United States
Cory Gunkel is a writer and communications professional based in Washington, D.C. His work has been featured in the New York Daily News, St. Louis-Post Dispatch, and Baltimore Sun, among other publications. Gunkel has covered everything from city council meetings to the New England Patriots' White House visit, and won first place in the features division of the Mississippi Press Association Awards.
There’s a place in Vicksburg where it’s always Christmas. Wreaths are permanently draped from the elegantly lit buildings that line the sidewalks. Santa and his band of reindeer are frozen in time on a black rooftop. A Christmas tree adorned with bright ornaments sits in the middle of town. It’s a cheerful aura of constant delight, and it just so happens to be in the model train room of an undertaker's house.
The last earnest man on the internet makes sandwiches. Barry Enderwick doesn't look like your archetypal social media star at first glance, and things don't appear much different upon a second, either. Enderwick more resembles comedian Brian Posehn's younger brother than an influential microcelebrity, and his algorithmically identical videos belie the stark contrast he provides people's timelines.
It’s no coincidence that the owners, each worth more than the gross domestic product of entire countries, toss their heads back in uproarious laughter as fans spit fiery rage at the baseball players they worship when times are good. We simply let them do it, because our interests, but not our pocketbooks, are aligned with theirs.
Have you ever wanted to smoke a whole pig inside a stadium while heckling a rival player so close to you that he can hear every word of your booze-filled screed? Maybe you’re looking for some amateur sports entertainment that is somehow more action-packed and compelling than its professional version, one whose cheap tickets and gorgeous, sui generis backdrops make for an outing that can be an electrifying party or a serene family trip, depending simply on where you sit. Maybe you just like to...
Bailey Bishop got the nickname “Chance” because, as the youngest sibling, he was his mother’s last chance at having a girl. But these days, the nickname means a lot more.
Nothing quite captures the spirit of what we want America to be more than the U.S. Postal Service. On a more personal level, the Postal Service supplies working class Americans with the ability to send Christmas cards to their grandmothers and receive lifesaving medication from their doctors for cheaper than the businesses that directly compete against it.
While most incoming college freshmen switched around class times on their schedule, Kyle Alexander switched countries. The Canadian center chose Tennessee as his college destination, spurning finalist New Mexico to play for Rick Barnes and his staff in Knoxville. And aside from the weather and portion sizes at dinner, Alexander hasn’t experienced too difficult a transition.
My first love in life was Kelly Kapowski. My second love was college football. I've seen Neyland Stadium shake as "Rocky Top" hits its catchy crescendo, and I've sat inside the cavernous Superdome for an old Conference USA tilt in which opposing fans outnumbered those of the hometown Tulane University team. But now it seems dead.
Let's clear the air about the Washington Nationals and their relationship to the once-dreaded D.C. sports curse by asking Nats fans about what the know best: themselves.