Author: Don Yaeger

I was getting ready to go to Tampa yesterday when my phone started buzzing. I ignored it for a while in order to get my shirts packed the way I like them, but the thing just kept buzzing. And buzzing. And buzzing. Finally, I picked it up. Several different people had texted, all saying similar things. Kobe. Did you hear? Oh my God. Kobe.

Like nearly 26 million other people, I sat down on my couch Monday night to take in the College Football Playoff National Championship game between the LSU and Clemson. What I witnessed was quarterback Joe Burrow putting on one of the clearest displays of Greatness I’ve ever seen. And it happened after the game was over.

The most influential man at Clemson University is only 50 years old. His aw-shucks Southern charm makes him seem approachable and affable—and he is—but it masks something greater: a vision for Clemson that far exceeds what anyone else can see. It’s that vision that has allowed Dabo Swinney and his Tigers to line up across from the LSU Tigers tonight, playing for Clemson’s third national title in five years. Swinney...

After 20 seasons, six Super Bowl rings, scores of NFL quarterbacking records, and an ever-increasing grip on the title of GOAT (Greatest of All-Time), you’d think Tom Brady might enter his offseason with a bit of introspection. With all his accomplishments, now might be the time to consider what’s next, given how he’s conquered his profession in ways that few have. So after the Patriots first-round exit from the NFL...

The start of the year always brings with it a few rituals. There’s the annual performance review at work. There’s the celebration at midnight on New Year’s Eve. There’s New Year’s Day, and the setting of resolutions. Then there’s the breaking of most of those resolutions by Jan. 2.

Last week, I read a fascinating article on the art of observation which detailed the story of a seminar in Germany where forty people in an auditorium witnessed a staged event—part of a scientific study—and then submitted staggeringly different accounts of the event only minutes later. Of the forty people, only one person turned in an account that had fewer than 20 percent errors. Twenty-five people had more than...

I spent part of a Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago in an Atlanta airport watching the hometown NFL team take a beating in their magnificent stadium. The Falcons fell to the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 35-22. Then, on Thanksgiving night, I watched the Falcons gak away another home game to the New Orleans Saints, 26-18. After watching both games, I couldn’t help but wonder: How did they fall so far so fast?

Next weekend, we’re going to hear some rather strange game titles in the news. Iron Bowl. Egg Bowl. Palmetto Bowl. Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. The Game.

Going into this weekends’ biggest college football game, I asked my friends who they were taking: the LSU Tigers or the Alabama Crimson Tide? While the margin was closer than I expected, most people were like me. When it comes to big games, you take Nick Saban and the Tide to roll, baby. Alabama had won eight straight in the series and this game was in Tuscaloosa.