Legendary sports writer Frank Deford spent five decades as one of the defining voices of Sports Illustrated.

A cousin of mine is fond of telling a story from a day in school long ago, when her class was tasked with a question to take home to their parents: what was the most memorable event in their lives?

The reference to golf elsewhere on the page was sparked by a book I borrowed last week, Over Time by Frank DeFord, which contains an elegantly exasperated head-shake over the pretentions of that sport.

SEVENTY years ago Billy Conn, weighing 174 pounds and fighting out of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, took on the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, for the heavyweight title.

Andy Lee admitted he had nobody but himself to blame after he lost for the first time in 16 professional fights, going down to Brian Vera at the Mohegan Sun Arena in the early hours of this morning.