ap Page 1603 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Media Approval Ratings: Jim Nantz
We are coming up on the busiest month of Jim Nantz's life. He'll be broadcasting the Final Four, and then he'll head off to the event that he seems born to cover, the Masters. We sometimes think Jim Nantz is the living embodiment of the Masters. This is both a good thing and a bad thing....

Bob Costas Thinks You're A Loser
Some of you out there might like Bob Costas. Some of you might not. We've always been partial to the guy, not just because he's a St. Louis guy, and not just because he did the intro to the final episode of "Cheers," though that certainly helps. Costas is an obviously intelligent guy, if a bit smugg...

Baseball Season Preview: Philadelphia Phillies
For the third consecutive season, we are proud to introduce the Deadspin Baseball Season Previews. Yes, baseball is awfully close now; it's spring training, after all....

Media Approval Ratings: Al Michaels
Of all the brilliance of the great Berman videos, our third biggest thrill (behind the initial outrage and the deux deux deux) involves his rants about Al Michaels. As we said before, in this tiny little universe, Berman seems to see Michaels as Mozart, and himself as Salieri. Which is just sad....

Media Approval Ratings: Joe Buck
After reading KSK's anonymous and almost certainly not true (but still quite entertaining) tale of Joe Buck rollicking out in Vegas, we figured this was as good a time as any to check in with the ominpresent Fox broadcaster....

Media Approval Ratings: Bill Raftery
We think it's kind of amazing that ESPN has Bill Raftery working with Jay Bilas this week at the Big East tournament. That's not because we don't like either of them; far from it. It's just that Bilas, as a game broadcaster, seems to be doing a Bill Raftery impersonation. Which is fine, of course....


About Last Night
What you missed while in jail ... • NBA: Take your time coming back, Yao. Rockets win 19th straight. • College basketball: Gonzaga losing to San Diego in the WCC final? Inconceivable! • NFL: Titans raid Colts, take OG Jake Scott. Peyton stocks up on aspirin....

Please Do Not Get Smudges On The Yankees' Uniforms; They Have To Last All Season
Yankees' manager Joe Girardi disagrees, however. And Don Zimmer disagrees with the disagreement....

Join The Deadspin NCAA Pants Party Pool
We're less than a week away from Selection Sunday — still some teams available in our tourney preview — which means it's time to start thinking about your brackets. Because you won't want to waste time signing up after the brackets are released, you should sign up for our Deadspin Pants Party pool r...

Media Approval Ratings: Tim Kurkjian
For the longest time, we thought the way Tim Kurkjian would pronounce his last name while signing off on ESPN telecasts was some sort of sonic illusion. "Tim KIRK ... (endless pause) ... JUN!, ESPN." We couldn't imagine he answered the phone like that at home....

Sign The Man Up To Play Third Base
Of all the teams whose spring trainings John Daly might visit, we have to say, it makes a certain amount of sense that he would drop by Phillies camp. As Bugs & Cranks points out, he doesn't look that much different than John Kruk, circa 1993....

Man's Gotta Have A Code
It's a non-selective Sunday without a great deal of intriguing matchups (sorry those looking for an Avalanche-Stars breakdown), so my attention turns to the grand finale of what has been hailed by a great many pundits as the Greatest TV Show of All-Time. I'm not qualified to make that judgment, but ...

"Kick Me In The Jimmy!"
Jaguars defensive tackle John Henderson needs that extra little slap in the face to get ready for gametime. Funny, as Brett Myers does the same thing to his wife come bedtime. I'd like to think Joe there was hired solely for this purpose. As seen on Jaguars job board: "Wanted: fella with shaved hea...

In What Universe Is This A Foul?
A foul, Mr. Official? Seriously? This call is the 2000 Florida election results of college basketball....

Soon, You Won't Even Be Able To Say The Word "Yankees"
The Cape Cod League is one of the minor leagues' most beloved and historic treasures, if you're into the whole "treasure" thing. The league was founded in 1885, which makes it as old as Yogi Berra. It also happens to have some of the same team names as Major League Baseball franchises, including the...

Media Approval Ratings: Mike Patrick
With the Duke-North Carolina game this weekend — and the accompanying drinking games — we thought it'd be the perfect day to take a look at the occasionally bizarre Mike Patrick....

Ministry Is Now Writing NHL Fan Songs
Anyone who had that collegiate/postcollegiate fervor of metal-sledged revolution will remember the anarchic thrust of the band Ministry. Every time we listened to that band, we were convinced the world was collapsing all around us and only our youthful vigor could save it. Then the song would end an...

The Marycuse Orangeapins
The College Basketball Closer is written by the gang at Storming the Floor....

Media Approval Ratings: Bob Costas
We once joked that Bob Costas seems like the type of guy who would pee sitting down, but that's a little harsher than our personal opinion toward him really is. He's a St. Louis guy, after all, and it's not everyone who can deal with both Dan Marino and Keith Olbermann....