OTL: The Worst Year Ever

Think the last 12 months were rough? It could be worse. You could be a sports fan in Seattle.

Fists of Phiri

Esther Phiri fought her way out of the slums to become Zambia's most famous athlete and a symbol of female empowerment.

E-ticket: Dice-K 2.0

Your team might spend $75 million just to talk to him. Is 21-year-old Japanese phenom Yu Darvish worth it?

Far from damning and shunning the West, Dubai would very much like you to visit and watch a horse race, golf 18 holes, play some tennis or even ski. Rather than fight over religious beliefs, Dubai is betting its future on the new world religion of sports.

By playing in Russia, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi earn big money and the kind of pampering expected by Shaq or D-Wade. But there's a larger price to be paid that could affect the future of the WNBA.

From Capitol Hill to spring training, from eggheads to good ol' boys, all of America is obsessed with NCAA brackets.

ESPN.com's Jim Caple and 5,000 other maniacs ran England's lethal Tough Guy course and actually survived … for the most part.

At Play In A Land of Death

A generation lost to AIDS. An unemployment rate of 50 percent. A life expectancy of 37. Thousands of children orphaned. So, why are the kids of Zambia chasing a ball and smiling?

The Art of Being Ichiro

We want to think of Ichiro as an enigma. We want to think of him as we do "Area 51," the grassy lawn he patrols in right field -- mysterious and alien. But roll down those smoked windows and remove those sunglasses for a different perspective.

Diamond Recall

With the remake of "Bad News Bears" opening in theaters this weekend, E-ticket experienced flashbacks to our glory days in youth baseball. It wasn't only the games and stats that came flooding back, but the crazy coaches, wild teammates and nutty parents.