2012 Page 28 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why Your Team Sucks 2012: St. Louis Rams
Some people are fans of the St. Louis Rams. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the St. Louis Rams. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here....

Some Olympic Athletes Eat A Lot Of Shitty Food
We often think of world-class athletes as outliers whose dedication to training is comprehensive, right down to whatever it is they put into their bodies. Not so for high-endurance athletes like distance runners, cyclists, or triathletes, according to what a researcher from the Mayo Clinic told The ...

North Korean Women's Soccer Team Refuses To Take Field After Venue Screwup Shows South Korean Flag On Scoreboard
The London Olympics are off to a kicking start after a screw-up at Hampden Park in Glasgow led to the South Korean flag being displayed before North Korea's women's soccer match against Colombia and the subsequent refusal of North Korea's side to take the field. (You can see a photo of the mix-up h...

Instead Of Nike Gear, Egypt Gave Its Olympic Athletes Chinese Knockoffs
One of the most basic roles of a nation's Olympic committee is to outfit its athletes: clothes, bags, training gear, all that good stuff. Someone at the Egyptian Olympic Committee appears to have outsourced that responsibility to the lowest bidder, because all 117 Egyptian Olympians were given count...

Olympics Field Guide: The Embattled (And First-Ever) United States Women's Boxing Team
Names: Marlen Esparza, Claressa Shields, and Quanitta "Queen" Underwood...

Kevin Durant, James Harden, And Deron Williams Are On A Segway Tour Across Europe
Durant posted this picture of himself and a couple USA basketball teammates on Segways this morning with the caption, "Barcelona." The 1992 Dream Team partied with the locals 'til all hours; the 2012 version of USA Basketball Instagrams photos of themselves on Segways, wearing helmets....

We Already Have Our First Olympic Brand Violator, And It Is Pepsi
With the Olympic sponsorship protection Gestapo cracking down even on the family of royalty, we're amazed that it took just an hour for an unapproved sponsor's logo to appear onscreen. (The Olympics started this morning, if you didn't know.)...

I Wanna Be Anarchy, Please: A Guide To Olympics Protesters And The Polite, Lovable Chaos Of London
LONDON—Summer does strange things to big cities. When the days get long and hot, it feels as if all the normals go take shelter somewhere in the countryside, and all the weirdos start coming out of the woodwork. In this haven of eccentricity known as London, where summer often lasts only about 10 da...

Greek Olympian Banned For Racist Twitter Joke
If we learned anything from Euro 2012, it's that Euros can be casually racist on a stunning level. But how about some casual racism infecting the Olympic spirit? Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou will not be going to London, just two days after a tweet that seems to have sent the whole nation i...

Lolo Jones's Hurdling Excellence Explained In One Cool Visualization
Lori "Lolo" Jones is primarily known for two things: Being the most famous 29-year-old virgin on the planet and for being one hell of an Olympic hurdler. She's going for gold in London, but this visualization from The New York Times should be required viewing for anyone planning to watch her run on ...

Olympic Sprinters Will Be Running Not Only For Gold, But For These Frigging Adorable Baby Cheetahs
Today, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. officially unveiled their two new cheetah cubs. The ridiculously cute fluffballs don't have names yet—the zoo is waiting on the Olympics. The three-month-old cubs will be named after the top American finishers in the men's and women's 100 meters. So, Justi...

USA Vs. Spain: Let's Discuss
The US men's basketball team is set to tip off its exhibition match against Spain in just a few minutes. Earlier, we wrote about what this game could mean, and now we want to yak about it with you as it unfolds (4:30 ET, ESPN2 and WatchESPN). Please report to the discussion section below with all o...

The Olympics Opening Ceremony? Giant Voldemort Fighting 30 Mary Poppinses, Obviously
London's Sunday Times is reporting that Friday's Olympics opening ceremony may not be unwatchably boring. According to Yahoo, which excerpted parts of the Times' subscription-only story, a 40-foot Voldemort (hologram? parade float? ventriloquist's dummy?) will take center stage for the ceremony and ...

Photo Without Commentary: Two Canadian Dudes At The Olympic Village
Here's a photo of two dudes being dudes at the Canadian part of the Olympic Village that was just uploaded to USA Today's Pinterest board. And here's a photo of just one of the dudes before the other one came by to grab a look outside. There is no back story....

Today's USA-Spain Basketball Game Could Mean Everything Or Nothing
The last time the United States and Spanish Olympic basketball teams met each other, they gave us one of the greatest basketball games that nobody watched. That was the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing, which the USA won 118-107 after being up by only four points with under three minutes to play. It...

Gay Cruising App Grindr Crashes After Olympians Arrive In London
Well, looky here. Seems Londoners have been having a tough time accessing gay cruising app, Grindr. The cause? The Mirror reports the app suspiciously crashed around the time that Olympians arrived into London:...

Why Your Team Sucks 2012: Kansas City Chiefs
Some people are fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here....

The IOC Won't Recognize The 40th Anniversary Of The Munich Massacre, So Bob Costas Will
This slipped under the radar a bit this weekend, but NBC Olympics host Bob Costas told The Hollywood Reporter that he plans to acknowledge the 40th anniversary of the Munich Olympic massacre with a minute of silence as the Israeli national team enters Olympic Stadium during Friday's Opening Ceremon...

London Eye To Serve As Giant Mood Ring For Olympic Games
EDF Energy, an energy supplier in London, has announced their Energy of the Nation initiative, in which they plan to illuminate the London Eye according to how Twitter users are feeling about the Olympics each day. EDF, along with a group of 70s-minded MIT grads, has developed an algorithm to conve...