ball Page 1436 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Learn About Grippers, The Affordable Way To Demonstrate Your Unnatural Forearm Strength
The man above is Manfred Hoeberl, a former fixture in the World's Strongest Man competitions they periodically rerun on ESPN2. He was—is?—very, very strong. But he doesn't use your silly, wasteful, boring means to test his strength. Nope. He uses grippers. They're affordable. And certified! Josh Lev...

The Coach Of The Junior Pee Wee Red Cobras Has Been Suspended After Allegations Of A Pop Warner Football Bounty Program
Kids—10- and 11-year-old kids—allegedly getting paid for whatever the Pop Warner equivalent of knockouts and cart-offs are. Yeah. "Kill the head and the body will grow up feeble and addled." The going rate for successfully concussing a tween? Between $20 and $50. Christ, society....

Washington Huskies Defensive Coordinator Justin Wilcox Finds Good Defense To Be A Turn-On
Washington upset the eighth-ranked Stanford Cardinal 17-13 last night in Seattle, leading to a field-rushing and a top moment in the still-evolving career of Steve Sarkisian. The defensive battle (neither team found the end zone until the second half) was, apparently, a point of pride for Huskies ...

Hooking Up At Night In Central Park Is Every Bit As Foolish As You'd Expect
Welcome to Great Moments in Drunken Hookup Failure, where we showcase three heartwarming true stories of drunken love gone horribly awry. Off we go....

The Many Horrible, Stupid Faces Of Roger Goodell: A Gallery Of Authoritarian Derp
Roger Goodell is the worst, a nothingburger who rose to power on his daddy's good name, a sort of Commissioner Fredo whose legacy thus far is two self-destructive labor fights, some owner collusion, and ceaseless bullshit about the sanctity of the game. We've spent a lot of time writing about all t...

When Good Statistics Go Bad: The Case Against The Case Against R.A. Dickey
R.A. Dickey, objectively speaking, is the greatest human being in history. His knuckleball destroys cities and he climbed a huge fucking mountain. But should he win the Cy Young Award?...

Quarterback Throws The Ball Like A Wedding Bouquet, And Holy Crap It Works
Sometimes, it takes more than heart to upset the No. 1-ranked team in the conference. Sometimes, it takes a little madness....

Brett Favre's Undefeated Coaching Record Is Over Thanks To This Hail Mary That Elicited Redneck Euphoria
Brett Favre's post-playing career as a high school offensive coordinator found the spotlight of national cable television last night, as his undefeated Oak Grove team took on Petal in a bout of Mississippi heavyweights. It didn't go so well for our favorite text messager, as Favre's squad struggled...

Replacement Official Speaks Out: "The Last Guy Who Was Perfect They Nailed To A Cross"
By the time the referee lockout ended last night, many of the scab replacements had become notorious for blunders or impropriety of some kind. Jeff Sadorus fell into that classification when reports surfaced 10 days ago that he had been a paid practice official for years with the Seattle Seahawks, w...

Tonight's Referee Crew Walked Out To A Standing Ovation In Baltimore
Referee Gene Steratore and his officiating crew, with a combined 70 years of professional experience, walked out of the M&T Bank Stadium tunnel to a standing O and cheers from everyone on hand. (For the record, the first penalty of tonight's game came just 2:41 in: Illegal contact on the Browns de...


Are Commissioners Pointless?
Drew Magary's Thursday Afternoon NFL Dick Joke Jamboroo runs every Thursday during the NFL season....

Seven Years After Getting Concussed By The First Pitch He Saw, Adam Greenberg Gets A Second Chance
Adam Greenberg's career slash line is .000/1.000/.000. On July 9, 2005, Greenberg made his debut with the Chicago Cubs when he entered a game against the Marlins as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. His major league debut ended abruptly, though, when Valerio de los Santos's first pitch, a 92-mph f...

"The Referee Lockout Is Over! Let's Give Roger Goodell A Raise," Says Shill
I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that this happened, but it's maddening, nonetheless. Shortly after the NFL referee lockout came to an end last night, Mike Florio posted this pile of crap on ProFootballTalk.com, in which he argues that Roger Goodell actually deserves our praise for how he handle...

The Time Tampa Bay's Rookies Put On Wigs, Dressed In Bikinis, And Danced In Front Of The Green Monster
Oh, to be a Major League Baseball rookie. Tampa Bay Rays ace David Price recorded this video yesterday, and while some teams will make their newbies carry children's luggage or dress funny to and from the stadium, that won't fly for Tampa Bay. You've got to get in bikinis and dance around in front...

The NFL's Replacement Referees Will Not Be Missed, But They Did Entertain Us
Here's a greatest hits compilation that surfaced on YouTube within minutes of the news that the NFL and its referees had come to agreement on a new labor deal. Seeing all these lowlights strung together in one sad clip after another does give an appreciation for the unprecedented levels of suckitu...

Bristolmetrics: Everybody Hates Lane Kiffin
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week....

Texas A&M Has Added Fine Print To Those Conference Championships It Invented Over The Summer
Kyle Field got some interesting additions in the offseason. Maybe you thought that Texas A&M only had one national title, because they do. But the Aggies decided to add two more, and two conference championships on top of that. How'd they do it? A little creative accounting....

Some College In Minnesota Painted Its Midfield Logo On The Wrong Yard Line
The University of Minnesota, Crookston, allows student volunteers to paint the logo on the field in advance of its homecoming game. But when the students got to working on the midfield "M" last Friday, they inadvertently skipped a step and did it before the yard markers were on the field. A mistake,...

Eric Gagne Estimates 80 Percent Of His Dodger Teammates Were Taking PEDs
"I knew I had the mental attitude to be a closer, it was just a matter of doing it in the major leagues." That was Eric Gagne after he won the 2003 Cy Young Award, following a perfect season in which he converted all 55 save opportunities and struck out 100 more batters (137) than hits allowed (37)....