bo Page 598 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Champions League Group Of Death Is Just Hilarious
There are 32 teams left after the Champions League playoff round ended yesterday, and so today was the Champions League draw, where the teams were divided into eight groups of four for the group stage of the tournament. There will be plenty of analysis and explanation and bloviation around the inter...

Cops Bust Late-Night Alcohol And Weed Party On Michigan Stadium Field
Party at The Big House!...

How An ESPNer Found Out The "Battle Of The Sexes" Was Probably Fixed
As usual, this one started with a tip. It came courtesy of Hal Shaw, a 79-year-old man who lived in Florida. ESPN investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr. knew him. The two had met when Van Natta was researching his 2011 biography of Babe Didrikson Zaharia. Shaw once worked at the country club that...

Note In A Fan's Notes
Found this copy of Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes in a bookstore on the Upper West Side last week. Dig the inscription:...

The Playboy Interview With His Airness
My man Max over at Longform has reprinted a select group of the legendary Playboy Interviews. Here's one you might dig, Mark Vancil's 1992 chat with Michael Jordan:...

The Sportswriter Who Wrote American Better Than Anyone Anywheres
Below is John Lardner's introduction to a 1959 edition of Ring Lardner's You Know Me Al, a fictional series of letters from professional ballplayer Jack Keefe to his friend Al. Those stories are included in the Library of America's new collection. (There was also a comic strip based on the same char...

Jerry Jones Says He Has A Super Brain
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently got a CT scan, and afterward he had this to say about it to the Dallas Morning News' Rainer Sabin:...

Gangster, Gangster
Come magazine award season, Paul Solotaroff's latest piece for Rolling Stone, "The Gangster in the Huddle" (co-authored by Ron Borges) is sure to garner some well-deserved attention: ...

Here's A Very Strange Music Video Featuring Gazing NBA Players
Good news for any hoopsters still doing their thing out there: someone went and made a music video just for them. ...

Ring Lardner: An American Original
This week gives Ring Lardner who is being honored with a volume by the Library of America (edited by Ian Frazier). We'll run one of his stories from the collection tomorrow, and later today we've got a treat from his eldest son, John. Meanwhile, check out three of his most famous stories at the LOA'...

Every Chair Thrown At Israel Beach Brawl
Welcome to Tuesday Night Fights, a weekly celebration and analysis of street-fight videos found on YouTube. Tonight's fisticuffs: "Beach Chair fighting, Israel." Tonight's commentator: freelance writer and author of Heresy on the High Beam, "the funniest book about Judaism and gymnastics," Dvora Me...

The Real Rocky
Or The Ballad of Chuck Wepner. In case you aren't familiar with Wepner's story, dig George Kimball on Sly Stallone and “Rocky”:...

Young Gun: Dempsey Pounds Willard
Slide on over to Deadline Artists for this look into the past—Grantland Rice's 1919 column on the Jack Dempsey Jess Willard fight:...

Borough to Borough: A Choice Hip Hop Mix CD
Around this time 13 years ago I got together with my friend Alan to make a mix cd of the rap records that has been released that year. A rash of good hip hop records came out in 2000, from major label and underground artists alike. There were joints from name brands like Jay Z, Snoop, Dre, Eminem, G...

ESPN Camera Catches Dodgers Fan With "Fuck Boston" T-Shirt
I like it, but the purple-and-gold color scheme makes me think this guy might just be a Laker fan who repurposed this shirt from a past Lakers-Celtics series. If that's the case, then good on him for maximizing the value of his insulting t-shirt....

Strange Sports Stories Comics
From the excellent tumblr site, The Bristol Board, check out these Strange Sports Stories. ...

Bored Baseball Players Victimize Teammate With Gum-On-Hat Prank
This is what happens when it's August and your team has a 13-game lead in the division. ...

Up The Stairs With Cus D'Amato
From the Library of America's Story of the Week site, here's a gem—Pete Hamill's tribute to Cus D'Amato:...

Cal Ripken's Final Game At Yankee Stadium
The fifth home game at Yankee Stadium after 9.11 was Cal Ripken Day. Here's my scorecard. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, called due to rain. It was a cold, miserable day. I remember seeing cops on the roof of the Stadium behind the lights. They looked like prison guards....

Mike Tyson: "I'm On The Verge Of Dying...I'm A Vicious Alcoholic"
Mike Tyson revealed his current struggles with sobriety and desire to make up for his past sins Friday night at a press conference following his promotional debut on Friday Night Fights....