Curio Cabinet / Sporty Curio

According to some fans, it’s a dark day for the Sunshine State. College football fans in Florida are befuddled after the undefeated Florida State University Seminoles were denied a spot in the 2023 College Football Playoffs. For this year, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee chose the Michigan Wolverines, the Washington Huskies, the Texas Longhorns, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Michigan and Washington both had a record of 13-0 in their respective conferences this season, like FSU, while Texas and Alabama were both 12-1 in theirs. That FSU wasn’t picked over Texas or Alabama has been a source of ongoing debate since the committee made their announcement. However, scores aren’t the only thing the committee focuses on. They also considered FSU’s current lineup, which is quite a bit different than it was at the beginning of the season. The committee specifically cited two injuries on the team’s roster. The team’s quarterback, Jordan Travis, suffered a broken leg that ended his season back in November, and his backup, Tate Rodemaker, suffered a concussion soon after, leaving third-stringer Brock Glenn to take his place for their final game against the Louisville Cardinals on December 2. In a statement to ESPN, committee chairman Boo Corrigan explained, "Florida State is a different team than it was the first 11 weeks.” However, Travis went on X, formerly known as Twitter, in support of his team, citing the team’s season record. He said, “I wish my leg broke earlier in the season” so that they could have had the chance to prove their worth without him. At least his supporters believe he has a leg to stand on.

[Image description: A brown football in a grassy field.] Credit & copyright: filterssofly, Pixabay
 

This is one way to tackle the gender barrier. American football has always been male-dominated, but more and more women are playing the sport and its derivative, flag football. Usually, women who join all-male football teams play as kickers, a position that doesn’t throw them into the fray in the gridiron with their male counterparts. However, Haley Van Voorhis made history in September at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, when she joined her teammates as a safety. Women’s flag football is also rising in popularity. In flag football, instead of trying to tackle a ball carrier to end a down, the defensive team removes a flag from the carrier’s body. Currently, there are 15 colleges in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) that offer women’s flag football, though the sport is yet to be recognized by the NCAA. Still, these schools have robust intramural programs and even require students to attend try-outs. Meanwhile, there are 180 high school varsity flag football teams competing in New York, with funding from the state’s own NFL teams: the Bills, Jets, and Giants. Things are looking up on the international level as well. The IOC just announced that flag football will be added as a new event in the 2028 Olympics with men’s and women’s teams, giving the sport a huge boost in visibility and something for many of the young competitors to aspire to in the absence of a professional league. Looks like the gridiron could get a bit more crowded soon.

[Image description: A brown football in a grassy field.] Credit & copyright: filterssofly, Pixabay
 

It was a big day for this class full of big names. This past Monday, the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted seven of the sport’s greatest players into its Class of 2023. Founded in 1943, the Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Canada. It inducted its first class in 1945, and continues to highlight the most influential figures in the sport every year. This year proved to be a big year for goaltenders, with the coveted honor going to three goalies who have proven their mettle on the ice. Among them was Henrik Lundqvist, who played for the New York Rangers for 15 years, finishing his career with a .918 save percentage and 2.43 goals-against average. There was also Mike Vernon, whose career spanned from 1982 to 2002, and is a two-time Stanley Cup champion. The last goalie to be inducted was Tom Barrasso, whose career spanned from 1983 to 2003. He was the first American goalie to reach 300 wins back in 1997. Joining them were Pierre Turgeon, who played 1,294 between 1987 and 2007, Ken Hitchcock, who was a head coach for various teams over 22 seasons, and Caroline Ouellette, who won four consecutive golds in women’s hockey at the Olympics between 2002 and 2014. Finally, there was Pierre Lacroix, an NHL executive who was inducted posthumously and was represented by his wife and grandson. Lacroix will be joining Rob Blake and Ray Bourque, two Hall of Famers he traded for while he was the general manager of the Colorado Avalanche, who went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2001. Wonder if he ever looked at himself with that eye for talent?

[Image description: An empty, red hockey net on ice.] Credit & copyright: Tima Miroshnichenko, Pexels
 

It’s a good day to be a soccer fan in the U.S., which isn’t something many people would have said until recently. CBS Sports has reached a deal with the United Soccer League (USL) for exclusive broadcasting rights to its Champion (Division II) and League One (Division III) games through the 2027 season in what appears to be a major step for the growing franchise and the sport as a whole. 2023 is shaping up to be a busy year for the USL, which was founded in 2010 and had previously been partnered with the MSL for over a decade. The two parted ways this year after the MSL announced their own Division III league to compete with USL’s League One in the same division. As if to start fresh, the USL has also parted with ESPN after eight seasons and sold the broadcasting rights to its 100 annual matches to CBS Sports. However, the MSL still remains the only Division I league in the U.S.
 
