ew Page 2629 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

TV Ratings For Ravens-Broncos Were Bananas
The NFL is invincible. After a season of unnecessary distractions and safety crises and owner collusion and labor stoppages, in the course of two days the sport managed to put on two games that were so good they make you want to run through a fucking brick wall. Saturday's slugfest in Denver and yes...

Iowa Basketball Player Throws Shoe, Nearly Decapitates Own Coach
Iowa's offense is dangerous. The Hawkeyes' Aaron White wasn't trying to plunk head coach Fran McCaffery after Northwestern's Alex Marcotullio lost his shoe during the second half yesterday. White was actually trying to get the shoe off the floor as quickly as possible so Iowa could continue to run i...

Brendon Ayanbadejo Is Already Chirping About The Patriots' "Gimmick" Offense
Ravens LB Brendon Ayanbadejo made headlines last summer when he very publicly announced his support of Maryland's gay-marriage referendum. Now he's opening himself up to an even more hateful bunch of opponents—Pats fans. (See?) Ayanbadejo didn't even wait for New England to finish its asskicking of ...

Denver's CBS Affiliate Seems Really Confused About Which Teams Are Playing In The AFC Championship
As you already know, the Denver Broncos fell this weekend to the Baltimore Ravens in a double-OT thriller. The city of Denver, it seems, is still a bit in denial. Here's a graphic that ran during last night's 6 p.m. newscast, one that's exceptionally bizarre to the point you wonder how it got on TV...

Fox Gets Conservative: Did The Denver Coach's Risk-Averse Strategy Cost The Broncos A Playoff Victory?
NFL coaches will often refer to "playing the percentages." But if there's one thing I've learned by studying strategic decisions, it's that coaches don't have a firm grasp of those percentages. And when anyone is uncertain of the odds, he'll fall back on the sure thing. That was the case with Bronco...

Titans Wide Receiver Kenny Britt Wanted For Questioning In Connection With His Brother's Stabbing
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt dropped off his recently stabbed younger brother at a Jersey City hospital late on Saturday night, and has not spent his Sunday cooperating with the subsequent police investigation. The Jersey Journal reports:...

Man Performs Feat Even More Incredible Than Making A Half-Court Shot For $1,000
No one will ever confuse me with Nate Silver, but I have to think attempting a half-court shot and having the ball firmly wedge itself between the backboard and the rim is much, much further down the list of likely outcomes than "made shot."...
![Atlanta Finally Wins A Playoff Game And Brandon Spikes Over-Celebrates: Falcons-Seahawks And Patriots-Texans, In GIFs [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18bf2wkhhylx6gif.gif)
Atlanta Finally Wins A Playoff Game And Brandon Spikes Over-Celebrates: Falcons-Seahawks And Patriots-Texans, In GIFs [Updated]
Here's where we're putting all of our divisional round GIFs for the Falcons' tense win over the Seahawks and the Patriots' not-so-tense win over the Texans. Click through for everything from Richard Sherman clap-clap-clapping in Roddy White's face (after losing him in coverage) to Bill Belichick ne...

Carmelo Anthony Has Been Fasting For 15 Days, Is Now Giving Up
Two seasons ago, when Carmelo Anthony was still playing for Denver, Ball Don't Lie's Kelly Dwyer pulled some averages from a 12-game stretch of the Nuggets' season:...

The Mayor Of Denver Has To Do The Ray Lewis Dance Now
Mayors of rival cities make cities make light-hearted bets on the outcome of sporting events all the time. Just yesterday the Packers-49ers game had chocolates, cheese curds, sparkling wine, "a free admission day to the Children's Museum" and bread, beer, more chocolates and a "a free admission day ...

Reminder: Peyton Manning Still Better Than Tim Tebow
Broncos fans should be used to this by now: a big time, Super Bowl-winning quarterback lost to an obviously lesser quarterback in an overtime classic in Denver. The comparisons have been as inescapable as they are stupid:...

<em>The Sunday Times</em> Put An Ad In <em>The Chicago Tribune</em> About What Questions Lance Armstrong Should Answer On <em>Oprah</em>
David Walsh, sports editor of The Sunday Times, took out this advertisement [click to enlarge] in The Chicago Tribune telling Oprah Winfrey what to ask during her interview with Lance Armstrong tomorrow, because Oprah and her staff only read their hometown paper and there is no other way to reach t...

Your Divisional Playoffs Open Thread
Seattle at Atlanta 1:00 p.m. (FOX): Well, it's put up or shut up for the "Falcons stink in the playoffs" narrative. It really could not have shaken out any worse for them, though, as the white-hot Seattle Seahawks come into town. While Atlanta was winding down the season, securing the top seed in th...

Jason Taylor Went Through Absolute Hell To Play Football
If it wasn't already obvious that football players are bad at diagnosing their own injuries—and that football is an immensely brutal game—Dan LeBatard's story about Jason Taylor in today's Miami Herald drives the point home in graphic detail:...

Justin Tucker's Practice Kicks Before His Game-Winner Were Not Allowed, But They Were Also Not Not Allowed
Before Justin Tucker made the field goal that ended the the fifth longest game in NFL history yesterday, he jogged onto the field between the two overtimes and had an assistant coach hold the ball for him while he practiced his kicks. Champ Bailey was dismayed, as you can see in the video above, b...

Roger Goodell Thinks That Robert Griffin III Knee Injury Saga Played Out Just Fine
The problem with football players is that they they're born not wanting to act in their own best interests, especially with regards to their long-term health. That's why they play football. In theory, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would be acting in his own best interest by acting in theirs—after ...

N.C. State Upset Duke Yesterday On The Strength Of This <i>Braveheart</i>-Inspired Speech (Probably)
I'll be honest, I watched this thinking it would be stupid and boring and not worth watching. But you know what? It's kind of fun. And let's be honest, these guys are the red-headed stepchildren of Carolina, they deserve a little moment in the sun. So here's a little Braveheart-themed pep rally be...

James Harden Crossover Gives Jrue Holiday Whiplash
The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Houston Rockets 107-100 last night and oh, who cares? Do yourself a favor: skip to the :09 mark of this video and watch in slow motion how James Harden crosses up Jrue Holiday. Looks pretty bad, right? Now go back to the beginning and watch in real time as James Har...

H, Y, and Z Are Your Money Letters: How To Beat Scrabble's Flawed Points System, Using Google-Powered Math
This week the director of research at Google, a fellow named Peter Norvig, published on his blog the results of a fascinating deep-dive into the English language. If you're at all interested in letter frequency or word frequency, you owe it to yourself to at least skim Norvig's post. Essentially the...
