ball Page 1915 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Recruiting Wars Are Always Ugly
We'll confess, the whole notion of recruiting in college athletics leaves us queasy, and we're even more weirded out by fans who are unnaturally obsessed with it. There are countless "recruiting expert" sites that, when you really break it down, essentially make a living by looking at 16-year-old ...

A-Rod Battles Brutal "Asshole" Allegations
OK, everyone and their mother has been sending this to us this morning, so we might as well do something on it. Apparently, Yankees third baseman/lipstick model Alex Rodriguez made the mistake last week of dining at the same restaurant as a blogger (or a friend of a blogger, anyway)....

World Series Roundup: McCarver's Buckner Moment
We don't mean to shrink last night's Amazing Scott Podsednik Moment into a moment of media criticism, but you're all going to be talking about it this morning, so we might as well lead off with it. Right before — like, a split-second before — Podsednik homered off Astros closer Brad Lidge, Fox bro...

World Series Pants Party: White Sox vs. Astros
Well, someone's going to end a whole lot of frustration in the next week and a half, so even if the folks at FOX probably aren't that happy, the rest of us should have a grand time in the White Sox-Astros World Series. This is one of those great World Series where you can kind of sense that fans o...

Great Weekend For Houston's Foot Fetishists
Nothing more classy than Texans, we tell you. As a show of solidarity with the Astros as they prepare for Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow evening, Houston mayor Bill White is encouraging all local residents to go sockless for Games 1 and 2, calling it a "No Socks Weekend."...

Ozzie Guillen Takes Center Stage
What'd we tell you? White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has taken a hold of the spotlight and strangled it until it looked like the Smurfs at the end of that UNICEF commercial....

Bored Sports Information Directors Rule
We would have to think that if you're a low-level publicity person in charge of writing dreary press releases about small-school college football teams, you would do anything to escape the endless dreariness of your job. (We can't imagine the folks at Coastal Carolina are constantly battling off a...

Larry Bowa, Voice Of Calm And Decency
The rumors are coming fast and with much fury, and the notion of it makes us so happy we almost want to dance: The Yankees have offered combustible engine Larry Bowa a job as their third-base coach. It is not known whether Bowa could be considered a potential replacement for Joe Torre were he to f...

Playing College Football's Kevin Bacon Game
We're sure some of you have seen this before, but it's new to us, so we're gonna toss it out there. For all those conversations you've had about who the best team in the country really is — Illinois beat Rutgers beat so and so, all the way up to the Miamis and the real teams — comes The College Fo...

You Know What They Say About The Size Of A Man's Goatee
More Big fun from the folks at The Bulge Report, which is ranking the top 100 major league baseball players by the size of their, well, units. Yesterday we heard all about Brad Lidge and his "two-seam fastball" — if you know what we mean, and if you do, tell us, because we don't — and today we've ...

The REAL Reason The White Sox Have Suffered
Everyone's talking about curses of the Black Sox and how much White Sox fans have suffered, but MSNBC's Bob Cook points out that the true source of the team's problems is not the past, but the owner Jerry Reinsdorf:...

Those Go-Go White Sox
As the White Sox start preparing for the Astros, we gleefully direct you to this Webshots album called, succinctly, Party With The White Sox Players. Featured are Paul Konerko and, most prominently, surly but "lovable" catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Make sure to check out the one where he's licking jel...

The Odd Career Move Of Leo Mazzone
Anybody else find it kind of strange that former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone has left Atlanta to take the same job with Baltimore? We understand that he and Ike Turner manager Bobby Cox weren't exactly seeing eye-to-eye anymore — probably because of all the rocking — and we also understand t...

Liftoff In Houston
We congratulate the Houston Astros on their first-ever trip to the World Series; we're happy for Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell and all the fans who have suffered through some truly heartbreaking moments. You're going to the Series, and if you ask anyone other than a Cardinals fan, they'll tell you...

The Game That Wasn't Supposed To Be
Well, here we are, just a few hours from gametime at Busch Stadium — gametime at Busch Stadium ... never have we been more thrilled to write that phrase — and we still can't quite believe Game 6 of the NLCS is actually happening. The Astros have to still be reeling from the unprecedented series o...

Why Is This Man So Excited?
This is Astros closer Brad Lidge, and in this picture anyway, he's a very excited young man. (It obviously was not taken Monday.) There are many reasons he might be so happy. He could have just closed out an Astros victory. He could have learned that he wasn't going to be a lot of money for his ca...

Our Interview With Barry Bonds About BALCO
News item: Barry Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, was sentenced today to three months in prison for one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one felony count of money laundering.[San Francisco Chronicle]...

Another Excuse To Want To Strangle Joe Buck
Whatever your thoughts on Joe Buck — and we suspect we know where your feelings on this lie — he has just committed a sin most heinous to pretty much everyone we know: He trashes "Curb Your Enthusiasm," saying, "I am sure the same thing will happen to me in about 2009 when I finally chuckle at one...

The White Sox Like To Suck Face
The Chicago Tribune has discovered the source of the White Sox's success this postseason: Manager Ozzie Guillen makes out with his players. No, really. After the ALCS victory over the Angels, Guillen kissed his sons in the dugout, then kissed Jose Contreras, then Freddy Garcia, then (gasp) owner J...

Do Not Steal From Ugueth Urbina. Seriously.
Philadelphia Phillies reliever Ugueth Urbina takes his personal property very seriously. At a welcome-home party for the pitcher in his native Venezuela, after many drinks, Urbina discovered that one of his laborers might have stolen a firearm. According to a witness, his response was measured, ra...