Currently, the USL has 23 teams divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, and its wide distribution reflects soccer’s growing popularity in the U.S. There was a time when less than one percent of Americans would have said that soccer was their favorite sport to watch. But attitudes toward the sport have been changing rapidly over the past decade, particularly among young viewers. As of 2022, as much as eight percent of Americans said that soccer was their favorite sport to watch, behind basketball (12 percent) and baseball (11 percent). That’s higher than golf, motorsports, or hockey. Maybe the soccer pitch is the one place where the grass really is greener.

[Image description: A colorful soccer ball on an empty soccer field surrounded by stadium seating.] Credit & copyright: jarmoluk, Pixabay
 

Forget the Ironman Triathlon—get ready for the Florida Man Games! Organizers are seeking participants for this inaugural event, which is set to take place in February 2024, in St. Augustine, Florida. Made famous by the countless sensational headlines that come from the Sunshine State, the term “Florida Man” refers to anyone in Florida who stumbles into chaotic hijinks, usually involving illicit substances and police intervention. Although Florida Man is usually derided as a buffoon, some enterprising individuals have come together to put on a tongue-in-cheek sports competition celebrating the intractable everyman. Events within the Florida Man Games include the “Category 5 Cash Grab,” in which participants will snatch dollars bills out of the air while being subjected to hurricane force winds, “Beer Belly Florida Sumo,” “Weaponized Pool Noodle Mud Duel” and the “Evading Arrest Obstacle Course,” which is exactly what it sounds like. And yes, the organizers claim actual police officers will be doing the chasing. The events will be judged by Dan "Nitro" Cark and Lori "Ice" Fetrick of American Gladiators, a television show from 1989 that had contestants face off against professional athletes in similarly wacky games. While the Florida Man phenomenon has led some to assume that Floridians just have a wild streak, that’s not actually the case. Florida simply has one of the most open public records laws in the U.S., meaning that the media is able to cherry-pick the most ridiculous stories from arrest records. That fact probably won’t stop Florida Man Games revelers from living it up, though.

[Image description: A photo of palm trees from below, against a blue sky.] Credit & copyright: Quangpraha, Pixabay
 

Oof, this isn’t the best way to make a good first impression. Chile is hosting the Pan American Games for the first time in its capital, Santiago, but the going has been rough. Construction material littered venues and thieves snatched T.V. equipment from the Estadio Nacional after the opening ceremony, among other problems. The Pan American Games is an international, multi-sport competition that brings in athletes from up and down the Americas. It takes place every four years in the year before the Summer Olympics, and likewise involves summer sports (although there was one Winter Pan American Games in 1990). It’s one of the largest international athletic competitions in the world, so it’s no surprise that the Chilean government spent $507 million to redevelop parts of the city to host the event.
 
However, the games have been plagued by complaints and roadblocks—literally. Athletes claim to have been stuck in traffic on their way to competition, while construction rubble and equipment were still being removed from venues four days into the competition. Security has been another major issue, with unidentified vehicles being allowed into the Estadio Nacional by event staff while President Gabriel Boric was making a visit. Also, a group of thieves made off with T.V. cameras from the same venue before being caught within a day. At the athletes’ village, Many competitors couldn’t get into their rooms upon arrival because the keys had not been properly marked for specific rooms. Staff was forced to match the keys to the locks one by one. Even when they managed to get inside, some athletes reported that there was no hot water in the showers. Maybe it will help them keep cool under pressure?

