THE MAGAZINE EDITOR'S BLOG: DOWN ON THE MAT

Getty Images

Henry Cejudo (in blue) could definitely take down Gary Belsky.

One of the best things about being editor-in-chief of a large national sports magazine is that sometimes Olympic athletes just walk into your office and say hi. That just happened to me, when wrestlers Jake Deitschler and Henry Cejudo dropped by The Magazine to visit with associate editor Ryan Hockensmith, our crack wrestling/college football/boxing/MMA expert. Both guys looked to weigh about half what I do, but both assured me that they could take me down, hard and fast. I believed them. We also spent a lot of time talking about Jake's cauliflower ear, which was a bit scary but prompted the best quote of the day when Henry asked, "Did yours split open or did you have it drained?" (I covered my ears so I didn't hear his answer.) I should also note that Jake was very gracious about my various attempts to get him to give me his USA Wrestling warm-up jacket. I don't quite know what I would have done with it had he turned it over—since I couldn't fit into it, anyway—but I'm sure we could have put it to good use here. So will he, I suppose, in Beijing, which I guess trumps any repurposing I had in mind.

Now on to my list of THE 27 BEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, ACCORDING TO ME. It's a splashy ranking, though much less important than another list I keep: BEST STADIUM NAMES (Top 5: Kitchen Stadium, Elland Road, Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, Lord's Cricket Ground, Duff Beer KrustyBurger Buzz Cola Costington's Department Store Kwik-E-Mart Stupid Flanders Park). Anyway, here's this week's update, for DJ Casper:

THE 27 BEST SPORTS IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, ACCORDING TO ME:

1. MLB (National League)¹
2. NFL
3. Soccer (global)²
4. NASCAR (Sprint Cup)
5. NBA
6. Olympic wrestling³
7. MLB (American League)
8. Poker (WSOP)⁴
9. NASCAR (Craftsman Truck Series)
10. Wheelchair soccer
11. Tennis (women's)
12. Track (Olympic trials)
13. Hammer Throw
14. Rowing (eights)
15. Demolition Derby
16. Wakeboarding
17. Mixed Martial Arts
18. Arena Football
19. Action Airgun⁵
20. NHL
21. College Football
22. Lawn Bowling
23. Skateboard (vert)
24. Mocovite Boxing⁶
25. Soap Box Derby⁷
26. Yoga
27. WNBA

1. Albert is back! Can you feel it? (You know, the NL pennant.)

2. Euro 2008.

3. Hey, it's not complicated: Drop by my office, and I put your sport in my Top 10.

4. I'm starting to dream about Texas Dolly again.

5. Because guns don't kill people—people who don't use guns solely for sport kill people.

6. A form of team fist-fighting, which is always better in teams.

7. Yeah, they still do this. And yeah, it's kinda cool. Coming in late July.

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine