tcraggs22 Page 109 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Two Sportswriters You Meet In Hell
Yesterday, we shared with you one delightful tale about Phil Mickelson and everyone's favorite deadline Napoleon, Mike Lupica. To this, a SportsJournalists.com anonym has added another — one in which Mitch Albom makes a cameo, and Loopy gets his comeuppance....

Ric Bucher Assures Kevin Love He's Not Trade Bait, Via Twitter
Bizarre. I feel like we've crossed some sort of cultural Rubicon when reporters are using social-networking sites to inform players of their trade status. [SharapovasThigh]...

Tom Verducci Has Found His Latest Anti-Drug Mascot: Joe Mauer
Oh, lookie. Here's Tom Verducci, once again on the cover of Sports Illustrated, once again turning real live baseball players into toy soldiers whom he can draft into his own personal war on steroids....

Iowa Prep Football Coach Gunned Down At High School
Ed Thomas, one of Iowa's all-time great high school football coaches, was shot and killed this morning in his school's weight room, reportedly by a former player. Thirty students were watching; none was hurt. The gunman was taken into custody....

Scoring At Home: Your <em>SportsCenter</em> Catchphrase-O-Meter
An occasional feature in which we explain and evaluate a SportsCenter anchor's pet phrase. Today's phrase: "I know a cat named Way Out Willy."...

Ricky Rubio Materializes, Underwhelms
Ricky Rubio, knight-errant of YouTube, finally worked out for the Kings yesterday, and no one seemed terribly thrilled, least of all Ricky Rubio....

Dirk Nowitzki On Cristal Taylor: "Everyone Has Different Tastes"
Well, what he actually said was, "Jeder hat einen anderen Geschmack," which sounds infinitely more romantic. This came in conversation with Germany's Bild, Nowitzki's first interview since his pregnant ex-fiancée's arrest. He added: "Some people love Italian food, some don't."...

They Might Be Giants Fans
Good Morning America visits AT&T Park: "We caught two people updating their Facebook accounts, one checking work e-mail, one texting the babysitter and a pair of friends trying to find out who got voted off their favorite reality show." [abcnews.com]...

Harold Reynolds Won't Embrace OPS
Now that Joe Morgan is telling tales 'round the national campfire, who out there is left to make specious, proudly ignorant arguments about the value of baseball statistics? Batter up, Harold Reynolds!...

<em>Moneyball</em>'s Deep-Sixed
Break out the baseball puns! Columbia has dropped Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball adaptation like an overvalued, arbitration-eligible pitcher after a career year. Why, it's as if producers made a running, 20-foot backhand flip to cut down the movie at the plate....

Joe Morgan Clarifies One Fib, Possibly Tells Another
As you know, Joe Morgan, the human sic, told a bit of a stretcher during last Sunday's broadcast. Yesterday, he clarified the matter in a way only Joe Morgan could. By maybe lying again....

Note To Sportswriters: Wide Receivers Aren't Actually Divas
Don Banks, the Sports Illustrated writer last seen comparing Matt Millen to Dick Nixon in a good way, wonders today why so many wide receivers act like divas. Not to pick on Banks again, but ......

Why Your Stadium Sucks: Angel Stadium
This is a new weekly feature in which I (and maybe you, too, readers) detail the various reasons for hating your ballpark. This week: Angel Stadium....

Mama, There Goes That Man ... To Minnesota
"Multiple sources have told Pro Basketball News that Mark Jackson has emerged as the leading candidate for the [Timberwolves] position and will wind up with his first coaching gig." Some would call this a grown-man move. [Pro Basketball News]...

Rick Reilly Before He Was Rick Reilly®
Once upon a time, before he was a walking Father's Day card, before his writing became a neverending telethon for the blind and the deaf, the palsied and the pinkieless, the one-armed and the no-legged, Rick Reilly was really good....

Journalist Who Bravely Uncovered McGwire's (Perfectly Legal, Over-The-Counter) Drug Use Up For HOF Award
In 1998, the AP's Steve Wilstein spotted a bottle of legal supplements in Mark McGwire's locker. A decade of stupidity and Reefer Madness hysteria ensued, the Bill of Rights died a little, and now people think Wilstein belongs in Cooperstown....

Female Basketball Stars Hate Age Rules, Too
Epiphanny Prince, who briefly made people care about high school girls basketball when she scored 2,493 points in a game, now plans to leave Rutgers early and play abroad, just like the boys. We got next! In Krakow!...

Someone Likes Vijay's Swing
The New York Times: "Then someone yelled at Vijay Singh on the third green, complimenting his posterior in bold, succinct language." Is this Times-speak for "nice ass"? [NYT]...

Sammy Sosa Reportedly Tested Positive For PEDs In '03. Whatever.
Sammy Sosa was among the players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, The New York Times is reporting, a revelation that means nothing whatsoever unless you care about Sosa's Hall of Fame chances or the Fourth Amendment....

Dead Solid Perfect, In 140 Words Or Less
The greatest sportswriter ever, Dan Jenkins his ownself, is tweeting the U.S. Open, his 200th major! Fast copy, indeed! "As my first boss, Blackie Sherrod, enjoyed saying, 'Stop feelin' up that story, and get the damn thing in here.'" [Twitter]...