bu Page 246 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Man Who Looks Nothing Like Troy Polamalu Infiltrates Steelers Practice In Polamalu Costume
An extremely bold and daring Steelers fan showed up to the team’s Saturday open practice in a Troy Polamalu jersey and helmet, and managed to get onto the field before several Steelers players noticed that Polamalu is a 37-year-old man who hasn’t played football for the Steelers or anyone else in mo...

Luke Heimlich Signs With Taiwanese Baseball Team, League Kicks Him Out
On Monday, the defending champion Lamigo Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League announced that they had signed former Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich, who pleaded guilty to molesting his 6-year-old niece in 2012. Heimlich was probably a first-round talent, but he was not drafted by a...

Please, God, I Can't Handle A Preseason Deflategate
Try to imagine the worst possible NFL preseason storyline. If you think hard enough, you’ll probably come up with the vague outlines of something involving... the Pittsburgh Steelers... deflated footballs... and... sports radio dingus Howard Eskin? Well guess what, asshole, that’s the shit we’re in ...

Vlad Guerrero Jr. Is Healthy And Back To Mashing Taters In The Minors<em></em>
Good news for anyone deeply troubled by the mid-season injury of Blue Jays prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr: He’s back, he got called up to Triple-A at the end of July, and he’s still belting the ball in that same heroic way we’ve enjoyed all year....

That Time An Ass Exam Scuttled The Sixers' Chances Of Signing Pete Maravich
Basketball what-ifs can be a fun game to play, so here’s one that wouldn’t have significantly changed the course of NBA history but is nonetheless odd: Did you know an in-his-twilight “Pistol” Pete Maravich might have picked the Celtics over the 76ers because of a threatened ass exam?...


Yeah, That's A Goddamn Moth In An Umpire's Ear
Gahhhhh. This is an awful thing that should never happen—with any living creature, not just a dusty flying bug—but Yankees-White Sox umpire Bruce Dreckman was remarkably calm when a small, moth-like animal (most likely a moth) flew into his ear between innings....

Courtney Smith's Protective Order Detailed How She Told The Court Zach Smith Terrorized Her<em></em><em></em>
On July 20 of this year, Courtney Smith asked the court in Delaware County, Ohio, for a domestic violence civil protection order against her ex-husband, then-Ohio State assistant football coach Zach Smith. She already had made statements concerning his abuse in her 2015 petition for a divorce; that...

Let's Remember Some Guys: WrestleMania Vol. IV
“Ripping packs of baseball cards was one of my favorite things to do as a kid,” my colleague David Roth wrote in June in an essay accompanying a video of the baseball card-opening series that I’ve now somehow both wormed my way into and made about professional wrestling. “I like the experience of op...

Two Pirates Minor Leaguers Hit For The Cycle In The Same Game
Here’s something improbable: two minor league teammates in the Pirates system hit for the cycle Tuesday night, in the same game. Kevin Newman got his in five at-bats, notching a single, a pair of doubles, a triple, and finally, in the eighth inning, a solo dong to left:...

Courtney Smith's Lawyer Says Ohio State Never Contacted Her Client About Abuse Allegations
As a small number of very stupid Buckeyes fans rally around head coach Urban Meyer—who is currently on paid leave as Ohio State investigates whether or not Meyer properly reported the multiple reports of domestic abuse made against since-fired assistant coach Zach Smith—a statement yesterday from th...

Why Your Team Sucks 2018: Tampa Bay Buccaneers<em></em>
Some people are fans of the Tampa Bay Bucs. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Tampa Bay Bucs. This 2018 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here....

Brain Worms Drive Hundreds Of Unfortunate Buckeyes Fans To Gather For Urban Meyer Rally
Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer is currently on indefinite paid administrative leave while the university completes an investigation of reports that he knew of but did nothing about domestic violence allegations against assistant coach Zach Smith. Meyer is not dead; he is not in jail; he ...

The Browns Have Turned Yet Another First-Round Pick Into A Bag Of Shit
American sports are set up to all but guarantee that a franchise as putrid as the Cleveland Browns cannot remain putrid for eternity. All those losing seasons just add up to higher first-round draft picks, which should eventually add up to winning seasons. It take some real work to waste free ticket...

“Among the 14 versions the Post-Gazette collected, the Pirates use the slowest tempo by more than 20 beats per minute. Some teams, like the Oakland Athletics, have versions more than 25 percent faster than the Pirates.” What’s with Pittsburgh’s distinct, super-slow version of “Take Me Out to the Bal...

And Now, James Franklin's Dark Purple Butt
Penn State head coach James Franklin spoke at Penn State Media Day about, among other things, the experience of taking all his players paintballing for a recent team outing. This may not have been a great idea for a person whose job it is to push these competitive young men to endure exhaustion and ...

Urban Meyer And Zach Smith Are Defending Themselves, Even If Their Answers Don’t Quite Make Sense
In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer admitted Friday afternoon that he knew about a 2015 incident in which former assistant coach Zach Smith allegedly strangled his ex-wife, Courtney. After initially claiming ignorance at Big Ten media day—saying, “I know nothin...

How ESPN Ended Up Paying Brett McMurphy To Post The Year's Biggest College Football Story On Facebook
Brett McMurphy, who is about as plugged in as any college football reporter can be, was always going to scoop ESPN on the Urban Meyer-Zach Smith story. But that the Worldwide Leader paid him to not publish the scoop on their own website, well, that’s the result of a very particular kind of corporate...

Let’s Remember Some Guys: Early '90s WCW With Nick Aldis
Nick Aldis is now the NWA world’s champion. Not just that, he’s a fighting champion: He defended his title 20 times recently. Sure, wrestling is scripted, but that still means Aldis has wrestled near the top of the card at 20 shows this year. Aldis is part of a wrestling family in the spotlight: His...
