emu Page 11 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

He Punches like a Fucking Mule Kick
Here is a good story from "Second Wind: Memoirs of an Opinonated Man," by Bill Russell with the historian Taylor Branch (1979, Random House; currently out-of-print). It’s about Russell’s grandfather and his mule, Kate. Russell’s family was from Monroe, La., and he lived down there until he was about...

Shane Battier Has A Cop Mustache Now
This is what happens when your team sweeps its first-round playoff series and you end up with a lot of free time on your hands. ...

A <em>New York Times</em> Story About Georgetown-FGCU Required Some Great Corrections
Is there anything better than an assiduous Times correction notice? Everyone is writing quickly during the tournament, but this one could have used another pass, if only to catch the Eddie Murphy thing. After all... ...

Dale Murphy Once Got A Lame Autograph From Richard Nixon
Yesterday, former Atlanta Braves star and beloved-by-the-internet old dude Dale Murphy decided to celebrate President's Day by showing his Twitter followers a picture of one of his prized pieces of memorabilia: a baseball with Richard Nixon's autograph on it. The autograph reads, "To Dale Murphy, f...

The Jaguars Have Fired Mike Mularkey
The Jaguars' Mike Mularkey—who was the NFL's interim least-interesting head coach after Pat Shurmur's firing on Black Monday—finally got the axe today. Jacksonville had spent the days immediately after the season's end hunting for a new general manager, and they hired Atlanta's David Caldwell on Tue...

College ShameDay: Would Air Force Losing To Rice Be Our Country's Most Shameful Military Defeat? A Shitty Bowl Games FAQ
Our weekly college football shame index previews the bowls through New Year's Eve. ...

Which TV Market Is Getting Screwed This Sunday? An Analysis Of Week 17 NFL Viewing Maps
The NFL's regional programming rules are famously byzantine, but luckily the506.com cuts through the bullshit for you, providing weekly maps that allow us to answer the only question that really matters: Which fans are the most screwed this Sunday?...

Dale Murphy Is Into LCD Soundsystem And Has No Idea How He Ended Up On The Rockies
Dale Murphy dropped by reddit yesterday to answer a few fan questions (perhaps as a way of rallying support before the December 31 Hall of Fame ballot, the last on which his name will appear, perhaps because he felt like it). Convivial and honest as usual, Murphy gave some great answers, including p...

Dale Murphy's Son Drew His Dad This Heartwarming Cartoon
It's Dale Murphy's 15th and final year on the Hall of Fame ballot, and while his chances of getting in are slim, his children are doing their part to honor him the way they remember him. Tyson Murphy isn't a sports fan—he's an artist at Blizzard Entertainment, the video game developer responsible fo...

What Was Up With ABC's Soundtrack For The Michigan-Ohio State Game?
Ohio State completed its undefeated, ineligible season by defeating Michigan 26-21 in college football's best rivalry game today, but viewers seemed consumed as much by ABC/ESPN's choice in bump music as they were the action happening on the field. We're not sure what prompted the eclectic mix, but...

Dale Murphy Saw Pablo Sandoval's Homers Last Night And Wished He Had Been Fat When He Played
The pudgy Pablo Sandoval spanked lean, mean Justin Verlander during Game 1 of the World Series last night. Fat Ichiro—that's one of his nicknames—hit three home runs. This was improbable. Sandoval hit only 12 all season. Verlander allowed only 19 all year. But Fat Ichiro can do that to you....

"What's This Fucking Song?" How A Yankees Free Spirit Reluctantly Ushered In Baseball's Entrance-Music Era
Sparky Lyle's arrival in New York was nothing to get excited about. On March 22, 1972, the Boston Red Sox traded the good but nondescript lefty reliever to the Yankees for Danny Cater and a player to be named later. Ho-hum. But when he actually came into the games—that was something else. ...

On His Blog, Teemu Selänne Says Gary Bettman "Is Certainly The NHL's Most Hated Person"
Teemu Selänne has been an NHL player for 20 years, but he's also been writing an occasional blog post for MTV3 (!) in Finland (!!) since July 2010. The Finnish Flash's blog had been quiet since late May, but today Selänne weighed in with some thoughts on the NHL lockout. A sample, after someone on R...

Giants Coordinator Kevin Gilbride Accidentally Murdered His Own Mustache
It's tough to say goodbye to a close friend who suffers an untimely demise. In this case, it's Kevin Gilbride who said sayonara to his mustache, whose departure has now been eulogized somewhat in the New York Times. Of course, it all started with an innocent shave, but it quickly escalated into some...


Watch Shaq Mug For The Cameras With The World's Smallest Primate
On this lazy Sunday morning, enjoy a heartwarming video of a photo shoot featuring Shaquille O'Neal and Fuggles the mouse lemur. Here's a little more info, from the uploader:...

Better Know An Umpire: Dana DeMuth
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. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

The First Jose Canseco Joke Known To Mankind
It's easy to forget that Jose Canseco used to be a baseball player of some distinction and not just a social media punchline. Which got us thinking, how long has this been going on? When did the tide start to turn against the Worcester Tornadoes' newest outfielder?...

Fabrice Muamba Returned To Reebok Stadium For Today's Bolton-Tottenham Match
Six weeks after suffering the cardiac arrest that stopped his heart for 78 minutes, Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba returned to greet fans and players for today's Bolton-Tottenham Hotspur match at Reebok Stadium. It's fitting for him to come back today, as it was at the Spurs' White Hart Lane Mua...

Baseball's Unwritten Rules, Uncovered After 26 Years
A few weeks ago, I found myself in Austin and happened upon one of these flea market-type warehouses. It's like a ginormous, impersonal yard sale: People come with their stuff, set it up in their little station, put a price tag on everything, and hope it eventually sells. As it turns out, one of the...