ing Page 1301 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bryce Harper Will Train To Become A Firefighter In The Offseason So He'll "Have Something To Fall Back On"
Once upon a time, MLB players held jobs in the offseason. The good ones owned local businesses—car dealerships and the like—the not-so-good ones dug graves. But now that the owners and the union have thoroughly streamlined the process of separating you from your money, players don't need jobs in the...

Court-Ordered Community Service With Big Van Vader: More Wrestler Run-Ins
Inspired by the saga of "Wrestling Superstar Virgil," we continue with readers' encounters with the titans of the squared circle. If you've had your own run-in with wrestlers past or present, e-mail us, subject line "Virgilbag."...

How Do You Get The Contest Out Of Your System? Trying To Answer The Only Question On Anybody's Mind At Nathan's
The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest is a lot of things—patriotic, promotional, repellant—but above all, the contest is a study in misdirection. Like so many of Coney Island's storied card sharks and freak shows, the contest succeeds by distracting its audience, pl...

Prophet Or Troll? Ron Jaworski Names Joe Flacco The 9th-Best NFL QB
Remember how Ron Jaworski had Matthew Stafford 14th on his list of current NFL quarterbacks? The trolling had only begun. Jaws lists Joe Flacco ninth, and cites that noted cannon of a right arm....

Appreciating The Genius Of Joey Chestnut Requires Watching Him Eat In Super-Slow Motion
Joey Chestnut retained the mustard-yellow belt at Coney Island today with a command performance, consuming 68 hot dogs (and buns) in ten minutes and falling just shy of setting a new "official" record....

Joey Chestnut Downs 68 Hot Dogs To Win Sixth Straight Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
Well that was gross. Joey Chestnut just wrapped up his sixth straight championship at the world's most popular eating contest by mashing 68 hot dogs down his gullet in ten minutes. Chestnut had the contest in hand from start to finish, and gets to go on being called the world's best competitive eate...

Deadspin Classic: The Lonesome Independence Day Of Kobayashi, Eater In Exile
Originally published July 3, 2011....

How To Eat 1 Gallon, 9 Ounces Of Ice Cream In 12 Minutes Without Getting A Headache: The Secrets Of Ed "Cookie" Jarvis
Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they knew their playing days were over. Today: Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, a 46-year-old real estate agent, married father of two, cancer survivor, and retired competitive eater....

Olympics Field Guide: Peter Hudnut, Water Polo's Comeback Kid
Name: Peter Hudnut...

5 Times As Many People Watched The BET Awards As Watched ESPN <em>Sunday Night Baseball</em>. Sports TV Ratings, In Context.
A weekly feature wherein we contextualize TV ratings for national sports broadcasts. Data via Nielsen and Sports Business Daily. Viewership numbers represent approximate number of persons tuned to a given program; ratings share refers to the percentage of all households using a television who are tu...

Ron Washington Doesn't Like This One Bit
The offensive juggernaut that is the Texas Rangers found themselves on the other side of the coin last night, falling behind to the White Sox 18-0 before scratching two of their own runs across the plate. Another sub-par performance by Roy Oswalt is only part of the story, as a generally-robust Ran...

At The Tour De France, A Star Rises (Then Does A Stupid Celebration)
Stage 3 of the 2012 edition of the Tour de France was taken by 22-year-old rising star Peter Sagan—the youngest winner of a Tour de France stage since Lance Armstrong did it at the age of 21 in 1993. Sagan has now won two stages, and you can expect him to win a couple more this tour (if not this wee...

Records Suggest PSU Officials Knew In 2001 That Sandusky Shower Incident Involved More Than Just "Horsing Around"
The meeting supposedly took place in 2001 in response to the now infamous shower incident reported by Mike McQueary. As we learned from CNN, Penn State's trio (VP Gary Schultz, president Graham Spanier, and athletic director Tim Curley) had initially devised a three-pronged approach to dealing with ...

Sorry, Mario Balotelli Didn't Really Make This German Fan Cry: How TV Lied To You During Euro 2012
In the 36th minute of the Euro 2012 semifinal, Mario Balotelli scored his second goal, a screamer to the top right corner. Balotelli ripped off his jersey and flexed, and the telecast cut to a woman in the stands, a German flag painted on her cheek, a single tear leaking from her eye....

Olympics Field Guide: Im Dong-Hyun, The Lethal Blind Archer
Name: Im Dong-Hyun...

White Sox Bribing Fans To Vote Jake Peavy To The All-Star Team
It's time again for the stumpin' and campaignin' of the All-Star Game Final Vote, which I reluctantly capitalize since it's not a particularly creative branding (No "Plus One?" Or "Let's Get The Japanese Fans On Our Mailing Lists?"), and it's not particularly final, since most of these guys will get...

How To Burp Like A World Champ In 5 Steps, Featuring Competitive Eater And Burping World Champ Tim Janus
The results from the 2011 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest tell us that Tim "Eater X" Janus is the third-best hot-dog eater in the world. He owns world records for speed-eating burritos, sushi, and ramen noodles....

Jeneba Tarmoh Withdraws From Olympic 100m Runoff, USA Track & Field Has Giant Mess On Its Hands
Last week, Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead heat for third place in the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The physically improbable feat exposed a USA Track & Field woefully unprepared for the possibility—there was no plan in place, and after days of dithering, USATF offe...

David Beckham Goes Nuts, Kicks Balls At Referee, Starts Shit With Opposing Team's Mascot
Look, Becks, we get that you're frustrated at Great Britain leaving you off the London Olympics squad. We get that. But it's no cause to grow an Austrian mustache and start trolling the world, as amusing as it may be to all of us....

Ryan Lochte's "I ♥ BREAST" Shirt Wasn't Enough To Put Him Past Michael Phelps
Despite mopping the floor with Michael Phelps in the past few years of competition, Ryan Lochte found himself behind Phelps both times the swimming stars faced each other this weekend, in the 200 individual medley and the 200 freestyle. It didn't much matter—Phelps ended up qualifying in five event...