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 …
May 14, 2014
Back to profile
Stories by Patrick Daugherty (RIP)
Fling that Frisbee — there's hundreds in it for you!
I support them and give them food...
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 …
April 30, 2014
The Falconer: Part 3
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 …
April 16, 2014
The Falconer: Part 2
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, …
April 2, 2014
The Falconer: Part 1
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. …
March 19, 2014
Sports scandal aftermath
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 …
March 5, 2014
It’s about the locker room?
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 …
February 19, 2014
NBC and Facebook won’t skimp on the Winter Olympics
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 …
February 5, 2014
Wretched excess XLVIII
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 …
January 22, 2014
The NFL ought to worry about TiVo
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 …
January 8, 2014
Holiday in South Africa, part 4
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.
January 8, 2014
Holiday in South Africa, part 3
“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, …
December 30, 2013
Holiday in South Africa, part 2
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 …
December 25, 2013
The NFL — get this — is a nonprofit trade association
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 …
December 25, 2013
Holiday in South Africa: Johannesburg in 1986, revisited
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 …
December 18, 2013
Not too late to stake your claim in Flyboarding
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 …
December 11, 2013
Two Thanksgiving POVs
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 …
November 27, 2013
Rumble at the Hyatt, part 2
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 …
November 13, 2013
Rumble at the Hyatt
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 …
October 30, 2013
That one time...
Patrick Daugherty recalls August 1983 and the pick-up baseball game in Alaska that he played in which he could do no wrong.
October 23, 2013
Future-future-future bets
A look at the Golden Nugget point spreads for pre-season college football, 117 days after the season got under way.
October 16, 2013
The firing of Lane Kiffin
USC becomes another employer who has a hard time being satisfied with the coaching savvy of Lane Kiffin.
October 2, 2013
Tim Tebow's career decision
The Moscow Black Storm has offered Tim Tebow $1 million to play in two games.
September 18, 2013
The NFL’s paltry concussion settlement
Should footballers trust the NFL brain trust with their brains?
September 4, 2013
As the America's Cup turns
Team Oracle in the America’s Cup Challenge — the U.S. entry in the race — has been accused of cheating.
August 21, 2013
Glamping: Where the rich folk camp
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 …
August 7, 2013
Zeke Hindle is not quite a tennis bum. Close, though
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 …
July 24, 2013
The sinking of America’s Cup
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.
July 10, 2013
San Diego national champions
Not all San Diego competitors are failures! A rundown of teams that have posted winning seasons.
June 26, 2013
Annual state of the NFL report
The NFL of today will not exist in 20 years, says a retired player.
June 19, 2013
Can’t keep the Birdman down
All about Miami Heat basketball player Chris Andersen’s troubles and good luck.
June 12, 2013
What’s your favorite professional billiards team?
The World Professional Billiard League hits stumbling blocks coming out of the gate.
June 5, 2013
NCAA baseball is a pig
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 …
May 29, 2013
Battle of the riches on San Francisco Bay
America’s Cup is coming up — only the richest and 175th richest to take part in what will be a race of catamarans.
May 22, 2013
8 days. 750 miles.
Rundown of bicyclists who’ve been caught doping and the Tour of California bike race.
May 8, 2013
We run the night
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. …
April 10, 2013
Team payrolls on parade
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, …
April 3, 2013
West coast college basketball is a bust
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 …
March 27, 2013
March madness edition
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 …
March 20, 2013
Drones as instant replay solution
"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 …
March 6, 2013
Go pros play chess to relax
Go, simultaneously the most simple and complex game ever.
February 27, 2013
National sports news trawl
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 …
February 20, 2013
Soccer crime syndicate doesn't pay...well
Europol has press conference to disclose extensive investigation that revealed widespread soccer-match fixing in the FIFA league.
February 13, 2013
Jorge’s Xolos
Interview with journalist Jorge Aranguré, raised binationally, in Tijuana and southern San Diego County.
February 6, 2013
Betting on the Super Bowl has little to do with the game
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 …
January 30, 2013
In other news...
They didn’t talk about women while working on the Alaskan pipeline project in the ’70s.
January 23, 2013