leitch-old Page 272 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The OTHER Japanese Pitching Prize
In a much lower-profile — for the Yankees, anyway — announcement yesterday, the Yankees have won the bidding rights to Kei Igawa, a lefthanded pitcher in Japan, for the apparently bargain-rate discount of $26 million....

Frank Beamer's All-American Ballot
In case you had any doubt left — though we don't know how you could have — that a ballot in the hands of college football coaches is a dangerous thing, here's the All-American ballot from Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer....

Blogdome: Awwwwwww ....
• Some NBA superstars' baby pictures. Larry Bird really does look like a serial killer. [Sportable] • The French racist soccer fan thing finally blew up last week. [Soccernista] • Is Brady Quinn the most overrated player in college football history? [Rumors And Rants] • Where the heck did this Greiv...

We Hope They Turn Out Overweight And Lethargic
To celebrate his new big-ass contract for the Dodgers — and the inevitable shredding of some sort of tender tendon that will result — Nomar Garciaparra has found a fertile place in Mia Hamm that his seed might find purchase....

Justin Gatlin Finds A Sport That Doesn't Mind That He Uses Steroids
When your fourth wide receiver is a guy named David Anderson, it's probably not a bad idea for you to explore all possible options, but the Houston Texans are taking it to a (not really all that) new level....

The Case Against Brunch Mavens Coaching NFL Teams
You know, it turns out that seeking out your top offensive minds from Idahoans accustomed to making waffles and pouring orange juice down the gullets of nostalgia-seeking tourists isn't the best way to run a football team....

That Smudge On Your Floor? That's The Big Ten
You know, new Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson isn't known as a disciplinarian in the way that Bob Knight is, but, jeez, he sure does make his players do some pretty publicly humiliating things to their teammates when they lose on national television, doesn't he?...

Time For The Big Ten To Lose Again
Well, you know the college basketball season is officially upon us with the ritualistic beatdown of the Big Ten at the hands of the ACC starts showing up on ESPN. With the precursor of N.C. State trouncing previously undefeated Michigan already pushing the ACC into a 1-0 lead last night, the ACC is ...

Sometimes, We Just Learn A Bit Too Much
We know, we're soulless ironists, not connected to the problems of the everyday world, except to mock them. We accept your scorn, and we probably deserve it....

Leftovers: Senator Cheerleader
• Trent Lott, GO TEAM. [ClayNation] • One must be wary of when St. Louis sports radio jockeys attack. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch] • Etan Thomas has a new column for SLAM Online ... and a poem! [SLAM Online] • Hey, you can win the chance to watch a game with Freddie Mitchell. Careful: He'll steal your ...

You Can't Use Your Hands OR Your Eyes
In the grand tradition of Beep Baseball, With Leather brings us the blind soccer World Cup, which we are immediately dispatching David Hirshey to cover....

Jake Plummer Has No Qualms About Doing This Again
Everybody has a cross to bear. Some of us were always picked last in kickball and still harbor resentment about it. Some of us have a lifelong fear of spiders, or horses, or, say, snakes. Some of us become never-nudes. We all have to overcome something....

The McGwire Maelstrom Is Upon Us
Well, as pretty much everyone has weighed in on now, Mark McGwire is on the Hall of Fame ballot, and it's got everybody's panties in a bunch. We typically get exhausted by Hall of Fame debates anyway — they're like regular sports debates, except it's about stuff that ended a decade ago — but this on...

Deadspin SHOTY Tournament: Jay Mariotti Vs. Darren Daulton
After nearly a week off, the Deadspin SHOTY Tournament kicks back up today — just three more first-round matchups left — with a guy who seemingly shows up every week around these parts, if just to make himself more famous, against a former Philadelphia hero who has only made Deadspin once, but in a ...

Blogdome: Ponytails Under The Bed
• An interview with our very own Cultural Oddsmaker, AJ Daulerio. [Blinq] • Lots of requirements to become coach of the Crimson Tide. [Critical Sports Blog] • Chris Pronger has come BACK. [Forward Progress] • The LA Times has a new Clippers blog. [Los Angeles Times] • Speaking of the LA Times, they'...

Deron Williams Is Making Utah Slightly More Tolerable
True Hoop points out something that Illini fans have known for years now and the rest of the basketball world is unabashedly catching on to: Utah Jazz point guard (and former Illini star) Deron Williams is freaking awesome....

Someone Please Just Reform The Education System Already
We'd like to thank Run Up The Score for directing us to this Pittsburgh sports fan, who gives us his rendition of the Cotton Eyed Joe dance — we are sad to know such a song actually has its own dance — that he plans on performing at a future Penguins game. He is also illustrating the true genius of ...

Michael Irvin Brings The Locker Room To Your Radio Dial
Your average American sports fan, who isn't aware of sports blogs and didn't stay in an airport hotel last night (and therefore didn't read USA Today yesterday) must have been confused last evening when, apropos of nothing, their daily trip to ESPN.com revealed that ESPN grammarian Michael Irvin was...

The Snow Is Finally Here, And The Playoffs Aren't Far Behind
For all the talk of Brett Favre and Matt Hasselbeck and a dogged night from Shaun Alexander, the main impression we took from last night's MNF Seahawks' win over the Packers was: SNOW! Screw Thanksgiving: We know the holidays are really upon us when it's snowing real hard and people are falling over...

Your Last Night Of MNF Brett Favre Backrubbing
Of all the tired Brett Favre storylines out there, our least favorite is the "He's playing against Mike Holmgren again!" theme. Yes, yes, they won a Super Bowl together; we're not sure this makes this all that necessarily compelling. Besides, that would require remembering a time when Brett Favre we...