ill Page 577 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Basketball Players Spent Their Wild And Crazy All-Star Saturday Meeting For Three And A Half Hours And Voting To Dismiss Their Union Director
Wojnarowski reports that Billy Hunter's dismissal, widely presumed to be an inevitability after the myriad scandals that recently punctured his cocoon of power, was voted on and affirmed by a group of NBA players this afternoon. A bit more on the meeting that sealed his fate once and for all:...

That $5,000 Football "Signed By American Presidents" Is The Most Damning Of Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Alleged Illicit Spoils
If the federal case against him is accurate, Jesse Jackson Jr. is taking a fall in part because of his covetousness for a "football signed by American Presidents" valued at $5,000. The former U.S. Congressman from Illinois and a conspirator are accused of fraudulently raising campaign funds and usin...

<em>A Good Day To Die Hard</em> Is The Worst <em>Die Hard</em> of Them All
As far as action movie franchises go, the Die Hard films hold up pretty damned well. The first one is obviously a classic: Grierson summed up its enduring charms quite well over at IFC. But the way the movies worked never seemed a proper fit for a franchise. The greatness of Die Hard lies in large p...

The Fighting Illini Ticket Office Chose An Unfortunate Picture To Advertise The Penn State Game
Illinois's ticket office sent this email blast out to its fans early this morning—view the full email online here, while it lasts—as a Valentine's Day promotion. The team beat Purdue by 20 at home last night, and so it's trying to move tickets to its next home game, against the woeful Nittany Lions....
![Double-Amputee Track Star Oscar Pistorius Charged With Shooting, Killing His Girlfriend [UPDATES]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18em6z4e1lcihjpg.jpg)
Double-Amputee Track Star Oscar Pistorius Charged With Shooting, Killing His Girlfriend [UPDATES]
Details are thin, but according to reports out of Johannesburg, Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympic and Paralympic sprinter, mistakenly took his girlfriend for a burglar and fatally shot her in the head and arm early Thursday morning. ...

My Encounters With Ray Lewis's Deer-Antler Hookup, The Man Who Could Change The History Of Sports (Or Something)
"You're on the phone with someone who could change the history of sports," said Deer Antler Man....

Here's A Perfectly Executed "Miss The Free Throw, Score The Putback" To Send A Game To 3OT
Let's set the scene. A D-III game last night, between No. 2 Amherst and No. 3 Middlebury. The second overtime, and Amherst is down three. Guard Willy Workman tried a desperation three, but he's fouled—only the ref rules the foul came before the shot....

Will Ferrell Was An Usher At Last Night's Lakers Game, Wore A "Ted Vagina" Name Tag
Yep, that's Will Ferrell, decked out in the official uniform of a Staples Center usher, scanning the crowd and keeping the peace during last night's Suns-Lakers game. As is usually the case, we have no idea why Will Ferrell was doing this, or why he was wearing a name tag that read, "Ted Vagina." N...

Did Vince Young Take Out A High-Interest Loan To Pay For His Own $300,000 Birthday Party?
So that lawsuit pitting Vince Young against both his former agent and his former financial planner is going pretty much as amicably as we told you it would. Young, who's been out of the NFL since August and is back yawning his way through classes at the University of Texas, is suing Ronnie Peoples, ...

Alabama Players Arrested After They Allegedly Concussed Two Guys And Robbed Them
It's hard not to respect Nick Saban. Not because he's a good coach or anything, but because he constantly reminds us of college football's rich history. Want physics-defying running backs who wow us for two years before flopping in the pros? He's got 'em. Want linebackers simply bigger and stronger ...

2002-03 Chicago Bulls, Ranked According To Likelihood The Player Was Getting Baked Before Games
"There were guys smoking weed before games," Jay Williams recalled of his rookie year with the Bulls, his only season in the league. "Guys asking in the middle of the game, 'Do you smell popcorn?'" Which guys, exactly, Williams does not specify. So here's a list of the 2002-03 Bulls, ranked from lea...

Bill Murray Fed His Divot To A Fan At The Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Last year, Bill Murray showed up at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am wearing a ghillie suit and ready to punt some footballs, so it was hard to imagine how he could possibly one-up himself at this year's tournament. And yet, that's exactly what he did....

The Best Detail In The <i>NYT</i>'s Jay Williams Profile Is, Of Course, About Michael Jordan
The New York Times published a profile of former Duke star Jay (Jason) Williams over the weekend, and it's worth a read. It details the motorcycle accident that derailed Williams's career after a 95-13 three-year run in Durham and just a single season in the NBA, and the rather incredible rehabilita...

Let's Talk About The Secret To Gregg Williams's Success
We told you earlier in the week how Gregg Williams was simultaneously reinstated by the NFL and hired by the Tennessee Titans. But that's not entirely true, is it? It seems quite clear that the real Gregg Williams never did make it back from his backpacking expedition through the "remote villages o...

The <em>B.S. Report</em> Report: Bye
Julia Alvidrez, Gawker Media's operations manager, is an unabashed fan of Bill Simmons and everything Grantland. She is also an occasional reader of Deadspin. Every week, she recaps Simmons's podcast, The B.S. Report, for us. This is her final recap....

As Rugby Players Turn Boxers, Both Sports Lose
It's been a disappointing week in rugby fights. I mean, this Georgia vs. Belgium dustup is OK. But when I hear "Big Rugby Brawl" I expect a something a little more brutal and/or eye gougey. Maybe this weekend's Vegas Sevens will deliver some handbags. But no rugby fight could match today's Aussie ac...

Illinois Shocks No. 1 Indiana On A Last-Second Layup
This is how you gain and then lose a No. 1 ranking in a span of five days. Illinois's Tyler Griffey's uncontested lay-up at the buzzer sealed a huge win over top-ranked Indiana, a game in which the Hoosiers were up 11 with 6:30 remaining. ...

Cole Hamels Has Finally Acquired The Multiracial Children Necessary To Recreate His Luxury Condo Ad
Three years ago, we highlighted this bizarre magazine supplement featuring Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels and his wife Heidi shilling for some Center City real estate. One showed fashion plate Hamels listening to ocean sounds from his very pregnant wife. The other showed the Hamelses and their childre...

NFL Reinstates Gregg Williams, And He's Already Been Hired By The Titans
Sean Payton's suspension was lifted a couple of weeks ago, and Payton wasted little time reminding the Saints he was back in charge. And now that Gregg Williams has also been freed, we've come to learn his bounty exile didn't just include a backpacking adventure through the remote regions of Burma a...

Curt Schilling Says Red Sox Officials Urged Him To Consider PEDs
Curt Schilling never did play in 2008. He spent the entire season trying to come back from a shoulder injury revealed before spring training, but not without some controversy. Schilling wanted to have surgery; the Red Sox, who had signed Schilling to a one-year contract, wanted him to treat it with ...