Sports and Casinos

From Run Nation to Power Slap: what is leading the dumbing down of sports?

From violent collision contests to celebrity-backed offshoots, spin-off sports are finding captive audiences. Their spectacle masks something more sinister A few weeks ago a clip went viral of a strange new contact sport emerging from the antipodes. Two burly men, one of them holding a football, sprint at each other on a kind of catwalk,

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How Detroit’s New Bad Boys climbed from the NBA’s cellar to rule the East

From a 28-game losing streak to the top of the East, the Pistons have rebuilt themselves the old Detroit way – defense, defiance and a refusal to stay down In Detroit, the black-eyed Susan grows along lonely highways and in vacant lots. It pushes through gravel and broken glass. It survives heat that cracks the

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‘She is our hero’: Oakland celebrates Alysa Liu after Olympics triumph

After earning gold in Milan, local figure-skating icon accepts a key to the city at a celebration of local artists Nearly 5,000 people gathered in Oakland on Thursday afternoon to celebrate local hero Alysa Liu – a fitting homecoming for the two-time Olympic gold medalist who joyously shouted out the Bay Area city after her

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