il Page 1220 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Don't Mess With Texas
If you've never read it, this is a treat: Gary Cartwright's classic 1968 piece for Haper's: "Confessions of a Washed-Up Sportswriter." Here we have a first-hand account of Bud Shrake, Dan Jenkins, Blackie Sherrod and the legendary Forth Worth Press in the Fifties:...
Wild Deer Tries Its Hand At Horse Racing
Yep, that's a wild deer chasing down two horses this morning at Keeneland Racecourse. It looked to be closing down, but it just ran out of track. Let's get a saddle on that doe and see if we can film another Seabiscuit. ...
Does Jaden Smith, <i>After Earth's</i> Uncompelling Star, Really Want This?
When film critics talk about a star's performance, they usually resort to clichés. The actor always "lights up the screen" or "disappears into a role," and watch out, because "you can't take your eyes off him." The reason why writers (and audiences) recycle those old saws is because they're standar...
Nate Silver Tackles The Canadian Stanley Cup Drought
In nine days, we will celebrate(?) the 20th anniversary of Montreal's '93 championship, the last time a Canadian team hoisted the Stanley Cup. Today in the Times, Nate Silver takes a stab at the most jingoistically painful futility in professional sports....
All Night Long
Back in 1969, Jimmy Breslin spent a night hanging out with Broadway Joe Namath:...
Thieves of Time
Dig Charlie Pierce's story on Cool Papa Bell (originally published in The National back in 1990):...
Why Your Children's Television Program Sucks: <em>Super Why!</em>
A look at the awful children’s programming you’re forced to endure before you can finally kick the kids out of the TV room to watch sports for eight hours. Image by Jim Cooke....
Mario Balotelli Denies Thing
According to an Italian mob informant, AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli once sold drugs to an addict "as a joke." Because that's a totally normal thing that happens all the time....
The Six Saddest Things About Martin Brodeur's Biggest Twitter Fan
As they do each year, the folks at EA Sports are conducting a fan vote to select the cover player for NHL 14. It's come down to Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, probably in line for the Vezina, and Devils legend Marty Brodeur. Fans can vote on Twitter with a specific hashtag. Sometimes this goes ve...
You're Doing It Wrong, Jarrod
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....
Here Is The Paterno Family's Lawsuit Against The NCAA
Though delayed by overtime hockey, Costas Tonight eventually devoted a whole hour last night to a re-examination of the Freeh report. Bob Costas said at the outset—and at the end of the program—that he had invited Louis Freeh and NCAA president Mark Emmert to participate in the discussion. They decl...
Gordon Gee Joked That Catholics Can't Be Trusted, The SEC Can't Read
Ohio State President Gordon Gee, the man who expensed more than $64,000 worth of bow ties, has stuck his foot in it yet again, getting recorded making a few innocuous jokes about Notre Dame, Louisville, and the SEC. Some of them were legitimately funny!...
Bear Gets Hit By Moving Car, Gets Up Like It's No Big Deal
Here's a little something to help you get your morning started right, courtesy of yet another Russian with a dashboard camera and an indestructible bear....
Crying 4-Year-Old Mets Fan Wants To Be A Yankees Fan
"Whoever is winning, I want to cheer for them." This might be the most honest justification for being a Yankees fan we've ever heard....
Bill Simmons Thinks Memphis Fans Get Tense Because MLK Was Shot There
For many years now, Bill Simmons has positioned himself as a kind of ULTRA fan. He's not simply the voice of the fan anymore. He is more fan than you. He understands fandom in a way that you could not possibly understand. He understands that when fans get loud, things are going well! And when fans ...
Somebody Should Let Menendez And Lautenberg Know About This
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....
He Punches like a Fucking Mule Kick
Here is a good story from "Second Wind: Memoirs of an Opinonated Man," by Bill Russell with the historian Taylor Branch (1979, Random House; currently out-of-print). It’s about Russell’s grandfather and his mule, Kate. Russell’s family was from Monroe, La., and he lived down there until he was about...
Guys Who Taped Call Between NFL GMs Charged With Federal Crime
A little over two months ago, we published a recording of a phone call between Bills then-general manager Buddy Nix and Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik. A couple of 20-year-olds had shared with us the fruits of their ingenious prank, wherein they called the Bills' switchboard as Dominik (looking to speak...
Wrestling Is Closer To Getting Back In The Olympics (Baseball Too!)
In February it was announced that wrestling would be dropped from the Olympics starting in 2020. But at a meeting of the IOC executive board today, three sports were shortlisted to gain inclusion beginning at those same 2020 games—and good old wrestling is among them....