Sports Focus Archives - Reading The Pictures

Chatting the Pictures Video February 12, 2024

Chatting the Pictures: The NFL’s Cold, Hard Collision With Climate Denial

Call it the elephant in the stadium. Inspired by the Super Bowl, we riff on a shattering hit with zero impact.

Notes Photo October 8, 2020

Social Justice in the “Unified” NFL

If the NFL really wants to promote anti-racism, it seems hard to imagine a less emphatic visual statement.

Chatting the Pictures Video February 11, 2018

Chatting the Pictures: Trump Cheerleaders; Super Bowl Body; SpaceX Starman

Hey, we’re back with another news photo chat! Watch RTP's Michael Shaw and Cara Finnegan riff for 20 minutes or so about three headline photos.

Notes Photo September 26, 2017

Stirring NFL Protest Optics: Unity to What End?

As encouraging as the explosion of protest in the NFL may be, let us not lose focus on the purpose of such protest in the first place.

Notes Photo September 15, 2016

What’s Already Incredible about the African-American History Museum

From John Carlos and TommySmith to Colin Kaepernick, the dynamic of this museum is already poignant to observe.

Notes Photo August 14, 2016

The Art and Technology of this Year’s Olympic Photographs

Looking at this year's Olympic photos, it's impossible not to take awe at the creativity and imagination of the news photography.

Notes Photo August 8, 2016

Let the Games Begin! Our Rio2016 Opening Roundup

These are some of the images that caught our eye in the first few days of the Olympic games. We're hoping to be as playful and positive (or satirical, at least) as we can.

Notes Photo September 14, 2015

Past the Reminders: The Life-Threatening NFL

We’re way past the point where an image like this simply serves as a reminder of the problem.

Notes Photo April 30, 2015

There's the Pennant Race, and Then There's Just Race: On the Pics from the Empty Orioles Game

Is it significant, then, in a city that is 63% black, that the photos of fans just beyond the gates aren't all that racially balanced?

Notes Photo April 10, 2015

Selfie of the Week — Crossing the Starting Line First

To the extent the selfie is equated with self-absorption, this one goes the extra mile.

Notes Photo April 5, 2015

Indiana's March Madness

This odd notion that we can bracket our politics from the wide world of sports is getting harder and harder to embrace.

Notes Photo March 1, 2015

An "Eye Flying" Photo: News Pics Playing With Perception

If most people who saw this in various "photo of the week" galleries simply thought, "that’s cool," I think there’s more to it than that.

Notes Photo February 14, 2015

Picture of the Year (Sports Feature): What is it About Men and their Balls?

It could have landed on his shoe. It could have bounced and landed on that other guy's straw hat. But, it didn't.

Notes Photo February 3, 2015

What War, Terror, Racial Tension, Climate Change? The Anxiety Underneath This Year's Kinder, Gentler Super Bowl Ads

I'm wonder how much of the softer, lighter, funnier and friendlier focus of many of these ads was actually a reflex to buffer the consuming public from the social tension and political anxiety that has formed an almost steady drumbeat since last November.

Notes Photo February 1, 2015

The Excess of Super Bowl Weekend Summed Up in One Picture — from Friday's Wing Bowl

If you want an image that encapsulates a cultural milieu that enables the commercial success of Sunday's big game, skip the sports page and take a look at these photos from the Super Bowl's lesser-known, but just-as-indulgent cousin.