fr Page 352 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why Your Team Sucks: San Francisco 49ers
Some people are fans of the San Francisco 49ers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the San Francisco 49ers. This 2009 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group....

The Rockies Are A Team Of Destiny ... Again
Two years ago, Colorado's miracle finish lifted a scrappy upstart team to the World Series. Then suddenly they were were terrible again. Now they're on the verge of another miracle comeback. How do they do it (every other year)?...

A's Pitcher Is Latest Member Of The Sadness Brigade
Justin Duchscherer has been on rehab since March with a hip injury. Now, he's shut down for the rest of the year with "a very treatable form of clinical depression." The treatment is "not playing for the A's." [SF Chronicle]...

What Is Wrong With Our Fragile Little League Baseball Players?
From 1995 to 1998, Dr. James Andrews performed nine Tommy John surgeries on teenage patients. From 2003 to 2008? 224. Young, amateur pitchers are breaking down faster than a Dusty Baker rotation and no one knows what to do....

Michael Crabtree's Adviser Has Quite The Shady History
Remember when we said Michael Crabtree shouldn't be listening to his cousin? He might not be the best guy to get advice from. When the local alt-weekly has done a 5000-word investigative piece on you, you're probably not squeaky clean....

The Bidding Wars For The Erin Andrews Interview Have Begun (UPDATE)
Oprah. Larry King. Diane Sawyer. Katie Couric. According to one snitch/source, these are some of the heavy-hitters jockeying for the exclusive EA post-peephole heart-to-heart sit-down....

Michael Crabtree Should Not Listen To His "Advisers"
The people looking out for Michael Crabtree's best interests say that Michael is prepared to hold out for the entire 2009 season and re-enter the draft because in reality, they don't give a crap about Michael Crabtree's interests....

Frank Deford Has Noticed That ESPN Has Some Influence
Once a week, Frank Deford ambles down to his local NPR station, talks into a microphone for three minutes, then goes back to his VHS library of women's Wimbledon matches. This week, he had "harsh" words for his some-time employer....

NCAA Expands To Canada; Can University Of Phoenix Online Be Far Behind?
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

The Inexorable Pussification Of Little League Marches On
A 12-year-old boy thought it would be cool to break out the pop-up slide — and tore up his knee in the process. This being America, of course his family sued. So how much money did they get?...

ESPN Twitter Memo: The Remix
So now that the infamous memo has been passed around to everyone, ESPN has reworked their guidelines for those individuals still confused or incensed by the policy and what they can and cannot do....

For A Guy With A Neck Tattoo, Delonte West Is Not A Very Good Freestyler
Cavs' guard Delonte West has spent the summer putting together his own YouTube diary of madness. Today we find him at the KFC drive-thru, waiting on a bucket of The Colonel's crack, spouting off a nonsensical rhyme about his predicament....

The Real Reason Michael Phelps Won't Meet With the Pope
It's not because he got high (as we all know, the Pope smokes dope). The reason famous fish-person Michael Phelps won't meet with the Nazi Pope is buried deep in his family history, as revealed on his Wikipedia page....

What I've Learned
"Just a reminder, Ben Cohen is Deadspin's summer intern," A.J. wrote in May. "His time at Deadspin... is part of his educational and life experience. So consider yourselves all mentors." Well, I thought then, this should be fairly catastrophic....

The One With Assorted Handsy Photos And Absurd Complaints
We get a massive amount of tips in our inbox each week. Some are pretty interesting, but don't get published for one reason or another....

Charlie Hustle Finds A New Muse
Got an image you'd like to see in here first thing in the morning? Send it to [email protected]. Subject: Morning crap...

Omar Minaya: Mix Master No More
It was just two years ago that Omar Minaya was a Sports Illustrated cover boy and subject of a fawning profile in which he was referred to simply as O. As in: Oh my, how things have changed....

Choose Your Side In The Great Cycling Rivalry
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is celebrating his big victory by throwing "teammate" Lance Armstrong under the bus, instead of pushing him under an actual moving bus, which would have made the race infinitely more exciting....

Lance Armstrong Has Failed Everyone
Alberto Contador has won his second Tour de France. Livestrong, Alberto! One person who's thrilled about this news? This precocious, Tour-loving five-year-old. [SI]...

Sumo Cycling: The Next Great Olympic Sport
Perhaps Lance Armstrong would secretly like his teammate Alberto Contador to be pinned down by this extremely zealous fan, so he can win an eighth race....