The Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver offer U.S. sports fans an ideal respite from February, traditionally a slow sports month. And this year, the Games are in a good time zone.

Competitive table tennis has become more popular on campus. Teams from 40 universities will go head-to-head in April at the annual College Table Tennis National Championships. May the best chop block win.

Many athletes and teams have their own rituals. Some sports teams are developing rituals only for when they win, and they’re using music and dance to do so.

Fantasy sports leagues take their drafts on the road to celebrate a new season and old friendships. And the travel industry wants in.

A growing number of 40-plus runners are signing up for ultramarathons. Despite the back aches and foot pain, these older athletes persevere because of the satisfaction they get at the finish line and the health benefits they receive.

Fans and sports reporters increasingly look to high school recruiting rankings as a predictor of how a college football team will perform on the field. But some college teams manage to win even without the blue chip recruits.

Not content merely with bragging rights or temporary ownership of a trophy, more fantasy football champions are imitating professional athletes and buying championship rings to commemorate their accomplishments.

On a cool, misty June morning in 2008, Frank Reed pulled into the parking lot of the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn.   He began to unpack what he remembers as “about a hundred pounds of nautical almanacs” from his car, which he’d driven from his home in Chicago.  Reed had come to Mystic to lead a biennial conference on celestial navigation — the second such conference he had organized.  Although the conference drew only a few dozen participants, it was widely considered a great success among the small but devoted community …

While the shoe has long been considered vital to foot health, experts say the sock trumps souped-up rubber in keeping feet happy and healthy. Now, new technologies — such as footwear that fits like a glove to materials woven from corn — are helping the sock embrace a newfound importance.

Pigeon racers are on the defensive since the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) began campaigning to prevent a new reality pigeon racing TV show from airing, saying the sport is inhumane. They say such criticism is for the birds, and hope the new show will shed light on the positive aspects of the ancient practice.