The Browser - Sports & Games

Note To Our Readers: RSS Feeds | Robert Cottrell | The Browser | 28 March 2013

The Browser — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:06:01 +0000

As part of our move to a new platform and new hosting today, we are consolidating our RSS feeds into a one full feed, to which you can subscribe at this address (if it's not live now it will be soon): http://thebrowser.com/feed

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Chess And 18th-Century Artificial Intelligence | Adam Gopnik | BBC | 22 March 2013

The Browser — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:27:17 +0000

Reflections on The Mechanical Turk, an eighteenth-century device which purported to be a chess-playing machine, but which worked by means of a human chess-player concealed inside the cabinet. The inventor, Johann Maelzel, "picked up chess players on the run, wherever he happened to be, as Chuck Berry used to hire back-up bands on the road"

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The One-Legged Wrestler Who Conquered His Sport | David Merrill | Deadspin | 18 March 2013

The Browser — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:11:56 +0000

Anthony Robles was born poor and one-legged in Mesa, Arizona. Bullied at school, chose wrestling to toughen up. Lost every match at first. Then he found the key: "Instead of balancing on one leg, he dropped to the mat, on two hands and a knee". Opponents were baffled. Four years later he was a national champion. Now he's quitting

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Creating The All-Terrain Human | Christopher Solomon | New York Times | 20 March 2013

The Browser — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:41:46 +0000

Raised high in the Pyrenees. Completed a 7.5-mile cross-country ski race at the age of three. Now 25, Kilian Jornet Burgada is "the most dominating endurance athlete of his generation". Runs all day, up and down mountains, eating only berries. Prodigious aerobic capacity. Wins every race. "Even among top athletes, Jornet is an outlier"

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The Runner | Jordan Conn | ESPN | 22 February 2013

The Browser — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:59:44 +0000

Fauja Sing was 83 when he saw his son decapitated by a falling roof. Moved from India to England, took up running, completed London marathon at 89. Became first centenarian to complete a marathon last year. Plans to run final race this weekend in Hong Kong, at 102. Only regret: Guinness won't accredit him. No birth certificate

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Last Man Up | Christopher Solomon | Runner's World | 21 February 2013

The Browser — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 06:26:40 +0000

At 3.5 mlles, up and down a mountain, the Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska is shorter than a jog round Central Park. But the course is so brutal and dangerous, the pace so fierce, that serious injuries are commonplace. Last year, the last-placed runner, Michael Le Maistre, disappeared. Got to the top, never came down. Where did he go?

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Ten More Bets You Will Always Win

The Browser — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:43:22 +0000

I’ve Fallen Out Of Love With Football | Simon Kuper | Financial Times | 08 February 2013

The Browser — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:36:14 +0000

It's not that the game has got worse. But when you can watch six live matches on television every weekend, you start to realise: most football is boring. Even for the players, it's just a well-paid job. Most of the supposed excitement is manufactured by media coverage. "I’ve got too close to the adored object and seen what it's really like"

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Football: The Kotaku Review | Tim Rogers | Kotaku | 01 February 2013

The Browser — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:05:31 +0000

American football explained in the language of role-playing video games. "Football has been in open beta for 144 years. The original goal of the developers was to create a game that roped together more than five centuries of rugby history into a more spectator-friendly, strategically deeper game"

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Maria When She Loses | Brian Phiips | Grantland | 24 January 2013

The Browser — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:01:36 +0000

On the physical beauty of sports stars. "Sharapova brings the plane of sports almost as close to the plane of pure culture as Beckham does. She has the same gift for taking our fantasies about the sexuality of famous athletes and nudging them toward something else, something glamorous or witty, so that we can indulge them without being too overt"

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