Zeros

The NFL Goes to Ireland ( Because Apparently We're Exporting America's Concussion Problem Now) So the NFL went to Ireland this past Sunday. Yeah, Ireland. Land of Guinness, leprechauns, and now the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 at Croke Park in Dublin . First regular-season NFL game ever played in Ireland, and naturally, the Steelers won. Of course they did.  Now look, I'm not saying the Rooneys are running some kind of international goodwill tour to expand the NFL empire across Europe or anything. Okay, yeah, that's exactly what they're doing. But it's the nice kind of empire-building, alright? The kind where you bring football to people who actually call it " American football " because they already got a perfectly good football over there. Which is our soccer . (Which we were supposed to switch to because of all the head injuries.) But instead, we're going the other way. We're bringing the head in...

Science, Sports, and the Myth of the Scorekeeper Mom Some women can rattle off statistics like a seasoned commentator, recalling every goal , touchdown , or three-pointer as though their brain was designed for ESPN highlight reels . And then there are the rest of us—the ones who approach sports the way we approach science experiments: We try our best, we make careful observations, and sometimes the whole thing still feels like a mystery wrapped in a riddle with a whistle blowing in the background. Please, don’t ask me the score of my kid’s intramural scrimmage. I sat there for two solid hours with full attention—well, at least as much attention as a mom can give while also calculating how many dishes are waiting in the sink and wondering what laundry needs done. I watched every minute, I cheered when the crowd cheered, but if you want numbers, you’ll have to consult someone else. It’s not that I wasn’t present. It’s that the details swirl together into a kaleidoscope of ...