February 10, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“This Sporting Life”
02/02/12
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This Sporting Life

Betting On the Gatorade Bath

As gentlemen, we would never bet on the outcome of a sporting event. Luckily, we don’t have to.

Come Sunday, we’ll be betting on the outcome of the national anthem, the halftime show and the ceremonial pouring of the Gatorade. They’re part of a slew of online prop bets that have popped up in anticipation of the Super Bowl. And to guide you through the thicket of wagers, we’ve collected seven of our favorites, along with expert analysis of each one.

It’s time to bet the mortgage. There’s absolutely nothing that could go wrong.

Our seven favorite Super Bowl bets, and our wager on each one»
 

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01/24/12
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This Sporting Life

A Beginner’s Guide to the Word “Cundiff”

Now that the dust has settled on Sunday’s Ravens-Patriots game, it’s time we took a closer look at its lexical legacy—the word “cundiff.”

Thanks to Billy Cundiff’s game-losing missed kick from just 32 yards out, the surname has taken on a life of its own, a brand-new word with unique meaning: inexplicably failing at a routine task, with catastrophic consequences.

Suddenly, we’re hearing it everywhere—not surprising, since it happens all the time. And to show how useful the new piece of vocab truly is, we’ve put together a few prime examples after the jump…

A beginner’s guide to cundiffing»
 

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01/20/12
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This Sporting Life

The Longest Winning Streak in College Sports Has Ended

Yale Squash

The Yale men’s squash team defeated Trinity College Wednesday night, ending Trinity’s streak of 262 consecutive victories, the longest in intercollegiate sports history.

Behind every extraordinary college winning streak is an extraordinary college coach: John Wooden led the UCLA men’s basketball team to 88 straight victories over 12 years and was named Coach of the Year six times. Penn State’s women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose won 109 games in a row thanks to what The New York Times described as “an office of shelves, lined with binders, filled with decades of handwritten scribbles and diarylike entries” detailing every play of every game he ever coached.

This particular story happens to involve two extraordinary coaches: Trinity’s Paul Assaiante and Yale’s Dave Talbott, both legends in a relatively unknown sport who have spent a combined 40 years coaching their respective teams.

Wednesday night, they made history…»
 

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01/05/12
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This Sporting Life

Kempt’s Super Bowl Party Menu

The Super Bowl party is a marquee culinary event.

The menu requires a bold imagination and a month of preparation. Sure, you could go with chips, salsa and chicken wings. And, you know, hummus. Again. Or you could make a statement and serve up something as big and powerful as America.

Enter the 3-foot-tall, 319-pound, 540,00-calorie Absolutely Ridiculous Burger, now available for mail order from Mallie’s Sports Bar in Southgate, Michigan. You’ll need a forklift and $2,000 plus shipping, but, as owner/chef Steve Mallie points out, it’ll be more than enough food. “If you figure the average hamburger is a half-pound, going by that ratio you could serve, you know, 700 people.”

Go ahead and cut this one in half.

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12/29/11
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This Sporting Life

The Best Dressed Mascots in College Football

Notre Dame Leprechaun

A whole bunch of college football teams are currently facing each other in a series of awkwardly-named, predominantly-irrelevant bowl games to determine… well, essentially nothing at all. No offense to the Marshall Buffalo (7-6), who upset the Florida International Golden Panthers (8-5) in The Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl held in St. Petersburg last week, but we’re going to agree with most of America and say the BCS is deeply flawed.

So, rather than picking which .500 team will take home the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas on Saturday, we’ve instead picked the four best-dressed mascots in the Bowl Championship Series.

Number four: The Notre Dame Leprechaun…»

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12/22/11
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This Sporting Life

The War Wounds of Baseball

There’s a lot of statistical nerdery in the baseball world, so we’re glad someone finally made a set of baseball cards focusing on the important details—like which Colorado Rockies shortstop broke his collarbone carrying deer meat up a flight of stairs. These “Bizarre Injuries” cards come from Left Field, and $15 will get you a pack of five linocut-printed cards with a picture, a fact… and absolutely no batting averages.

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12/07/11
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This Sporting Life

A New Home for Jousting Coverage

There’s always room on our desk for more photo essays about maritime jousting.

Our latest favorite comes from Victory Journal, a nostalgic, photo-heavy look at the world of sport. In other words, exactly the kind of sepia-toned legend building we usually get from No Mas. (No surprise, they’re involved.)

But mostly, it’s the only place in the world you’ll see a two-page photo spread of Fidel Castro pitching an inning for the Havana Barbudos circa 1959. Judging by his stance, the MLB didn’t miss much.

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11/10/11
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This Sporting Life

The Welterweight Tie

We don’t usually choose our ties based on boxing matches…but there’s a first time for everything.

