Road trip! To celebrate America's 250th anniversary, ESPN sent five writers on adventures across the country to discover how sports has shaped we the people.
Our intrepid correspondents traveled 10,000 miles, hit 21 states (plus, of course, D.C.), made 69 stops -- and got just one speeding ticket! Special guest appearances by the crawfish-eating champion of Charleston, two doggos named Gonzo and Hank, a wily mammoth and a bug-eyed alien.
Evel Knievel still lives. You've just got to know where to look
Alyssa Roenigk
A quest from the fountains in Las Vegas to a canyon floor in Idaho to a river crossing in California reveals the daredevil in us all.
The greatest bet in sports history -- 157 years ago
Kent Babb
A competition to lay 10 miles of railroad track in a single day officially connected the country in 1869. Does sports -- or anything else -- have the power to unite us that way today? Coming Tuesday
It's a pickleball party and Vince Lombardi's ghost is invited!
Aishwarya Kumar
What does a new mom on her first trip away from her daughter discover about sports in America? That Spanish moss and basketball have more in common than you'd think. Coming Wednesday
Inside the knockdown, drag-out fight for boxing's future
Roberto José Andrade Franco
The Bucket of Blood is now a church. Buster Douglas is now a coach. There's not much left in Atlantic City, but a Mexican monster and an American prodigy keep the faith.
Coming Thursday
Do you believe in miracles? How about ghosts?
Dotun Akintoye
Effigy mounds and a haunted hotel. Unnerving eyes and impossible silence. A skeptic scours the Plains on a spirited pilgrimage seeking truth, artifice and the American way. Coming Friday
Maps by Christopher Delisle. Postcard design by Don Jolovich. Photo illustrations and editing by Robert Booth, Jason Potterton and Tony Spinelli. Research by Dana Lee, Gueorgui Milkov and Alonzo Olmedo. Social media execution by Bryan Antos and Christian Gardner. Edited by Susie Arth and Scott Burton.
