Sports Poets Society

Bob Pettit fought his way past two Cicinnati Royals during this  1957 game  o n his way  to  another basket.  When he retired in 1966 after eleven seasons,  Pettit was the NBA's leading scorer, with 20,880 points. Where does Bob Pettit fit in among the greatest basketball players of all time? At the very top, according to the experts who named him to the NBA's twenty-fifth and thirty-fifth anniversary All-Time Teams. After all, when he retired in 1965, Robert Lee Pettit, Jr., was the highest scorer in the history of professional basketball with 20,880 points, and third in rebounding with 12,849 boards . Don't underplay th ose rebounds-they say a lot about the 6-foot-9 athlete. "I recognize that I am totally prejudiced in behalf of Bob Pettit," Ben Kerner , owner of the St. Louis Hawks, once said. "He was a scoring champion, but more important, he was a tireless rebounder at both ends of the court." Offensive rebounds , the kind that often require grit a...

Bono durante il primo concerto degli U2 alla Mount Temple School di Dublino  Ieri gli U2 si sono esibiti alla Mount Temple School di Dublino. Il gruppo di Bono ritorna nei luoghi della giovinezza per annunciare il disco "Carnaval de Luz" disponibile dal 13 novembre ANDREA SILENZI La Repubblica - Sabato 26 settembre 2026 Pagina 45 Accade tutto a Dublino. 50 anni fa, Larry Mullen jr. mise un annuncio nella bacheca del Mount Temple Comprehensive School, un istituto scolastico nel nord della capitale irlandese. L'annuncio recitava: "Batterista cerca musicisti per formare una band". Casa di Mullen, situata al 60 di Rosemount Avenue, anche questa meta di pellegrinaggi dei fan da qualche giorno, era a poca distanza: fu lì che si riunirono per la prima volta gli U2. Per festeggiare il loro anniversario artistico, anticipando di qualche settimana l'uscita del nuovo album Carnaval de luz , in uscita il 13 novembre, gli U2 sono tornati a casa. Stessi posti, stesso spir...

At 6'9" and only 215 pounds , Bob Pettit was thought by many to be too skinny to make it in the NBA , even after he averaged 30 points a game in his senior year at Louisiana State University . They said that Pettit did not jump well enough and seemed awkward. But the Milwaukee Hawks drafted him in the first round in 1954 , planning to shift him from center, where he played a LSU, to a corner position. Pettit immediately went to work at learning the unfamiliar position. He developed new moves he could use while facing the basket, to free himself for the jump shot that he rarely missed. He underwent a weight-training program to strengthen himself for the long, arduous pro season. When he entered the NBA, he was ready. Pettit won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and was a first-team All-Star averaging 20 points and 14 rebounds in his first year . The Hawks moved to St Louis the next year, and Pettit led the league in scoring and rebounding , a fear that earned him the (first) ...

FOTO ANP  De Nederlandse wielervrouwen liepen de afgelopen jaren wereldtitels mis doordat er te veel favorieten aan boord waren. Bij het WK op de weg in Montreal (Canada) kiest de ploeg zaterdag voor een nieuwe tactiek: Demi Vollering als onbetwiste kopvrouw. Dat romantische beeld van een vriendinnenclubje dat voor Nederland rijdt, dat bestaat niet 26 set 2026 - NRC Sam de Voogt De verkenning van het wedstrijdparcours in Montreal was woensdag bijna afgelopen toen ineens een oranje trein van vier rensters met grote snelheid op de beklimming van de Mont Royal afreed. Karlijn Swinkels, Femke de Vries, Puck Pieterse en Demi Vollering snelden iedereen voorbij en bleven doorstampen, volle bak, ook bergop, zonder reserve. Het was een poging om Vollering op het klimmetje van 1,7 kilometer (stijgingspercentage van gemiddeld 7,4) in de Canadese metropool de snelste tijd ooit te laten rijden. De andere drie verzorgden de lead-out, haakten een voor een ruim voor de top af. Vollering knalde hel...

