bu Page 520 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Matt Stairs: Spectacularly Just Good Enough
Matt Stairs, who on Wednesday announced his retirement, was the character actor who had a few decent roles in the 1970s and played solid bit parts ever after. He was a Ned Beatty of a player. He had a fine career. Always on the roster for his offense, he delivered above-average results with the bat ...

Rob Dibble Now Wants To Swaddle Stephen Strasburg In Warm Soft Blankets
A year ago at this time Rob Dibble was in the news for his contrarian opinions on Stephen Strasburg. Rob Dibble's in the news again for his contrarian opinions on Stephen Strasburg. Except this time it's the exact opposite contrarian opinion. What we're saying is, it's a good thing Strasburg's caree...

RIP Bubba Smith
As mentioned in tonight's Sports Final, Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith died today at the age of 66. The first pick in the 1967 NFL draft, he won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts and played for both the Raiders and Oilers in a nine-year career. Then, he pursued the life of acting, the highlight o...

Some People Don't See The Humor In Bears Drinking Vodka For Human Entertainment
Per Reuters Life!, Ukraine's Environment Minister Mykola Zlochevsky told Interfax, "On television, they keep showing bears suffering in restaurants and roadside hotels. How long can we tolerate animal torture in restaurants where drunken guests make bears drink vodka for laughs?"...

Bug Selig Wants To Chat With A-Rod About His Violent, Cocaine-y Poker Game
Yankee third baseman/centaur Alex Rodriguez has been on the DL since mid-July after knee surgery. His recovery's coming along nicely, but there's new trouble looming: MLB brass wants to ask him about the strange poker game he played in. He might get suspended, ESPN New York reports....

A Minor League Team Was Two Feet From Disaster
As the old saying ought to go, nothing good comes from taking a wrong turn to Staten Island....

Randy Moss: The Weirdest Ever
Randy Moss is the most dangerous receiver to ever play in the NFL and the single most exciting player that ever played for my favorite team, Adrian Peterson included. He also happened to be the weirdest person ever to step onto a football field. ...

Plaxico Burress Will Resume His Career In The City That Incarcerated Him
Former Steelers and Giants WR Plaxico Burress has signed a one-year deal with the Jets. Burress did 21 months in prison after he shot himself in the leg at a club, but he wasn't wearing sweatpants. ...

Wachovia Chasing Stephon Marbury For $16 Million Loan Starbury, Inc. Hasn't Paid Back
Tipster Kevin alerts us to an ongoing case in Montgomery County, Ohio, in which an affiliate of Wachovia/Wells Fargo is suing a familiar name—defendant Stephon X. Marbury....

The Long-Anticipated Furbush-For-Fister Deal Has Been Consummated
In MLB trade-deadline eve news, the Detroit Tigers get a right-handed workhorse Fister (first name Doug) from Seattle in return for a Furbush (Charlie) to plant in its bullpen and use when needed....

A Wrestler Called "Hannibal" Thinks A Wrestler Called "Butcher" Gave Him Hep C
In this story, an "Ottawa-based professional wrestler filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against WWE hall of famer Abdullah the Butcher, claiming the wrestling legend gave him Hepatitis C during a 2007 match, forcing him to end his wrestling career prematurely."...

Chris Kluwe Conditionally Surrenders No. 5 To New Vikings QB Donovan McNabb
Your morning roundup for July 30, the day we're provided with living proof that 32-year-old women are, in fact, into 83-year-old men. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....

Kelly Leak: The Coolest Kid Who Ever Lived
The following is excerpted from Josh Wilker's book about The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, written for Soft Skull Press's Deep Focus series....

All Too Good, And Not Good Enough: What Carlos Beltran Meant To The Mets
Carlos Beltran was not a New York Met. I don't mean this literally — Beltran's Mets career spanned six and a half seasons, from 2005 until yesterday. He was with the Mets almost exactly as long as Keith Hernandez was, and longer than Reggie Jackson was with the Yankees....

This Evening: Hideki Irabu Highlights Are In High Demand
Your p.m. roundup for July 28, the day we learned only losers live in Brooklyn. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....

Hideki Irabu, Dead At 42
Irabu was found dead at his home in Los Angeles, and police are investigating it as a suicide. He last pitched in MLB for the Rangers in 2002, and most recently with an independent league team in 2009. [Asahi Shumbun]...

The Pirates' 'Formal Complaint' Over Last Night's Call Will Accomplish What, Exactly? (Update)
Absolutely nothing. But that hasn't stopped pandering homers like this in the Pittsburgh media from clamoring for the front office to "let them know the Pirates are through getting kicked around." Because nothing's gonna get the suits at MLB headquarters to bend to the Pirates' will quite like an e...

Michael Vick Loses An Endorsement Deal, And Not Because He Killed A Bunch Of Dogs
Just two weeks ago, Vick signed a deal to be the face of EnerJel, a nutritional supplement/energy boost that you can rub into your skin. Because swallowing Gatorade was getting too difficult. But this was a product whose time has come, and Vick was clearly the only man who could bring it to the mass...

Deconstructing Last Night's Most Amazing Moment: Scott Proctor's Faceplant
Lots of wacky things are bound to happen in a 19-inning game, but I don't think anyone will be able to forget the lasting image of this morning's Pirates-Braves marathon: Scott Proctor tripping over his own feet while coming out of the batters box. Thankfully MLB.com was all over the replays on th...

The Incomparable Ichiro Swings Through
Two surefire Hall of Famers played in the Bronx last night. One is having the worst season of his career at 37 years old, hitting nearly 60 points off his lifetime average, and still getting paid $17 million. The other one is Derek Jeter....