art Page 321 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Welcome To The Bizarro NFL
Word on the street is that the Green Bay Packers are set to hire San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy as the team's new head coach, with an announcement to come maybe later today. This may come as a surprise to, well, anyone who is familiar with the final NFL regular season stan...

Elsewhere...
• Morris Peterson gets ejected from the Raptors/Nets game for slapping Vince Carter in the face. I didn't see it, so I can't comment, but I can't think of too many reasons to not slap Vince Carter. Sorry. I'm not a Vince Carter fan....

Jamar Smith Fever, People: Catch It
Our father knows us very well, so when we went home for the holidays, he bought us the best gift we can remember receiving: A Illini jersey T-shirt of Jamar Smith. Who's Jamar Smith, you ask? Oh, you'll know very soon. He's the Illini's freshman shooting guard whose 3-point touch is like a tip-in....

They're Not Booing. They're Yelling "Stuuuu!"
We know this is our job and everything, but we'll admit, we, uh, weren't watching Stuart Scott's little New Years Eve "spectacular" in Times Square over the weekend. Sorry. We've let you down....

Clearing The 1 o'clock Table...
• San Diego 7, Kansas City 20. So, what did you use for pregame motivation, Marty, the tape of Jim Mora screaming, "PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS?!" I feel much pain. • Buffalo 37, Cincinnati 27. Rough day for Chad Johnson. First, someone stole his reindeer (I HATE YOU, whoever it was), and then, they lose to ...

Soon, They'll Start Stealing His Chicks
So here's a completely strange story: Apparently USC quarterback Matt Leinart — perhaps you've heard of him — was apparently suspended for the Rose Bowl for, like, an hour....

When In Trouble, Go After Magic
In the midst of his take-me-back contrition tour, Indiana Pacers small forward Ron Artest spoke to an Indianapolis radio station on Friday. Artest was asked his thoughts on Magic Johnson's recent comments that Artest didn't deserve a second chance....

Leinart Responds To Party Photos
As you might have heard yesterday, USC quarterback Matt Leinart was spotted at NYC hotspot Marquee after finishing third in Heisman voting on Saturday night and according to the emailer who sent us the photos, he hit on a Texas woman — described as "one of the nicest people" by one of our commente...

Matt Leinart's Big Post-Heisman NYC Adventure
We present the above picture, with the following story, without comment, sent anonymously to us this morning....

Ron Artest Back To Selling Crazy. Whew.
Our heads are still trying to get around the news that Indiana swingman Ron Artest has demanded a trade from the Pacers. Neverminding that the Pacers (and, specifically, Larry Bird) stood steadfast by their man while he was portrayed as Jeffrey Dahmer in the offseason. Neverminding that the city o...

NFL Roundup: "I Disagree With Your Decision And Shall Protest Thusly"
• It's funny, because if you remember when Guenther Cunningham actually coached the Chiefs, you'd understand that here, he's just giving his unique signal to go for two. • It's like the Chargers suddenly remembered that Marty Schottenheimer's their coach. • Anybody see the new ESPN magazine? (Anyb...

Artest Requests Trade
Saying that he "causes too many problems" in Indiana, Ron Artest has asked Pacers management to trade him. New York is his stated preference....

Boo-Yah In The New Year
If you're sitting alone on New Years Eve and just aren't getting full off EV1.net Houston Bowl between Texas Christian and Iowa State, you're in luck: ESPN2 will be hosting a live New Years Eve night show from the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. It will be hosted, inevitably...

Holiday Wishes From ESPN
The fine blue-collar folks at Joe Sports Fan have compiled their (fictional, sadly) list of holiday cards they received from various ESPN personalities. It's amusing enough for a Thursday morning....

A Day In The Life Of The "New" Michael Irvin
Well, it's the day after Michael Irvin's endless string of mea culpas following his arrest on Friday, and if Irvin's appearances had anything in common, it was their high proportion of "mea" to "culpa." Let's look back at Irvin's trip through the ESPN empire:...

Yes, We Saw It.
For those of you who keep asking ... yes. Yes, we saw Stuart Scott's "slam poetry" on SportsCenter this morning. There were Bengals highlights. And then there was a change in shadow, and then the slam came, and then in didn't stop, and then it kept going, and then it kept going, and it was astound...

Authors With Pure Hearts: Jeff MacGregor
Continuing our Sports Authors With Pure Hearts series, we present, honestly, one of our favorite sports books of all time: Sunday Money, a whirlwind, Kerouac-esque look at a year on the NASCAR circuit. Sports Ilustrated, New York Times and New Yorker author Jeff MacGregor, along with his photographe...

Picasso And Ron Artest Meet, One Year Later
We think the folks at Washington Wizards obsessive site Wizznutzz are certifiably bonkers, but we mean that in the best possible way. We meant to hit this last week, but on Friday they reposted their brilliant Picasso-inspired piece of art called "Aubernica", a dramatic surrealist rendering the f...

Angry Man In A Funny Shirt
We know it's almost holiday time because there's an inexplicable Monday afternoon college basketball game. We're going to try to tear ourselves away from CNN's monthly let's pretend we're not rooting for a live plane crash because it would be outstanding television to watch Michigan State play Cha...

Athlete Run-Ins: Matt Leinart's Surprise
These athlete stories, we have to say, they're really getting pretty fun, aren't they? After this morning's Andy Roddick story, we present a story about USC quarterback and co-ed depantser Matt Leinart ... AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE. From Los Angeles' John Bishop:...