gop Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Top-Ranked Softball Team In The Country Is Somehow Unseeded In The NCAA Tournament
When the University of Minnesota’s softball team gathered for dinner to watch the NCAA tournament selection show, spirits were high. The Big Ten champs went a school-record 54-3 this season, and were ranked second in the last coaches poll and 11th in the RPI....
Wil Myers Almost Trips On Way To Third While Completing Cycle
The cycle is probably the sports accomplishment with the highest ratio of how excited I get about it to how much it actually matters. It’s a fluke thing, and not really indicative of anything about a player who hits for it (some power and some speed, I guess, but Bengie Molina did it, and you should...
Christian Bethancourt's Season Debut Didn't Go So Well
San Diego Padres catcher Christian Bethancourt made his first pitching appearance of the season today, when he came on in relief with his team trailing the Dodgers 7-1 in the fourth inning. Things went poorly. ...
The Padres Are Barely A Major League Team
It’s opening day! That glorious day, gravid with promise, when every team is in first place and fans around the country can believe, if just for a little while, that their team has what it takes to go all the way. Except for Padres fans. All hope is lost. I’m sorry....
Christian Bethancourt Has Officially Made The Padres' Roster As A Two-Way Playing Experiment
Ten months after Christian Bethancourt notched two outs in a blowout for his first big-league pitching appearance, the San Diego Padres catcher is officially getting his chance to make it as a two-way player. After spending his offseason focusing on his pitching, he was included on the roster announ...
Everybody Hits The Deck As Bees Swarm Spring Training Game
The above is a snapshot from today’s spring training matchup between the Rockies and the Padres. What, pray tell, is going on here? A terrible game of hide and seek? A few guys choosing a weird time to practice their “stop, drop and roll” skills? Nope. Just a good old-fashioned swarm of bees:...
What To Do When An Old Friend Wants You To Join A Pyramid Scheme
Have you ever gotten a weird phone call from your home area code? Or maybe someone you used to know randomly invites you over to dinner, mentioning something about a business opportunity. These are sure signs that someone is trying get you involved in a pyramid scheme, and that’s bad, because pyrami...
In Defense Of Skyline Chili, The Good Kind Of Diarrhea Sludge<em></em>
“You really want the green noodles?” asked the seemingly amazed young man taking my order....
Three Minnesota Football Players Cleared In University Sexual Assault Case
Three football players who were recommended for suspensions as part of a University of Minnesota sexual assault investigation have had those punishments overturned, lawyers for the players announced yesterday. After this latest round of appeals, so far four of the five recommended expulsions in the...
The NCAA Tournament Teams That Can Actually Pull Off Some Upsets
This is the second of three posts that will preview the NCAA tournament. This one is for people who want to know which sleeper teams have the best shot at making some noise. ...
MLB To Carter Capps: Cool It With That Wacky Delivery
MLB and the MLBPA announced a set of new rules today, most of which had been credibly reported on last week. ...
Petco Park Flooded
This seems bad? The Padres say it’s not that bad, but it feels bad. I feel like ballparks shouldn’t flood entirely because...it rained a lot?...
Kei Nishikori Is Shook
Kei Nishikori is the fifth-best tennis player in the world and even his practice sessions get mobbed in his native Japan. His trademark shot is the down-the-line backhand, a smoothly flicked frozen rope. You might have last seen him in January taking Roger Federer to five sets in the quarters of the...
Alexandr Dolgopolov's Best Weapon Is The Screwiest Game In Tennis
One complaint lobbed at today’s game is that everyone is content to play the same style of tennis: Just stand at the back of the court and hit hard topspin groundstrokes over and over until your opponent, who’s attempting the same, can’t keep up. We live in a “power baseline” era, and it didn’t use ...
Jered Weaver And The Padres Are The Perfect Sad Pairing
Jered Weaver has been a punchline more so than an effective pitcher for a while now, going back to about the time his fastball velocity started jumping off a cliff:...
It's Time To Speculate About Peyton Manning's Political Aspirations
Now that Peyton Manning, the ad pitchman and NFL quarterback, has retired from one of his two day jobs, it’s natural to wonder what comes next. He’s still making a string of commercials, but he hasn’t made much visible progress toward finding new football-based employment. Jay Glazer reported earlie...
Tracy Claeys Has No Idea What He's Talking About
The Tracy Claeys redemption tour has begun and, as this particular sort of redemption tour tends to, it’s already revealing more about how ridiculous it is for football coaches to be seen as righteous educational and intellectual leaders than anything else. On Tuesday, Claeys was fired—in part, admi...
Former Minnesota Coach Jerry Kill Furious Over Firing Of Tracy Claeys
The University of Minnesota fired head football coach Tracy Claeys on Tuesday, at least in part because Claeys supported his players’ plan to boycott their bowl game in solidarity with 10 teammates who were suspended following a university sexual assault investigation. The university’s decision to f...
![Minnesota Fires Coach Tracy Claeys [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/vwehplxrybt0ozwaswr8.jpg)
Minnesota Fires Coach Tracy Claeys [Updated]
The Golden Gophers have fired football coach Tracy Claeys, according to several reports out of Minnesota. None of the reports offer anything official about why he was fired, but the move does follow a bowl game win—and the program getting criticism for when the players threatened to boycott the game...
Prosecutor Says No Charges For Gopher Football Players, Again, After Minnesota Wins Its Bowl Game
The Hennepin County (Minn.) District Attorney’s Office announced today, for a second time, that it had reviewed the evidence against the group of Golden Gophers football players accused of raping a fellow student and decided there was not enough to bring a criminal case. But before going into what p...