Sports Perspectives

Slowed and sidelined, some athletes struggle to return from 'long haul' COVID

In a June, 2019 photo, Lynx guard Danielle Robinson drives past New York's Asia Durr during a WNBA game in White Plains, N.Y. "People always ask me, 'Which one is worse, having COVID or dealing with the post COVID?' says Durr, who was diagnosed with the disease in June, 2020. "And I'm like, 'Man, I can't pick one,' because some days, it feels about the same. That's how brutal it gets."<br>Frank Franklin II/Star Tribune/T

For most, COVID-19 is a disease that involves a few weeks of discomfort or, for the sick or elderly, leads to hospitalization or death. But at just 22, Justin Foster is a "long hauler," or a sufferer of "long COVID," one of a small but significant number of COVID-19 patients from whom the virus has refused to retreat.

Signs on the side of Lucas Oil Stadium promote the NCAA March Madness tournament on Thursday, March 4, 2021, in Indianapolis, Ind.<br>Jenna Watson/IndyStar

PERSPECTIVE

March Madness usually soothes our worries, but this NCAA tournament collides with them

The return of the NCAA men's basketball tournament is welcome and a symbolic nudge toward the life we once knew. Just don't expect it to be the sport's typical elixir.

In this 1971 file photo, Joe Frazier heads for a neutral corner, as a dazed Muhammad Ali struggles to stand during their heavyweight championship in New York City.<br>Elwood P. Smith/Philadelphia Daily News

PERSPECTIVE

Looking back at Ali vs. Frazier, 50 years after 'The Fight of the Century'

Into a boxing ring in Madison Square Garden stepped two men who had never lost a fight, had no intention of losing one that night, and who had story lines that played into the anger and divisions of a time of war in Vietnam and a Richard Nixon presidency.

Vincent Jackson leaves the field after a Monday Night Football victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in 2015 at Raymond James Stadium.<br>Jim Damaske/TAMPA BAY TIMES

PERSPECTIVE

Vincent Jackson’s friends are haunted by questions about his unexpected death

As they await an official cause of death, friends of former NFL star Vincent Jackson are struggling with more questions than answers.

PERSPECTIVE

MLB is deadening baseballs to liven up the game; pitchers and managers approve

Many think the preponderance of baseball's three true outcomes — the home run, the walk and the strikeout — is harming the sport.

Curt Schilling talks with future Red Sox manager Alex Cora when the two were teammates in 2006.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

PERSPECTIVE

Curt Schilling begged off the Hall of Fame ballot, but voters said that's not up to him

The Baseball Writers Association of America has urged its board officials to deny Curt Schilling's request that he be left off the ballot next year in voting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The New National Stadium, the main venue for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, in Tokyo on Sept. 29, 2020.<br>Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

PERSPECTIVE

As rumors swirl, these five factors will decide the fate of the Tokyo Olympics

As the global resurgence in covid-19 cases reignites debate over whether to hold the Olympics this summer, focus has turned to how the fate of the Tokyo games will be decided, and what they will look like if they go ahead.