gi Page 611 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Please Don't Make Us Lonely In July
Forgive this trifle of self-indulgence, but after our brutal sojourn at Busch Stadium is completed, we're heading back toward our home plains of Illinois. Anybody out there fortunate enough to be so near miles of corn is invited to join us....

What's The Deal With Juan Gone?
Juan Gonzalez has always been one of the more confounding baseball players. The guy won two MVPs, is 34th all time in home runs and was the guy we were certain was going to someday break Hack Wilson's RBI mark. Sure, he was moody and unusual, but not any more so than Albert Belle, who actually did...

The Closer: It Hasn't Been A Barry Good Year
Notes from a day in baseball:...

Texas A&M, Represent!
One day thousands of years from now, when a superior alien intelligence stumbles upon the remains of our long-extinct civilization, we only pray that they don't come across this video. Just our luck it will be the only thing that survives, and we don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about us. We ...

Michael Strahan's Real "Alternative Lifestyle"
Last week's silly Michael Strahan could be gay rumor — started by an estranged wife in the midst of divorce proceedings — has been pretty much discredited by everyone, including the woman who made the allegation. But if you weren't convinced enough, a reader sends in a story of seeing Strahan and ...

The Closer: Giants No-Hitter Foiled By Hobbit
Thoughts on a day in baseball:...

Phil Mickelson Resumes Being Phil Mickelson
After a couple of major wins, Phil Mickelson let go of a stranglehold he had on the U.S. Open and collapsed on the 18th hole today at Winged Foot. Lefty's train wreck handed the victory to Australian Geoff Ogilvy, a guy who's not real well-known outside of the small group of habitual Golf Channel vi...

How To Brainwash Your Baby Early
From the folks at Thrillist comes a truly mortifying discovery: Team Baby Entertainment, DVDs designed to brainwash your otherwise sensible and emotionally curious child into a life of violent confrontion, xenophobic geographic loyalties and face-painting....

Bonds' Anti-Climactic Trip To Shea
We've been fortunate enough, during our time here in New York, to see the Shea Stadium crowd riled up a few times, including our favorite, John Rocker's return to Shea for the first time, in June 2000, since his infamous 7 train remarks. (As was typical at the time, the crowd booed him lustily, an...

In Support Of More Lego Violence
Inspired by this well-done ranking of the best five baseball fights — we agree that Nolan Ryan pounding Robin Ventura is No. 1, but Izzy Alcantara catcher-face-kick/take-on-all-comers minor league battle is one of the more underrated sports events of our lifetime — we are proud to showcase The Bat...

Two Bald Guys, Ruling Everything
Pity the poor parents of anyone who might have been featured on ESPN's coverage of track and field yesterday; we imagine them readying to watch their dear child heave the shot put or hoist a javelin, years of support and pride and sweat finally being showcased on national television ... and then, ...

714, At Last
It's kind of a shame that this didn't happen while Will was blogging, because I'm not nearly as obsessed with this as he is, but... c'est la vie. Barry Bonds hit his 714th career home run, tying Babe Ruth for 2nd on the all-time list. It came against Brad Hasley of the Oakland A's in the second in...

Ron Zook Rocks It, Dude, Totally
This picture, found by The Wizard Of Odds, features Illinois head football coach Ron Zook ... uh, well, we're not sure what he's doing there. The hand gesture? The crazed, intense look in the eyes? The (gasp) "athletic gear?"...

Elgin Baylor, NBA Exec Of The Year. This Year, They Mean.
This has to be considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. If, one year ago, you'd have suggested that it was even possible for Clippers GM Elgin Baylor to one day be considered for the NBA's Executive of the Year award, Jerry West and Joe Dumars would've shown up at your door to take ...

Michael, Magic, And Charles Want To Own Your Team
Magic Johnson is envisioning a plan where he, Michael Jordan, and Charles Barkley would combine to own and run an NBA franchise. I don't know how good that team would actually be, but I don't think there would be any question about which team's owners would be having the most fun in the luxury box...

Revisiting All The Old Records
Either New Yorker and "The Tipping Point" author Malcolm Gladwell is just angry because Barry Bonds is the only human who might actually have a bigger head than he does, or he might actually be onto something. Gladwell, who says "Game Of Shadows" is "a death sentence for Bonds," suggests hiring a ...

The Closer: Bronx Cheer
Notes from a day of baseball ... • 1. Well, That's Two. It was a headline in The New York Times that really bothered us: 'Yankees Rough Up Angels' Colon.' But they were refering to Bartolo Colon, of course, who got pounded by A-Rod & Co. 10-1 yesterday, and hey, the Yankees are off! After beating ...

Anybody Actually Watching This Show (Other Than Us)?
Here's the thing about the ESPN "reality" series Bonds on Bonds; everyone seems to have an opinion on it, but practically no one has actually seen it. Even Barry himself missed the debut episode on Tuesday. We don't know what the ratings were, but they can't be good; ESPN went into damage control ...