e Page 7203 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Mets Announce Largest Crowd In Citi Field History, Apparently Counting Empty Seats As Fans
The Mets' announced attendance of 42,080 is the largest in the three-plus years of Citi Field. This is a stunning turnaround from this morning, when thousands of tickets were still available. And an even more stunning turnaround from earlier in the game, when it sure as hell looked like there were a...

What Do The Frozen Four And Hepatitis B Have In Common?
This year's Frozen Four has a lot going for it. For the first time ever, it's being held in the South: Tampa, to be exact. And one side of the bracket features two untraditional hockey powers: Ferris State and Union College. Do you even know what state those schools are in? In this week's excerpt ...

From The Sports Guy Vault: Bill Simmons Says Tear Down Fenway Park
Let's return to the Bill Simmons Archive, a collection of Boston Sports Guy columns salvaged from the defunct AOL Digital Cities. In honor of Red Sox opening day, let's look at an old column calling for the demolition of Fenway Park—and the construction of something totally new and different in its ...

Better Know An Umpire: Bruce Dreckman
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year....

Stan Van Gundy Sets Up Dwight Howard For The Most Awkward Interview Ever
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Stan Van Gundy has heard, from "people in our management right from the top," that Dwight Howard has requested that he be fired. The video above picks up Van Gundy's comments just as he utters them. At the 2:50 mark, Van Gundy is approached by Howard, who is not ...

Stay Sober Around Gary Bettman
We missed this when it ran Tuesday, but we'd like to bring to your attention the memoirs of Richard Stursberg, former head of CBC. The excerpt that ran in Maclean's concerns his 2006 negotiations with Gary Bettman over the league's television contract. We pick things up at a chi-chi Italian restaura...

Will Kimbrough Welcomes You To Opening Day With A Special Version Of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame"
What's more American than beginning the Major League season spread over four days in two weeks on two continents? How about an American singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in Sweden? Here's the first in a series of exclusive renditions of our national pastime's theme song we'll be featuring on Dea...

It's Your Opening Day Open Thread
Here we go. At 1 p.m., It's fat guys versus beer and chicken, as the Detroit Tigers meet the Boston Red Sox. Discuss that and all the rest of today's baseball action in the comments....

Deadspin Does Opening Day, Again
Another day, another Opening Day! Here's your open thread for today's baseball games. And here's some more reading for you while the Red Sox waste time between pitches: Wait, when does the season begin, again? » | The historical events that could have happened in the time it took MLB to start its se...

Better Know An Umpire: Brian O'Nora
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year....

"Kill The Fucking Head": Gregg Williams Told The Saints To Destroy The 49ers' Brains
What you're listening to is Gregg Williams hyping up the Saints before their playoff game with San Francisco. It becomes clear that New Orleans's bounty program was less about monetary reward and all about a mindset of agression, and punishment, and maliciously hitting the shit out of opposing pl...

Here's Terry Francona And Bud Selig Arguing Over Who Finished Each Other Off
ESPN's inaugural 2012 baseball broadcast last night didn't exactly go smoothly, what with people flipping off the Baseball Tonight set and cameras catching players pantsless. There was also the issue of Terry Francona's microphone, which had him either sounding like he was broadcasting from a clo...

Mets Fans Should Be Proud Of Not Selling Out Opening Day
If you're not doing anything today, why not head out to Citi Field to catch the Mets' Opening Day game? At last check, there were several thousand decent seats still available. To make it even sweeter, if you go today, you'll get free tickets to another game this weekend....

This Howard University Scandal Is Just The Dumbest
News leaked yesterday that Howard University was suspending all athletic programs while it self-investigated possible NCAA violations, and that the problems stemmed from improper student-athlete use of their textbook allowances. A new day brings more details—and a semi-clarification from the univers...

Rick Telander: Cubs President Theo Epstein Might Walk On Water This Season (Or Something)
Robot-fearing Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Telander senses a higher power surrounding these 2012 Chicago Cubs. It's something holy and ethereal, or maybe it's grounded in hard, empirical data. Gosh, maybe we'll let him sort this out....

At Least One Marlins Fan Wasn't Happy Karl Ravech Insulted Their Centerfield Home Run Sculpture
ESPN would come to regret their sarcastic take on the Marlins' new digs—"center field home run thing" being one of Ravech's phrases—but the Worldwide Leader should count their blessings. After all, Miamians have been known to react a bit more violently to perceived slights; a dude flipping his midd...

Blake Griffin Returned Pau Gasol To A Very Bad Place With Another Posterizing Dunk
Okay, Blake. We get it. [ESPN]...

Blake Griffin Put Pau Gasol In A Very Bad Place With This Vicious Dunk
Not many people had the chance to see this live, because the Lakers-Clippers game tipped off before the thrilling Thunder-Heat game in Miami had reached its conclusion. So here you are: devastation on a basketball floor as Blake Griffin puts back a miss over the head of Pau Gasol, which may or ma...

ESPN Cameras Caught Rafael Furcal With His Pants Down
With an on-premises pool and the overall clothing-optional vibe of Miami, the new Marlins ballpark is ripe for sighting people without their pants on. We just figured the first person to be spotted sin pantalones would be a spectator, not a player. But ESPN did us right by grabbing this shot of t...

Police Draw Guns On Angels Outfielder Torii Hunter Outside His Home (UPDATE)
Four-time All-Star Torii Hunter was at home this afternoon when his security alarm started going off. The cops showed up, didn't believe he lived there, and actually drew their weapons on him. Hunter relayed the entire ordeal via his Twitter feed:...