Originally from Billings Montana, Patrick Sauer is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. patrickjsauer@mac.com
Aaron Rodgers, quarterback and lightning rod, captured in full
There is no more thrilling play in sports than a game-winning Hail Mary touchdown pass in football, a play so rare, random and revered that it seemingly requires the divine hand to be completed. One of the greatest examples came in December 2015, when quarterback Aaron Rodgers...
The Madcap History of Mad Magazine Will Unleash Your Inner Class Clown
What, Me Worry? The greatest exhibition this side of Alfred E. Neuman himself.
The Worst and Most Captivating of Run-D.M.C., According to D.M.C.
Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
If Kool Herc was rap’s Big Bang, then Run-D.M.C. was Apollo 11....
Everyone Should Know About Rickwood Field, the Alabama Park Where Baseball Legends Made History
Eight decades ago, Ron Teasley, a teenage baseball player from Detroit, experienced an athletic achievement so tremendous that today, at 97 years old, he can still recall it vividly....
40 years later, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ still sounds like peak Boss
Esteemed rock critic looks back at the legacy of Bruce's biggest album and asks if the "Glory Days" ever existed...
S.E. Hinton Is Tired of Talking About ‘The Outsiders.’ No One Else Is
More than half a century ago, Susie Hinton (soon to be known by her gender-neutral pen name) was a student at Will Rogers, where she received a D in creative writing because class assignments were nowhere near as important to her as working out the plot and characters of The Outsiders. The story would come to define her life—even though these days she would rather discuss just about anything else.
How Cameo Turned D-List Celebs Into a Monetization Machine
Get to know the personalized celebrity greeting company whose top earner is the legend Gilbert Gottfried. For the lover of Aladdin and The Aristocrats alike...
Rainey Days
I wondered whatever became of my tennis teacher back in 1980s Billings Montana. Some 40 years later, I found out, and it ain't the sport she once dedicated her life to...
‘Hot Dog Money’ recounts a wide-ranging NCAA scandal
"Hot Dog Money" is best enjoyed as a bumbling black comedy that all started with embezzled funds to make the grade-D movie, "Mafia," starring Ving Rhames.
The Bitter Life Of A Shattered Jockey: A Mostly True Story
Mary Bacon lived a life nobody could imagine, nor would they want to. Truly tragically one-of-a-kind.
How Goldfish crackers took over the world
Admit it, you love Goldfish crackers. Everyone loves Goldfish crackers.
‘Charlie Hustle’ tells the full, seedy story of Pete Rose’s epic fall
A terrific new biography of Pete Rose makes one thing clear, the "Hit King" is human garbage.
“Fixin’-to-Die-Rag”: The Irreverent Anthem of Vietnam
“Fixin’-to-Die-Rag” derailed his promising musical career. But it led Country Joe McDonald to become a fierce champion for Vietnam veterans...
Mel Mermelstein Survived Auschwitz, Then Sued Holocaust Deniers in Court
In October 1981, Judge Thomas Johnson made an announcement. After deliberation, he had accepted a fact into judicial notice—a legal term for a fact accepted in a court as true without the need to produce evidence. The Holocaust, said Johnson, was an indisputable fact...
Two great new basketball books set the mood for March Madness
Eighty years ago, an extraordinary collegiate basketball game took place. It’s such a shining moment, it’s madness that March 12 isn’t an annual hoops holiday...