ant Page 586 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The National Anthem Should Be Played With Instruments More Often
Trumpeter Jesse McGuire performed an outstanding rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before today's 49ers-Panthers game, and really, musicians should be used for the national anthem more often....

Greg Hardy's Dedicated To Being "Kraken"
We've previously highlighted Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and his tendency to dub himself "Kraken," but maybe we didn't realize the two might be overlapping personalities. Kraken's apparently not as disposable as one of Clinton Portis's alter egos....

"Alex Is Scared Of Needles": Bosch Explains Why He Injected A-Rod
Anthony Bosch spoke with the former news magazine 60 Minutes and the interview will air tomorrow night. During halftime of Colts-Patriots they previewed the interview and the biggest takeaway is that Alex Rodriguez is afraid of needles....

Colin Kaepernick At Hooters
A reader sends along this picture with only a subject that reads "Kaep at Hooters in Charlotte." Missing are the trademark chicken wings or human breasts, so it's hard to tell—though you do get an overall feeling of desperation—but it probably is a Hooters. It looks like he's signing an autograph fo...

The Florida Panthers Want $80 Million In Taxpayer Money, Just Because
The use of public funds on sports stadiums and arenas is bad enough, but at least there's a concrete goal: a new building, or renovations. The Florida Panthers have asked Broward County for $80 million in tax revenue with no specific end in mind; they'd just really like the cash....

Kevin Durant Tweets Smoking Selfie, Deletes It, Says He Was Hacked
This isn't scandalous as much as it is weird. Kevin Durant tweeted a photo of himself smoking—from what seems to be a hookah—before quickly deleting it and claiming his phone was hacked. Hookah's legal. (One can obviously pack other, non-NBA-approved things into a hookah, but there's no proof of tha...

Ric Flair Claims He's Received Death Threats From Panthers Fans
Ric Flair is one of North Carolina's favorite sons. He's also a stylin', profilin', limousine ridin', jet flyin', kiss-stealin', wheelin' and dealin' son of a gun, so when the 49ers invited him to address the team, he said hell yes. But now the 49ers are heading to Charlotte, and Panthers fans aren'...

Here's An Awesome Story About Greg Maddux
Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown just posted a nice column about Greg Maddux, and it is is full of the kind of anecdotes that have always made reading columns and profiles about Maddux so damn satisfying. One in particular caught our attention:...

Italian TV Presenter Goes Bananas After Kaka's 100th Milan Goal
Last time we caught up with Tiziano Crudeli, the famed AC Milan homer, he was near suicidal after a particularly tough Champions League loss. Lucky he decided against taking his life, otherwise he wouldn't have seen Kaka's 100th club goal and we wouldn't have this call....

NFL Films Taught Us How To Watch Football
Rich Cohen's great portrait of Ed and Steve Sabol:...

Anthony Sherman Touchdown Celebrations Are A Work In Progress
It's only, like, the second time he's ever done this though, so he's got time to work on it....

Why Are So Many Athletes Posing For Pictures With A Holocaust Denier?
San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker's fascism problem started years ago, but it didn't catch up to him until a week ago, on another continent, in another sport. ...

You Can Draft A Fantasy Puppy Bowl Team
We are only a month out from the sporting spectacle of the year: Puppy Bowl X. (The "X" is for eXtreme puppies. Also, "ten.") This year's edition will have a number of new wrinkles, but the biggest game-changer is the ability to play fantasy puppy football. Everything else on Feb. 2 has just been re...

Ben Vereen's National Anthem Performance Was A Mess
So, this is weird. Veteran actor Ben Vereen is probably best known to 30-somethings for two roles: 1.) Mayor Ben, a half-man, half-leopard mayor on the live-action acid trip called Zoobilee Zoo and, 2.) a small part as Will Smith's dad in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. ...

Mark Dantonio Wins 100th Rose Bowl, Picks Nose
Michigan State wins the Rose Bowl and Mark Dantonio gets a new contract that makes him one of the "three highest paid coaches in the Big 10"? There are worse days to get caught picking your nose on television. ...

A Very Knicks New Year's Eve, In Three Acts
God bless the holidays....

Read The Weird Emails Between A-Rod And The Yankees' President
If you haven't yet, you need to read Steve Fishman's amazing story in New York about the Alex Rodriguez saga, in which much of the drama takes place at a Miami tanning salon, making it the most Miami story of all time. While writing the story, Fishman got his hands on a series of email exchanges bet...

Greg Maddux Taught Me How To Watch Baseball
Having purchased a Hall of Fame ballot, which we filled out in accordance with the wishes of our readers, we're reviewing the merits—and relative lack of merits—of all 36 players on this year's ballot. All entries in the series can be found here....

Erin Andrews Asks Where Panthers Have To Get Better; Cam: "Charlotte"
Panthers quarterback Cam Newton spoke with Erin Andrews after a tight win over the Falcons for the NFC South title. There was a funny failure to communicate at one point, a few seconds after the minute mark in the video....

Chart: All 64 Potential NFC Seeding Outcomes
There's been a lot of talk about the injustice of an 11-5 Arizona Cardinals team not making the playoffs—a distinct possibility!—but we could also have a 12-4 team as the 5 seed and an 11-5 team as the 6 in the NFC....