National Basketball Association

Beer Geeks Brave Long, Cold Wait for Perennial Artisan Ales's Barrel-Aged Abraxas

The first hardy soul arrived around 6 a.m. Thursday morning. Dressed against the frigid weather in a black North Face jacket and a black watch cap emblazoned with the Los Angeles Lakers logo, the man who would introduce himself to Gut Check simply as Doug positioned himself outside the entrance of P ... More >>

The Five Best Halloween Parties in St. Louis

Last minute, very important update! It's here! Happy day, everyone. And ho buddy do we have just the celebratory update to this here official RFT recommended Halloween show list: A bunch of punks and rock & rollers are going to do cover sets on the second floor of 2720 Cherokee. To wit, from the Fac ... More >>

The 10 Best Halloween Parties in St. Louis

That most excellent of holidays -- the one where we get to dress up in goofy costumes, the one where it's considered par for the course to vandalize your neighbors' houses, the one where strangers give children candy and everyone is cool with it -- HALLOWEEN is nigh! Skeleton decorations blanket the ... More >>

The 10 Dumbest "Sports" of the Summer Olympics

This week thousands of international athletes will descend upon London to compete in 2012 Summer Olympic games. Some of the dozens of contests that make up the games are as old as ancient Greece; others are relative newcomers; and others are so incredibly inane that the International Olympic Committ ... More >>

Bonnaroo 2012: Highlights from A to Z

The team: six 40-year-old men, leaving behind six fairly respectable jobs, five wives and 14.9 children for four days. The tools: a 32-foot RV, VIP tickets, comfortable shoes and enough beer to take down a small fraternity. The task: to do and see as much as physically and logistically possible at ... More >>

Ain't the Big Dance for Nothing: Big names, big programs and big men dominate the Final Four

Stan Kroenke May Win the Dodgers Bidding War Tomorrow

​Major League Baseball's owners are expected to hold a phone-in vote tomorrow to determine which of the three remaining suitors for the Los Angeles Dodgers will earn the right to fork over an estimated $1.5 billion for the team, and the right to join the exclusive owners' club. Owners get snazzy b ... More >>

Knock It Out the Park Like Albert Pujols: Top 25 Wale Sports References

​Wale is Grandmaster of the sports reference. No musical artist brings as much wit, depth and knowledge to the craft. For instance, in the recently released ode to the former St. Louis baseball hero, "Albert Pujols," Wale slangs this gem: "John Rocker, Atlanta Bravest knows that I'm awesome/ Bett ... More >>

How the Rams "Snookered" St. Louis: Details of the "Most Scandalous" Stadium Deal in History

The Rams could leave the Edward Jones Dome if the stadium isn't a top-tier facility come 2015.​Neil Demause, author of the book Field of Schemes, penned an article last week on his favorite subject: stadium-financing. The story, which originally ran in The Nation and was re-purposed on NPR, begins ... More >>

AceDeuce makes DIY beats for local legends after school

The Ten Best Moments of the 2011 Grammy Awards

​Miss the Grammys telecast? Couldn't care less about the awards? Either way, A to Z watched the entire show - and even some of the pre-show -- so you didn't have to. Here are ten highlights from the night. Mavis Staples winning her first Grammy If you weren't watching the pre-show telecast, y ... More >>

Double D Lounge's Tanner Scott: Featured Bartender of the Week

Welcome to Girl Walks into a Bar, a weekly Gut Check feature that spotlights local bars and bartenders. This week Alissa Nelson profiles Double D Lounge bartender Tanner Scott. Below is a Q&A with Scott, followed by a video of him mixing a Creamsicle cocktail. Alissa NelsonJell-O shots, anyone? Jel ... More >>

Cards Fans Rank as Nation's Tenth Best? WTF?

image viaThis kind of devotion is only worth a number 10 ranking?​It had to happen. They've already ranked everything else (and by "they" we mean The Media), so why not sports fans? Is it really possible to give an objective rating to a city's sports fans? Can you say that the citizens of one ... More >>

Shelbina, MO, Eighth Grader Reaches National Spelling Bee Semifinals [Updated]

Image sourcePlatz, spelling. Speller 134 has reason to look so pissy; she made the semifinals and he did not.​Updated June 7: For those of you who missed the Spelling Bee finals (and you are absolved; the Stanley Cup Finals are providing some fabulous entertainment this year): Platz tied for s ... More >>

Just Wright is just wrong

Report: Stan Kroenke Wants His Wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, to Own Rams

The new face of the St. Louis Rams?​The minority owner of the St. Louis Rams, Stan Kroenke, has reportedly asked the NFL if his wife could purchase the team outright. The move would circumnavigate league rules that prevent Kroenke (owner of 40 percent of the Rams) from being the full owner of a fo ... More >>

Mustache War! Stan Kroenke vs. Shahid Khan. Whose is Better?

