ap Page 1669 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Chris Berman Was Looking Toasty Last Night
Hot on the heels of news ESPN would be putting him in the booth for Monday Night Football, Chris Berman showed up to call last night's Rays-Yankees game from St. Petersburg. It might have been the lighting, but it looks like Berman decided to enjoy some of the Suncoast's pristine beaches while down...

How Gilbert Arenas Might Not Save The Knicks From Losing Jeremy Lin
The Rockets have verbally agreed to a three-year contract worth $24.5 million with restricted free agent Omer Asik, worth about $5 million each in years one and two, and climbing to a ridiculous $14 million in the final year. The Bulls, who have the opportunity to match the offer, would find themsel...

The NFL Is Softening Its Blackout Policy
The Wall Street Journal published a piece over the weekend about dwindling attendance at NFL games and the league's plans to combat it. Buried within the story was this nugget:...

Ryan Lochte's "I ♥ BREAST" Shirt Wasn't Enough To Put Him Past Michael Phelps
Despite mopping the floor with Michael Phelps in the past few years of competition, Ryan Lochte found himself behind Phelps both times the swimming stars faced each other this weekend, in the 200 individual medley and the 200 freestyle. It didn't much matter—Phelps ended up qualifying in five event...

When The Machines Finally Take Over, It Will Be Because Of The Assholes Who Designed A Robot That Cheats At Rock-Paper-Scissors
Thanks to the incredibly short-sighted scientists at Japan's Ishikawa Oku Laboratory we now have this robot that will never, ever lose at rock-paper-scissors. And it's not even a cool robot that processes a million variables per second and beats you straight up. No, it's just got a super fast camer...

Clinton Moore's Wreck On A Failed Moto X 720 Was Bad Enough; Then Some Guy Picked Up His Bike And Ran Him Over With It
The X Games are underway—you knew they were underway, right?—and last night's competition in Los Angeles proved worth watching, as Ronnie Renner and Matt Buyten waged a historic battle in the Step Up competition (one finally won by Renner with a 47-foot high jump) and then a Best Trick final fille...

Here's A Gallery Of Some Constipated-Looking Olympic Divers
Yahoo has a great collection of the ridiculous faces divers make while spinning and flipping and plummeting down to their watery landing. Check it out for a few hearty laughs. [Yahoo] Photo via AP...

Ann Curry Was Never Going To Carry The Ball Over The Finish Line On The <em>Today</em> Show
So thanks to the Internet I'm looking at the L.A. Times and their "Company Town" thing, all about the Business of Show, because like the Tribune paper in Baltimore, my town, in the IN THE NEWS or HOT TOPICS bar, if you will, across the top of the Web page I saw ANN CURRY, and my first reaction was ...

Report: Investigators Now Looking Into How Administrators Disciplined Penn State Football Players
We've mentioned how the Jerry Sandusky verdict is only the beginning for Penn State. There are still the ongoing investigations by the feds and by former FBI director Louis Freeh—hired by the Board of Trustees to do an independent inquiry—that could implicate what role, if any, university officials ...

TV People Can't Pronounce "Wimbledon" Correctly
This year's Wimbledon has featured a number of striking upsets—none more shocking than Rosol over Nadal yesterday—which means the event has drawn attention from media outlets less familiar with sport's most famous fortnight than usual....

Better Know An Umpire: Lance Barksdale
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

Italy Beats Germany In Soccer, Vulgar Newspaper Headlines
Ahead of their Euro semifinal match yesterday, one German paper stuck a bunch of Italian players on a pizza and called it an insult. They don't know from insults. The Italians? They know insults....

Here's The Absolute Worst Draft Analysis Written Today
It's early—like, 14 hours after the draft, and we empirically don't know how any of the players chosen will perform in the NBA—but I think we have already a winner for the trollingest post-draft column. To be fair to the Denver Post's Mark Kiszla, his job is to stir up shit. But this is something sp...

Pucks, Lies, And Videotape: Where Is The Kings' Stanley-Cup-Winning Puck?
The last puck of the Stanley Cup Finals: an important relic, timeless for the player who gets to keep it as a souvenir of the greatest achievement of his profession life, yet strangely secondary. In the rush to celebrate the final horn, not a single member of the Kings gave a thought to that little ...

Balotelli Wasn't The Only Super Mario In Attendance At Yesterday's Euro 2012 Match
It is not a stretch to suggest these gentlemen are actual plumbers, or if they have been in possession of mushrooms at one time or another. We're eagerly anticipating their appearance at Sunday's final; the Italians will need a fire flower or two to get past a tough Spanish defense. (Or one of thos...

Harrison Barnes Appears To Not Know How Baseball Caps Are Worn
Amateur drafts are kind of stupid from a wardrobe standpoint, as athletes wear the fanciest suits their agents will buy for them and then strap on a hideous team-related baseball cap as soon as the commissioner calls their name....

The Biggest Winner In Marlon Byrd's PED Bust? Marlon Byrd. The Biggest Loser? The Cubs (Of Course).
When MLB announced Monday that noted Victor Conte client Marlon Byrd would be suspended for 50 games after he tested positive for taking an estrogen inhibitor, it was reported that Byrd would be docked 50 days' pay, since that's what the rules say. The suspension began immediately, since Byrd is sti...

Better Know An Umpire: Mark Wegner
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

Clay Buchholz's "Vodka Pool Party" Controversy Says A Hell Of A Lot More About The Boston Media Than It Does About Clay Buchholz
Clay Buchholz went on the disabled list after being hospitalized for intestinal bleeding. After being released from the hospital yesterday, Buchholz showed up at a charity event at Foxwoods casino. This is a big deal, because certain media people are awful....

Latest Concussion Lawsuit Alleges 27-Year-Old Former NFL Guard Arron Sears Can No Longer Care For Himself
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held high hopes for guard Arron Sears when they drafted him out of Tennessee in the second round of the NFL draft. Instead, he lasted just two years in the league before leaving football due to neurological symptoms. Now, his family claims, the 27-year-old Sears can no long...