ick Page 558 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It Was Totally Not Brendan Haywood's Fault That Kevin Durant Posterized Him, Says Brendan Haywood
Remember this dunk? Of course you do. It was awesome. Brendan Haywood, whose greatest skill has traditionally been being marginally better than Erick Dampier or Etan Thomas, remembers it too....

Giants Fans, Don't Insult The Butt Of Your Best Homegrown Player Since Marvin Benard
Your morning roundup for May 21, the day we robbed the Knights of Columbus and a tattoo parlor. H/T E. Gunther for the screencap....

Russell Westbrook's Quarter On The Bench Is A Nice Reminder That The NBA Has Coaches
Here's the play, courtesy of Sebastian Pruiti over at the NBA Playbook, that allegedly motivated Scott Brooks to bench his starting point guard for the entire fourth quarter last night. It was, initially, a nerve-racking move to take in: you expect a young team to fold in on itself without its you...

Today, Consider Bankrupting Dan Gilbert For A Good Cause
Nick Gilbert, bespoke son of Comic Sans-loving Cavaliers owner Dan, became your new favorite meme for about six hours Tuesday night when he presided over Cleveland's unlikely NBA draft lottery win. (And he too cued something in between dickishness and awkward humor from Timberwolves GM David Kahn.)...

The Photo Of Kevin Durant's Dunk Will Replace The Taj Gibson Poster That Replaced Bruce Lee Posters Across America
With apologies to Taj Gibson, who replaced Bruce Lee just four days ago, this posterized Kevin Durant dunk over Brendan Haywood (click here to see the full view) should now be required to hang above every American mantlepiece in felt-tip form....

Putting A Drunk Phillies/Flyers Fan On Live TV? Bad Decision, Guy In A Windowless Production Van
Your morning roundup for May 20, the day Kirsten Dunst was (politely) shocked and appalled. H/T Ryan Boone for the vid....

Your NBA Western Conference Finals Open Thread
In advance of Game Two of the NBA Western Conference Championship series, DFW.com was kind enough to post 136 "fan photos" from Game One between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're something to behold....

The Decision About LeBron's <em>Decision</em> Was An Orgy Of Self-Interest, With Jim Gray On Top
There's a brief section about The Decision in Those Guys Have All the Fun, and if the details aren't exactly fresh, the takeaway is somewhat new: Everyone involved was using everyone else for their own ends to produce what amounted to a massive orgy that they all came to regret the next day. And LeB...

Three Stooges Diversion Makes For Soccer's Greatest Set Piece
We're just seeing this now, but it needs to be seen. It's a brilliant piece of misdirection, and if I were on the victimized team, I'd want to kick someone's shins. [via Fark]...

We Will Always Remember Dick Ebersol For That Thing He Said In The ESPN Book About Hitler And Penises
Dick Ebersol is leaving NBC Sports, as you may know. Let's not think about the bad times, though. Let's think about the fun we had. Like yesterday, when we came across this quote in the excellent ESPN book that we're currently dry-humping up and down the site:...

Deadspin Classic: Dick Ebersol Is The Biggest Failure Of Them All
In the wake of Dick Ebersol's messy resignation from NBC Sports, we revisit the writings of a former NBC employee, who remembers Ebersol's failures being as legendary as his accomplishments....

Why Yes, One Cleveland Writer Did Offer Up A Nazi Death-Camp Gas For Use As Dirk Nowitzki's Nickname
And it was Scott Raab (yesterday). Oh, don't get all "How dare you belittle millions of deaths for a joke the morally depraved community doesn't even so much as giggle at?" He apologized 13 hours later, while nobly driving page views to a story he wrote last year about retired U.S. autoworker/convi...

Dirk Nowitzki, Boring Assassin
While you watch this video of every single Dirk Nowitzki free throw from last night, chew on this: Is it possible that Dirk, long-hailed as an elite NBA player, might have been underrated and unappreciated these past 13 years? Is it possible that Dirk, in a final four showcasing Kevin Durant, Derr...

Facekicker 2: The Kickening
Standard Liege midfielder Mehdi Carcela is in the hospital with a concussion and facial fractures, after being kicked in the face in the Belgian league playoffs. It was accidental, as most soccer highlights are, but still scary. Which doesn't mean you shouldn't mentally add the "Boom! Headshot!" a...

David Kahn Sort Of Accuses Stern Of Fixing Lottery So Gilbert's Sick Kid Would Win
So we told you about Dan Gilbert's son, who won the draft lottery tonight, but was born with neurofibromatosis, a disease that means tumors can grow throughout his body without warning....

Your NBA Draft Lottery/Thunder-Mavs Game One Open Thread
Someone's dreams will be crushed tonight. Either they will be David Kahn's, when he and the Wolves lose the lottery, or they will be Kyrie Irving's, when he realizes there's a 60.5 percent chance that Minnesota (the Land of 10,000 Point Guards), Cleveland, or Toronto winds up with the first pick. Or...

Watch This Kickboxer Get Destroyed By A Leaping 360 Roundhouse Kick
Here's a not-so-new video newly making the rounds. It's of a fight between Evgenij Alekseev and Vadim Masljanka that ends quickly. Alekseev lands the kind of kick we thought stopped working around the time Jean-Claude Van Damme stopped working. Guess not....

Waiting For The Gay Superstar
We're so close, people. So so close to current gay athletes coming out (or being outed), and more importantly, close to gay athletes feeling comfortable with being out....

Danny Ainge And Doc Rivers Maybe Kind Of Possibly A Little Bit Regret The Kendrick Perkins Trade
Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers present a clinic in saying a lot without saying much at all. Here's Ainge, on WEEI's The Big Show today, making an argument about a legitimate argument that one could make that he most certainly is not making:...

ESPN Book Excerpt: Keith Olbermann, The Asshole Genius
GQ called dibs on the first exclusive excerpt of the gigantic Miller-Shales ESPN oral history, Those Guys Have All The Fun, but we've been given an excerpt of their excerpt just because nobody wants us running any more unapproved excerpts. We'll play along. So read this, then pop over to GQ for the...