Sports

Jason Brown skates during this year's U.S. Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston. After his free skate was watched more than 3 million times on YouTube, he said, "I don't know how it happened. ... I'm so shocked, beyond shocked. It's so surr

Sports

'Crazy' And 'Surreal': Figure Skater Jason Brown's Road To Sochi

1:17pm January 29, 2014

by Bill Chappell

Weeks after he turned 19, Jason Brown placed second at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with an electrifying performance that became a YouTube sensation. "I'm so blown away and so shocked — beyond shocked. It's so surreal to me," he says.

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Nick Goepper competed in the ski slopestyle qualification for the European Winter X Games last March.

X Games Show The Olympics What The Kids Want

1:17pm January 29, 2014

by Robert Smith

The X Games have changed the lineup and atmosphere of the Winter Olympics with the introduction of snowboarding, half-pipe and now slopestyle. But when a youth-lifestyle, punk-rock sport makes it to the Olympics, some things inevitably change.

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Is There An Economic Benefit To Hosting The Super Bowl?

12:49pm January 29, 2014

by Joel Rose

Towns in New Jersey, where the Super Bowl will be played, were expecting an economic boost from the game. Local officials grumble the biggest share of spending is happening across the Hudson River in New York City. Economists say the total economic impact of the game is close to zero anyway, despite the NFL's claims to the contrary.

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Li Wins Australian Open; Ralph Lauren Overdoes Olympic Cardigan

12:14pm January 25, 2014

The Australian Open is drawing to a close with Li Na of China winning the women's tournament on Saturday. If Rafael Nadal wins on Sunday, he'll be the first man to win all the majors twice in the era of opens. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine joins NPR's Jacki Lyden to talk tennis and weigh in on the U.S. Olympic team's uniforms.

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Sports

In The Super Bowl Ad Game, One Small Business Will Win Big

8:55pm January 24, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

This year, one lucky little company's professionally produced commercial will air during the Super Bowl's third quarter — all free — thanks to a contest held by the software firm Intuit. The four finalists include an organic egg farm and a natural compost supplier. For Intuit, it's a smart way to drum up more business.

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Malaysian shooting athlete Nur Suryani Taibi was eight months pregnant in 2012 as she prepared for the Summer Olympics in London.

A Baby Didn't Bump These Moms Out Of Competition

5:32pm January 24, 2014

by Neda Ulaby

Not that long ago, female elite athletes thought they had to retire if they wanted to have kids. Now, they're competing throughout pregnancies and getting right back to training once they deliver. In some cases, they're even making the most out of sponsorship deals they might have once lost.

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In Ice Skating's Biggest Story, The Media Were Poor Sports

9:51am January 22, 2014

by Frank Deford

Retired Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan will take part in NBC's coverage of the Winter Games in Sochi, and commentator Frank Deford hopes she will get the honor she's due.

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Emily Cook trains in aerials for the Visa Freestyle International in Park City, Utah, last February.

Aerial Skiing Is A Game Of Skill — And Strategy

8:08pm January 21, 2014

by Robert Smith

The Olympic sport is like gymnastics in the air, but in the final few rounds, aerialists can't use the same trick twice. Come go time, they have to figure out which trick to do, based on what their competitors have just done.

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For World Superpowers, The Negotiating Table Often Had A Net

7:44pm January 20, 2014

Melissa Block talks with Nicholas Griffin about his book, Ping-Pong Diplomacy, which explores the importance of the tabletop game in Chinese political history and foreign policy.

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Sports

Countdown To The Super Bowl

11:35am January 18, 2014

Sunday is the Sunday before the Sunday before the Super Bowl, and that means New England takes on Denver and San Francisco goes up against Seattle, to see who's headed to the big game. NPR's Lynn Neary talks to sports correspondent Tom Goldman about the latest news in football.

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