ball Page 1892 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Big Ten: We, Who Are About To Die, Salute You!
You began with nothing more than a crumpled $10 bill and a dream. You labored long and hard over your NCAA Tournament picks, scratching them out with a worn pencil nub while the frantic cries of friends and family went unanswered. Your strategy was clear — you would ride the six Big Ten teams to t...

Know Your Mid-Major Sweet Sixteen Qualifiers
The NCAA Basketball Tournament — fun, as well as educational! For once history teachers can get behind it, thanks to a couple of surprise winners over the weekend advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. Please welcome Bradley and George Mason, of which you already know something about thanks to our NCAA T...

NCAA Roundup: Packing Pittsnogle
A look back at the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. • We've come completely around on this Billy Packer thing; we now can't imagine college basketball without him. Sure, he's loathsome, stubborn and almost always wrong. We find these qualities to be what make up his charm. He's that crazy old...

Rounding Out The Field...
Texas looks to be cruising towards the Sweet 16, leading N.C. State by 20 with about 2 minutes to play. The lead has been stretching gradually, bet steadily, and you can go ahead and write in your bracket in ink. Texas moves on to meet West Virginia, who they beat early this year by 1-point....

Another 2-Seed In Trouble
At halftime, the Hoyas lead the Buckeyes by 13. Ashanti Cook and Big Roy Hibbert have 11 each, and Jekel Foster has the same for the Buckeyes....

Cinderella Looks Like This Guy
George Mason has knocked off defending champion UNC to become the latest cinderella team to glide into the Sweet 16. Some later heroics from Bobby Frasor and David Noel weren't enough to get the job done, and Mason is advancing....

I Guess That Apology Isn't Coming From Billy Packer
A tipster writes in to tell us that Billy Packer has remained quite mum on the subject of the MVC during the UConn/Kentucky. Jim Nantz has mentioned it, of course, giving a little dap to the MVC. Packer just wallowed in awkward silence afterwards....

Women's Tournament Also Underway
Hey, just wanted to post a quick note saying that the NCAA women's tournament is also underway, and that I'm going to be completely ignoring it....

Billy Packer, Meet the MVC
The Missouri Valley Conference put their 2nd team into the Sweet 16 this afternoon when Bradley beat Pitt. Maybe now, as long as they're not on opposite of Duke, Billy Packer can find time to sit down and watch them....

Bradley/Pitt Going Down To The Wire
Bradley's up 7 right now with about 5 minutes to play. It should be a great finish, if Carl Krauser stops punching people. Krauser missed a lay-up, Aaron Gray put it back in, and Krauser got up and on his way back down the court, threw an elbow into a Bradley player's back. It's not the first time...

The Unique CBS Sunday Game Schedule
Tipping today at noon: 1 game. Tipping today between 2:15 and 2:40: 4 games. Tipping today between 4:45 and 5:00: 3 games....

Repetitive Commercial Syndrome
It is brutal and unavoidable. It is my least favorite thing about the tournament. By now, I know what happened to Julia Louis Dreyfus's underwear....

That Probably Hurt...
Washington advanced to the Sweet 16 with a narrow 3-point victory over... you know what, there's a certain Deadspin editor who would probably rather that this game was never mentioned on this site. So I'm not going to say anything about, other than Washington's Brandon Roy is a stud. And, um... so...

Craig Smith, Hater Of Grizzlies
Immediately after my last post, Illinois and Texas A&M took it upon themselves to make me look like a jackass... not that that's particularly difficult. Illinois went on a 19-7 run and trails by just 2 at the half, while Texas A&M went on a 17-4 run to actually pull ahead of LSU....

The Dork RPI
So here's something we wish we would have had before we filled out our bracket: A complete dissertation of The Nerd Factor, a definitive way to predict college basketball games by alloting for a particular team's "nerd atmosphere" and how it relates to on-court success. Factors include:...

Home Run No. 715 — Welcome to Thunderdome
It's out there somewhere, tucked into a box with several of its brethren, sitting in an equipment room somewhere in a National League City — just chilling. It's the baseball that will eventually be hit by Barry Bonds to pass Babe Ruth's career home run mark, and shouldn't we stop for a moment to i...

Team USA Gets Extra Week Of Spring Training
The wailing and gnashing of teeth, the rending of garments, is upon us: The United States has been eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. The team finished 3-3 for the tourney, and some people are screaming that Team USA was a "debacle" and that it's a shame that the "world has passed the cou...