ben Page 86 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Do Sleepy Hitters Really Lose Plate Discipline During The MLB Season?
Originally published in Baseball Prospectus....

Serena Williams Says She's "Deeply Sorry For What Was Written"
Serena Williams said some regrettable things about the Steubenville rape case to Rolling Stone's Stephen Rodrick, and today she's released a statement apologizing, sort of....

Here Is Video Of The Latest Pacman Jones Incident
ESPN radio in Cincinnati got hold of the security footage that shows Bengals cornerback Pacman Jones hitting a woman after the woman first came toward him with what looks like a bottle. The altercation, which happened last week outside a Cincinnati bar, begins around the 1-minute mark of the video b...

Pacman Jones Tweets News Of His Latest Arrest—For Hitting A Woman
Has it really been a year-and-a-half since Pacman Jones was last sentenced by a judge for something or other? It's been so long that Pacman no longer wants to be called Pacman, never mind that Pacman is still the name that's on Pacman's Twitter handle. But look! Pacman's Twitter has news of an arres...


Shane Battier Says Getting Benched Was Like Eating A "Turd Sandwich"
Hey, Shane Battier, how did it feel to spend all of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on the bench?...

Fore Play
Check out this little 1987 Esquire essay about golf by Richard Ben Cramer:...

Arjen Robben Carries FC Bayern To Champions League Glory
Bayern Munich just knocked off German rivals Borussia Dortmund, 2-1, in the Champions League final after Bayern winger Arjen Robben scored in the 89th minute to win the match. It was maybe the best possible end to an action-packed match that was open and free-flowing from the opening whistle. It was...

ESPN Still Doesn't Require X Games Competitors To Wear Safety Equipment
When snowmobiler Caleb Moore died due to injuries suffered competing in January's Winter X Games, event owner ESPN responded that it "works closely on safety issues with athletes." Events this weekend in Barcelona suggest the Worldwide Leader's concern only goes so far....

Hey, It's 15 Years (And A Day) Since The Yankees' And Orioles' Classic Brawl
Damnit, we keep missing these important milestones by a matter of hours. Oh well. Tell it to the internet police....

James Harrison: I'm A "Massage Whore"
At a press conference today for the Cincinnati media, new Bengals linebacker James Harrison showed us he's more than just an angry, headhunting sociopath who sucks at dodgeball....

Connnnnnnn! <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em>, Reviewed.
1. I've never gotten the sense that J.J. Abrams really cares all that much about the Star Trek franchise. Abrams has said that he was far more into Star Wars—as any reasonable person would be—and that his first, well-received Star Trek was more about rebooting a franchise than any particular passion...

Washington Post Finds Retired NFL Players Broken And Uninsured
You might've wondered at some point in the past umpteen seasons of watching NFL football, Hey, who pays for the chronic and perhaps debilitating injuries these players are doubtlessly incurring? The Washington Post has your answer: Probably not the teams, possibly the taxpayer and, quite likely, no ...

AAU Coach Says He Accepted Money To Influence Ben McLemore
Ben McLemore's former AAU coach says he accepted money and benefits to influence the star Kansas guard's decisions, according to USA TODAY....

Robert Guerrero's Dad Goes Off Script, Calls Mayweather "Woman Beater"
The firm doing PR for Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero fight emailed us the quotes from yesterday's pre-fight press conference in Vegas. That helpful little guide said the fighters' fathers had "nearly come to blows," but it left out all the fun stuff....

GQ's Look At The MBA For NFL Players Is A Portrait Of Hubris And Fear
Belly-up pro athletes are among the world's saddest washouts, in part because you can't blame them for their own gruesome collapses. It’s a surreal deal: You’re invincible as a kid, invincible as a young man, a millionaire before you know how to file your own taxes and then an undereducated, slow-mo...

Anibal Sanchez's 17-K Game Trumped Even Randy Johnson's 1992 "Hammer From Hell" Game
If we can indulge in a brief moment of Welcome Back, Baseball — still early enough in the season, right? — it’s a joy to watch a sport that puts the ball in the hands of the defense. Virtually any other sport you care to name turns a defensive player into an offensive player as soon as he takes poss...

Scottish Soccer Player Admits To Booze-And-Hooker-Fueled Bender
It was about a month ago when Paul Slane, once a rising star in the Scottish Premier League and a member of Celtic, tweeted out some salacious photos of himself getting, uh, "friendly" with two women (NSFW picture after the jump). This came shortly after Slane suffered a series of debilitating injur...

Gross: Steubenville Football Coach Gets A Contract Extension
So, how did the Steubenville school board decide to punish Steubenville High football coach Reno Saccocia after he did what he could sweep the sexual assault that was committed and filmed by several of his players under the rug? He got a contract extension!...

They're Calling This The Team Goal Of The Year
Benfica remains unbeaten in domestic play, and all but sealed a Portuguese Liga title yesterday with a 2-o win over Sporting Lisbon that featured this stunning piece of teamwork....