it Page 1743 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Keeping Stephen A. Safe
Most common emailed story to us today: The BenMaller.com report that "Quite Frankly" host Stephen A. Smith showed up in the press box of the USC-UCLA game with two bodyguards in tow. According to people who were there — we've heard from some people in the press box who saw it as well — it was the ...

Why Steve Smith Will Always Be Second
A friend of ours yesterday was asking us why, in our unprofessional opinion, Chad Johnson receives so much love for his touchdown celebrations while the Panthers' Steve Smith, who scores more touchdowns, catches more passes and does his own fair share of creative celebrating, is barely noticed. We...

NFL Roundup: Bengal Breakthrough
• As Arizona Cardinals fans, we always wonder what the day will be like when, after years of torture, our team finally breaks through and shows they're serious about this whole winning business. It must have been that exciting for Bengals fans yesterday. Realize: A baby born the last time the Beng...

Athlete Run-Ins: Lamenting Caminiti
Today's final athlete run-in story is a sad one, because it's a nice story about the late Ken Caminiti. It comes to us from Jason in Houston:...

Blogdom's Best: Tennessee Titans
It might not — yet — have the online fanaticism and cachet of baseball, but the NFL and its fans are starting to catch up in the world of team-devoted blogs. To this end, Deadspin salutes these modem-addled souls and proudly presents Blogdom's Best, given to the most outstanding blog for each NFL ...

Fe Is The Symbol For Iron. So You Know.
It's a pivotal week for Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson. No, no, not the AFC North-deciding game against the longtime nemesis Steelers at Heinz Field, silly. Johnson has officially raised the bar by proclaiming that he will perform the "best touchdown celebration ever" when he scores against Pi...

Darko Meets Free Darko, Worlds Collide
We meant to point this out earlier this week, but, well, we were driving home one day, and the cops pulled us over, and we'd had this friend over for Thankgiving ... well, it's a long complicated story. Anyway, it turned out that, thanks to Henry Abbott at True Hoop — who messes up this whole blog...

Beleaguered "NFL Countdown" Closed Captioning Typists Get One-Week Reprieve
We were on a very slow-moving piece of public transportation and therefore are just hitting the late news: Michael Irvin has been suspended for one week following his arrest last Friday for having a "pipe" in his car. This is only two days after handsomely named ESPN exec Norby Williamson said "Ri...

Who's Your Favorite Sportswriter's Binkie?
Inspired by a comment in this morning's story about Jason Whitlock and his rips on Michael Irvin, a commenter named Mr. Poon — who runs this site — pointed out something curious about Whitlock. Namely, that Whitlock, in pinch, will fall back on his blind spot; his odd belief that Jeff George (a hi...

"Quite Frankly" Cares About Both Its Fans
We don't mean to harp on any difficulties "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" might be having filling its studio audience (tickets are free, of course, if watching the show film for two hours could ever actually be called "free"), but, honest to Heavens, we received the following phone call and ...

Whitlock Roasts Himself, But Mostly Roasts Irvin
Fascinating column this week from The Kansas City Star's Jason Whitlock, who, of course, is well-known to most by his frequent appearances on ESPN, television, online and otherwise. While discussing an apparent "roast" planned for him in the Kansas City area (featuring potshots from Tony Kornheise...

A Day In The Life Of The "New" Michael Irvin
Well, it's the day after Michael Irvin's endless string of mea culpas following his arrest on Friday, and if Irvin's appearances had anything in common, it was their high proportion of "mea" to "culpa." Let's look back at Irvin's trip through the ESPN empire:...

The Return Of Grady
You knew it was going to happen, because baseball is just too goofy of a game for it not to: Famed goofus Grady Little could be returning to the dugout. The Los Angeles Dodgers are interviewing Grady for their open managerial position, which makes sense in a certain way, considering the Dodgers ar...

Wait ... It's Mariucci's Fault?
After watching that wretched Lions' loss to the Falcons yesterday — we'll do anything to make the NFL take away the guaranteed Lions homegame on Thanksgiving every year; that game is NEVER competitive — word is starting to rumble: The Lions are considering firing coach Steve Mariucci. This is Mari...

George Best, R.I.P.
As all those who didn't like to play outside as a child mourn the passing of Mr. Miyagi Pat Morita, we pause to lament the passing of one of soccer's most popular players, George Best, a guy who drank hard, played harder and never met a pair of legs he couldn't scramble up....

Athlete Run-Ins: Podsednik Takes Six For The Team
Our final athlete run-in story of the day (and the week) comes to us from Jeffrey in Massachusetts. It's about everybody's favorite scrappy World Series hero Scott Podsednik....

Authors With Pure Hearts: Jeff MacGregor
Continuing our Sports Authors With Pure Hearts series, we present, honestly, one of our favorite sports books of all time: Sunday Money, a whirlwind, Kerouac-esque look at a year on the NASCAR circuit. Sports Ilustrated, New York Times and New Yorker author Jeff MacGregor, along with his photographe...

Athlete Run-Ins: Drunken Bonding With Al Leiter
In the spirit of the Michael Jordan run-in from earlier today comes a random running-into involving soon-to-be-retired Fox analyst Al Leiter, who, if you've been to On The DL recently, you know likes his booze and late nights out. It comes to us from Jacob Kirkland in Oakland. The full story:...

Seizure On Ice
Last evening's terrifying seizure incident involving Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer ended with an entire game being cancelled, CPR being given right there on the bench (you can see it in that picture, from the Detroit Free Press) and, ultimately, Fischer was described as "jovial" in the hospita...

Keane Bolts On Man U
For those of you who have your finger on the pulse of such matters, the big shocking news this morning is that Roy Keane — a soccer player so famous that we've heard of him — has left Manchester United — the team where he served as captain — after 12 years with the team. Of course, it's the middle...