I have former world-champion disc-golfer, Frisbee pioneer, Carlsbad resident John Kirkland on the phone. Kirkland, 67, says, “I was there at the very beginning and I’m still doing it seven days a week. “When I …

It hasn’t always been about glamor, fame, women, and good works for Donald Sterling, owner and, may I add, benefactor to the Los Angeles Clippers as well as a patron to all people of color …

Finishing with Kate Marden, master falconer and owner of West Coast Falconry, an establishment that provides falconry classes and services. Marden says, “If you have a bird of prey, and you’re not hunting with that …

In the United States, our falconry, we’re not pet keepers, it’s a hunting sport... Kate Marden, master falconer. Marden, 55, owns West Coast Falconry in Marysville, California. Onsite are a Barn Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owl, …

We’re going to spend some time with Kate Marden, master falconer. Marden, 55, owns West Coast Falconry in Marysville, California, and is a partner in West Coast Falconry–San Diego, which can be found in Alpine. …

Great scandals. The world is agog. The world moves on. The world forgets. How many of the following scandals do you remember? Where is Tim Donaghy, the corrupt NBA referee? August 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty …

It’s Gay Week in the NFL. Michael Sam, 24, will be auditioning at the NFL Scouting Combine starting Saturday. As anyone with a TV or internet access knows, Michael Sam is gay. He came out …

We’re talking real money. The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City cost $2 billion to produce. The 2006 edition in Turin, Italy, cost $4.1 billion. Four years later, in Vancouver, the bill was $8 …

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Super Bowl 48 will be played in the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium, which is nestled within the romantic confines of East Rutherford, New …

Remember the three-out-of-four-NFL-wildcard-games-might-be-blacked-out story? Things are changing in the NFL. Which makes sense; my relationship with the NFL has changed several times. Relationship 1. I’m hitchhiking with Gretchen, heading south on Highway 99, somewhere around …

Part four of a four-part story about apartheid-era South Africa. First published in The Monthly, November 1986. Reprinted in the Reader, summer of 1990. In memory of Nelson Mandela.

“The man was an informer.” Riggs and I are sharing daytime fun, a black guy and a white guy driving around black townships, at risk both from South African security forces and enraged blacks who, …

Next morning I begin making the rounds, schedule interviews with a well-known activist who’s teaching at University of Witwatersrand (he has since been detained), with Brendon Berry, president of the National University Student Association, recently …

The best way to become an NFL team owner is by inheriting an NFL team. Second best is by marrying someone who owns an NFL team. Third best is by inheriting a colossal amount of …

May 8, 1986. I am the only passenger on the 30-minute shuttle from Jans Smuts International Airport to Johannesburg’s city center. Joburg’s population is three million plus and its downtown bears an uncanny resemblance to …

The first Flyboard video I saw was a game-changer. There was a man in a wet suit, slowly emerging from the ocean. His head, now shoulders, now torso, grow out of the water. And then …

Found on Mrs. Lambert’s (Nauvoo-Colusa Middle School) Social Studies web page: “The first Thanksgiving was not a feast, but rather a time when Native Americans helped Pilgrims by bringing them food and helping them build …

As of Monday, the World Chess Championship is even. There have been two quick draws. Defending his title is five-time world champion Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand, 43. The challenger is Magnus Carlsen, a 22-year-old Norwegian and …

A friend, who has been a serious chess player, recently emailed me, “I don’t know if you have any interest in covering professional chess, but something pretty epic is happening right now: a Westerner is …

Patrick Daugherty recalls August 1983 and the pick-up baseball game in Alaska that he played in which he could do no wrong.

A look at the Golden Nugget point spreads for pre-season college football, 117 days after the season got under way.

USC becomes another employer who has a hard time being satisfied with the coaching savvy of Lane Kiffin.

The Moscow Black Storm has offered Tim Tebow $1 million to play in two games.

Should footballers trust the NFL brain trust with their brains?

Team Oracle in the America’s Cup Challenge — the U.S. entry in the race — has been accused of cheating.

Now to Labor Day is high season for camping. Collect spouse, kids, dogs, pack up SUV, set course for somewhere in Cleveland National Forest, Palomar Mountain, or the sweat lodges of Anywhere, Imperial County. That’s …

Making a living as a professional athlete is for a very few. Making a good living is for a tiny percentage of the very few. Introducing Zeke Hindle (real name), 27, professional tennis player. Zeke …

Considering the field of competitors for the America’s Cup sailing challenge in the aftermath of a declaration that boats are unsafe because rudders aren’t long enough.

A survey of sports played (and not played) by the left-handed.

Not all San Diego competitors are failures! A rundown of teams that have posted winning seasons.

The NFL of today will not exist in 20 years, says a retired player.

All about Miami Heat basketball player Chris Andersen’s troubles and good luck.

The World Professional Billiard League hits stumbling blocks coming out of the gate.

The latest NCAA Division I baseball rankings have the University of San Diego at number 54 in the nation. Not bad, since there are, depending where you look, 296 or 298 schools in the Division …

America’s Cup is coming up — only the richest and 175th richest to take part in what will be a race of catamarans.

Rundown of bicyclists who’ve been caught doping and the Tour of California bike race.

Wild pigs are coming, and there’s nowhere to hide.

Lawrence Herkimer, the “father of cheerleading.”

Got a bike and a mallet? Saddle up for bike polo.

There’s a run coming up next week. Post time is Friday, April 19, 5:30 a.m., Huntington Beach State Park, read 25 miles down the coast from Long Beach. The race ends Saturday at 8:00 p.m. …

Every year USA Today, CBS Sports, pretty much everybody, publishes team payrolls for each major league baseball club. Those figures are all over the map, espn.go says the bottom three 2013 payrolls are: Oakland A’s, …

Watching the humiliation. There’s 4:49 left with the score, Florida Gulf Coast 70, San Diego 52. You can see the wheels falling off the Aztecs’ bandwagon from here. SDSU came into the tournament regarded as …

Time for our annual NCAA Tournament preview, wherein the Box picks the most improbable team to receive an invitation and gives you, oh Sporting Box regulars, an inside line. This year’s honoree is Liberty University …

"I didn’t see this one coming.” That is the subject line found on an email a friend sent me. Said friend teaches journalism at a private college. The link he provided takes me to fastcompany.com …

Go, simultaneously the most simple and complex game ever.

I have a folder on my internet browser’s bookmarks bar labeled “Sports Pages.” Inside are links to the sports section of every NFL and MLB team’s hometown newspaper. Occasionally, I’ll trawl through the tabloid briar …

Europol has press conference to disclose extensive investigation that revealed widespread soccer-match fixing in the FIFA league.

Interview with journalist Jorge Aranguré, raised binationally, in Tijuana and southern San Diego County.

This column is for degenerate gamblers, a sporting demographic I’ve neglected lately. You can see why. When an internet gambling site runs a half-page, full-color ad in the sports section of a Super Bowl team’s …

They didn’t talk about women while working on the Alaskan pipeline project in the ’70s.