a dispatch-slash-photo gallery from last night’s LeBron James television special, which was staged in Greenwich, CT. The special generated tons of coverage in both the standard and Watching-the-Watchmen traditions, but I tried to focus on how the media manufactured and replicated its stories. You don’t need to blame anyone at this event to admit that the media ecosystem deploys its resources in a mysterious way.
If you like the story, you might also like the first thing I wrote for Deadspin—another investigation of media malpractice, this time about the story of a 9-year-old pitcher banned by his baseball league for being “too good.”
Also, the real winner in all this, to my mind, is Kobe Bryant—he’s no longer the NBA’s Iago.
In this week’s New Haven Advocate, I’ve got a long story on Squash Haven, a local nonprofit that follows the after-school orthodoxy except for one thing: its kids play squash. This focus raises some obvious questions (namely: Why turn to such an expensive and elitist sport?), and I try to touch on them in the story. Still, the people at Squash Haven are doing great work and getting great results. It’s tough to question that.
I should add that the story might seem a little fractured or jumpy since, for a lot of reasons (most of them my fault), the reporting dates back to 2008. I did go back this month to check on my group of middle schoolers, and several of them are heading to a national squash tournament. I’m sure they—and Squash Haven as a whole—will do New Haven proud.
Howard Zinn is dead and Gilbert Arenas is making news for some decidedly right-wing behavior—in other words, my review of Dave Zirin’s A People’s History of Sports (2008) is newly relevant!
Here’s how the review starts:
Last month, Gilbert Arenas, an NBA All-Star, wrote the following on his blog: “Since I’ve been in the NBA I’ve been in the upper class so I’ve been a Republican. If you have any type of money, you’re a Republican, period.”
You can read the rest of it here. (Note: I found it shocking how many people fawned over Zirin’s book; I’ve never felt less guilty about writing a negative review—and for a book I couldn’t wait to read.)
[New York]
This week brings New York‘s annual “Reasons To Love New York” issue, and they kindly let me do a short piece on a rabid University of Florida bar. (And by short I mean short—if anyone’s interested, I’ll stick my full submission after the jump.)
Also at the bar that night: Tim Cowlishaw. Apparently I’m working my way Around the Horn, having bumped into Bob Ryan while on assignment for Deadspin at the Harvard-Yale game. If you’re a fan of college football and debauchery, you can read that story here.
Craig Fehrman 