as Page 1902 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Ethiopian Steeplechaser Slams Into Race's Final Hurdle, Leaves Track In A Wheelchair
Here's pretty much the definition of "agony of defeat": Ethiopian steeplechase competitor Birhan Getahun, already far at the back of his qualifying heat at the end of the race, fails to navigate the final hurdle and slams down to the track. (Steeplechase hurdles, unlike those used in the hurdle ev...
Everything You Never Needed To Know About Trampoline
Trampolining is not just for cute foxes in viral videos—it's a crazypants real sport that made its Olympic debut in 2000. As Canadian Karen Cockburn, the bronze medalist at those games, said after winning her medal, "A lot of people don't really know what trampoline is, they think it's a toy you jum...
Olympics Field Guide: Zac Purchase & Mark Hunter: Rowing's Odd Couple
Names: Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter...
Before Steroids And Supplements, Olympics Dopers Used Brandy And Strychnine
These days, Olympians have to pass random drug tests and steer clear of shady supplements to avoid the wrath of the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency. But back in 1904, during the Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Thomas Hicks of the United States (pictured above, middle) secured gold in the marathon rac...
Remembering When Bill Russell Played A Corrupt Judge On <em>Miami Vice</em>
I'd love to know the backstory behind this inspired bit of casting. Who is it that looks at a script calling for a corrupt Miami judge and says, "Get me Bill Russell on the phone now!" Indeed, in a second-season episode of Miami Vice, Russell makes a star turn as a crooked judge who pays off gambl...
NBC Aired A Promo Featuring A Monkey Doing Gymnastics At The Most Inopportune Time
After Bob Costas wound down tonight's Olympics coverage by editorializing about Gabby Douglas's all-around gold medal ending stereotypes and tearing down racial barriers, NBC followed it up immediately with this promo for Animal Practice featuring a monkey doing gymnastics. That's... unfortunate....
Gabby Douglas's Beam Performance Gives Us The Defining Photo Of The London Olympics
I'm just not certain how sports photography gets any better than this. Greg Bull of the Associated Press deserves every Sports Photo of the Year Award coming his way in a few months' time. Gabby Douglas gave a historic performance today in the women's gymnastics all-around, and this is a photo worth...
Women's Gymnastics: Gabby Douglas Leaves The Rest Of The World Behind
Where the Olympic men's gymnastics all-around final had been a gradual, predictable victory for favorite Kohei Uchimura, the women's final came down to the last routine and the last score. When the tabulation was done, Gabby Douglas of the United States took the title, becoming the first woman of co...
This Was The Only Positive For Nigeria In The Basketball Game They Just Lost To The U.S. By 83 Points
The final was 156-73, and as we watched the end of it here in the Deadspin office, we kept marveling at how Andre Iguodala, James Harden, Deron Williams, and Kevin Love kept chucking three-pointers in the final minutes. It was as if the U.S. would lose if it didn't win by 70....
Fake, Jingoistic, And Stupid: Gymnastics Coverage Is The Worst Part Of NBC's Olympics
If you have a full-time job, no privacy at work, and/or a boss who cares about productivity, you probably didn't spend two hours in the middle of the day, like I did, watching the women's all-around Olympic gymnastics final. This means that you get to see it tonight on NBC, with routines sprinkled b...
The Russia/Brazil Basketball Game Ended On This Wild Three-Pointer
The Russians led by 11 at one point in the third quarter, but they blew it. Enter Alexey Shved and Vitaliy Fridzon. Trailing 72-67 with 26 seconds to go, Shved scored five straight points to tie the game. But Brazil went back in front when Marcelinho Huertas scored on a layup with 6.1 seconds left...
Something Weird Is Going On With Josh Hamilton
Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton began this season looking like he might win the triple crown as he spent the months of April and May knocking the shit out of the ball. At the end of May, he was sporting a .344/.405/.781 slash line, along with 12 home runs and 32 RBI. .368/.420/.764 slash line alon...
Remembering The Joyous, Tie-Dyed All-Stars Of The 1992 Lithuanian Basketball Team
In the summer of 1992, a pair of teams from freedom-loving nations took the Olympics by storm. At the end of the Games, both stood proudly on the medal stand as their flags rose to the rafters. 20 years later, two documentaries were made about their exploits....
Would You Like To Donate Money To A $50,000 Sarah Phillips Documentary? If So, You Are Too Late
A few days ago, someone wanted to raise $50,000 for a Sarah Phillips documentary. As we remember, Phillips got into all sorts of trouble while she was a columnist at ESPN and a gambling columnist at Covers.com. But this proposed documentary didn't set out to wrestle broader themes like creepy scams...
Visual Confirmation That Mario Seneca Is The Most Sensitive Umpire In Baseball History
Last night, we told you about minor league umpire Mario Seneca, who ejected the music guy/college intern working for the high-A Daytona Cubs for playing "Three Blind Mice" after a questionable call. Today, video of the incident has surfaced (thanks to the Daytona Cubs themselves) and it confirms o...
Olympic Photographer Forgets To Remove Lens Cap, Can't Figure Out Why He Can't Take Pictures
A moment of levity yesterday, as one sad-sack photographer struggled to work out why he couldn't get some good closeups of eventual all-around gold medalist Kohei Uchimura. After 10 solid seconds of checking his camera, a revelation: the lens cap was still on. We've all been there, guy....
Recruiter In UCF Scandal Tries To Clear His Name With Bizarre YouTube Explanation
The University of Central Florida football and men's basketball teams were hit with one-year postseason bans Tuesday for allegations that both squads conducted under-the-table business, primarily with a man named Ken Caldwell, that basically amounted to shady recruiting tactics between a third par...
How A Career Ends: Dominique Moceanu, America's Youngest Gold-Medal Gymnast
Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they knew their playing days were over. Today: Dominique Moceanu, the youngest American, at age 14, to ever win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. Moceanu was part of the Magnificent Seven—along with Sha...
Gore Vidal's First Love: The Baseball Star Turned War Hero
As of Wednesday morning, administrators at Rock Creek Cemetery in D.C. hadn't heard yet whether Gore Vidal would actually be filling the burial plot he reserved there for himself some years ago. But Vidal, who died yesterday in Los Angeles at 86, has a couple reasons to get shipped back to his boyho...
Gregor Blanco's Diving Catches Are Becoming Even More Impressive
This is getting to be old hat for San Francisco Giants fans. First, Blanco became a folk hero in SF for saving Matt Cain's perfecto with an incredible late-game diving catch. Blanco put forth a more impressive version of that feat Wednesday night, with less inherent drama but way more bodily extens...