Daniel J. Flynn

Andy Warhol envisioned everyone getting their 15 Minutes of Fame in the future. George Orwell imagined everyone taking part in the Two Minutes Hate.

Fox News covered politics as a competition in 2016. Viewers rewarded the network with the highest ratings on cable television. ESPN depicted competition as politics in 2016. Viewers punished them by ditching their subscriptions.

If the gulag, forced starvation, and show trials soured you on the Soviet Union, then the atheist superstate vanishing Christmas from its calendars—like airbrushing a fallen commissar from Stalin’s side—likely added to your distaste. Nobody likes a Grinch, especially a jack-booted one stepping out of the pages of Dr. Zhivago and onto some Russian kid’s Christmas present.

A hall of fame is about as rock ’n’ roll as Wilford Brimley.

A Maine propane dealer informed Donald Trump supporters to bring their business elsewhere.

Merriam-Webster named “surreal” its word of the year.

Barack Obama started his journey to the White House with onlookers fainting upon the sound of his voice. He ends it with a press conference swan song that witnessed a reporter swoon.

Yasmin Seweid disappeared. Then her story did.

If only the Russians stuck to stealing American atomic secrets instead of spilling Hillary Clinton’s campaign secrets, they might still find favor with elements within the Democratic Party.

The New York Times just hired to cover the Trump White House the Politico reporter busted by WikiLeaks for allowing Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta to vet an article about the candidate.

In the wake of Texas firing Charlie Strong, a disciplinarian—as his surname suggests—who coached young men the right way but ended up on the wrong end on too many scoreboards, Bleacher Report asked more than 30 current former and current FBS coaches about whether coaches can succeed without cheating. “The overwhelming answer: Probably not. At least not right away.”

In the city where H.L. Mencken got arrested for selling a magazine and a captain landed in jail for “lewd” behavior because he kissed his wife upon his return from sea, Yale undergraduates evaded arrest and inspired their football team by publicly disrobing in a chilly Harvard Stadium.

The mystery of Hillary Clinton, milk-carton missing on election night, appears solved.

Mike Evans, the split end who sat down for the national anthem over Donald Trump’s election to the presidency on Sunday, vows to stand for the remainder of the season.

Mike Evans, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver who sat Sunday for the national anthem in protest of Donald Trump winning the presidency, did not vote in the election.

If you want a picture of the elusive “shy Trump voter,” turn on your television this Sunday afternoon. He plays quarterback for the New England Patriots.

Conor McGregor called his shot. He didn’t do so as dramatically as Babe Ruth did in pointing his bat at the 1932 World Series. But in predicting UFC championships in two weight classes he did so as audaciously.

Joe Rogan opened the UFC 205 broadcast by celebrating the triumph over “corruption” that allowed mixed-martial arts (MMA) to finally hold a sanctioned event in the Empire State.

The inaugural UFC card from Madison Square Garden lived up to the hype and added to the history

The stars—Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Odell Beckham, Jr., Hugh Jackman, Madonna, Gordon Ramsay, Zac Efron—descended on the world’s most famous arena to watch the biggest star in mixed-martial arts become the first man in UFC history to simultaneously wear belts in two weight classes.

Conor McGregor elicits the moniker “the Muhammad Ali of mixed-martial arts.” His opponent Saturday night more obviously resembles Joe Frazier.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell chalked up the league’s precipitous ratings decline to “cyclical” factors at a talk on Thursday.

You could almost hear the distant din of the funeral-home Wurlitzer.

The Cubs parade through downtown Chicago Friday morning. A famous figure from the team’s past sends his regrets (he has a few).

David Ross exited a baseball field the way every boy dreams and few middle-aged men experience.

The ghosts of Game Six haunted the Chicago Cubs in Game Seven. But the Cubs ultimately performed a self-exorcism that won the World Series and saved Maddon the Goat from replacing Murphy the Goat in North Side lore.

The gridiron’s loss is the national pastime’s gain.

Corey Kluber struck out eight batters in the first three innings of the World Series. Using a fastball, slider, and a nasty cutter, the Cleveland Indians ace made history to start Game One of the Fall Classic. No pitcher had ever struck out eight through three in any postseason game in Major League Baseball prior to Kluber.

Arian Foster took a knee on the sidelines. Now he can take a seat on his couch.

Vegas sees the Golden State Warriors as the favorite against the field to win the NBA championship.