el Page 1562 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

An Adrian Beltre Head-Touching Attempt, Foiled
Robinson Cano wasn't quick enough to touch Adrian Beltre's head in last night's game. Take notes from Miggy, Robinson....

Keith Olbermann Will Return To <em>SportsCenter</em>
According to a release from ESPN, big changes are in store for Keith Olbermann. Not only is his show being rescued from its ever-changing late-night time slot, but Keith himself will return to the SportsCenter anchor desk for the first time since 1997....
![If Hasheem Thabeet Sits Behind You In Coach, Don't Recline Your Seat [Update: Not Him]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/875011928917373582.jpg)
If Hasheem Thabeet Sits Behind You In Coach, Don't Recline Your Seat [Update: Not Him]
Update, Aug. 29: Hasheem Thabeet's publicist has reached out to say that couldn't be Thabeet in the photos below, as he didn't fly to Philadelphia in the timeframe in question (and doesn't own Beats headphone). Sorry folks. But still: don't recline your seat if there's a really tall person behind yo...

Sam Agonistes: A Gay NFLer Negotiates A Straight Man's World
Originally published in slightly different form in the August issue of Out Magazine. Reprinted here with permission....

ESPN Is Sorry About That Report On Michael Sam's Showering Habits
Yesterday, SportsCenter brought us an on-the-scene report from Rams camp that featured a very weird discussion of Michael Sam's showering schedule. ESPN would like everyone to know that they are sorry for doing that....

Yet Another Challenger Emerges For Worst First Pitch Ever
So, here's the question: how much worse can these first pitches get? At some point someone is going to do something you never dreamed possible of a ceremonial first pitch, like strike oil, or completely forget to release the ball and fling themselves toward home plate. Either that, or they're just...

Mike Napoli, In The Rogers Centre, With Brute Damn Force
Rest in peace, baseball. You were hit so damn hard, and flew so damn far, that you were at least not in much pain when you left this earth. ...

Chargers Broadcaster Suspended For On-Air Joke About How Jews Are Cheap
San Diego Chargers radio analyst Hank Bauer has been suspended from the broadcast of the team's final preseason game on Thursday. The Chargers announced the news, noting that it was Clear Channel's decision to suspend Bauer for the invention-of-copper-wire joke....

UNC Hazing Incident Allegedly Gives Walk-On Freshman A Concussion
This could be a fresh badge of stupid for North Carolina's revenue sports. Amid multiple academic fraud investigations, the school is now investigating a football team hazing incident that escalated into an "alleged group assault," according to Yahoo. ...

15-Year-Old Catherine Bellis Upsets 12-Seed At U.S. Open
Catherine Bellis turned 15 years old in April and sits at 1,208 on the WTA's rankings. At the start of the day, her career record as a pro in singles matches was 8-4. That record has improved to 9-4, as Bellis just finished off 12-seeded Dominka Cibulkova in a first-round match at the U.S. Open. ...

MK Dons Score Gorgeous Goal While Bossing Manchester United
Milton Keynes Dons of League One—that's the league below the league below the Premier League—put a goddamn hurting on Manchester United in a League Cup match today, beating them 4-0 to the delight of nearly everyone in the world. Here is the third and prettiest goal of the match, featuring some deft...

This Is The Only Kobe Bryant Quote
Sports Illustrated's Kobe Bryant story was great; any time Bryant gets going, he's eminently quotable. (Highlights here.) Now Chris Ballard shares some outtakes from the week he spent shadowing Bryant. It includes this anecdote:...

Restaurant Removes Bacon Sign, Ignites Culture War
This is it, folks. This just might be it. Your love of bacon will bring you to ruin, our ancestors said, but did we listen? Did we heed? No we did not. And now: Here we are, careening bacon-scented over the precipice of disaster. "My grandfather was alive in 2014," they will say, huddled fu...

New-Car Smell Is Overrated
Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we're covering partners, air beds, office superpowers, poop, and more....

ESPN Reports On Who Is And Isn't Showering With Michael Sam
This morning's episode of SportsCenter briefly checked in with reporter Josina Anderson, who is on the scene at Rams training camp. She was asked to talk about how Michael Sam is fitting in with his new teammates, and Anderson went ahead and told us about how Sam's showering habits....

Why Your Team Sucks 2014: Cleveland Browns
Some people are fans of the Cleveland Browns. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Cleveland Browns. This 2014 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group....

Haughty Dipshit Gregg Easterbrook Makes Terrible Book Recommendations
For today's Buffalo News, columnist Greg Connors did a neat thing, asking a bunch of sports media people—some local, some national—to name their favorite sports books. They listed some really good titles, and it's fun to see what writers like Bryan Curtis, Will Leitch, and Josh Levin came up with. Y...

Adrian Beltre And Elvis Andrus Continue To Be Hilarious
Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus, who are basically baseball's version of a buddy-cop duo at this point, put on another one of their comedy routines last night. After Andrus floated over to his right to field a pop fly in Beltre's territory, the two had a little tête-à-tête about who exactly needs...

Football Player Who Was Convinced He Had CTE Found To Have CTE
The really heartbreaking thing about today's Associated Press profile of former college linebacker Michael Keck, who died last year at age 25 from unrelated causes, is just how damned banal it is. Normal kid plays football. Normal kid suffers head injuries. Normal kid turns violent and depressed and...

The Orioles Dominated The Rays Offensively And Defensively
In the third inning, Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce hit back-to-back home runs. In the fifth inning, Delmon Young, J.J. Hardy, and Chris Davis went back-to-back-to-back. Then, with a 9-1 lead, Adam Jones went and stole a home run from Evan Longoria and doubled-up Matt Joyce trying to tag up to sec...