Sports Illustrated Book of the Apocalypse: Two Decades of Sports Absurdity

For the last 20 years, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has collected and featured weekly signs from the world of sports that the Apocalypse is upon us: Tales of frenzied fans, egomaniacal coaches, Hall of Famers who run afoul of the law, mind-boggling bureaucracy, violent behavior and tastelessness run amok. In 18 humorous chapters, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED brings us all the sports insanity, including examples like:

12/27/93: In an effort to help notoriously dour Norwegians appear more cheerful during the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, local officials planned to distribute 80,000 “smile holders"—strap-on devices equipped with plastic hooks that tug the wearers’ mouths into grins.

9/22/08: A 33-year-old Green Bay woman allegedly stole her estranged 15-year-old daughter’s identity and enrolled in high school because she wanted to be a cheerleader.

1/29/07: A Chicago woman had labor induced three days early so her husband could attend the NFC championship game.

THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE APOCALYPSE presents two decades of proof that people who play sports, coach sports, run sports, cover sports and watch sports are sometimes out of their collective mind.