ball Page 1853 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Biggest Games Of The Year ... On F/X?
Barring rainouts, tonight is the one night of the baseball postseason that features two games going on simultaneously. Depending on where you are, you'll be watching one series on FOX and the other on F/X. So if you're a Tigers fan living in New York City, for example, you either need to find your...

Rick Ankiel, Six Years Later
As we await tonight's hopefully-not-rained-out NCLS Game 1, we think back to 2000, when the Cardinals and Mets last met under these circumstances. This is known, of course, as the Rick Ankiel series, when the blistering lefthander, whose curveball was one of the most gravity-defying things we had ...

Thanks For The Help, Now Get Out
Last night in Oakland, the Oakland A's Booster club hoisted — great word, hoist — an American flag in center field for the Game One pregame ceremonies. We did not see the pregame ceremonies, but we're sure it was as patriotic as any of those hippies in Oakland can get....

A Couple Of Expensive Six Packs
We are aware that it's very possible there's much more to come out about the story than has been released, but, taken at face value, the Connecticut football team is awfully strict about player discipline....

Playoff Blogdome: Tigers at Athletics, Game One
Tracking the blogs the day after Game 1 of the ALCS:...

The Tigers Are Scaring The Pants Off Everybody
We'll confess: We're pretty much terrified of Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya. He's big, he's scary, he's got flaming red eyes and he throws about a million miles an hour. Actually, he can hit 103 miles per hour, which, when read by that FOX broadcast flame-for-pitches-over-95-mph thing, actually turns ...

Time For More Baseball Than You Know What To Do With
We know, as Cardinals fans, our occasional gripes and complaints can fall on deaf ears and perhaps even sound like whining, and the Detroit Tigers are Exhibit A as to why. We cannot possibly imagine how exciting having the Tigers in the ALCS must be. (And no offense to A's fans; we know you're in ra...

ALCS Pants Party: A's Vs. Tigers
We are very proud to report that, ultimately, we did not jinx the Detroit Tigers, and here they are, four wins away from their first World Series in 22 years. (By the way, if you're keeping score, of the four teams left in the playoffs, the team that has gone the longest without a World Championsh...

Bless You Boys!
As the Detroit Tigers play the first ALCS game in 22 years tonight, we thought we'd dig up this old "Bless You Boys" video about the 1984 Tigers, the first non-Cardinals team we ever remember enjoying. It's fun and full of '80s kitsch, of course, but we particularly like the pop star cameo halfway t...

Steinbrenner's Agonizing "Decision"
We have trouble with the concept of "soul-searching" when it comes to George Steinbrenner — he seems to have a key ingredient missing — but evidently the Yankee owner did some heavy thinking over the past two days. According to the New York Post, Steinbrenner has apparently decided not to fire ma...

Somehow, It Was Still Scott Stapp's Finest Moment
A clever little conceit for Championship Series week from our friends at Idolator: A compilation of the most ridiculous renditions of the Star-Spangled Banner at sporting events....

When Baseball Players Are Asked: 'You Have Haramph Like My Friend, Can I Touch?'
Like many of you, we suspect, we cannot wait for the new Borat movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Therefore, we present this old Borat clip, as he visits a Savannah Sand Gnats minor league baseball game, with predictable results. No matter how...

Yet Another Reason To Hit Jeff Kent
That's a part deep inside all of us, we must admit, that wonders if athletes are secretly basing the outcomes of their games not on whether or not their team wins, but whether or not it affects their fantasy team. We've all thought it....

Recruiting Makes College Sports Double Plus Unfun
As a fan of college athletics, we will confess to being depressed by the process of recruiting. Some fans are obsessed with it, subscribing to scouting services and reading tea leaves, analyzing every vocal inflection of a 17-year-old kid as if it's going to be an insight to their deeper mindset. (T...

Obviously, Joe Torre Was The Problem All Along
And so there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Yankee Land, as you probably expected. Word on the street is that manager Joe Torre is as good as out, and that Lou Piniella — yow — is in. Seems rather rash to us, but what do we know? Only what we read in the papers ... and in various Yankees...

Albert Pujols, In A Proud And Photogenic Moment
We're as pleased as anyone by the Cardinals' series-clinching victory over the Mets Padres last night, but, honestly, they really shouldn't allow still cameras to take pictures of the postgame celebrations. They inevitably lead to photographs that are, well, uncomfortable to look at. (Though we appr...

The Happy Italian Vegetarian Lawyer Genius Elf
As we celebrate our Cardinals' advancement to the National League Championship Series, we are reminded once again, from this photo, that no one knows how to party like Tony LaRussa....

David Stern Has A Thing For Cows
I missed it in Marc Stein's Friday blog update, but Stein mentioned that part of the reason that the NBA changed the basketball they use might be complaints from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA is claiming responsibility, anyway. From their official website:...

Taking Down The Field Goal Posts: Woo Pig Sooey!
Arkansas 27, (2) Auburn 10. It's rare that upsets of this magnitude are ass-beatings, but there was little doubt about this one. The Razorbacks racked up an astounding 279 yards rushing against that vaunted Auburn defense. And Auburn had two guys with more rushing yards than Auburn's Kenny Irons, ...