aba Page 152 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tampa Bay Rays Win AL East in Fitting Fashion
• Tigers 6, Rays 4 The Rays lost to the Tigers last night but that didn't prevent fans on Main Street in Tampa from celebrating. With the Yankees putting up 19 runs to beat the Red Sox at Fenway, Tampa Bay clinched their first ever American League East crown. One more time: The Tampa Bay Rays are th...

College Football Preview: The Blackout Is Coming to Georgia!
If you stayed up past midnight on the east coast last night to watch USC-Oregon State right now you're blearily wiping your eyes and cursing the decision as lunch nears and all you want to do is crawl under your desk and sleep. If you're like me you might also be questioning why you let Birmingham,...

AL Roundup: Let's Play "Pounce on the Punto"
• Twins 7, White Sox, 6. : Coming into this series, the Minnesota Twins were 2.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox, but now sit atop the AL Central with a half game lead after storming back from a 6-1 deficit to defeat the spiraling White Sox 7-6 in a dramatic 10th inning. The Twins sturdy closer ...

The Tampa Bay Rays Are Still Adjusting To Success
The Rays have been a remarkable story all year and are headed to their first playoff appearance in the short history of the franchise, but they are still adjusting to the center stage of Octoberdom. The biggest stumbling block for them right now? They can't think of anyone to throw out the first pit...

Georgia-Alabama Game To Be Friendly Backyard "Funeral" (With Cussin')
The premier game of this Saturday's college football schedule is the evening tilt between No. 3 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama, two SEC schools that have very little animosity toward each other. The host Bulldogs are instructing their fans to dress all in black as part of an innovate strategy designed to...

Give Him Liberty, Or Give Him Beer: Rowdy Fan Says He Was 'Striking Back For Red Sox Nation'
When his colonial ancestors were being oppressed by a larger, more formidable power, they fought back the only way they knew how; with bold, guerrilla tactics. Could Red Sox fan Chris Sciesinski do any less? Trapped behind enemy lines at Tropicana Field, taunted and scorned beyond all reason by Tamp...

Manning and Griese Lock Up Overtime Wins
You could have guessed that the Buccaneers and Bears would play a close game in Chicago, but I'm pretty sure that only the most diehard of Bengal fans could have pictured Cincinnati pushing the Giants to overtime in New York. In the end only the Bucs and Giants will go home with a victory, each on ...

October in Tampa
• For the first time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are Playoff-bound. Back in Spring Training, everyone laughed when starter Scott Kazmir said his Rays were going to the dance. After all, the team had finished in last place the previous season. Well, who's laughing now? ...

Longoria Studly, But Rays' Division Push Still Needs More Cowbell
It's getting more and more annoying to attend a game at Tropicana Field. The guy sitting to your right is wearing a mohawk. And the guy to your left is banging a cowbell. What happened to simply wearing a cap and keeping a scorecard? Evan Longoria walloped three homers on Thursday but it wasn't enou...

Could There Be A More Fitting Metaphor For The AL East Race?
Don't tase Boston's divisional title chances, bro! If this isn't a sign from the baseball gods that the race is over in the East, I don't know what is. This Red Sox fan tried to leap the dugout and run onto the field at the Trop on Wednesday, but was met with Epic Failure: security grabbed him, and ...

Mock The Mohawk At Your Own Peril
Silly? Yes; especially when you consider that manager Joe Maddon is wearing one. But the Rays' new mohawk look seems to have mystical powers; a force that the Boston Red Sox were not able to overcome on Tuesday. The Rays broke free from a virtual tie with Boston atop the standings with a 2-1 win at ...

Universe Rights Itself, Soon Should Be Completely Normal
Like in the Michael Douglas film Falling Down, Joe Maddon is wearing a short-sleeved dress shirt and demanding breakfast at McDonald's, even though its past 11:30. Sorry Joe. We're back where we were in July 24; the Red Sox and Rays, tied for first in the East. Only this time Boston clearly has mome...

Why Your Team Won't Make The Playoffs: American League
And down the stretch they come! A look ahead at the final few weeks of the regular season, and why your team is doomed, in capsule form. Today, the American League ... East • 1. Tampa Bay Rays. Record: 85-56. Magic number: 20. Big strength: Evan Longoria is back after a stint on disabled list with a...

NFL Season Preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The NFL season has officially started, so it's time to finish the impassioned season previews from various writers, bloggers, diehard fans, cooks, TV personalities, and numerous other walks of life whom consider football the only sport worth watching. Clearly, these previews will be running until, o...

Instant Replay II: Rise Of The Machines
Let the record show that the first use of instant replay in Major League Baseball was used on Wednesday to confirm an Alex Rodriguez home run in the Yankees' 8-4 win over Tampa Bay (a more deserving recipient there has never been). But wait, was it the first? Stacy Long of the Montgomery Advertister...

Do Not Mock The Power Of The Taco
In case you haven't noticed, we're into September and the Tampa Bay Rays are still in first place in the AL East. This is no longer a joke, people; they could actually win this thing. The Red Sox relegated to the wild card race? The Yankees, out of the playoffs entirely? How did this happen? The Ray...

Joey Galloway Is The White Tiger
Jon Gruden seems like the kind of guy who would be fun to hang around with as long as you weren't a reporter covering the Bucs. Witness the caddying incident with John Daly. But he may have outdone himself when he coined a new nickname for enigmatic receiver Joey Galloway: The White Tiger. From The...

Giant Houndstooth Hat Arrives For Alabama Concession Stand: The Bear's Den
Somewhere the ghost of Bear Bryant is crying. And not just because Alabama outsourced the giant houndstooth hat to a Connecticut based company. But because, you know, this seems like something that should exist just outside the Tampa Bay Bucs pirate ship. The goal is to spruce up the concession stan...

Clemson Defensive Coordinator Suggests Top Alabama Football Recruits Drive Escalades
And by "suggests", I mean "said." At least the top recruits do. What could bring on this rumination? Perhaps the upcoming neutral site game between Clemson and Alabama. As part of his job for the big game Clemson's defensive guru, Vic Koenning, is charged with stopping Alabama's newest starting rec...

The Strange Saga Of A.J. Pierzynski And Doug Eddings Continues
Is this the episode where Doug Eddings reveals that he is A.J. Pierzynski's father? Something's going on; and the Rays aren't happy about it. Take a look at this play in the 10th, where it appears that Pierzynski is tagged out in a rundown between second and third. But second base umpire Eddings rul...