et Page 2323 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why Your Hometown Columnist Sucks: Bud Poliquin
There must be a school out there, some sort of Hogwarts-inspired academy where columnists go to learn the art of lousy column writing. It can't just be a coincidence that our worst sports columnists, people such as Woody Paige, Jay Mariotti and this week's featured guest, Bud Poliquin, are all see...

Blogdom's Best: New York Jets
It might not — yet — have the online fanaticism and cachet of baseball, but the NFL and its fans are starting to catch up in the world of team-devoted blogs. To this end, Deadspin salutes these modem-addled souls and proudly presents Blogdom's Best, given to the most outstanding blog for each NFL ...

Recruiting Wars Are Always Ugly
We'll confess, the whole notion of recruiting in college athletics leaves us queasy, and we're even more weirded out by fans who are unnaturally obsessed with it. There are countless "recruiting expert" sites that, when you really break it down, essentially make a living by looking at 16-year-old ...

We Have To Ask ...
Suggested questions for today's ESPN SportsNation chatters ... • 11 a.m. MLB with Buster Olney: Hey, loved you in the "Our Gang" comedies. Now get a real name and tell us who the next Yankees manager is gonna be. • 1 p.m. NFL with Michelle Tafoya: From a small Minnesota TV station to Monday Night Fo...

NFL Roundup: Portis' Head
• Contrary to popular belief, Redskins running back Clinton Portis was not doing an impersonation of Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams chasing a fly ball while doing that cartwheel in the end zone yesterday. Good guess, though. • We're not saying that Cincinnati was getting a little too excit...

Larry Bowa, Voice Of Calm And Decency
The rumors are coming fast and with much fury, and the notion of it makes us so happy we almost want to dance: The Yankees have offered combustible engine Larry Bowa a job as their third-base coach. It is not known whether Bowa could be considered a potential replacement for Joe Torre were he to f...

Why Is This Man So Excited?
This is Astros closer Brad Lidge, and in this picture anyway, he's a very excited young man. (It obviously was not taken Monday.) There are many reasons he might be so happy. He could have just closed out an Astros victory. He could have learned that he wasn't going to be a lot of money for his ca...

Do Not Steal From Ugueth Urbina. Seriously.
Philadelphia Phillies reliever Ugueth Urbina takes his personal property very seriously. At a welcome-home party for the pitcher in his native Venezuela, after many drinks, Urbina discovered that one of his laborers might have stolen a firearm. According to a witness, his response was measured, ra...

Coles Gets His Oprah Moment
As promised, Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to talk about his being molested by his stepfather as a child. As you might expect, Coles cried, Oprah cried, everyone cried. (Dick Vermeil came by, he cried, Jimmy Swaggert came by, he cried, Sean Penn came by, ...

Joe Torre, Masochist
One of our favorite games as a kid — and still, actually — was "Rock And A Hard Place." You remember the game: It involved making someone choose between two equally undesirable options. Would you rather kiss a donkey on the butt or look at a naked picture of your mom? You know, that sort of thing....

Why Your Hometown Columnist Sucks: Bill Plaschke
We have seen Bill Plaschke's desk. Well, to be more precise, we haven''t actually seen the surface of the desk — just the refuse piled on top. We doubt that anyone working at the Los Angeles Times since the early 1990s has seen what's underneath. To best describe it, think Dennis Nedry's work stat...

Coles To Tell His Oprah-Worthy Tale On Oprah
Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles spoke out last month about being molested by his stepfather, and tomorrow he will reap the inevitable glory: He'll talk about it on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." He will appear with an "entertainment reporter and Park Avenue socialite" who went through the same orde...

Vikings In Desperate Need Of Dramamine
All kinds of developments from the Vikings orgy boat story over the weekend. The highlights:...

Paul Tagliabue, Friend To The Gays
We'll confess something: We had no idea that NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's son Drew was openly gay. Only of the only references we can find about it on the Web is on the Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays' Web site; we didn't expect the NFL to put out a press release or anythin...

Todd Zeile, 21st Century Man
Now, we're not saying anything about those lingering rumors about former Mets manager Bobby Valentine helping him deal with some "issues" involving a popular veteran journeyman player who Bill Simmons might call being a "bi-curious guy," or his recent career as a producer of terrible teen movies o...

He Doesn't Waste Any Time, Does He?
Three days after his team was eliminated from the American League playoffs, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is all dressed and ready to start his winter vacation....

In Defense Of Joe Pa's Views Of Lesbians
(Honestly, we love that we get to write headlines like that.)...

Does Joe Pa Hate Lesbians Too?
Yesterday, we made a glib remark about Joe Paterno and Penn State's homophobic coach, because hey, we're a blog, we're glib, it's what we do. We joked that you could say what you want about Joe Paterno, but at least unlike his women's basketball coach, he didn't hate lesbians....

Hockey Didn't Land On Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock Landed On Hockey
Fantastic find from The Mighty MJD: AOL's Black Voices has a sports section that tracks black players in the NHL. According to the site, there are 12, many with Afrocentric names like "Bryce Salvador," "Fred Braithwaite," "Sean McMorrow" and "George Laraque."...

Welcome Back, Artest! Glad To Have Ya!
That Ron Artest is back for a whole season is destined to be one of the sublime joys of the upcoming NBA season; that he vows to be as crazy as ever makes us want to get an NBA League Pass, stat. From an interview with Dave D'Alessandro in today's Newark Star-Ledger:...