Stan Kroenke boasts that There Will Be Blood 'stache suggesting a shrewd business tycoon who you do not want to fuck over -- if you know what's good for you. Khan, meanwhile, sports a dashing, almost regal, mustache suggesting a fun-loving man who knows how play and work hard.​If you haven't heard ... More >>

Milton Bradley: The Kanye West of the Baseball World

​In news which should come as no shock to anyone who's been paying even minimal attention, Milton Bradley is shooting his mouth off again. Already having been ejected from two spring training games, Bradley recently compared himself to a couple of other prominent troublemakers in various ... More >>

Sweet! The Sixteen Best Player Names in the 2010 NCAA Tournament

​Let the Madness begin! Mizzou is dancing (despite their stumble in the Big 12 tournament) but unfortunately the slipper did not fit for the SLU Billikens, who were pummeled by Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 tournament and left out of even the lowly NIT, where they could have faced an Illinois te ... More >>

Photos: Shaquille O'Neal, Albert Pujols at the Four Seasons

Photo: Nick LucchesiThe entire press conference was filmed to be included in the television series.​To hype his upcoming reality show Shaq VS., Shaquille O'Neal, the 17-year NBA icon, mixed friendly smack-talk and humble sentiments at the opportunity to face Albert Pujols in a home run derby Thurs ... More >>

Canada's New Hockey Soundtrack

So I was looking around yesterday at all the teams still left in the NHL playoffs, and I have to admit to being more than a little shocked when I realized that there isn't a single Canadian team left in the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup. In fact, not only was I shocked by the absence, I was pretty di ... More >>

Did Darius Miles' Outrageous Ride Lead to Pot Bust?

Professional basketball player and the pride of the East Side, Darius Miles is free on bond today after police in Fairview Heights found marijuana in his 1996 Chevrolet Impala. The 27-year-old Miles was alone in his vehicle last night when he was pulled over for allegedly failing to use a turn signa ... More >>

Missouri Takes the Other Tigers by the Tail

Holy shit. Did that really happen? Of all the possibly outcomes of Missouri's game against Memphis last night, that was one that I never, ever envisioned. Here were two teams, both known for being remarkably tenacious on defense, both running press defenses for all 40 minutes, every single nigh ... More >>

The Rebirth of Mizzou Basketball

I hate the NBA pretty much unequivocally, and the college game is only marginally better.While it can certainly be a beautiful game at its best, when the execution is just right, most of the time modern basketball consists of a hulking giant who would be under investigation for massive steroid use i ... More >>

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" Scores Big in Midwest; We Just Can't Figure Out Why

On slow news days, Unreal enjoys making lists of all the current movies we'd like to go and see, if only we had the time. These lists tend to be brief, for two reasons. The first: Unreal was born lacking the major motion picture enjoying gene, despite the fact that this gene is so common among human ... More >>

Embattled Mizzou Player Turns to MC Hammer: Can't Touch This

Wednesday I wrote about the strange case of Mizzou freshman guard Miguel Paul and his supposed relationship to Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Miguel has claimed that he and Chris are cousins and that his older relative (and NBA All-Star) visited him a few years back after a high-school ... More >>

SLU Beats UMass, Realizes It Has Experienced Players

There's been much ado in the land of SLU about the youth of the Billikens. When the season started, there were seven true freshmen on the roster and, thus far, freshman have played about half of the team's minutes. With an average player age of just older than 19 years old, they are the fourth young ... More >>

Putting the "fan" in "fanatic": The Mexican weighs in on etiquette at sports events

Unreal cooks like a college dude, checks in with the worst player in the NBA draft and solicits advice on behalf of a local blogger

Coming, Going, Barking

More openings and closings — and Ian's a cat person, dammit!

With Anthony Bonner at the helm, it's a whole new ballgame for Vashon basketball

Yo! RFT Raps

Week of January 18, 2007

It's a Sin!

Starr-gazing

Get ready for the summer of Ruka Puff

Bet on Black

Glory Road relives the season college hoops smashed the color barrier

Week of December 22, 2005

Little Misses

Introducing the best movies of 2005 you probably didn't see

Bench the Billiken

Unreal seeks divine inspiration at the Pulpit Masters audition and laments the pending prohibition of the SLU Billiken. Plus, our newest feature: Somebody Buy my Crap!

Film Openings

Week of July 20, 2005

Best Local Sports Encyclopedia

Earl Austin Jr.

Gateway to Fun

This Classic Weekend has it all -- even LL Cool J!

Rebel Yell

The bold history of David Allan Coe; plus, we talk with the Walkmen and compare Lunatic spending

One-Track Mind

On top of old Fairmount: Collinsville's humble racecourse is home to one of the nation's winningest Thoroughbred owners

The Worm

The truth about SheBron: There isn't any.

Import Duty

A former pro basketball player from Israel has to be bigger, stronger and faster for the American college game

Madcap Noir

Scorpion is fun if familiar, one of Allen's typical Manhattan riffs

BREAD, CIRCUSES AND THE BLUES

The local NHL team wants to put the city's amusement tax on ice

Letters to the Editor

Short Cuts

Net Return