d Page 7617 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Jonathan Papelbon's Dramatic Debut
How do you know you've made it, you've crossed from the niche market of athletics into the popular subconsious of local culture? When you start doing terrible, cheapo car commercials, of course!...

Is Mark Cuban Going Insane?
We feel we have to legitimately ask: Is Mark Cuban losing his mind?...

We Have To Ask ...
Suggested questions for today's ESPN SportsNation chatters ... • 1 p.m. ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg: We want a divorce! Thanks for nothing, jerk. • 2 p.m. NBA Draft with Andy Katz: Oh Andy, down at the pub again? Your wife is gonna be mad! Will you never learn? • 4:30 p.m. College World Series Focus...

Hirshey: Viva Espana!
David Hirshey will write regularly during the World Cup....

The Closer: Giants No-Hitter Foiled By Hobbit
Thoughts on a day in baseball:...

Live Blog: Germany Vs. Ecuador
Ecuador has been one of the more pleasant stories of the tournament, upsetting Poland and cruising past Costa Rica in their first two games. This is, obviously, the real test, with the Ecuadorians facing host Germany. The winner takes the top seed out of Group A, and if there's a draw, it's good n...

This *&%$*% Rocks!
We didn't believe it when we first heard it, so we checked in with Off Wing Opinion and, sure enough, they heard it too. The Hurricanes' Ray Whitney, as he raised the Stanley Cup Monday night: "This f*&%$*% rocks!" Yes, it does. Fine sentiments indeed on what at first looked like a Carolina sweep,...

About Last Night ...
What you missed while mushing from Nome to Fairbanks ... • NHL Finals: Hurricanes prove that water beats oil, although it took %@*!$# long enough to do it. • MLB: Extra! Read all about it! Big Unit, Yankees foiled by Phillies, Myers, 4-2! Hey mister, it costs fifty cents! Hey! • World Cup: Generalis...

Rather Worthwhile Hockey Game Tonight, We Think
We know we haven't been the most attentive observers of the NHL, like, at all this year, but we think even those involved in the running of the league would have to agree that it appears a wave has crested, and we're all going to need a while until the NHL excites us again. It happens. No one should...

To Watch Tonight
What to watch as the house actually does start to clean itself ... • College baseball: World Series, Rice vs. Miami (Fla.). It's Rice, you see ... RICE! [ESPN2] • MLB: New York Yankees at Philadelphia. We'll be watching this from a JetBlue airplane, and we're still going to hear the boos. [ESPN] • S...

"To The Wing ... To The Center ... Back To The Wing ..."
Those suffering through World Cup fatigue are invited to watch this famous "Simpsons" clip, from when Mexico and Portugal come to Springfield to "decide once and for all which is the greatest on earth!" Many, many big laughs, but our favorite comes at the end, with the different perspectives of the ...

Leftovers: Goodbye, KMOX
• What are the real effects of the Cardinals (and other teams) abandoning their old radio stations? [WSJ.com] • Michael Wilbon looks back at Len Bias, 20 years later. [Washington Post] • Calling bullshit on how Brazil is playing so far. [Sportolysis] • You know, Santonio Holmes is not endearing hims...

Live Blog: Spain Vs. Tunisia
You probably can't tell from that picture, but the guy in it is a Spain fan who is inexplicably wearing a Spider-man costume. (Oh, by the way: Can any comic book fan out there explain why the hyphen is in there? It's really annoying.) We can't, for the likes of us, figure out what Spain's soccer t...

Meet The Mets!
Now that the New York Mets have taken a firm grapple of the National League East, you know what that means. It's time to PARTY! Yeah!...

Let Us Now Read From The Book Of Dwyane
Christ loves basketball, of that we're certain. But there is no clue in the scriptures, as far as we can tell, as to which city Jesus would have preferred; Dallas or Miami. We can't really picture Him in either place, quite frankly. But we did find this over on Dave Barry's blog, so all of you Da ...

Blogdome: The Crew's In Germany
• Mike Cardillo and the That's On Point crew are in Germany and blogging like madmen. [That's On Point] • The wisdom of life, as told by major Cleveland sports figures. [Erik Cassano's Weblog] • An ode to life as a Chicago sports fan, via way of the hot dog. [The Simon] • The life of a minor league ...

The Mick's Memorabilia Sampling
As a followup to our Mickey Mantle item from Friday, a reader sends us this baseball currently up for sale by the auction site "History For Sale."...

The Direction Recruiting's Obviously Going
For a little Monday morning pick-me-up, here's a famous Mr. Show sketch about college basketball recruiting. It always makes us laugh, mainly because we imagine Billy Donovan and, say, Mike Davis having conversations like this all the time....

Live Blog: Ukraine Vs. Saudi Arabia
People tend to like us to find "sexy" pictures of soccer "babe" fans, wearing little "clothing" and painting their "faces." But, try as we might, we were unable to find any sexy photos of Saudi Arabia fans. (We also had trouble with Iran and, unusually, Brazil. Odd.) We apologize....

There's Something About Wally
Professional sports teams walk a very thin line when it comes to mascots. The good ones are a breath of fresh air (San Diego Chicken, Phoenix Suns Gorilla), while the bad ones can be a two-hour migraine. At right we present possibly the creepiest mascot photo we've run across in a long while. We don...