[Image description: A soccer ball on grass in an empty stadium.] Credit & copyright: Pixabay, Pexels
 

These athletes know how to throw their weight around. In a sport with very little American or female participation, the U.S. women’s sumo team made history by earning their first medal during the 2023 Sumo World Championships. Represented by Christina Griffin, Madison Guinn, Lizbet Perez, and Kellyann Ball, the U.S. placed third, while Ball also earned another bronze in the women’s heavyweight division. Women’s team gold went to Ukraine and silver to Japan, with Poland placing fourth behind the U.S. That there’s women in sumo may come as a surprise to many sumo fans, as the sport is exclusive to men at the professional level. Sumo is deeply tied to Japanese culture and Shinto traditions, and it even places limits on how many foreigners can be in a sumo “stable,” or training school. Women are expressly forbidden from entering the dohyo (the small clay arena where matches take place) according to Shinto traditions. However, the Sumo World Championship (run by the International Sumo Federation) allows women to compete because it’s an amateur competition and has less stringent rules regarding gender. While even most Japanese people are unaware that there are female sumo wrestlers, there is also a growing collegiate sumo scene in the country, with university clubs allowing women to participate. For now, there’s no way for women to go pro, but that may change as the sport continues to gain traction from both female competitors and the international community. And everyone knows how important gaining traction is in sumo!

[Image description: An 1840s woodcut art piece depicting a match between two sumo wrestlers. Two judges in elaborate robes are nearby.] Credit & copyright: Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865), Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
 

There’s crushing defeat, and then there’s whatever this is. On this day in 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222-0 in the most lopsided football game in collegiate history. John Heisman (yes, as in the Heisman Trophy) was at the coaching helm during the pigskin pummeling, leading Georgia Tech to score 63 points by the end of the first quarter. With a comfortable lead of 126-0 at halftime, Heisman instructed his players to maintain course, reportedly saying, “You never know what those Cumberland players have up their sleeve. So in the second half, go out and hit ‘em clean and hit ‘em hard. Do not let up.” Whatever they may have had up their sleeves, it certainly wasn’t 126 points. The unusual brutality of the game was rumored to be the result of a vendetta on Heisman’s part. He also coached baseball, and he suspected Cumberland of having previously hired professional players to beat Georgia Tech on the diamond. In all likelihood, though, Cumberland’s palpable defeat had more to do with the fact that it had shuttered its football program during the spring term, and didn’t have much of a team to field. The school probably would have been wise to back out of the game, but due to a contractual obligation it wasn't allowed to. When all was said and done, Cumberland ended up with negative 28 yards and not one first down to Georgia Tech’s 20. How can you not be at least a little bit of a sore loser after that?
 

[Image description: A football by itself on a football field.] Credit & copyright: Jean-Daniel Francoeur, Pexels
 

Football is a team sport, so it’s only natural to work together. The USFL and the XFL, the beleaguered competitors of the NFL, are planning to merge ahead of the 2024 season. Originally founded in 1983, the USFL only lasted a few seasons before shuttering. It returned in 2022 but has been struggling to raise viewership. Likewise, the XFL was founded in 2001 by WWE ringmaster Vince McMahon, though the league has come and gone and come back again since then. The latest iteration has been going on since 2020, but neither the XFL nor the USFL have managed to bring in more than 700,000 average viewers. Assuming that no teams are added or removed, merging the two leagues could bring their combined 16 teams into competition with each other. As for the game itself, it’s not clear which set of rules the newly merged league will adopt, though the USFL has been taking XFL’s lead already in some instances. The USFL’s rules were originally almost identical to those of the NFL, but there are more differences now. The biggest difference is that both the USFL and XFL allow the double forward pass, which can potentially make for a more hectic and fast-paced start to a play. Maybe they’ll put the “X” in exciting.

[Image description: A brown football sits on green grass.] Credit & copyright: OliverCardall, Pixabay
 

It should have been a slam dunk. In what is being called one of the greatest upsets in basketball history, Team USA was defeated by Germany during the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup. Germany then went on to beat Serbia for the gold (82-77), while Team USA was knocked out of contention for a spot on the podium by Canada during the bronze medal match (127-118). It wasn’t for lack of trying, though. Team USA scored 111 points, but a lackluster defense allowed their opponent to close out the contentious bout with 113 points. For American viewers, the news came as a shock, to say the least. After all, the U.S. invented the game of basketball, and Germany has faced off against the U.S. before and never managed to secure a win until now. As Team USA’s coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the loss, “These games are difficult. This is not 1992 anymore. Players are better all over the world, teams are better and it's not easy to win a World Cup or an Olympic game.” It’s a sensible statement, considering that Germany’s national team had several NBA players on it. Even Serbia might have eked out a gold against Germany in the finals had Nikola Jokic decided to take a break between NBA seasons. It seems that the ball isn’t automatically in Team USA’s court anymore.

