ill Page 696 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

We Love A Series That Leaves An Impression
First of all, who knew Superman batted from the left side? And is he gripping the bat correctly? And what's the deal with the catcher, who appears to have green hair? We can't answer any of these pressing questions, but we can shed some light on the recent beanball war between the Mets and Nationa...

The Closer: Goodbye To Jimmy
Notes from a day of baseball ... • 1. That's All, Folks. The Phillies' Jimmy Rollins ended his hit streak yesterday, at 38 games, in a 4-2 loss to the Cardinals. (Who are 3-0, by the way.) We are big fans of Rollins — particularly when he shaves his head; he had some cornrows last year that were p...

Your NL East "Preview"
It is important to point out, before we start predicting our final division, that we have picked a team other than the Braves to win the division for five consecutive years. As if you needed any more assurance that our predictions are always wrong....

It's An Honor Just To Be Nominated
So, who remembers the Bill Simmons cartoons? Launched, what, a year ago now, the three one-minute tidbits of the life of The Sports Guy were almost universally derided, first by readers, then, ultimately, by Simmons himself. (He called them "a mistake on a lot of levels.")...

Your Daily Dose Of Billy Packer Bile
WJFK Radio in Washington, D.C., is, like most of the country, awash in George Mason Mania these days. How could they not be? And, this morning, the Junkies Radio show dug up an old interview with none other than Mid-Major Public Enemy No. 1 Billy Packer....

Typical Philadelphia Marketing
An outstanding find from Mr. Irrelevant: A television station in Philadelphia is reporting that the Phillies made a bit of a mistake with a promotional DVD they sent out....

Punting With Pat The Bat
Reaction to yesterday's Four Tiny Tidbits on the Philadelphia Phillies continues to pour in (OK, we've had two e-mails), with one reader recalling his own memories of current Phillies outfielder Pat The Bat Burrell and his childhood nemesis, Tom Brady. Let's go right to the action....

Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Phillies
We're less than a week away from Opening Day, so it?s time to start previewing the season. Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we?re going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don?t Know about them. If you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at [email protected]...

The Jimmy Rollins Conundrum
Figuring out what to do with all those steroid home run records is one thing. But what about Jimmy Rollins? It's a little odd, is it not, to be tracking one of the great all-time baseball records over the course of two seasons? The Phillies' shortstop had a 36-game hitting streak going into 2005 w...

Gators To Dance With George Mason; Final Four Is Set
Your Final Four is set: Bruins, Tigers, Gators, and Patriots. We've got three ferocious animals and a dead white guy who once did something historic that you'd know about if you paid attention in history class....

Florida Up On 'Nova
While still glowing from the earlier George Mason conquest......

Join Reggie's Paper Puppet Playground!
Here's something you might have heard about, but we haven't: It's Sumiko's Playground, a Japanese NBA blog with that unique sensibility that the Japanese tend to bring to our favorite sports....

Sweet 16 Pants Party: Villanova Vs. Boston College
Villanova Wildcats (27-4) vs. Boston College Eagles (28-7) When: Tonight, 7:10 p.m. Where: Minneapolis...

Bill Simmons Will Not Be Silenced
On the heels of a big Sports Illustrated story on him, good ole Bill Simmons "broke the ESPN.com" record with a two-hour chat yesterday. The chat — which somewhat inexplicably included two Deadspin references — covered various topics and, as was remarked upon by several chatters, seemed to be allo...

Jay Mohr Tackles Stories Others Are Afraid To Touch
We know the weekly feature in which we rip various sportswriters is on hiatus, but we can't let the earth complete one more revolution on its axis without commenting on our friend Jay Mohr, online journalism's answer to Paris Hilton. Call it Why Your Internet Columnist Sucks, and bear with us, ple...

Brains! BRAINS!
In case you needed another reason to root against Duke, it appears that Shelden Williams is a zombie. Good news? He's gonna eat that Paulus kid first....

In Defense (Kinda) Of Billy Packer
Few constants exist in this world, but here's one: Billy Packer should probably not try to be funny. In his interview with SI.com's Julia Morrill, Packer bizarrely jokes about the games being "fixed" by the referees, which is pretty funny only if you find angry phone calls from Myles Brand to Pack...

Why We Can't Take The White Sox Seriously
This might have something to do with the fact that they're not even the most popular team in their hometown, but we think it might be more simple than that. It might be hijinks like their stunt with TNA Wrestling, the video of which can be seen above. (TNA is also doing some sort of promotion with t...

Tracking The Barry Bonds "Revelations"
We know we've touched on this already, but after several conversations about it this weekend, we're still fired up about it, so we're bringing it up again....