Articles

Were it not for a string of unlikely events and minor miracles, the world might have never known a basketball legend. Boston Globe Magazine March 1, 2026 By Keith O'Brien In the beginning , the boy didn’t like basketball as much as he seemed to like just being with his brothers. Larry Bird would spill out of his home in West Baden Springs, Indiana, and tumble down the hill with his older brothers, Mike and Mark, to shoot hoops at the small, yellow-brick water plant on the edg

An excerpt from the new biography Heartland reveals why Bird left Indiana University after just a few weeks, and the family that threatened to change his path forever Rolling Stone February 22, 2026 By Keith O'Brien Larry Bird should have been excited about attending Indiana University in the late summer of 1974. The man who had recruited him to come there, Dave Bliss, had been chasing him for more than a year, convinced of Bird’s greatness. Bliss, a young assistant coach at

January 17, 2026 By Keith O'Brien The Atlantic We need to be honest about what we’re witnessing: The Hoosiers aren’t true underdogs. They’re a reflection of our wild and moneyed times, in which college athletes earn millions and barely stay on campus long enough to learn the fight song; wealthy benefactors pay player salaries (how much, exactly? No one knows!); loyalty doesn’t exist; and games are won and lost in the transfer portal—a mystical place where college athletes gat

December 28, 2025 By Keith O'Brien The Atlantic The bowls have been dying a slow death in terms of cultural importance since 1998, when the college-football power brokers instituted the first national-championship game open to teams from every major conference. But the new college football playoff has turned them into consolation prizes, late-season scrimmages with no stakes whatsoever.

February 23, 2025 By Keith O'Brien Rolling Stone Photo illustration by Matthew Cooley. Photograph in illustration by Michael Owens/ MLB Photos/Getty Images Inside Major League Baseball’s years-long journey to the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system — and how it could change the game forever.

February 6, 2024 By Keith O'Brien The Atlantic The ranks of sports reporters are thinning — making it easier for athletes, owners, and leagues to conceal hard truths from the public. Gary Gershoff / Getty, included from The Atlantic A single phone call to a magazine tip line in 1989 brought down baseball's biggest star and changed the sport forever ...

October 24, 2025 By Keith O'Brien The Atlantic Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani / The Atlantic Professional-sports leagues would like you to believe they have the gambling problem under control. They have hired high-tech security companies to monitor wagers at a granular level and implemented sophisticated algorithmic systems to spot unusual gambling activity, ensuring that no athlete would be foolish enough to wager on a game. But they are clearly no match for the highly

August 29, 2025 By Keith O'Brien National Public Radio The bookie at the center of a gambling scandal involving the former interpreter of baseball star Shohei Ohtani is to be sentenced. Matt Bowyer is breaking his silence and speaking freely.

Alamy Stock Photo via New York Times January 28, 2025 By Keith O'Brien The New York Times Almost 125 years after Edmond Dédé’s death, his magnum opus “Morgiane,” perhaps the oldest existing opera by a Black American, is to be staged for the first time.

Septeber 30, 2024 By Keith O'Brien New York Magazine Photo: MLB via New York Magazine In 1973, the NLCS brawl between Pete Rose and Bud Harrelson nearly caused a riot at Shea Stadium. This chaotic moment in baseball history — featuring both players who have since passed away — represents a bygone era of the sport that could never happen again in today's game.

June 18, 2024 By Keith O'Brien The Atlantic Why do professional athletes keep putting their careers in jeopardy just to bet on sports? Illustration by The Atlantic . Source: Getty. They say, “never bet against the house.” But, pro athletes do bet on the house and risk it all to gamble on their own games — and often lose.

October 27, 2023 By Keith O'Brien The Boston Globe Magazine A Watertown father and sons cashed more than 14,000 winning tickets, but something just didn’t add up. Inside the largest lottery scheme in Massachusetts history.

July 21, 2022 By Keith O'Brien National Public Radio National Public Radio Seven legends will finally find their place on Cooperstown’s walls as the Baseball Hall of Fame welcomes a new class.

April 10, 2022 By Keith O'Brien The Washington Post Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis leased this land across the street from Songbird Farm to grow vegetables. Brianna Soukup for The Washington Post A Maine family’s farm, once full of promise, was upended when “forever chemicals” tainted their soil, water, and health. Their story reveals how hidden toxins are reshaping lives across the country.