ap Page 1585 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Sometimes, Victory Can Be Agony Too
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Custody Battle Over Baby Orphaned By Jovan Belcher's Murder-Suicide
When Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, before killing himself last December, the saddest consequence was that little Zoey Michelle Belcher would be left without parents. Relatives of both Belcher and Perkins have staked custody claims, and they can't agree on...

A Japanese Team Was Interested In Alex Rodriguez
There's nothing the Yankees can do about the five years and $114 million remaining on Alex Rodriguez's contract unless he retires, or unless they can find a Japanese GM who hasn't been paying attention to MLB for the last three seasons....

Tim Donaghy On Game 2: Trying To Keep A Blowout Interesting
As he has done for us in years past, Tim Donaghy, the owner and operator of RefPicks.com and a former NBA referee who spent 11 months in prison for relaying inside information to gamblers, will review the performance of his former colleagues during the NBA Finals. Here's a quarter-by-quarter breakdo...

When Mike Tyson Is Performing At The Tony Awards, It's Time To Give Up
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After Another Early Summer, Everyone's On The Hot Seat In Pittsburgh
The Bruins have been salting the earth behind them in these playoffs, traumatizing Toronto and spurring New York to fire John Tortorella. Might they add to their coachkilling spree with Dan Bylsma's head? One report has owner Mario Lemieux already reaching for the ax....

The People's Cherce
A book you should have: Muhammad Ali: A Portrait in Words and Pictures. The words are by the late Wilfrid Sheed, the photographs by Neil Leifer. It's out-of-print but worth tracking down. ...

Tennis for Savages
Nice piece by Corey Kilgannon in the Times today on Joseph Durso, handball champion:...

No One Notices The Spurs Because No One Notices San Antonio
Here's a working barstool-grade theory as to why, during its dynastic run to four (perhaps soon five) titles since 1999, America still embraces the San Antonio Spurs with a yawn and a why are you still here? squint. This phenomenon has flustered if not baffled sports cognoscenti for years. But they ...

Serena Williams Just Won the 2013 French Open
Top-seeded Serena Williams just beat Maria Sharapova in straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-4, to clinch this year's French Open. It capped a ridiculous tournament for the 31-year-old champion, who mowed down her opponents en route to the second French Open win in her career....

Tim Donaghy On Game 1: The Make-Up Call That Sealed A Spurs Win
As he has done for us in years past, Tim Donaghy, the owner and operator of RefPicks.com and a former NBA referee who spent 11 months in prison for relaying inside information to gamblers, will review the performance of his former colleagues during the NBA Finals. Here's a quarter-by-quarter break d...

My Dinner With Ali
Adapted from the original, which was published in 1989 in the Louisville Courier-Journal Magazine. Footnotes from the author (as told to Tommy Craggs) are included throughout the story, and a postscript from Glenn Stout, editor of Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Sports Writing series, follows. The ...

David Ortiz Hit A Walk-Off Home Run That's Famous As Fuck
Big Papi homered off Michael Kirkman in the bottom of the ninth. It was his 11th career walk-off home run, and first in four years, and it kept the Sawx 1.5 games ahead in ... ah, who cares? Check out his T-shirt!...

Let's Hope This Spurs-Heat Finals Lasts Forever
It didn't take long for the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat to set the tone for Game 1 of the NBA finals. The game started with Mario Chalmers feeding a beautiful pocket pass on the break to LeBron James, who then sliced into the lane and dropped the ball off for an easy Dwyane Wade dunk. A few...

Serena Williams Is Destroying Everyone In The French Open
It's time to talk about Serena Williams. ...

A Little Greedy, And Exactly Right: Red Smith On Secretariat
Red Smith is the most respected sports columnist we've ever had. In his prime, Jimmy Cannon, Smith's friendly rival, was certainly as well-known. Cannon, the Voice of New York, was an emotional, colloquial writer whose reputation, unfortunately, has faded. But Smith endures. What is it about his wri...

On the Slant
A few weeks ago I had a phone conversation with Red Smith's biographer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Ira Berkow. He told me:...

Buy This Guy's Book
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Ump John Hirschbeck Gets Drilled With Fastball, Crew Still Blows Call
Umpiring comes with all sorts of occupational hazards, not the least being that a catcher might just whiff on a 93-mph fastball, allowing it to connect directly with one's bare hand. ...

Shane Battier Says Getting Benched Was Like Eating A "Turd Sandwich"
Hey, Shane Battier, how did it feel to spend all of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on the bench?...