at Page 1923 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Your Divisional Playoffs Open Thread
Seattle at Atlanta 1:00 p.m. (FOX): Well, it's put up or shut up for the "Falcons stink in the playoffs" narrative. It really could not have shaken out any worse for them, though, as the white-hot Seattle Seahawks come into town. While Atlanta was winding down the season, securing the top seed in th...
Justin Tucker's Practice Kicks Before His Game-Winner Were Not Allowed, But They Were Also Not Not Allowed
Before Justin Tucker made the field goal that ended the the fifth longest game in NFL history yesterday, he jogged onto the field between the two overtimes and had an assistant coach hold the ball for him while he practiced his kicks. Champ Bailey was dismayed, as you can see in the video above, b...
N.C. State Upset Duke Yesterday On The Strength Of This <i>Braveheart</i>-Inspired Speech (Probably)
I'll be honest, I watched this thinking it would be stupid and boring and not worth watching. But you know what? It's kind of fun. And let's be honest, these guys are the red-headed stepchildren of Carolina, they deserve a little moment in the sun. So here's a little Braveheart-themed pep rally be...
H, Y, and Z Are Your Money Letters: How To Beat Scrabble's Flawed Points System, Using Google-Powered Math
This week the director of research at Google, a fellow named Peter Norvig, published on his blog the results of a fascinating deep-dive into the English language. If you're at all interested in letter frequency or word frequency, you owe it to yourself to at least skim Norvig's post. Essentially the...
Cold Weather Football Is The Best: Answering All Your Questions About Today's 20° Below Freezing AFC Divisional Game
So, what's the weather going to be like in Denver today? Accuweather says it's currently 12° Fahrenheit. The high today is 16°, and the temperature is expected to drop back down to 8° by the evening, when the game will be finishing up. There will be snow, too, if not blankets of it: Flurries fell a...
No. 1 Duke Suffers First Loss To Some Team Or Other As Nation Revels In Annual Guilty Pleasure
It's not the Yankees losing in the divisionals, nor a conference rival pantsing Alabama midseason. Nor is it quite the Lakers fizzling in May, or the Cowboys losing year after year after year after delicious year....
Dick Vitale Would Like To Know Whether "The Young Guy With The Wheelchair" That Stormed The Court At NC State Is OK [UPDATE: He Is]
NC State upset Duke today 84-76, bringing to a close Duke's undefeated run and perhaps ruining their number one ranking, but who cares, because this happened at the end of the game: A young man in wheelchair zoomed out on to the court with the rest of crowd to celebrate the win, and Dick Vitale ha...
"What A Joke This Sport Is!" Jeff Van Gundy Is Not A Fan Of The Designated Hitter Rule
The Thunder's beat-down of the Lakers last night got a little boring towards the end, as beat-downs will, and unlike some spectators, Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy were contractually obligated to remain in their seats. Naturally, talk turned to the designated hitter, and—like many people, but in h...
Taste Test: The Portable Yogurt That Isn't
Go-Gurt's charmingly daft, hilariously unappetizing name implies its creation myth: the notion that, out there in the world, there were consumers who liked feeding their kids delicious, nutritious yogurt, but were frustrated by its cripplingly immobile nature—"I need a portable, on-the-go yogurt!" ...
New Browns Head Coach Rob Chudzinski May Have The Clevelandest Surname In The NFL
As strange as it was to see the Browns fire Pat Shurmur after a 5-11 season—after all, isn't that merely upholding The Browns Way?—it seemed even more peculiar for them to hire in his place a 44-year-old without a lick of NFL head-coaching experience....
Andray Blatche Played Pretty Well In His Second Game Since Allegedly Watching Two Of His Friends Rape A Drugged Girl In His Hotel Room
Here are three Andray Blatche-related headlines since Tuesday, January 8, when news broke that Blatche had somehow been involved in an alleged rape—if in no other way, then by having rented the room in which the alleged rape took place: "Andray Blatche 'not worried at all,'" from ESPN, "Blatche Focu...
Tim Tebow's Press Conference Sucked, or Why the Celebrity Headphone Trend Is Idiotic
At the end of December, a PR agency representing Tim Tebow's new signature line of Soul brand headphones—model number SL300, $299.95 retail—emailed us to invite us to a CES event at which Tebow himself would be showcasing his headphones and "speaking with the media." The event was total bullshit. J...
Peter King Is Staying At <em>Sports Illustrated</em>
Peter King's contract is set to expire in a few weeks, but he's staying at SI. A source tells us that King has signed a deal for at least five years at the weekly magazine. An announcement is expected to go out tonight. There were rumors that King was being chased by NBC Sports and ESPN, and he lef...
It Looks Like Cardale "Ain't Come To Play SCHOOL!" Jones Has Changed His Ways
Thanks to the Daily Dot, we've stumbled upon what appears to be Cardale Jones's new Twitter account. You may recall that Jones, the third-string quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, deleted his original account after sending out this hilarious tweet. Jones's new account, however, is full of upl...
The 15 Or So Most Watchable Teams In College Basketball: A Ranking
A weekly (or so) ranking of college basketball teams on the basis of watchability and with very little regard to how good they might be. ...
What Happens When You Try To Buy Or Sell Counterfeit NFL Jerseys?
Slate's Josh Levin attended the Seahawks-Redskins game on Sunday, and, while he saw a lot of genuine RGIII memorabilia, he also saw plenty of knockoffs. So, in this week's excerpt from the Hang Up and Listen podcast, Josh dives in to this nefarious underworld. Where does counterfeit memorabilia come...
Horse Escapes Racetrack, Runs Down Highway For A Couple Miles
This morning, at Laurel Park in Maryland, Bullet Catcher made a break for it. The four-year-old gelding was returning to his stable after a workout when he decided he was fed up with the whole thing. He threw his jockey, somehow got past the stable gate, and took off....
Eyewitness: Former Steeler Chris Rainey Didn't Slap His Girlfriend
We told you yesterday about Chris Rainey's arrest for allegedly slapping his girlfriend in Gainesville, Fla., which led to Rainey getting cut by the Steelers by the afternoon. Late last night, we received an email from a woman who says she saw what went down, and that her version of events doesn't m...
Tiger Woods Wants $3 Million Just To Show Up For A Tournament
Tiger Woods, fully healthy, isn't waiting to kick off his 2013 schedule. Next week he's playing a European Tour event in Abu Dhabi, and the week after he'll be at Torrey Pines for his first PGA Tour stop. But if things had worked out a little differently—if Tiger's price wasn't too high even for a p...
ESPN SportsNation, Like The Academy, Fucking Loves <em>Lincoln</em>
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences really doesn't like to rock the boat. Sure, they'll slip a couple surprises into their Oscar nominations, but for winners they're generally more comfortable going with the broadly-appealing, safe, consensus picks....