The Super Bowl is many things to many people. To Bill Littlefield, it is the enemy of fiction … and the person he blames is Ray Lewis.

The 2013 Super Bowl matchup is set. The San Francisco 49ers will face the Baltimore Ravens, but Bill Littlefield says that Super Bowl Sunday is about much more than the two teams taking the field.

Two-time Olympian John Thomas died on Tuesday at the age of 71. Bill Littlefield remembers the man who — though he never won gold — accomplished a great deal.

The National Women’s Soccer League has announced the allocation of the national team players to the eight teams scheduled to begin play in the spring. Bill Littlefield rooted for the league’s two predecessors, and he’s trying to figure out how he should feel about the next incarnation of the women’s pro game.

Early Sunday morning, the National Hockey League and the leaders of the players’ union reached a tentative agreement to end a 113-day lockout. The deal will allow for a shortened regular season. Bill Littlefield wonders how many fans will remember what’s been lost once play begins.

With its elaborate halftime show, over-the-top commercials and the surrounding media frenzy, the Super Bowl provides an unusual viewing experience. It’s even more unusual watching the game early in the morning in an an Irish pub in Kunming, China. Commentator Randy Hoover did and shared his experience.

Each week on Only A Game, Bill Littlefield talks to the author of a book about sports. Some of those books go on to be bestsellers, but others don’t get as much attention as they deserve, so Bill has compiled a list of three somewhat hidden gems of 2012.

From time to time, especially during college football bowl season, Bill Littlefield is inspired to opine in verse. This is one of those times.

If you’re looking for a last-minute gift for the athlete or sports enthusiast on your list, Bill Littlefield suggests something you might want to avoid…at least if the person on your list is anything like him.

In the aftermath of the Connecticut school shootings, Bill reflects on covering sports in difficult times.