WBO Welterweight World Champion Manny Pacquaio is coming up for his third bout against Juan Manuel Marquez this Saturday, and in certain circles, it’s a very big deal. Enough of a big deal that Italophile tie-maker Vittorio J is commemorating the occasion with a limited-edition necktie. The pattern’s modeled after the flag of the Phillipines, where Pacquaio was born, but it’s safe to say the only people who’ll get the reference will already be fans.

That makes it one of the more dignified ways to show your allegiance to a fighter—at least compared to screaming from the front row. Let’s just hope the trend slows down before Ochocinco gets involved.

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10/28/11
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This Sporting Life

Over: The Fat Lady (And Anyone Else) Singing ‘God Bless America’ At Baseball Games

We love our country, but we loathe “God Bless America.”

More specifically, we are vehemently opposed to the compulsory singing of the patriotic anthem 1918 showtune from Yip Yip Yaphank! at baseball games. (Yes, “God Bless America” is a showtune, and one that its author, Irving Berlin, cut from Yip! after two performances because he disliked it so much.)

Nearly a century later, we dislike it so much, too…»
 

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08/29/11
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This Sporting Life

The Original Tennis Sweater

Tennis Sweater

In honor of the U.S. Open (and the newly trending tricolor stripe), we thought we’d take a look at an early tennis sweater on Mr. Jean Borotra, circa 1935. The shoes aren’t half-bad either, although they’re easier to find.

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07/21/11
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This Sporting Life

The Sunglasses of the MLB

Willie Mays

We’ve imparted a few thoughts on baseball in the past—particularly listening to it on the radio—but here’s one more often-overlooked detail: Baseball is one of the few sports you can play while wearing sunglasses.

So far, most ballplayers haven’t seized the opportunity to gain style points. In fact, the results have ranged from the inspired to the regrettable…but that’s not to say they’re not interesting.

Allow us to elaborate…»

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07/18/11
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This Sporting Life

All Black Everything

umbroblack

You’re in soccer mourning. It’s understandable.

So to lament the defeat of the U.S. team in yesterday’s Women’s World Cup final, you can pick up this all-black trainer jacket and commence the most solemn elliptical session of your life.

It was made as a tribute to our beloved New York Cosmos, who happened to be coalescing during the infamous New York Blackout of ’77. But given the circumstances, we’d say it doubles as the official garment of soccer mourners everywhere. And now that we consider it, we’re still pretty bummed about that Ghana thing…

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07/01/11
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This Sporting Life

The Unsung Style Hero of Wimbledon

wimbledonjudgevia LIFE

As Wimbledon draws to a close, we’re ready to call style winners. And while we won’t bore you with another rant about how they all dressed better in the 20s, we will say this: the best-dressed gentleman of the evening was not to be found on the court. Or at least, not at ground level…

No, our favorite outfit of the tournament came from the chair umpires. (Unlike the rest of us, they actually have an excuse for wearing a piped jacket.) The clothes come courtesy of Polo Ralph Lauren, but the look comes from hundreds of years of British lawn games, from croquet to, well, grass court tennis. The master stroke is matching his cream colored sneakers and pants, and keeping both blessedly free of grass stains.

Looking sharp is all the more important since the Cyclops system has made him largely decorative. Now that a computer’s making the hard calls, this gentleman’s main purpose is to sit above the net and look pretty. By our lights, he did a great job.

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06/22/11
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This Sporting Life

In Defense of the Grunt

Maria Sharapovavia Reuters

Grunting has been a strange-but-alluring element of women’s tennis for years now, but apparently The Man disapproves. Specifically, the Wimbledon Man.

The latest representative of The Man is Ian Ritchie of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club—the venue for Wimbledon—who dropped this bomb to the Daily Telegraph earlier today: “We have discussed it with the tours and we believe it is helpful to reduce the amount of grunting.”

Well, Mr. Ritchie, we believe it is helpful to reduce the amount of your face.

We’re sorry; we’re getting emotional. But this one hits close to home.

Our full-throated defense of grunting in women’s tennis»

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06/09/11
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A Perfect Match

John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg

It’s easy to forget for all the focus on championships, but the real business of sport isn’t making winners, it’s making games. So we’re excited for this Saturday, when HBO rolls out their doc on one of the great tennis matches of all time, the 1980 Wimbledon final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.

Hear our take and watch 20 minutes from the game»

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06/02/11
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This Sporting Life

The Gentleman in White

Rene LaCoste

In honor of the latest crop of Lacoste’s Andy Roddick gear, we thought we’d draw your attention to some of our favorite sports clothing of all time. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. René Lacoste.

