August football can be slow sometimes. Between sweltering practices and meaningless games, Paul Attner of the Sporting News can't wait for the season to begin. But while he waits, there is plenty happening in the offices of the NFL for him to discuss with us.

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The way football season is scheduled, the practice begins in the dog days of summer. And the way some footballers are built, the practices can cause heat illness. Well guys, turns out you need a "chill pill". Bill Littlefield has more.

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From Fenway Park to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, devoted fans have spent millions of dollars this year on professional sports tickets. According to the Wall Street Journal's Russell Adams, though, college football teams are hiking ticket prices as well. Adams joins us by phone.

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Bill Littlefield offers some alternatives to expensive college football tickets.

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Each year in Saranac Lake, more than a hundred teams gather for one of the biggest rugby tournaments in the U.S. For more than three decades, teams and players have come from as far away as Africa and Australia. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann attended this year's edition.

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Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss: the Royals sweep the Red Sox; it's the caddy's fault; the longest poem...ever!

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Mark Lamster's "Spalding's World Tour" recounts the baseball life of pitcher Albert Spalding. Spalding was not only a record-setting pitcher, but a tireless promoter of the "American" sport. Lamster joins us on the line from New York's NPR bureau.