Chuck Culpepper
@chuckculpepper.bsky.social
Husband, nomad, sportswriter (nowadays Washington Post after Los Angeles Herald Examiner, The National Sports Daily, Lexington Herald-Leader, Oregonian, Newsday, Los Angeles Times, The National/Abu Dhabi, Sports On Earth).
As #CaboVerde -- #CapeVerde -- begins World Cup play today, TV rooms in New England will fill with nervousness, pride, wonder, singing, food -- all from a people I visited lately at various celebrations and homes, a people with stirring stories of life on this Earth. www.espn.com/soccer/story...
The joy and wonder of Cabo Verde's unlikely World Cup journey
Searching for a lovable underdog to cheer for this World Cup? Look no further than Cabo Verde.
espn.com
The happiest fans in America find themselves in a dreamy Rose Bowl storybook. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2026/...
Indiana’s story is pure cinema, as is its epic Rose Bowl rout of Alabama
The Hoosiers become the first higher seed to win in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, setting up a rematch with Oregon.
washingtonpost.com
Just past midnight in time zone UTC/GMT +530, so #HappyNewYear2026 to the colossal Mumbai, with thanks for some of the most captivating, most illuminating, most energizing, best days in all of life.
Midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +545, so while it's always important to keep a little list in one's head of places one longs to go, #HappyNewYear2026 to one of my dreams still out there, to Kathmandu.
Just past midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +6, so #HappyNewYear2026 to the 36 million or so people who navigate, each day, through all the cars and the rickshaws and all else, the gigantic, jaw-dropping marvel known as Dhaka.
Midnight in time zone UTC/GMT +630, so #HappyNewYear2026 to both the 600 or so people in the Cocos Islands and the thousand or so people in the Coco Islands . . .
Midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +7, so #HappyNewYear2026 to Bangkok and to Phnom Penh and to Siem Reap, those places so wondrous that by far the hardest part is departing.
Midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +8, so #HappyNewYear2026 to all the people who bring the goodness and the life and the energy to Manila, and to Taipei, and to Kuala Lumpur, and to Singapore . . .
Midnight in the funky time zone UTC/GMT +845, so #HappyNewYear2026 to those souls along the Eyre Highway in Australia, to the 53 or so in Eucla, to the 23 or so in Mundrabilla, to the 15 or so in Cocklebiddy . . .
Just past midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +9, so #HappyNewYear2026 to Seoul and to Tokyo, two of the most marvelous giants for which a planet could hope . . .
Half past midnight in the time zone UTC +1030, and midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +10, so #HappyNewYear to the beautiful Adelaide and the brilliant Brisbane.
Midnight in the extraordinary time zone UTC/GMT +11, so #HappyNewYear to the great, great Sydney and the great, great Melbourne.
Midnight in time zone UTC/GMT +12, so #HappyNewYear to Suva, to Funafuti, to Tarawa, to Yaren and to all those nearby.
Past midnight in time zone UTC/GMT +13, so #HappyNewYear to the great New Zealand and to the people of Apia, Samoa, so close to the International Date Line that here's an annual reminder of a favorite thought: If New Year's Eve clunked and you can cross the line to Pago Pago, you can try it again.
Midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +1345, so #HappyNewYear to the 660-plus residents of the Chatham Islands.
Just past midnight in the time zone UTC/GMT +14, the first to see every new day, so #HappyNewYear to the village of Tabwakea on the Kirimati atoll, as well as to Caroline Island and its great frigatebirds, lesser frigatebirds, sooty terns, Pacific bottlenose dolphins and Azure-tailed skinks.
What a (surprising) night in Norman. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
Alabama turned Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff dream into a nightmare
The Crimson Tide flipped a 17-point deficit into a 34-24 win Friday night, quieting those who didn’t think it belonged in the tournament.
washingtonpost.com
'I see dead people. They're everywhere. They don't even know they're dead.' www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
Back from the dead, UCLA and Florida revel in their resuscitation
The Bruins shocked No. 7 Penn State, and the Gators surprised No. 9 Texas. Who wouldn’t want to go 0-4 or 1-3 and then win like that?
washingtonpost.com
As horse people and congresspeople strive anew for political solutions, the immigrants who sustain horse racing toil in searing fear and constrained mobility.
Horse racing depends on immigrants who are suddenly working in fear
The backbone of an American industry is the workers who care for racehorses around the clock at tracks across the country. Can a coalition of powerful stakeholders protect them?
washingtonpost.com
Murray State! It's an epitome of the era of fast roster-building, and just look at the humongous list of community colleges in the player bios. It's also an epitome of why we bother watching sports. #CollegeWorldSeries #CWS www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...
Murray State reaches College World Series as underdog and emblem
The Racers open play in Omaha on Saturday against UCLA, and their unlikely journey embodies the wonder of sports.
washingtonpost.com
Road teams are 6-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the #NBAPlayoffs, meaning that to help out their teams, all home fans should sell their tickets to road fans
A project about an old topic about which humanity still learns, with brilliant photos from @michaelswensen.bsky.social
At a Kentucky farm, star racehorses help people fight a monster: Addiction
The Stable Recovery program at Taylor Made Farm changes lives with the remarkable healing power of animals.
washingtonpost.com
I just never would have imagined Roger Goodell would become such an accomplished, extraordinary hugger. #NFLDraft
I found myself hoping for a #Thunder stop at 131-80 because winning by fewer than 50 would have been so inappropriate.
Has any contestant an any sporting event ever showed so many turns of big guts and so many turns of human frailty, both things, back and forth, in the same competition? #TheMasters
The best place to watch this #MastersSunday and #Rory would be aboard a jet because airsickness bags are readily available
Large bonus to Nicklaus 1975 footage on CBS: Vin!