Granted, it was a simpler time—before sneakers and synthetic fabrics—but if it was up to us, these tennis whites would still be the dress code at Wimbledon, right down to the newsboy hat. Just call it a gentlemanly handicap.

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05/25/11
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Mr. Smith Goes to Manchester

Paulsmithmanchester_crop

Speaking of soccer players, we couldn’t help dredging up this recent pic of the Manchester United squad, dressed in newly-sewn off-the-field uniforms courtesy of Mr. Paul Smith. They’re a pretty staid bunch, so he couldn’t get too crazy, but he managed a few dandyish touches. Our favorite: purple shoelaces on the black oxfords. Well played, gentlemen.

Here’s the official pic.

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05/03/11
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The Greatest Two Minutes in Southern Style

Kentucky Derby

On Friday, one of the great sporting events/lawn parties of our time is kicking off. We speak, of course, of the seersucker meetup known as the Kentucky Derby.

And to give you some idea why we’re so excited, we’ve put together a visual guide to the julep-soaked revelry descending on Louisville this week. Apparently horses are somehow involved…

Take a look around»

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04/25/11
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The Jerseys of Yore

Postcard

Baseball ain’t what it used to be.

We’re not talking about steroids, designated hitters, bloated payrolls, abbreviation nicknames or the troubling scarcity of Pavano-style mustaches. We’re talking about something even more important: the uniforms.

Allow us to elaborate…»

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04/01/11
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The Cosby Mysteries

peterose_crop.jpg

This is not a joke. It’s very, very serious.

At the Cincinnati home opener yesterday, Pete Rose popped up wearing what seems to be the leather bomber equivalent of a Coogi sweater. It’s not exactly public-rehabilitation attire—in fact, it looks like it was lifted from the liner notes of Ready to Die. But if he’s trying to age into a role as baseball’s gangsterish, vaguely creepy uncle, he nailed it.

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03/31/11
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The Hall-of-Famers

fredclarke_crop.jpg

In honor of Opening Day (and now that you’ve got something to wear), we thought we’d direct your attention to a little more Costner-esque nostalgia: An illustrator named Summer Anne Burton has charged herself with creating a detailed, info-filled drawing depicting every player in the baseball hall of fame. In case you’re not a fan…there are a lot of them.

The result is every bit as quirky as you think. She uses Library of Congress photos and pencil to create a pretty good portrait, and throws in enough quotes and stats to give you a sense of how they actually looked on the ballfield—making her something close to the internet equivalent of Ken Burns.

So far she’s only gotten through 41 out of 295, but she’s got all season.

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03/28/11
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Play Ball

sfseals_crop.jpg

We’re currently just three days away from Opening Day, and all the excitement and Costner-esque nostalgia the comes with it.

Naturally, we’ve got big plans for the week ahead, but we’ll start with the most elemental item of all: the jersey. Specifically, the vintage jersey.

This one comes from Ebbets Field Flannels, a Seattle outfit turning out historically accurate Jerseys from the early days of baseball, stitched together from the same wool flannel they used in the old days. So if you had your heart set on wearing Satchel Paige’s Monarchs jersey to the first game of the season, you can get it here.

The rest of the stock is even more obscure, from the turn-of-the-century Coast League or the depression-era Cuban league. We wouldn’t wear it outside of a specifically baseball-related scene—either at the park, in sight of a TV showing the game or a sufficiently sunny cookout—but you should have plenty of those over the next few months.

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03/04/11
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The Dogs of Spring

iditarod_crop.jpg

We know, there’s a lot going on in the wide world of sports right now. And even though you’re probably balancing your time between keeping an eye on spring training, scouting the combines and predicting early sleepers for your NCAA bracket, we’d be remiss not to alert you of arguably the year’s most intense sporting event: the Iditarod 2011.

Allow us to elaborate»

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01/21/11
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This Sporting Life

Out Come the Wolves

grandodyssee_crop.jpgDenis Balibouse/Reuters

File this one under “more intense than football.” The Grande Odyssée dogsled race finished up yesterday, after eleven days and more than 600 miles of canine-powered trekking over the French and Swiss Alps. The winner was a Slovakian rookie named Milos Gonda, the dog-sledding equivalent of the Green Bay Packers.

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11/03/10
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The Return of the Deadball

lemonball_crop.jpg

In honor of the close of the World Series, we’ve dug up an exceedingly rare toy: a baseball circa 1805.

Newly arrived at Hickorees, this Lemon Peel-style baseball is the kind of ball they played with when the game was still settling down: a little smaller, a little lighter and a whole lot softer—which meant you didn’t have to feel bad about nailing a runner in the back for an easy out.

You won’t hit quite as many homers with it, but if you’re trying to teach your nephew the basics and keep your brother’s windows intact at the same time, that might not be such a bad thing.

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