A trivia question for you: Who today is the leading jockey who was born in the U.S.?
The answer is Rosie Napravnik. Yes, of all our American jockeys, the one with the best record is a woman.
Napravnik's mounts have earned more than $11 million this year, and none of the seven jocks who have earned more began life in this country. So, even in a dangerously athletic job like race-riding, a woman can sometimes compete straight up with men.
First-person shooter games have become more cinematic and aesthetically pleasing over the years and dominate the video game industry. Stephen Totilo, editor in chief of online video game publication Kotaku, explains the appeal of point-and-shoot games.
Manti T'eo #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish waves to the crowd as he leaves the home field for the last time after a 38-0 win against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
There were a lot of empty seats at Sunday's Kansas City Chiefs game (which the team lost, to Cincinnati, 28-6). And some fans showed their unhappiness by wearing bags over their heads. "Sam" Lickteig wasn't happy with the Chiefs' play either, his family says.
And in Austin, Texas, after a five-year absence, Formula One racing returned to the U.S. A Formula One track called the Circuit of the Americas, was inaugurated over the weekend in a race won by Lewis Hamilton. Formula One is immensely popular in Europe and much of the world, but it's failed to win a big audience in the U.S., dwarfed by the homegrown culture of NASCAR and the Indy circuit.
It's been 24 years since Notre Dame won college football's national championships. But after a wild weekend of upsets, the Fighting Irish are the number one team in the country, following the release last night of the BCS standings. And the powerful Southeastern Conference, which appeared out of the running, is suddenly back in the picture, with several teams right behind Notre Dame in the rankings.
NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman is here. Tom, good morning.
Originally published on Sun November 18, 2012 8:03 am
College football bowl season is just around the corner, and with it comes the seemingly perennial controversy around the bowl game selection process. Rachel Martin and NPR's Mike Pesca discuss the vagaries of the Bowl Championship Series ranking system, and why you can't just blame it on computers.
The 1968 film Heidi, starring Jennifer Edwards, was based on a best-selling children's book about an 8-year-old Swiss orphan.
Credit AP
"The Heidi Game": New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath sweeps around the right side past Oakland defenders Ralph Oliver and Dan Conners to score from the one-yard line during the second quarter against the Oakland Raiders in Oakland on Nov. 17, 1968.
Forty-four years ago, a little girl changed the world of sports in an incident known today as "The Heidi Game."
That day — Nov. 17, 1968 — is when the modern age of football began, Dave Zirin, the sports editor for The Nation magazine, says.
The New York Jets were up against the Oakland Raiders. At the time they were two of the best teams in the American Football League, just before it merged with the National Football League.
