Taming the Wave

Sports Illustrated

Surfing always came easy for Caroline Marks. At 22, she already has a world title and is headed to her second Olympics. But what she’s learned out of the water is the key to her long-term success and happiness.

Later, Slater?

Sports Illustrated

Kelly Slater won the Super Bowl of surfing at 50. So, what’s next? He’ll consult some legends—Brady, Brees, Hawk—and wrestle his demons and keep stoking that fire. Until he doesn’t.

The Caretaker

Sports Illustrated

Her physical therapy work is described by clients like the Williams sisters and Shaun White as life-changing, going beyond muscles and into matters of the soul. Now, facing down death, she’s learning to look within, too.

Wolfe’s Hunt

Sports Illustrated

The internet exploded when Derek Wolfe posted his photo with the beast. But for the former Bronco, bagging a lion had nothing to do with scoring political points and everything to do with who he is.

Jay Glazer vs. His F***edupness

D&TR

The journalist and trainer’s lifelong battle for healing — and love.

They Caught the Fish, but the $3.5 Million Prize Got Away

New York Times

If you want to hear about the day the guys aboard the fishing boat Sensation landed a giant marlin and danced to Tina Turner because they were sure they had won $3.5 million, only to find out they had not, first you need to know about Ashley Bleau and the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina. 

Where Are They Now: The Mighty Ducks’ Shaun Weiss

Sports Illustrated

Shaun Weiss went from child actor to living on the streets, and in the throes of heroin addiction. Now he says the internet has saved him.

Rex Chapman Isn’t Sure He Deserves Good Things

New York Times

With 1.2 million Twitter followers and a new show debuting on CNN+, the former N.B.A. player appears to have an enviable life. But he’s haunted by what happened the last time he was famous.

From Heisman Hopeful to the ‘Dark Side’

Sports Illustrated

The excruciating struggle to break Colt Brennan’s endless cycle of addiction: drinking and drugs, arrests and alienations, apologies and promises. Repeat.

A Killer’s Garden

Sports Illustrated

An unspeakable assault by a former NFL player has forced those close to him—a young son, a father, a mother—to consider unimaginable questions about the shadows in which we live.

How Kate Upton Saved Justin Verlander’s Career

B/R Mag

Houston’s ace is on top of the game. All-Star. New baby on the way. But it wasn’t always this good. Four years ago, injuries and depression nearly derailed his career. Love brought him back. B/R Mag goes inside the incredible comeback of one of the best to ever take the mound.

What Killed the Bear Lady?

Outside

For 28 years, Kay Grayson lived side-by-side with wild black bears in North Carolina’s swampy coastal forests, hand-feeding them, defending them against poachers, and letting them in her home. When she went missing last year, the only thing the investigators could find were her clean-picked bones. And that’s just the start of the mystery.

I’m Not the Lone Wolf

B/R Mag

Chasing Ambien with beer to sleep. Forty-pound weight loss. Chest pains. To stay in football, Urban Meyer had to address his mental health. Now, to help America tackle the issue, Ohio State’s head coach opens up in a B/R Mag exclusive.

Blind Ambition

ESPN

Captain Ivan Castro, blinded and nearly killed by a mortar round in Iraq, runs for his life.

Just Like a Rockstar

B/R Mag

Shaun White’s path back to the Olympics in 2018 following a disappointing run in Sochi in 2014. Just don’t call it a comeback.

Nobody Walks Alone

ESPN The Magazine

After taking eight bullets to the back and becoming paralyzed, former basketball star Mike Williams begins walking again with the help of an old friend.

Cody Garbrandt is Living the Dream

B/R Mag

The UFC’s most electrifying new champ looks the look and talks the talk. Neither bully nor saint, he fights, he forgives and he cries. This is how a boy from Dreamsville got all he ever wanted.

Tim Tebow Can’t Help Himself

B/R Mag

What if a 29-year-old former quarterback was good enough to play pro baseball, too? What if we all tried the things that people told us we could not do? Inside the final comeback of a born-again star.

How Elite Athletes are Using EEG to Get a Mental Edge

Sports Illustrated

An excerpt from Head in the Game about how athletes are using technology that can literally show them their brains in action, to make them better both in sports and in life.

GSP Back

B/R Mag

The king of the fight game walked away a UFC champ. Then his mind got to racing. But Georges St-Pierre needed to become imperfect before returning to the Octagon.

Where Tim Lincecum Has Been Hiding

B/R Mag

Finding the wunderkind pitcher who flamed out and went into hiding as he tries to make a comeback.

Mad For Carolina

GQ

Think you’re wild about March Madness? You’ve got nothing on this guy. Meet Greg Cauley, the most dedicated—or, depending on who you ask, the craziest—college sports fan in America.

Playing After Parkland

B/R Mag

Baseball players who lost friends in a school shooting learn what the game still means.

It’s Real Fun and, Like, Weird

B/R Mag

Stories from kids unexpectedly famous — and hurt — from the most viral Little League World Series ever.