as Page 2461 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

About Last Night ...
What you missed while assembling the plastic tree (it'll be the merriest Christmas ever!) ... • Killingsworth Softly With His Song: Duke barely survives against Indiana in college hoops. • NBA: Knicks beat Bulls by nine — those 45 free throws they made may have played a role. • NHL: Sharks suffer 10...

Buy Manny's Apartment!
As speculation continues that Manny Ramirez will be long gone from Boston by the end of the season, it's now official that he's selling his condo at the primo Ritz Carlton Penthouse building....

Athlete Run-Ins: When This Port-A-Potty's Rockin' ...
Today's final athlete run-in story involves Angels first baseman/outfielder/hustle enthusiasts Darin Erstad keeping his cool in a situation that, we'll confess, we'd have considerable trouble with. It comes from Michael in Nebraska:...

Michael Irvin's Selective Memory
Yesterday, we were wondering when, exactly, ESPN found out about "analyst" Michael Irvin's arrest last week. Well, USA Today's intrepid Michael Hiestand talked to Bristol brass for today's paper, and it turns out, they found out Sunday, two days after the arrest ... but not from Irvin....

Athlete Run-Ins: Steve's Sax
Today's first athlete run-in story is so terrifying that we have no choice but not to believe it, though the guy insists it's true. It's about former big leaguer Steve Sax. We present it with little comment, from J.R. in Atlanta....

Yahoo's Fantasy Football Screwed Up. Don't Riot, People!
Most common email we've received this morning: What's up with Yahoo's fantasy football page? For whatever reason, the site is just showing the first names of every player and says they're all on a bye week. We're sure this will be fixed soon, but, honestly, nothing fires sports fans up more than ...

Bruce Weber's Lawn Exploits
Well, we won our bet and we have made our post. It occurs to us that if Illinois can win over Xavier on Saturday, the Illini will likely be in the top 10, and we are less than convinced they belong in the top 10. But that's all technical talk; you can get that from Andy Katz, along with a consider...

About Last Night ...
What you missed while playing "Zathura" ... • College Basketball: Illinois wins at North Carolina to avenge title-game loss. It's all downhill from here. • NBA: McGrady (we refuse to call him T-Mac) scores 25 to help Rockets end seven-game losing streak. • NHL: Lemieux returns, but Flightless Arctic...

The Rematch That Isn't, Not Really
The college basketball season really gets going tonight, as our beloved Big Ten takes its ritualistic beating in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, one of the few things ESPN does every year that makes us smile. And the centerpiece game is, of course, the "rematch" of last year's national championship gam...

Athlete Run-Ins: Embarrassing Kirk McCaskill
It's turn back the clock day here with athlete run-ins, as we continue our curious decision to focus on minor stories about minor sports stars. (Hey, they're not all Tim Duncan going crazy in a bar, you know.) This one features former White Sox and Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill — whom was once cho...

Fun With Trade Rumors
We like it when the Internet has something before the Jayson Starks of the world do, so we're gonna run with this, because it's the end of November and not much is more fun than a good trade rumor. According to MLB Trade Rumors, the St. Louis Cardinals are "close" to a "major" move, with sources s...

Why Your Hometown Columnist Sucks: Peter Kerasotis
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom. Yes, you read that correctly. Wisdom. How did Charles Dickens miss the boat on this whole one-sentence paragraph thing? Clearly today's breed of sportswriters are far better wordsmiths than the old quill pen-and-in...

Athlete Run-Ins: The Proper Way To Beep
Today s first athlete run-in story is more than 20 years old, which, frankly, makes it that much more fun and more believable. It involves old offensive lineman, current Fox broadcaster and - obviously, from that picture — avid hunter Bill Maas and his time at the University of Pittsburgh. We know...

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:...

Sleepless In Athens, Ohio
You wake up to the light in your eyes. Blinking, you try to adjust. The man with the light is very authoritative, and more than a little pissed. You must have been asleep for a while. Jesus, what time is it?...

About Last Night ...
What you missed while playing with the brand new sonogram you bought ... • NFL: Colts trample Steelers 26-7 to go 11-0, setting up everyone for ultimate disappointment at some point in the near future. • NBA: Nuggets lose to Nets, Carmelo injured — is there really a reason to go on? • NHL: Jimmy How...

Analyzing Irvin's Explanation, Matlock Style
All right, so we know we've harped on this quite a bit already, but we don't want to be all flippant and blog-like on you here: We have to delve into this Michael Irvin business a little bit more. You see, we want to dig down deep into Mr. Irvin's explanation of why there was a pipe in his car, ex...

The Return Of Grady
You knew it was going to happen, because baseball is just too goofy of a game for it not to: Famed goofus Grady Little could be returning to the dugout. The Los Angeles Dodgers are interviewing Grady for their open managerial position, which makes sense in a certain way, considering the Dodgers ar...

Michael Irvin's Curious Company
OK, time for a Michael Irvin update. On Friday, Irvin was cited for having drug paraphernalia in his automobile — wouldn't it be great if Irvin drove a Cooper Mini, by the way? — and yesterday (and today) he's defending himself....

Athlete Run-Ins: Rasheed In The UNC Days
As we stretch our legs this morning and get back into our athlete run-in series, we pause to prepare for tomorrow night's Illinois-North Carolina rematch of last year's national championship game, which Illini coach Bruce Weber says he knows is important because, "Nike is issuing us new uniforms."...