ick Page 559 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Break Out The Flat Top: Greg Ostertag Is Making A Comeback In The D-League
Without cheating, guess how long Greg Ostertag has been retired? It was only five years ago, when an out-of-shape Ostertag was playing limited minutes behind Mehmet Okur and mentoring a young Kris Humphries. But it's been even longer since he was effective, and longer than that since he played for a...

15 Years Ago, I Wrote A Fan Letter To ESPN. Here's Who Wrote Back.
I don't remember now what was in my letter, which I'd addressed to the very nonspecific "SportsCenter anchors." I'm sure it was your standard fan mail—"I'm a big fan, I watch every morning, I want to be on ESPN one day." I don't think I asked for a reply, and I definitely didn't ask for signed heads...

"I'm Not Coaching After 2017!" Rick Pitino Prematurely Ejaculates
Rick Pitino announced today that he will stop coaching once his Louisville contract runs out after the 2016-17 season: "When you're 59, you're realistic that you don't have a whole lot of years left," Pitino said at a news conference before the No. 4 Cardinals play Georgetown on Wednesday. "My contr...

100 Percent Of The NBA's Asian-American Population Now Plays For The Knicks
The Knicks added Jeremy Lin to the roster last night in an effort to fix the fact that they have zero depth in the backcourt. He's the league's lone Asian-American player, and he's also the only Harvard grad in the pros. Get this kid a billboard....

Cameraman On Segway Makes For Incredible Views Of Cricket Pitch, Humiliating Crash
Joe Previtera, an Australian television cameraman known as "Joe the Cameraman," got his karmic return 12 years after his infamous "sledging" (or insulting, in cricket speak) of a cricketer during a 1999 match when he fell off of his Segway during an Australia-India test match yesterday....

The Mets Are Trying To Stop R.A. Dickey From Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
Dickey, the Mets' knuckleballing ace, wrote on NYTimes.com that Hemingway inspired him to climb Kilimanjaro, the 19,341-foot Tanzanian peak. He's taking the climb to raise awareness of teenage prostitution in Mumbai....

Ricky Rubio <em>Está Aquí</em>
The Timberwolves' Ricky Rubio had six assists in the 26 minutes of his NBA debut. Here's each of them in all their Catalonian glory....

Sean Williams Left It All On The Floor Tonight
The Mavericks' Sean Williams made the most of his 11 minutes in a 115-93 loss to Denver—the forward, who spent all of last season in the D-League, tallied 12 points—but it was his performance after returning to the bench that brought his teammates to their feet....

NBA's Opening Day: A Knuckle-Deep Recap
The NBA's Opening Day spectacular matched such high-profile teams, it was hard to pick winners. Indeed, only a savvy gambler would have tried to take a day of entertainment and turn it into a gold-digging expedition. It all followed on a preseason in which the Mavericks went drilling for oil with t...

Even Santa Claus, Drink In Hand, Heckled LeBron James On Christmas Day
Hey, he had worked his ass off the night before, and he was really looking forward to going to the Mavs' opener, what with it being a Finals rematch and all. Can you blame him for wanting to clean up his beard, kick back with a gin and tonic, and let off a little steam? [That NBA Lottery Pick]...

Charles Barkley: "Skip Bayless Has Surpassed Peter Vecsey As The Biggest Jackass In The History Of Journalism"
Following up on his earlier claim about "hating Skip Bayless more than any person in the world," TNT Inside the NBA commentator Charles Barkley launched another barrage in his media beef with the ESPN First Take pundit today on The Dan Patrick Show....

The Dennis Erickson Era At Arizona State, Encapsulated In One Play
Arizona State fired head football coach Dennis Erickson almost a month ago, but allowed him to coach the team through the end of the season—including tonight's Las Vegas Bowl matchup against Boise State. If there's any play that demonstrates the futility of the Sun Devils under Erickson's tutelage...

Sounds Like Ricky Rubio Is Still Talking Himself Into This Minnesota Place
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: try not to feel sympathy when Rubio says "now I have to be by myself here."...

Football In The Dark Is An Illuminating Thing
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

It's Going To Be A Long, Miserable Year For Kris Humphries
Kris Humphries's summer sideshow was entertaining but seemed ultimately irrelevant: his dalliances with Kim Kardashian and with reality TV were in the universe of entertainment and celebrity, not our sports universe. We'd get our jokes, E! gets their ratings, Humphries and the Kardashians make a q...

Cam Newton’s Trick Play Was My Second-Favorite Moment of the Season
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Aw Jeez, The Lights Are Out At Candlestick Again, A Fan Is On The Field, And Big Ben Is Providing Commentary
The lights went back out in Candlestick with 12:13 left in the first half, leading a fan to conclude the time was ripe to run onto the field. Ben Roethlisberger, meanwhile, lamented James Harrison's suspension—while Harrison himself took credit for the outage....

When The Lights Go Down In The City
The start of Monday Night Football is currently delayed due to this transformer explosion that blacked out Candlestick Park and presumably led to several copped feels. [ESPN]...

Ron Rivera Says The Panthers' Trick Play Yesterday Was Inspired By The Movie <i>Little Giants</i>
Carolina head coach Ron Rivera told reporters this afternoon that the Panthers' trick play against Houston yesterday was inspired by "The Annexation of Puerto Rico," the Fumblerooski play used at the end of the 1994 classic film Little Giants. Here's the play in question, which in the movie is cal...

Here's Five Minutes Of Cricket Announcers Trying To Record A Broadcast Intro
I'm not entirely sure what this is, except that it came on my ESPN3 feed immediately after the end of Baylor's 66-61 win over UConn in women's hoops last night....