leitch-old Page 380 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Final Four Sleeps With The Fishes
Fascinating story in The New York Times this morning; an economist postulates that, in college basketball, point shaving takes place in about 5 percent of all games with big spreads. The economist, Justin Wolfers from the University of Pennsylvania, has collected results from nearly 16 years of co...
Revisiting A Truly Great Prank
We did a very brief bit on this a couple of days ago, but we didn't give it nearly enough of a heads-up, since, frankly, it's one of the best examples of fan subterfuge we've ever seen....
Let's Not Forget The Real Victim Here
In all the rigmarole destined to take over the sports airwaves in the coming days, let's not forget who will suffer the real ramifications of the definitive proof that Barry Bonds took steroids story: ESPN....
Leftovers: Kendra Davis Never Goes Away
• Kendra Davis is pleading not guilty, so that eliminates all doubt about her character. [Chicago Tribune] • NFL owners mulling over that whole labor thing. Sorry. We said we weren't gonna mention it. [Associated Press] • Adam Morrison would like you to be hit by a train. [Mr. Irrelevant] • We're a ...
Bonds Won't Get Off The Hook This Time
OK, if you've hadn't a chance to dig into the Bonds Sports Illustrated story yet, we cannot recommend it more highly....
Authors With Pure Hearts: Sam Walker
When we were on our Caribbean vacation a while back, we spent most of our time on a beach, sipping blue beverages and ... reading about fantasy baseball. Naturally. Specifically, we were reading Sam Walker's Fantasyland, a relentlessly entertaining look at a fantasy baseball virgin attempting to win...
Blogdome: Tony Danza As ... Who Again?
• "Who's The Boss?" ... in Knick land. [The Basketball Jones] • So, moving to the NFL, who's the most hated football player? [Dave's Football Blog] • Tiger Woods is so much better than everyone else, it's just not even fair. [Sugar, Mr. Poon?] • Theo Fleury, causing international incidents. [World C...
Bruce Pearl Coaches Crackheads. Yeah! Take That!
As longtime readers know, we never miss an opportunity to knock around Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. We know this isn't fair — he's a great coaching story, he's done a great job and the man is a world champion sweater — but Bruce Pearl's fate was sealed with us back in the early '90s when he was an...
Who's Got Bracket Fever?
We're just five days away from Selection Sunday — which, in combination with the season premiere of "The Sopranos," is pretty much more fun than any day should be allowed to be — and we're still working on our big NCAA Tournament Project. (All teams remain signed up for. Honestly, you guys rule.)...
Myles Brand Makes Himself Richer
The Wizard Of Odds brings us a little bit of info we hadn't heard about: NCAA president Myles Brand made $870,000 in compensation last year. That's a figure that's higher than what a single public university president makes. And they actually pay the people who make them all their money....
Poll: Scariest ESPN Mag Mugshots
Yesterday, we tried to figure out what was going on with Bill Simmons' ridiculous mugshot in ESPN: The Magazine. Well, now we've got copies of all four main mugshots in the magazine, and they're inexplicable. And horrifying. Take a look at them below, and let us know which one makes you want to c...
Muresan Lives! (In The ABA)
After he read about the promotion on Deadspin last week, Danny Groner of Silver Spring, Md. decided to attend the ABA game featuring guest player Gheorghe Muresan. Because he was really there. He files this report:...
Remembering Kirby Puckett
As you've surely heard by now, Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett died last night at the age of 45. Puckett was a player who was impossible to dislike; he played baseball the way we all imagine we would, if we had the chance. His post-retirement career was smeared by Frank Deford's famous Sports Il...
Deadspin Field Trip: Batting Against Rocker
Earlier today, former New York City subway spokesperson John Rocker caused a minor fuss by walking off the set of ESPN's "Cold Pizza" after being informed he would be asked about his famous comments about "queers with AIDS" and not liking foreigners....
See? We Didn't Make It Up
Whew. Don Nelson really was there. Thank God. We honestly feared our brain might have gone bye-bye there for a moment....
Leftovers: "VIC-TOR-IA, VIC-TOR-IA"
• California basketball fans are, frankly, awesome. [rangelife] • Yeah, there's even controversy in the world of rock-paper-scissors. We love earth. [Arizona Republic] • Even the New York Times recognizes the joke the Knicks have become. [New York Times] • Interested in some bracket action a week ea...
The Bitmapped Bill Simmons
We're no experts on graphic design, or magazine picture quality, or anything like that — there are all kinds of things we're not experts in today — but we have to say, the new ESPN magazine internal redesign has us a little loopy....
The Ladies Love The Baseball
We always find it kind of embarrassing when major sports leagues make conscious efforts to try to cater to the female audience. From our experience, a woman is either a sports fan, or she isn't — you know, like the rest of the human population. League executives tend to think of female sports fans t...
Athletes Know Their Bodies Better Than Anyone
We're no experts on matters of human gestation, but we have to say, we were pretty amazed to hear this story: A New Mexico girls basketball player, called a "star" by local observers, scored six points (two 3-pointers) only hours before giving birth....