[Image description: A digital illustration of a basketball striped with the colors of the German flag: black, red, and yellow.] Credit & copyright: BedexpStock, Pixabay
 

There’s plenty of room at the top. Australian Nina Kennedy and American Katie Moon are the best women’s pole vaulters in the world, and they both have gold medals to prove it after deciding to share first place during the recent World Athletics Championships. While competing in Budapest, both athletes managed to clear the 4.90 meter bar, but failed at 4.95 meters in all three attempts. Usually, that would mean engaging in a jump-off to break the tie. Before the jump-off could start, however, event officials gave them the option to accept a tie instead. Given the choice between each of them getting a gold or both of them jumping with cramping, tired legs, the two of them chose to take the gold. At first, Moon wasn’t sure if Kennedy would agree to accept a tie. While Moon was defending her title, Kennedy hadn’t earned one yet. Then the two women looked at each other from across the field. As Kennedy told reporters after the event, “And the relief on her face—and you could see it on my face—and it was mutual. And yeah, absolutely incredible to share a medal with Katie Moon. You know, we’ve been friends for so long, so it’s super special.” Plenty of track and field medals have been shared before. Just a few years ago, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, high jumpers Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar decided to share the gold when they found themselves in a similar circumstance. Now, Kennedy gets her title and Moon gets to keep her place at the top. That’s one way to have your medal and share it too.

[Image description: A digital illustration of a podium with spots labeled, from left to right, “2, 1, and 3.”] Credit & copyright: michaljamro, Pixabay
 

There are some things you can’t just walk off. A new study from the Boston University CTE Center has found that a shocking 40 percent of contact sport athletes who died before the age of 30 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disorder caused by repeated head injuries. The results are based on an examination of 152 brains donated to the BU CTE Center for research purposes. CTE is only present in about one percent of brains donated by the general population, but it appears to be extremely common in athletes who engage in contact sports, especially American football. Symptoms of CTE range from severe cognitive decline and declining motor functions to impulsiveness, aggression and other mood disorders like depression. Through interviews with surviving family members, researchers corroborated that the donors with CTE showed these symptoms while they were still alive.
 
CTE has been gaining more attention over the years due to its association with sports, but it’s still not fully understood. In particular, it’s unclear why some athletes develop CTE while others don’t, and more puzzling is the fact that many athletes seem to show symptoms associated with CTE when their brains don’t seem to have physical signs of the disorder. For now, researchers emphasize that as prevalent as CTE appears to be in athletes, repeated head-injuries alone can cause many of the same issues, regardless of any observable changes to the brain structure. Maybe it’s time to keep our heads out of the game.

[Image description: A red-and-gold football helmet sitting in grass.] Credit & copyright: KeithJJ, Pixabay
 

There’s no such thing as a shortcut during a marathon. Scottish ultramarathon star Joasia Zakrzewski has been accused of cheating at the 2023 GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race by traveling for 2.5 miles of the competition in a car. Zakrzewski is an accomplished runner based on her past performance, with a record-setting win back in February at the Taipei Ultramarathon, a grueling 255-mile race that takes place over 48 hours. She has also medaled three times at the IAU World 100km Championships while competing for Great Britain, with one silver and two bronzes. So, her recent alleged cheating came as something of a shock to the ultramarathon community. However, Zakrzewski claims that she only accepted a car ride from a friend because she was feeling too sick and exhausted to finish the race, and was planning to inform officials at the next checkpoint that she’d be dropping out. She claims that those officials encouraged her to finish the race non-competitively. However, when she got to the finish line, she didn’t inform the officials there of her decision. As a result, she was given the third place medal and a trophy, which she didn’t refuse. In fact, her mid-tournament car ride was only discovered when officials reviewed data from Strava, a running and cycling app used by Zakrzewski and others during the race. It revealed that she had “run” 1.6 km in one minute and 40 seconds, which would have made her far faster than even world-record-holder Usain Bolt. When asked to explain her failure to notify officials of her decision to drop out, Zakrzewski blamed exhaustion and jetlag from flying to England from Australia. Whether she meant to cheat or not, that return flight might just be punishment enough.

[Image description: A woman’s feet hover over the ground as she runs.] Credit & copyright: SAM7682, Pixabay. Image is not associated with Joasia Zakrzewski or the GB Ultras Manchester to Liverpool race.