ball Page 1901 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bruce Pearl Coaches Crackheads. Yeah! Take That!
As longtime readers know, we never miss an opportunity to knock around Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. We know this isn't fair — he's a great coaching story, he's done a great job and the man is a world champion sweater — but Bruce Pearl's fate was sealed with us back in the early '90s when he was an...

Who's Got Bracket Fever?
We're just five days away from Selection Sunday — which, in combination with the season premiere of "The Sopranos," is pretty much more fun than any day should be allowed to be — and we're still working on our big NCAA Tournament Project. (All teams remain signed up for. Honestly, you guys rule.)...

Myles Brand Makes Himself Richer
The Wizard Of Odds brings us a little bit of info we hadn't heard about: NCAA president Myles Brand made $870,000 in compensation last year. That's a figure that's higher than what a single public university president makes. And they actually pay the people who make them all their money....

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Doooooooooo ...
College cheerleading, an object of ridicule since it was discovered that our President did it, has new respect in our eyes. Southern Illinois basketball cheerleader Kristi Yamaoka, who fell 15 feet off of the top of a human pyramid onto her head on Sunday, suffered a chipped neck vertebra and a co...

Remembering Kirby Puckett
As you've surely heard by now, Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett died last night at the age of 45. Puckett was a player who was impossible to dislike; he played baseball the way we all imagine we would, if we had the chance. His post-retirement career was smeared by Frank Deford's famous Sports Il...

Deadspin Field Trip: Batting Against Rocker
Earlier today, former New York City subway spokesperson John Rocker caused a minor fuss by walking off the set of ESPN's "Cold Pizza" after being informed he would be asked about his famous comments about "queers with AIDS" and not liking foreigners....

The Ladies Love The Baseball
We always find it kind of embarrassing when major sports leagues make conscious efforts to try to cater to the female audience. From our experience, a woman is either a sports fan, or she isn't — you know, like the rest of the human population. League executives tend to think of female sports fans t...

Athletes Know Their Bodies Better Than Anyone
We're no experts on matters of human gestation, but we have to say, we were pretty amazed to hear this story: A New Mexico girls basketball player, called a "star" by local observers, scored six points (two 3-pointers) only hours before giving birth....

Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Braves
We re less than a month from Opening Day, so it s time to start previewing the season. Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we re going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don t Know about them. If you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at [email protected]. ...

John Rocker And Cold Pizza: Two Bad Tastes That Taste Horrible Together
Former Atlanta Braves yokel John Rocker has been in New York City all day today, promoting a new show he has on the Spike Network. ("Look, he's by the 7 Train! Whoa!")...

Coach K Fights The Man, Man
We hope everyone enjoyed somewhat well-publicized loss to North Carolina on Saturday. You know who really enjoyed it? The media. You might not have known this, but Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has uncovered the wretched, worldwide anti-Duke bias in the media....

You Can Own Jim Thome's Home
One of our favorite games to play around here is showing you houses recently traded athletes put for sale on the open market. We showed you Terrell Owens' $4.3 million pad and Manny Ramirez' $6.9 million penthouse....

Soon, Bud Selig Will Rule the World! Bwah Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
We've never imagined the Yankees' front office as rebel types, but there's a first time for everything, we suppose. On Saturday, some brave soul in the Legends Field ticket office posted a sign in the main concourse of their spring training complex in Tampa, apologizing to fans for the absence of ...

Today In The 50-Yard Indoor War...
• Orlando Predators 59, Los Angeles Avengers 34. If you've been wondering what former Texas Tech QB Sonny Cumbie's been up to, not much has changed. He's still throwing 40 times a game for about 300 yards and 4 TDs. He's losing, though. The Avengers fall to 1-5....

Eagles, Bruins, Racers Do The Dance Of Joy
Congratulations go out to Winthrop, Belmont, and Murray State for becoming the second, third, and fourth teams to get themselves into the NCAA Tournament. We won't know until next week if any of them are getting #1 seeds, though....

The Cold-Blooded World of Competitive Kickball
Our nation's courts have recently been home to some vicious legal battles about the sport of kickball. The WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association) has beef with DCKickball about... well, I have no idea what it's about. The news here is that there are adults out there who play kickball....

College Basketball Games Worthy Of Just One Network
Observe as I attempt to do this without using the b-word that rhymes with "stubble."...

If You've Been Missing the WBC...
A loyal reader (to whom I am quite grateful) sent in an excellent recap of the Day 1 games from the World Baseball Classic. If you're anything like me, you're one of the people who claimed to be excited about the World Baseball Classic, but then didn't actually make any real effort to watch it. H...

Steinbrenner Has Officially Lost It
At first we thought it was a joke, but no, they're serious — batting practice is now being televised. On April 3, the YES Network trots out Batting Practice Today, a show that features, well, New York Yankees batting practice. To begin one half hour before the start of their regular pre-game show (h...

Authors With Pure Hearts: Will Blythe
We've taken some time off from the Authors With Pure Hearts series, but we gleefully return with Will Blythe's To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever, a hysterical, slightly crazed book about what it means to hate so much that it becomes purifying. In the case of Blythe, born and bred in North Car...