ap Page 1674 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Aubrey Huff Hurt Himself Celebrating Matt Cain's Perfect Game
Baseball players: can they stop getting injured in ludicrous ways? No, they can not, and we are thankful for it....

Better Know An Umpire: Sam Holbrook
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.)...

From Ukraine With Love: 24 Racism-Free Hours At Euro 2012
KIEV & KHARKIV, Ukraine—The fast train from Kiev to Kharkiv takes four hours. I know this, although I am not on it. I want to be on it, but tickets are gone, sold weeks ago to assorted Germans and other more prepared fans traveling from the Ukrainian capital to the industrial city that lies 300 mile...

Accuser: Jerry Sandusky Called Himself The "Tickle Monster" Before Touching Him In Shower
We'll have a more comprehensive roundup of the last two days of testimony at the Jerry Sandusky trial a bit later, but here's something particularly icky that just couldn't wait: An alleged victim who took the stand this morning said Sandusky referred to himself as the "tickle monster" before huggin...

Steelers Receiver Dropped From Anti-Littering Campaign After Pleading Guilty To Littering
Pittsburgh is cracking down on littering, and it's not messing around. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the city's mayor announced last month that "police will more strictly enforce the city's litter ordinances and fine scofflaws who throw trash on the ground." And, no, no one is above th...

Charles Barkley Got Pumped Up Before Games By Listening To Mariah Carey
The long-awaited Dream Team documentary premiered on NBA TV last night, and while the program was full of revelations there's none more amusing than this shot of Charles Barkley's Discman as he cues up some music before one of the '92 team's games in Barcelona....

Judge Denies House Arrest For Floyd Mayweather, Who Says Jail Is Ruining His Body And Career
A Nevada judge ruled late today that Inmate #01363917, better known as boxer Floyd Mayweather, would not be granted his request for house arrest and must serve out the remainder of his sentence, which is scheduled to end on August 3. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has all the details from today's deci...

The NFL Asks Pacman Jones To Scare This Year's Rookies Straight
I guess being a 147-time offender in the NFL actually does have its perks. Adam Pac-Man Jones told the Cincinnati media that Commissioner Roger Goodell has called on him to speak to this year's group of incoming rookies on how they can avoid screwing up whatever promising career they hold in front o...

NCAA Mistakenly Sends FCS National Championship Banner To Rival School
What's the difference between North Dakota and North Dakota State? Fuck if the NCAA knows. North Dakota State won the FCS title in January, but the NCAA accidentally mailed the championship banner to North Dakota, even going so far as to address it to North Dakota's athletic director by name. But ge...

Better Know An Umpire: Rob Drake
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.)...

Dear ESPN: Your Movie-Tie-In Promos Suck
I was watching the NBA Finals last night. Or, at least, I was attempting to watch them. ESPN was unconcerned with my ability to watch the fucking game and much more interested in running 17 different introductory segments to the game. This is what ESPN always does. They run a dramatic intro to the g...

Twins Fan Catches Foul Ball Without Interrupting Cell Phone Conversation
"Right. Uh huh. Yeah. Hey. Yeah. Oh, boy. ... Here it ... I gotta ... Huh. ... OK, right. Oh, I know, totally. [Here you go, hun.] What's that? Oh, nothing. Listen, lemme call you back."...

The Mets Are Milking Johan Santana's No-Hitter For All It's Worth
Not simply content with selling $50 replica game tickets, the Mets are now auctioning off a slew of game-used items from Johan Santana's June 1 no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals, with each item signed by Santana himself. Want David Wright's game-worn jersey? That'll run you $1,650. A game-us...

LeBron James Cuddled The Larry O'Brien Trophy Like It Was One Of His Children
I had a conversation about LeBron James with my grandmother at a cousin's wedding in Colorado this weekend. My Баба lives outside of Cleveland, and like all awesome old ladies she has strong opinions about sports. Our discussion turned to basketball and LeBron James's psyche....

For $42 Million, The London Olympics Opening Ceremony Will Resemble The English Countryside
After the spectacle of the opening (and closing) ceremonies in Beijing four years ago, Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle is really feeling the pressure to deliver on something magical and memorable for London. He's only got 44 days to pull it all together, and today we got our first look at what he...

PSU Assistant Who Says He Saw Jerry Sandusky Raping A Boy Turned Out To Be Pretty Credible After All
A little more than a month ago, I declared that Mike McQueary, the prosecution's star witness in the Jerry Sandusky case, was "the worst witness ever." I had based my assessment on inconsistencies in statements McQueary is said to have made, both privately and under oath, since the release of the Sa...

The Judge Who Scored The Fight For Pacquiao Doesn't See What All The Fuss Is About
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Judge Jerry Roth can't believe anyone thought Pacquiao-Bradley was one-sided....

The Thunder Are A Matchup Nightmare For Copy Editors. So Is The Heat.
Tonight's tipoff between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat is a milestone for American pro sports. For the first time, a major championship is pitting two teams whose names are mass nouns rather than ordinary plurals. The naming fad that gave us the Heat and the Orlando Magic at the end o...

Bristolmetrics: The Miami Heat Got 120 Minutes Of <i>SportsCenter</i> Coverage Last Week; Every Other Sport Shared 130
When last we met, the Heat got more coverage than the Western Conference, Stephen A. Smith was inexplicably promoting a sci-fi blockbuster, and the NHL was discussed less than the Indy 500. What would this week bring? ...

Lil Wayne Will Be Courtside At The Thunder Game Tonight
Remember the uproar over Lil Wayne's Thunder seats during the Western Conference Finals? Weezy said he was banned from sitting courtside at Game 3 because he was black. The Thunder said they merely ran out of acceptable tickets. The internet said Wayne was banned, but that James Harden orchestrated ...