tom-scocca Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
We've Got $500 That Says Mike Barnicle Shined Up The Quotes In His Terry Francona Article
Mike Barnicle, the plagiarist, fabulist, and all-around journalistic fraud, interviewed Terry Francona and Theo Epstein for a piece about how there's still room in the stats-conscious Boston Red Sox organization for ol' fashioned, gut-instinct, classic baseball managin'. There is, Barnicle wrote, a ...
Dear Grantland: Your Motto Is Wrong
ESPN's Grantland still lacks a forum for comments and corrections, so we are providing this space to help the site's audience share its thoughts—criticism, praise, or otherwise. Comments below reflect the opinions of Grantland readers and are not necessarily the views of Deadspin. Readers who have a...
Gluttony Among The Colonists: Deadspin's British Foreign Correspondent Reports From Nathan’s
America smells heavily of sweat. Sweat and old takeout—a lingering, clotted odor, a hybrid of a gas leak and authentic home cooking. This is my first time smelling or seeing the country. I arrived three days ago, Heathrow to JFK, having never crossed the Atlantic before. Now after a long and hot sub...
Asafa Powell Beats The Clock, In Lieu Of Beating Usain Bolt
Asafa Powell, the 100-meter world record holder of the pre-Usain Bolt era, claimed the title of Fastest Man in the World, This Year, So Far by running a 9.78 yesterday in Lausanne, Switzerland. That beats the 9.79 that Tyson Gay ran in early June in Clermont, Florida, before Gay dropped off the circ...
If The Yankees Don't Let Anyone Say Derek Jeter Is Washed Up, He Won't Be Washed Up
Derek Jeter's injury-rehab assignment to Double-A Trenton is due to begin Saturday night. He's going to do great. At least, you'd better say he's going to do great, if you want to keep writing about the Yankees....
Abandon Hope: Bill Clinton Teams Up With A Health-Insurance Company To Take Some Old Dead Guy's Name Off A Golf Tournament
The Bob Hope Classic, which has been played under that name in California since 1965, is no more. Starting in January 2012, the event will be the Humana Challenge, named for Joey Humana, a beloved comedian (and devoted golfer) who entertained American troops from World War II through the first Gulf ...
Memo To Jonah Lehrer: Mark Cuban Says The Mavs Used Statistics Against The Heat
Jonah Lehrer is still arguing that the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat by ignoring statistics and turning loose the intangible powers of J.J. Barea. Or at least that stat-heads can't prove that wasn't the case:...
Grantland's Jonah Lehrer Loves Intangibles So Much He Made A Whole Argument Out Of Them
Aren't sports statistics terrible? Of course they are. Sports has been overrun by number-nerds, and the number-nerds get angry if you point this out. So Jonah Lehrer, writing at Grantland about the pernicious influence of numerical analysis, makes sure not to bring up any actual examples of how numb...
The Right Place At The Right Time: Remembering Lorenzo Charles
In the photographs of that moment, he doesn't show an expression of power, of joy, of triumph or even relief. His eyebrows are arched back, his eyes are wide, his face drawn into a grimace. N.C. State's Lorenzo Charles does not look like a man dunking a basketball, but rather a man returning to Eart...
Playing Left-Handed At Wimbledon Is As Big An Advantage As Playing Right-Handed
Today's New York Times reports from Wimbledon on the sneaky advantage that left-handed tennis players enjoy on grass:...
Here's China Losing Its Olympic Men's Soccer Bid On A Blown Call (Which Was Followed By A Humiliating Collapse)
Regrettably, the Chinese men's soccer team will not have a chance to follow up its 2008 Olympics performance—six goals against, one goal for, two red cards, one vicious episode of crotch-punching—with an appearance in London in 2012. The People's Republic was eliminated from the Asian Olympic qual...
Ritually Edgy T-Shirts Prompt Ritual Coverage Of Ritually Outraged Criticism
The Associated Press reports that the dry-goods sales-and-marketing company Nike has provoked a reaction by selling t-shirts designed to provoke a reaction. The shirts include "the phrases 'Dope,' 'Get High' and 'Ride Pipe,'" the AP reports....
Prospecting In New Jersey: It's NBA Draft Time
Hope David Stern enjoyed the PATH train, on his way to the NBA Draft's new temporary home in Newark. Who will your team get? The guy with the sore toe? The other guy? That foreign guy people have doubts about? Let the dreaming begin....
Four Last-Minute Delusions Around The NBA Draft
Basketball Has A Bright Future In The Garden State: Oh, Newark. Newark. The Nets got tired of looking at New Jersey, filed for divorce, and moved out of the Meadowlands. Brooklyn is so much richer, more sophisticated-it's just a better match. Don't you want the Nets to be happy? Oh, but Brooklyn's p...
Fashionista Softball Player Flips Out Over Uniforms In Several Bitchy Emails
When you don't know all but one of your teammates, and your team has yet to play a game, it's probably best not to try to hijack the process of designing a team t-shirt. If you do try to hijack the design process—"I'd suggest some muted colors, like maroon/beige/forest green/wine"—and people get ann...
"He's Got A Great Personality": Your Passive-Aggressive 2011 NBA Draft Scouting Roundup
The NBA playoffs are over; the NBA Draft is here. Time to stop watching Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, and Chris Paul, and to start dreaming about the future—a future in which, honestly, none of this year's prospects have much hope of being better than the leag...
"Too Much To Drink And Chasing Pussy": A Tour Of The W.V. Bars In Which Dana Holgorsen Allegedly Got Shitfaced
Before he even ascended to West Virginia's head football coaching job, Dana Holgorsen already had made news for upholding the Mountaineer tradition of alcohol enthusiasm. Our Appalachian bureau followed in Holgorsen's soggy footsteps to document the leading drinking establishments in the Wild and Wo...
Introducing The Grantland Comments And Corrections Desk
As a public service, Deadspin will be supplying ESPN's Grantland with a forum for corrections, clarifications, and reader comments till the startup has a chance to produce its own. Readers who have corrections or comments for Grantland can send them to [email protected], subject line "Dear Grantland...
Dilbert's Necktie Is Erect Because It Wants To Rape Ladies, Naturally
Leading philosopher cartoon merchandiser Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, has some new thoughts about masculinity, to go with his earlier, now-deleted meditation on men's rights. Why is there so much news about men "tweeting, raping, cheating, and being offensive"?...