1 Page 333 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Nine Guys Putt Into A Single Hole And It's Sort Of Impressive In A Useless Way
Things we did not know: Campbell University, in North Carolina, has a PGA-accredited golf management program. It "allows students to acquire the specialized knowledge and skills necessary for success in the golf industry." One of those skills is trick shots. Each month, the program has a competiti...
When Is It OK For A Coach To Shove A Player?
Early in the second half, with Cal down 12 to USC at home, head coach Mike Montgomery called a timeout. When junior Allen Crabbe, the Golden Bears' leading scorer, reached the bench he was met with a sharp shove in the chest. Crabbe and Montgomery exchanged angry words, and Crabbe had to be separ...
The 15 Or So Most Watchable Teams In College Basketball: An Occasional Ranking
A weekly (or so) ranking of college basketball teams on the basis of watchability and with very little regard to how good they might be. ...
The Small Decisions That Cost The 49ers The Super Bowl
Super Bowl XLVII turned out to be a close game that hinged on a few critical plays at the end—shocking, given the score when the power went out. But it also hinged on decisions that didn't seem very significant at the time but ended up having an enormous effect on the outcome....
Last Night Was Probably The Closest We'll Ever Get To A Super Bowl Fair-Catch Kick, The Rarest Play In The NFL
When the Ravens intentionally took a safety, to give themselves better field position and run a few seconds off the clock, it brought the 49ers to within three points. It was the smart call, but it also raised the possibility of the rarest of all football plays—the fair-catch kick. It's only been at...
A Reminder That The NFL Doesn't Test For The PED Ray Lewis Says He's Never Tested Positive For
Yesterday, SI reported that Ray Lewis had received the banned substance IGF-1, a muscle-building hormone resembling insulin. (Two years ago, Yahoo reported the same thing.) Lewis responded in two ways. First, he blamed it on the devil. Second, he noted that he has never failed a drug test....
Ray Lewis Has Reportedly Used A Banned Substance For Years, But No One Cares Because It's Football
In the wake of baseball's latest PED scandal, the NFL has one of its own. Everyone try to look surprised. This week's issue of Sports Illustrated has a story on supplement company S.W.A.T.S. That stands for Sports with Alternatives to Steroids, the alternative apparently being non-steroidal banned d...
Inauguration Day In Post-Racial America: George Stephanopoulos Thinks Bill Russell Looks Like Morgan Freeman
Never mind that Morgan Freeman looks nothing like the 6-foot-10 NBA Hall of Famer: The Celtics cap with Russell's number on it apparently wasn't enough of a clue for Stephanopoulos, either. With a nudge from David Remnick, Stephanopoulos—a Massachusetts native—quickly corrected himself. But not bef...
Joe Flacco, The Big-Armed Oaf Who Saved Baltimore
Joe Flacco has played five full seasons in the NFL, and in each one, he has thrown for less than 4,000 yards and completed less than 64 percent of his throws. He has never been sacked fewer than 30 times, and he has never thrown more than 25 touchdowns. Flacco turns 28 tomorrow. He'll be a free agen...
National Radio Announcers Just Couldn't Believe The Ravens Let The Clock Expire At The End Of The First OT Period
With all of the changes made to the NFL's overtime rules in recent years, anyone can be forgiven for not understanding some of the basics. But one detail that didn't change is what happens in a playoff game at the conclusion of the first overtime period: the teams move to the other side of the fie...
Fox Gets Conservative: Did The Denver Coach's Risk-Averse Strategy Cost The Broncos A Playoff Victory?
NFL coaches will often refer to "playing the percentages." But if there's one thing I've learned by studying strategic decisions, it's that coaches don't have a firm grasp of those percentages. And when anyone is uncertain of the odds, he'll fall back on the sure thing. That was the case with Bronco...
Sports Video Gaming Must Face Its Own Era Of Excess
Wednesday was supposed to be a day of no news in Major League Baseball. There are no league games in January, of course; pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 29 days. And exit polling had long foreseen the shutout ballot, for the first time since 1996, that the Baseball Writers Associa...
Watch Ray Lewis Yell About Weapons After The Ravens Beat The Broncos
Here's Ray Lewis's response to Solomon Wilcots's first post-game question after the Ravens beat the Broncos in double overtime. He's quoting Isaiah 54:17, which in the New King James Version reads:...
Tim Tebow's Press Conference Sucked, or Why the Celebrity Headphone Trend Is Idiotic
At the end of December, a PR agency representing Tim Tebow's new signature line of Soul brand headphones—model number SL300, $299.95 retail—emailed us to invite us to a CES event at which Tebow himself would be showcasing his headphones and "speaking with the media." The event was total bullshit. J...
The 15 Or So Most Watchable Teams In College Basketball: A Ranking
A weekly (or so) ranking of college basketball teams on the basis of watchability and with very little regard to how good they might be. ...
<em>Lincoln</em> Hogs: Grierson & Leitch's Rapid Reaction To Today's Oscar Nominations
The Oscar nominations just came out, announced by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone. There were surprises and oddities and the usual silliness. Also, now we know that Lincoln is going to win everything. Here are our quickest thoughts....
Chaps Don't Get A Fella What They Used To: We Predict The 2013 Academy Award Nominees
Thursday morning, Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone will get up about seven hours earlier than they usually do to announce the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards. This will be stupid and pointless and watched by millions of idiots, myself giddily among them. The Oscars are dumb, but as far as awards ...
The Health Of An NFL Player Belongs To Everyone But The Player Himself
"Greatness is not given," Robert Griffin III says in his national Gatorade spot. "Greatness is taken, when the weak and distracted are resting on their reputations."...
An Inside Look At The Impending Flying Robot Apocalypse (And How To Put A Stop To It)
The Consumer Electronics Show, held in Vegas every year during the second-ish week in January, is an odd duck. Everyone is desperate to talk to you and show you things and shake your hand and trample you on the show floor and so forth. But (and this is my third time being here) there's often littl...