ill Page 597 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

This 90-Year-Old Pole Vaulter Is Much Better Than You
The BBC spent some time in Jonesboro, Ark., where 1984 Olympian and USATF hall of famer Earl Bell runs the training program that produced two-thirds of America's pole vaulters in London. Another familiar face around the facility is Earl's father William, who just turned 90, and can still soar with...

The Reds Won 10 In A Row, So Now Marty Brennaman Has To Shave His Head "Like A Baby Nutsack"
Marty Brennaman doesn't have a ton of hair left, it's true. But what remains atop the Reds radio voice's dome is white and poofy and instantly recognizable, and come Friday, it's going to be on the clubhouse floor....

There Are Four Olympic Athletes Without Countries To Represent
They were hard to miss: the "Independent Olympic Athletes," walking under the Olympic flag, dancing and jumping their way through the Parade of Nations. But what's their deal? In an Olympics with 204 teams—11 more than there are countries at the United Nations—how did four athletes find themselves e...

Man Catches Adam Jones Home Run Ball, Man Moons Everyone
Things don't get much more exciting than a fifth-inning home run, but this gentleman upped the ante when he decided to display his ass crack after snagging the line drive of Adam Jones's bat....

The Murdoch Mad Genius Who Gave Us Game Scores, A Dancing NFL Robot, And A Glowing Hockey Puck Is Leaving Fox Sports
There was a very quiet announcement on Monday: David Hill—a man most people haven't heard of, but whose innovations you know all too well—is leaving Fox Sports. Hill ran Fox Sports since its creation in 1993, and his departure sent sports media geeks into a tizzy:...

Chris Broussard Tries To Explain His Shoddy, Inattentive Reporting
Chronically distracted ESPN reporter Chris Broussard didn't have the best day earlier this month when he bungled reporting on not one but two developments on the NBA free agent front. First, he became the basketball media community's resident Mr. Magoo, turning a blind eye to Deron Williams agreeing...

Famous People Trying To Be Funny. <em>The Watch</em>, Reviewed.
The Watch is The Avengers of comic superstar movies, if the Avengers decided they didn't really want to work together and looked sorta annoyed occupying the same story. The movie stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill, and it's rare to see a film in which so many big names seem to be operat...

Why Would An Olympic Basketball Player Not Want To Lead His Team In Scoring? To Avoid Drug Testing.
Thanks to Grant Hill, another interesting piece of Olympic basketball lore has risen to the surface. Yesterday, Hill went on the Dan Patrick Show, and talked about how nobody on the 1996 Olympic basketball team wanted to be the team's leading scorer, because that person would automatically have to ...

This Photo Of Team USA Sleeping On An Airplane Is The Best Thing Today
Kevin Love surreptitiously snapped this and posted it to Instagram, as Team USA flew from Barcelona to London last night. From right to left, front to back, that's LeBron James, Chris Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Anthony Davis, and even Mike Kryzyzewski, back in business cl...

Carlos Gomez Completely Rounded The Bases Before Learning His Home Run Sailed Foul
Brewers centerfielder Carlos Gomez had reason to be excited here. Had the ball been fair, it would have been just the third time in his career—and first time in four years—he led off a game with a home run. Apparently no one told him until he was about halfway between third base and home, which gene...

Kevin Durant, James Harden, And Deron Williams Are On A Segway Tour Across Europe
Durant posted this picture of himself and a couple USA basketball teammates on Segways this morning with the caption, "Barcelona." The 1992 Dream Team partied with the locals 'til all hours; the 2012 version of USA Basketball Instagrams photos of themselves on Segways, wearing helmets....

<em>Killer Joe</em> Is the Most Amoral, Repugnant, Fantastic Movie You'll See All Year
About three-quarters of the way through Killer Joe, the terrific and cheerfully evil film opening this Friday, Matthew McConaughey pointedly, if seemingly absently, picks up a chicken leg from a bucket of KFC. You might not realize it at the time, but this is the Chekov's Gun of chicken legs. This i...

Nashville Matches Shea Weber Offer Sheet, Remains Viable NHL Franchise
When Philadelphia surprised everyone by giving Predator defenseman a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet, we were awed by Paul Holmgren's balls and savvy, and sad for Nashville fans, most of whom are actually quite devoted (there's just not enough to of them to, you know, make the team profitable.) We...

Photo Without Commentary: Two Canadian Dudes At The Olympic Village
Here's a photo of two dudes being dudes at the Canadian part of the Olympic Village that was just uploaded to USA Today's Pinterest board. And here's a photo of just one of the dudes before the other one came by to grab a look outside. There is no back story....

Ricky Williams's Foundation For At-Risk Kids Has Been Taken Over By A Rasputin-Inspired Cult
The Ricky Williams Foundation was started "to be instrumental in the physical, mental, emotional and educational development of at-risk individuals from low social-economic communities." You wouldn't expect anything less from Ricky Williams, by all accounts one of the nicest, most genuine guys in fo...

How Curt Schilling's Video Game Company Was Doomed From The Start
Boston magazine has a lengthy post-mortem of the late, lamented 38 Studios, which went under earlier this year amid unpaid employees and defaulted loans and federal investigations and one very angry Rhode Island governor. After reading it, you may not feel any more sympathy for Curt Schilling (save ...

Why Your Team Sucks 2012: Kansas City Chiefs
Some people are fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here....

Who Exactly Is Running <em>Sports Illustrated</em>? <em>Sports Illustrated</em> Staffers Want To Know.
At Sports Illustrated's weekly editorial meeting on Thursday, top editor Terry McDonell had some news for the 30 or so staffers assembled. Job cuts were over, he said. (There were 16 departures and three layoffs in all.) And then he said something outwardly innocuous that people at the magazine have...

Remembering The Pre-Famous Ben Stiller Of <em>The Ben Stiller Show</em>
You'd think life would be pretty good for Ben Stiller. In the last six years, he's been part of six movies that made more than $100 million. Another one, the indie drama Greenberg, earned him great reviews. He's one of the biggest comic stars in the world. A lot of people would love to be in his pos...

The Steroids Era Was Just Like The Housing Bubble: How MLB Incentivized Widespread Fraud
Excerpted from Twilight of the Elites, available now wherever books are sold....