As we move from 2008 into 2009, many people find themselves looking forward. Commentator Bill Littlefield, on the other hand, looks backward and thinks about what might have been.

Each year the Only A Game staff waits patiently for our copy of The Best American Sports Writing.  This year was no exception, especially after learning that writer William Nack would be guest editor.  Bill Littlefield reviews The Best American Sports Writing, 2008.

The Portland Trailblazers are having a great season.  Their arena is full and they’re poised to make the playoffs for the first time since 2003.  Only A Game’s Sadie Babits recently caught up with the Blazers and their fans, and she brought her camera.

This week on Only A Game, the best stories of 2008!

This week on Only A Game, the Arena Football League punts its 2009 season. Also, the big, bad, Bruins come out of a decades-long hibernation, and rambling holiday revelers bare almost all in sub-freezing temperatures for the ninth annual Santa Speedo Run.

 
Bill Littlefield recently met some of the Boston Bruins’ most loyal season ticket holders and brought back photos for us to enjoy.

 
A mid-December day in downtown Boston with a high temperature in the upper 20’s? No problem! More than 500 intrepid runners braved the cold in their bathing suits and finest holiday accessories for the 9th annual Santa Speedo Run. The fundraiser collected more than $175, 000 for "Cradles to Crayons," a charity that provides [...]

In 2009 women’s professional soccer will try its hand at restarting the enterprise that created soccer stars Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy. Starting in January the new league, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), will fight the economic battle for fans and funds, but as Bill Littlefield comments, everyone loves an underdog.

In his new book, The First Tip-Off, author Charley Rosen describes the creation and fruition of the National Basketball Association as a professional sports league. With colorful characters such as coach Red Auerbach and almost unbelieveable accounts of the league’s conditions (the first teams played on temporary floors above ice hockey arenas) The First Tip-Off is sure to be a [...]

This week on “Only A Game,” Penn State strives for further football glory, a ghost named Grange gallops again across various gridirons, courtesy of his biographer, and we solve all your seasonal gridlock with our annual “Only A Game” gift guide.