el Page 1997 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Thrill Of Old-Fashioned Sports Brutality
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

ShortCenter: Definitive Nonsense On A Variety Of Topics
What is ESPN prattling on about right now? We condense your morning SportsCenter to its essence....

Twitter-Obsessed Soccer Player Gives Child Very Unfortunate Name
Gabriel Zakuani is a Congolese defender for Peterborough, who had a cup of coffee at the top level but couldn't quite cut it. But he's given his son a name as stupid as any Premier leaguer's child....

Jerry Sandusky's Son, Cleveland Browns Executive, Has Taken A Leave Of Absence
"Heard that Jon Sandusky, Browns GM Tom Heckert's top assistant, has taken leave of absence. He is the son of Jerry Sandusky." At Penn State, Jon played safety under his dad from 1996-1999. [@TonyGrossi, h/t Cory]...

The NY Times Reports On A National Crisis: NFL Games Delaying The Start Of <em>The Good Wife</em> On CBS
It seems overwhelmingly likely, since you are reading a fine sports blog like this one, that you prefer the riveting, mature drama of CBS's The Good Wife to the NFL. Oh, there is television, and then there is Josh Charles and Julianna Margulies navigating the remains of Margulies' broken marriage. T...

Stephon Marbury Has An Opinion About Michael Jordan And The Lockout That Makes Perfect Sense
Michael Jordan has taken a lot of grief since he emerged, in a twist that should surprise nobody, as the leader of a group of hard-ass NBA owners knifing away at the revenue pie. Now he's taking grief from whatever fun-house PC bang Stephon Marbury has decamped to these days. I'll leave the parsing ...

Gamblers Beat Delaware With Math
Why you gots to pick on Delaware, bettors? Delaware never hurt no one. They were the first state. They don't charge income sales tax. It only takes like 20 minutes to drive through on your way to more important places. And now you're all gaming the system to bet NFL games, even though you're not tec...

Cris Collinsworth Stupidly Attacks Rule That, Had It Existed While He Was Playing, Might Have Kept Him From Later Saying Stupid Things
We'll get to Cris Collinsworth in a minute, but first let's talk about imperial Rome. Contemporary depictions emphasize the debauchery of the era, usually by illustrating either competitive or persecutory bloodsport in the Colosseum. Ridley Scott's 2000 Oscar-winner for Best Picture suggested howe...

How A Comedian Helped Birth The "F-You" Patriots
Back in September 2007, the Patriots were caught taping the Jets' defensive signals on the sideline. This was week one, after the Patriots beat the Jets, 38-14. The next 15 games—all of which the Patriots won—were blowouts a lot like that, but with a venomous edge. In his new book, War Room, which h...

Ravens-Steelers: The NFL's Annual Holiday From Namby-Pambyism
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

CNN Makes The One Typo You Shouldn't Make With Sandusky Story
Well, this was unfortunate....

Why The Giants' Comeback Yesterday Says Much More About The Patriots Than It Does About Eli Manning
Here is a list of quarterbacks who have had higher QB ratings against the Patriots this year than Eli Manning did yesterday: • Chad Henne • Philip Rivers • Ryan Fitzpatrick • Jason Campbell • Mark Sanchez • Tony Romo • Ben Roethlisberger...

Andrei Arlovski Hasn't Knocked Out A Top Fighter In Years, But Good Lord Did He Knock Out This Guy
There was a time when Andrei Arlovski stirred fear in the hearts of other heavyweight fighters. That time was in 2005, before the world discovered that Arlovski's jaw had the consistency of a tortilla chip. A few years later, Arlovski suffered several hideous knockouts, the kind where you'd litera...

Mike Wallace Intercepted Ben Roethlisberger Pass Intended For Antonio Brown, Scored Touchdown
What a play by all involved. Big Ben scrambled and kept the play alive while Mike Wallace followed his quarterback, adjusted his route and made a big play. That only leaves Antonio Brown. OK, so maybe it wasn't a great play by all involved. Come on, Antonio. You looked as lost as Al Michaels sound...

Eli Manning Beats Tom Brady, Will Still Not Be Considered Elite: Your Sunday NFL Roundup
For whatever reason, Eli will always be considered just an "OK" quarterback. Maybe it's because he is a contemporary of some very, very good quarterbacks—one of whom is his big brother—or maybe it's because he is kind of a doofus. Either way, here's your Sunday roundup. Enjoy....

Real Men Play Smash Mouth Football: Your Sunday Night Football Open Thread
Baltimore at Pittsburgh (NBC): Bring your lunch pails! We've got an old fashioned street brawl on our hands! It's the NFL, where they play a physical brand of football. We've got two teams that like to get down and dirty. It won't be pretty. Steelers! Ravens! Next!...

Kelly Slater Became the Oldest Surfer To Win An Award He Was Already The Youngest To Win
Earlier this week, Kelly Slater became the first person to win 11 ASP World Titles. Presumably the ASP title is fairly prestigious, but the press release doesn't elaborate....

Brady-Manning Redux, No, The Other Manning: Your NFL Late Games Open Thread
Tom Brady > Eli Manning. Just look at their shirts. Come on, let's talk football down in the comments....

Julio Jones Makes Incredible Catch, Is Having His Own Game Of The Century Against The Colts
Julio Jones checks in early with today's first wild plays. ...

Oklahoma's Jaz Reynolds Has Some Sticky Hands
A week after making this outstanding one-handed catch against Kansas State, Oklahoma receiver Jaz Reynolds did it again to give the Sooners a 20-10 lead over a Texas A&M defense that had given it some uncomfortable struggles in the first half....