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Better Know An Umpire: Jeff Nelson
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

Jay Cutler Says Modern Football Has Left Mike Martz Behind
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: The Bears' old OC was stuck in 1999....

Temple Basketball Player Celebrates 21st Birthday By Getting Busted For Allegedly Soliciting A Prostitute
Depending on the traffic, Atlantic City, N.J., is a little more than an hour from Philadelphia by car, which makes it the perfect sort of getaway for college students from the city looking for some harmless mini-Vegas bacchanalia. Temple guard Khalif Wyatt, who turned 21 over the weekend, probably h...

How Judges Score A Boxing Match (And How Manny Pacquiao Got Screwed)
Manny Pacquiao got beaten by ghosts Saturday night. That's what boxing judges are. They are not necessarily former fighters, or coaches, or other knowledgeable figures. They are not necessarily anything. They are people chosen by opaque and obscure boxing commissions to decide the outcome of fights ...

How Do You Defend Jerry Sandusky?
It's not going to be easy. Like "climbing Mount Everest," his own lawyer told the jury this morning. Eight accusers will testify against Jerry Sandusky, and tell the jury that he lavished gifts on them, groped them, had sex with them. A poll from November showed that only three percent of Pennsylvan...

Report: Emails Indicate Ousted Penn State President Allegedly Said Not Reporting Jerry Sandusky To Cops Would Be "Humane"
So your bombshell revelation on the first day of the Jerry Sandusky trial has nothing to do with the case against Sandusky himself. NBC news reported this morning that Graham Spanier, the university president fired along with Joe Paterno in the days after the scandal broke last November, could face ...

The Dumbest Story Written About Derek Jeter (Post-3,000th-Hit Edition)
Really, Brian Lewis of the New York Post? This is an actual sentence that ran in a newspaper story after, say, 2004, and not something Tim McCarver said on air? OK:...

Better Know An Umpire: Jim Wolf
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...
![Rick Reilly's U.S. Open Column Is 18 Years Out Of Date [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17pgascdl4p66png.png)
Rick Reilly's U.S. Open Column Is 18 Years Out Of Date [UPDATE]
The U.S. Open is this weekend, and the best thing about the tournament is that just about anyone can enter. The worst thing about the tournament is also that just about anyone can enter. Thousands of golfers, from seasoned pros to Sunday duffers, take part in qualifying rounds, and if they're good e...
![Rob Gronkowski Attends Charity Event, Removes Shirt, (Maybe) Pours Drink On Woman [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17pgat9x6fqwjjpg.jpg)
Rob Gronkowski Attends Charity Event, Removes Shirt, (Maybe) Pours Drink On Woman [UPDATED]
It began as a busy offseason of funneling beers, wearing Zubaz, and lying around with cats for Rob Gronkowski, but it's been a while since we've had a genuine sighting of yo soy fiesta. That relative quiet may or may not have had anything to do with negotiations for the lucrative contract extension ...

Why ESPN Should Worry About <em>First Take</em>'s Ratings Slide
This has been the working theory: ESPN2's First Take is bad for the soul but awfully good for business. In late September, ESPN made the show the personal property of the professionally disagreeable Skip Bayless, turning the format into wall-to-wall staged argument. The conceit looked like a hit an...

The Rays Need To Upgrade Their Bullpen Phone Plan
Joe Maddon had some instructions for his bullpen, but the landline call at Marlins Park just wouldn't go through. He couldn't use a carrier pigeon, and he couldn't send a telegram, so Maddon improvised as best he could: He dispatched infielder Will Rhymes to deliver the message. The human element be...

Car Cuts Across Infield To T-Bone Rival Racer, Drivers Get Out And Fight
Not many details on this, other than it comes from Saturday evening at the Sportsdrome Speedway in Jeffersonville, Ind., a track that features front-wheel drive and figure-eight racing, two of the more amateur and collision-friendly forms of stock car racing. I don't know what the green car did to...

Polish Riot Police Vs. Croatian Hooligans—Who Ya Got?
We knew Polish police came prepared for Euro 2012, pants-pissing sound cannons and all. And we expected Eastern European fans to make trouble, because that's what they do. (UEFA has already opened an investigation into racist abuse from Russian fans.) But it turns out our first battle in the stree...

Twins Fans Grasp Coprophilia-Based Humor Better Than Any Other MLB Fanbase
Francisco Liriano fell to 1-7 on the season as the Cubs rocked the Twins in Minneapolis Sunday. While some Minnesota fans think the team as a whole is playing like shit, insiders point to the crappy performance by several players—Liriano and fellow pitcher Carl Pavano among them. Don't count the Tw...

Rafael Nadal Wins French Open On Novak Djokovic's Double Fault, Restoring Balance To Tennis's Best Rivalry
The conditions were better, the courts were (mostly) drier and the power and topspin returned to Rafael Nadal's game. It took Nadal less than an hour today to break Djokovic's serve twice and win the fourth set, 7-5, continuing yesterday's suspended match and take his seventh French Open....

Bill Murray Entertains Minor League Baseball Fans During Rain Delay, Dives Head First On Tarp
Apparently, part of Bill Murray's duties as part owner of the Charleston RiverDogs, a Class-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, is to serve as Director of Fun. The Director can be seen here rounding the tarp-covered bases and taking a nice sloppy tumble dive into tarp-covered home....

Deadspin Up All Night: Strong Island, Yo!
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Enjoy the rest of your evening, why don't you?...

Indians Closer Chris Perez Celebrated Earning His 20th Save By Projectile Vomiting All Over The Mound
Indians closer Chris Perez has been lights-out this season, and handcuffed St. Louis today in locking up a 4-1 Cleveland win. He did this, it seems, while suffering some degree of gastrointestinal distress—though given that he's done this before, maybe it's some kind of gross calling card....

Here Is A Seething Bob Costas Trying To Conduct A Post-Race Interview At The Belmont Stakes
Who won the Belmont Stakes? Who knows, it's not important. We're not degenerate gamblers, are we? This is fun, though. As Bob Neumeier attempted to kick it over to Bob Costas who was with Steve Duncker, chairman of NYRA, there was some confusion on Costas's end....