Je zult maar een jonge voetballer zijn en die bagger over je heen krijgen 26 Sep 2026 - NRC MARIJN DE VRIES In mijn hoofd voer ik veel imaginaire gesprekken. Als ik in bed lig, of op de fiets zit, dan ontspint het zich automatisch en zit ik in gedachten ineens midden in een dialoog met iemand die ik graag de waarheid eens zou zeggen. Of ik herkauw een gesprek dat ik al gevoerd heb, bedenk wat ik beter had kunnen zeggen, of beter niet had kunnen zeggen. Heeft iedereen dat? Virgil van Dijk wel, denk ik. Aan de blik in zijn ogen, aan zijn bedachtzaamheid, aan de manier waarop hij op zijn lip bijt kun je het zien, tijdens de persconferentie in aanloop naar Nederland-duitsland. De aanvoerder van het Nederlands elftal, de bijna honderdvoudig international, de vaste waarde bij zijn club Liverpool: het kan haast niet anders dan dat hij het gesprek dat zich voor het oog van de camera ontvouwt al vele malen in zijn hoofd gevoerd heeft. Hij oogt doodkalm en kijkt Valentijn Driessen van De Telegra...

It might seem like self-preservation, but the results aren’t necessarily what you’d expect, writes George Loewenstein 26 Sep 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Saturday Magazine IN DR SEUSS’S Green Eggs and Ham, the relentlessly upbeat Sam-I-Am spends the entire book badgering a grouchy, nameless narrator into tasting the eponymous dish. He cycles through one inventive but futile pitch after another – in a house, with a mouse, in a box, with a fox, on a train, in the rain – until the narrator, caving just to get some peace, tastes the dish and discovers he loves it. When my son was growing up, “Green Eggs and Ham” was my shorthand for telling him he was avoiding something he’d love if he only tried it. Of course, not every experience we fear or dread turns out to be a delicious surprise. Misery is an inescapable part of the human condition. We can’t avoid it, yet people try their hardest anyway. We cling to hope even when a situation is hopeless. We push painful thoughts out of mind rather than con...

Ten years ago, NFL player Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the pre-match national anthem. He was accused of disrespecting the flag, the game, America, and promptly went from superstar to pariah. In a rare interview, he tells Steve Rose about inspiring a global gesture of civil rights – and why he longs to play again ‘I WAS AMAZED AT HOW VISCERAL THE RESPONSE WAS  TO SAYING WE SHOULDN’T BE KILLING BLACK PEOPLE’ 26 Sep 2026 - THE GUARDIAN / Saturday Magazine Colin Kaepernick still gets up at 4.30am every morning to train. “Strength training, speed training, position training – still do all of the same type of workouts I did while I was playing,” he says cheerily. “And then go about the rest of my day.” It is almost 10 years since Kaepernick last played a game of top-flight football. His career was abruptly and cruelly cut short just as it was peaking, after the National Football League (NFL) effectively closed ranks and shut him out for being too political. Now, at 38 years old,...

Nicolas Prodhomme (à gauche) et Paul Seixas après  la  victoire du premier lors de la 5e étape du Tour des Alpes 2025.  Paul Seixas (au premier plan) et Nicolas Prodhomme à l’entraînement,  mercredi, près de Bromont (Canada). Courant continu Chez Decathlon-CMA CGM et chez les Bleus, Nicolas Prodhomme et Paul Seixas ont noué un lien précieux, grâce auquel ils s’élèvent l’un et l’autre. «Dans nos discussions, je le trouvais mature et réfléchi.  Parfois, j’avais l’impression qu’on avait deux ou trois ans d’écart,  alors qu’il y en a presque dix»    - NICOLAS PRODHOMME «Je trouve qu’il y a une confiance mutuelle entre eux,  maintenant ils se connaissent parfaitement.  Chacun connaît les qualités ou les défauts de l’autre,  c’est important»     - JULIEN JURDIE,  LEUR  DIRECTEUR  SPORTIF      CHEZ DECATHLON CMA-CGM 26 Sep 2026 - L'Équipe THOMAS PEROTTO MONTRÉAL (CAN) – À 18 ans, Paul Seixas di...