ap Page 1566 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Ali In Exile: The Once And Future Champ Clowns In NYC, 1968
For several years in the late Sixties, while (largely) lesser fighters vied for the heavyweight title and while his great nemesis Joe Frazier was powering his way through the ranks, Muhammad Ali was effectively in exile. Barred from the prizefighting ring for refusing induction into the Army ("War i...

Report: A-Rod Argues He Had No Idea He Was Taking PEDs
This is what was missing from all of baseball's previous arbitration hearings: leaks! As Alex Rodriguez makes his case to shorten or throw out his 211-game suspension, the New York Daily News reports A-Rod's defense strategy. It's a familiar one....

Pouya Dianat's Gorgeous Baseball Photography
Slide on over to the New York Times and enjoy this slideshow of Pouya Dianat's beautiful photography. ...

George Parros Injured After Falling Face-First Onto Ice During Fight
Canadiens winger George Parros was taken off of the ice on a stretcher after falling on his face while fighting Colton Orr of the Maple Leafs. While falling, Orr held onto Parros, who was dragged down and had no way to protect himself as his face collided with the ice....

J.R. Smith Delayed Knee Surgery Until After He Signed His Contract
J.R. Smith had a pair of knee surgeries this summer, and could miss the start of the season. It wouldn't be an issue if he had the procedures done soon after the Knicks; season ended in mid-May; instead he waited until July 15th, a week after he signed a three-year $18 million extension. ...

WNBA Finals Games Kicked Out Of Philips Arena For Disney On Ice
The Atlanta Dream has to play its Finals home games at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, about a half hour outside of Atlanta, because Philips Arena is hosting Disney on Ice. ...

Mesut Özil's First Goal For Arsenal Was Kind Of Amazing
We all know about Mesut Özil by now. The 24-year-old playmaker is the truth. From the moment he first took the pitch for Arsenal last month, he's been setting up goals for his teammates, even though he's been unable to find the net himself since moving from Real Madrid. But that finally changed toda...

What's New In The NHL This Year?
The NHL season officially drops the puck tonight with two marquee matchups and some garbage involving the hobbled Oilers and miserable Jets. While loathe to break with our tradition of needlessly dismissive and alienating hockey previews, enough has changed this year to warrant a primer. ...

The Taxonomy Of Brewing: 500 Beers On One Ridiculous Chart
Updating their 2010 and 2011 offerings, Pop Chart Lab has released "The Magnificent Multitude of Beer," a 60'' x 40'' print/chart detailing dozens of brewing styles and sub-styles, as well as over 500 individual beers (click here for a larger version)....

Caps Tell NPR Not To Ask Ovechkin About Anti-Gay Laws; NPR Asks Anyway
Through this offseason of shoving a mic in the face of every potential Russian Olympic athlete to get a quote on Russia's anti-gay legislation, Alexander Ovechkin has proved elusive. No more. NPR tracked down Ovechkin, recently returned from carrying the Olympic torch, and posed the burning question...

Government Shutdown Cancels Service Academy Sports
The first government shutdown in 17 years is the result of Congress failing to pass a budget; without it, the government doesn't have the authority to spend money on anything but "essential" services. Sports are apparently not among them—the service academies have suspended all sporting events effec...

Jay Z Explains Why He'll Be A Good Sports Agent: "I Was A Drug Dealer"
The November issue of Vanity Fair features a big story on Jay Z—Get ready to find out how he wooed Beyoncé!—and the mag released an interview from the story today, a portion of which deals with Jay's recent venture into the world of sports agency:...

The Marlins Put The Wrong Date On Their Dumb, Fake No-Hitter Tickets
Well, stupid begets stupid. The Marlins have been selling the 9,100 unused tickets to Henderson Alvarez's walk-off no-hitter in the season finale. Dumb, but not unbearably so. Until they fucked up the date on the print-out tickets. ...

Jaguars Mascot Loses Bet, Takes 40 Paintballs To The Chest
For some reason, Jaxson DeVille keeps making bets with the mascots of opposing teams. Last week, he and the Indianapolis Colts' mascot decided that whoever's team lost Sunday's game would have to withstand a barrage of paintballs equal to the total number of points scored in the game. The Jags lost...

Eagles Respond To Peyton Manning Audible By Yelling "Papa John's!"
Peyton Manning and hard-drinkin' Papa John Schnatter have long been engaged in a lucrative business relationship. This fact was not lost on the Eagles' defense, which attempted to disrupt Manning's audibles during yesterday's game by screaming, "Papa John's!" at him. ...

Infographic Of Mariano Rivera's Career
The most talented Craig Robinson looks at Mariano Rivera's career....

The Marlins Are Selling Tickets To Henderson Alvarez's No-Hitter
Sunday's season finale was actually the fourth-best attended game of the year at Marlins Park. An announced crowd of 28,315 watched Henderson Alvarez complete a bizarre no-hitter that ended with him in the on-deck circle. Though the season is over, that game might turn out to be the Marlins' only se...

Drake And Rob Ford, Together At Last
There was a press conference in Toronto today to announce that the city will be hosting the 2016 NBA all-star game. Crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford was there. Toronto native Drake was also there, because Drake is now some kind of "global ambassador" for the Toronto Raptors, whatever that means. We're j...

Chart: Eli Manning Has Started 150 Consecutive Games; We Are Old
Eli Manning made his 150th consecutive start for the Giants this Sunday, completing 18 of 37 passes for 217 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The excellent New York Times graphics team has put Manning's feat of longevity into historical context, creating an interactive chart that chronicle...

Marching Band's Halftime Show Results In Six-Sousaphone Pileup
We're not sure when this happened, but it was uploaded to YouTube last week and it's getting around the internet today, so here we are. We do know that's the marching band from Lake Travis (Texas) High School, and we also know that pileup of sousaphone players was not supposed to be part of their ro...