fin Page 178 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Lakers Get Bleeps In Gear, Almost Steal Game 2
The NBA Closer is written by Matt McHale, who would like to know where the bleep Boston's killer instinct is. When he's not freaking the bleep out over the Celtics playing stall ball, he can be found venting his bleeping angst over it at bleeping Basketbawful. Enjoy!...

Hey! Game 2 Is Here! What, Already?
Thanks for the three-day delay between games at the same site, NBA. Kobe might have to skip out on the Olympics with this series scheduled to go on for the entirety of the summer. Just more time for Paul Pierce to get ready to play act some more and Kobe to prepare to be swallowed up by more Celtic...

To Watch Tonight
What to watch while giving into sloth, greed, lust, wrath, envy, pride and especially gluttony....

Paul Shirley, And The Frustrations Of The NBA Finals In Spain
Former NBA player Paul Shirley is the author of Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond. He is currently in Spain, and writes today for Deadspin about the difficulty of trying to watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals...

We'd Say These NBA Finals Are A Bit More Entertaining Than Last Year's
We didn't get to make a pre-series prediction yesterday because we were being all wussy misty-eyed, but we would have gone with Lakers in five. Oops....

An Inconvenient Truth ... For The Lakers
My name is Matt McHale and Paul Pierce is the motherf—-ing truth. Quote me on that and don't take nothing out. Oh, and please visit Basketbawful. Enjoy!...

Paul Pierce One-Leggedly Asserts Himself In Game One
As Paul Pierce lay underneath the basket, writhing in pain, a trainer ominously hovering, it appeared a Boston victory in this game, this series, was highly unlikely. Pierce gets carried off the court, still grimacing and immobile, in a manner that would suggest he'd either been stung by a Man O'War...

NBA Finals Game 1: A Preview
Basketbawful has broken out the highest quality Wiccan spell components - coffin nails, dead sea salt, glory water, graveyard dirt, and a very phallic ritual candle - to uncover the darkest mysteries of tonight's NBA Finals (yes, Finals) game....

Singing The Praises Of The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry
Believe it or not, there was a time when the biggest problem that Isiah Thomas had was random Boston Celtics attempting to place shoes on his head. The year was 1987, and that's not just any Celtic, actually; it's the great Kevin McHale. The last year that Boston has been in the NBA Finals also happ...

Chuck Klosterman Revisits The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry
Readers of Chuck Klosterman's "Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs" will remember the particularly amusing essay about the Lakers-Celtics rivalry of the '80s. To quote:...

Lakers Versus Celtics Part XI: New Blood
The season series: The Celtics (66-16) enjoyed a 2-0 season sweep of the Lakers (57-25). On November 23, they won 107-94 in L.A. On December 10, they won 110-91 in Boston....

Lakers Versus Celtics: A Not-So-Brief History
The Celtics and Lakers have met 10 times in the NBA Finals. That's more times than any other team has even made the finals. So here's everything I think you need to know about the history of this rivalry, most of which isn't made up. I think....

Enterprising Red Wings Fan Finds Clever Way To Give The Penguins More Money
19-year-old Zach Smith, native of Cleveland but lover of the Red Wings, devised an ingenious scheme that would not only allow him to throw an octopus on the ice of Mellon Arena last night before Game 4 but still be able to watch the game after he got tossed. His very canny, super savvy plan: buy an...

If R. Kelly Should Be On Trial For Anything, It's Inspiring This
The MERKIN mercilessly turns out attention to this spoof of R. Kelly's "Ignition" honoring the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. Does this mean he pees on girls, too? ...

From Cheerleader To Puck Bunny
NHL.com wises up, hires former Texans cheerleader to...something something cheerleader. [Japers' Rink]...

Bill Simmons Puts On His Defeatist Hat
Oftentimes, Boston sports fans cringe when people uphold former Boston Sports Guy and current L.A. resident Bill Simmons' ramblings as a representative of their thoughts as a whole. And that's even when he thinks Boston teams are doing well. Some of them are taking added umbrage with Simmons' most ...

Apparently, The Jennie Finchification Of Softball Is Under Way
So, has Jennie Finch completely transformed softball from a sport once overtaken by rampant lesbianism to one more appealing to bubbly straight girls ? It depends. You can talk to one person and they'll tell you about how half the people they knew on their college and high school softball team wore ...

For Your Viewing Pleasure
• 1:30 — NHL: Dallas Stars vs. Detroit Red Wings, Game 5. [NBC] • 2:00 — LPGA: Sybase Classick, Third Round. [ESPN2] • 2:00 — Horses: Preakness Special from Pimlico Race Course. [ESPN] • 3:00 — PGA: AT&T Classic, Third Round at TPC Sugarloaf. [CBS] • 3:30 — ABC: LA Sparks vs. Phoenix Mercury. [ABC] ...

Go Ozzie! Go Willie! Go Jack!
If you'll forgive us a brief moment of self-indulgence ... our daily obsession for the last few months paid off last night as our 1986 Strat-O-Matic St. Louis Cardinals won the National League East by one game over Baba Booey's New York Mets. (And two games over Doug Glanville's Philadelphia Phillie...

About Last Night
What you missed while mourning another tragic Civil War casualty ... • NHL: *Yawn!* Is the Stars-Sharks game over yet? • MLB: Maddux vows to win No. 350 before the next appearance of comet Hale-Bopp. • NBA: Confused Jazz discover that hack-a-Kobe strategy does not work. Los Angeles 109, Utah 98....