ja Page 551 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Juwan Howard And The Triumph Of The Superteam
Once upon a time, a group of gifted basketball players decided to join forces to dominate their sport. They were as talented as they were hyped, and they ushered in an era of style and scoring, a blueprint for superteams to come. But a funny thing happened: Winning wasn't as easy on the court as it ...

Brandon Jacobs Pays Back Six-Year-Old Who Mailed $3.36 From His Piggy Bank
When we last heard from six-year-old Joe Armento, he had unsuccessfully attempted to persuade running back Brandon Jacobs, who had just signed as a free agent with the San Francisco 49ers, to stay put in New York. More precisely, he tried to lure him back by enclosing in the envelope $3.36 from his ...

Jayson Williams Is Sober, Gunless, Brutally Honest, And Determined Not To Go Back To Prison
When last we saw former NBA All-Star Jayson Williams, he was pleading guilty to aggravated assault in the 2002 accidental shooting death of his chauffeur. That was more than two years ago. Including a separate guilty plea for drunken driving, Williams spent 26 months in jail before being released in...

Take A Profane Trip Through History With The Dirty Mouths Of LeBron James And Dwyane Wade
Last night's NBA Finals Game Four was tremendous, though its result—and the 3-1 series lead seized by Miami—may throw a bit of a wet blanket on the entertainment value going forward. Yet all anyone seems to want to discuss (if your emails to our tip line are to be believed) are the moments when a...

This LeBron-Ibaka Thing Is Just The Dumbest
"I don't really care what he says, he's stupid." — A grown-ass man....

Phil Jackson Thinks Andrew Bynum Ruined The Lakers' Mojo
Phil Jackson's legend was built on, in debatable proportions, his coaching and his career decisions. The man might be the best motivator in all the world, but he also knew enough to take over teams with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in their primes. To avoid diluting that legacy, Jackson adds anoth...

The Thunder-Heat Series Isn't About The Noise; It's About The Beauty
Before turning on the television to watch Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, I made the mistake of going to ESPN.com to read about the game, and then I compounded that mistake by clicking on this link, which led me to a video clip of Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless screaming about how terrible ...

Beau Hossler Is Young, Has A Missing Caddy
On the third hole of the final day at the U.S. Open, our teenaged Beau hit a shot into the sand. He would get on the green on his next shot, though likely gritting his be-braced teeth—what with all the sand and aggravation. His caddy then went to clean up after him in the bunker. But, it appears h...

Yes, LeBron James Fouled Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant's shot with 10 seconds left to tie last night's NBA Finals Game 2 didn't drop, and now the series is tied 1-1. Arguing over whether a foul should have been called on LeBron James is silly; Durant just as easily could have been called for a charge moments before, and there's no guaran...

Right Before Jason Kubel Homers, Diamondbacks Broadcaster Mark Grace Says Jason Kubel Will Homer
No, really. Just before Scott Feldman went into his wind-up to deliver a 2-0 pitch, that's exactly what Grace said. And, lo, that's exactly what Kubel subsequently did. Watch for yourself below....

How Not To Be The Biggest Asshole In Media: 4 Lessons I Learned From Meeting Jay Mariotti And Reading His Awful Book
It's been almost two years since Jay Mariotti last wrote a sports column or appeared on ESPN. In that time, sports media's ur-controversialist—a pioneer of the sportswriters-being-dicks-on-television genre—has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor stalking and assault-related charges stemming from a hai...

What Dwyane Wade And LeBron James Can Learn From Kevin Durant And Russell Westbrook After Game 1
The Miami Heat began the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA finals leading by seven points. The Heat had played brilliantly throughout the first half, executing crisp passes that criscrossed the floor and left the Thunder unable to close out on wide open three-point shooters. It looked like the Hea...

LeBron James Cuddled The Larry O'Brien Trophy Like It Was One Of His Children
I had a conversation about LeBron James with my grandmother at a cousin's wedding in Colorado this weekend. My Баба lives outside of Cleveland, and like all awesome old ladies she has strong opinions about sports. Our discussion turned to basketball and LeBron James's psyche....

Thunder Take Game 1, Send Pat Riley Into His Own Personal Hell
Bless you, Pat Riley. For all your maniacal tendencies and consistently omnipresent persona, you're just willing to put yourself out there in the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd and subject yourself to a first-hand view of the Thunder's gripping comeback in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Kevin Durant chipp...

Bristolmetrics: The Miami Heat Got 120 Minutes Of <i>SportsCenter</i> Coverage Last Week; Every Other Sport Shared 130
When last we met, the Heat got more coverage than the Western Conference, Stephen A. Smith was inexplicably promoting a sci-fi blockbuster, and the NHL was discussed less than the Indy 500. What would this week bring? ...

Jay Cutler Says Modern Football Has Left Mike Martz Behind
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: The Bears' old OC was stuck in 1999....

Why ESPN Should Worry About <em>First Take</em>'s Ratings Slide
This has been the working theory: ESPN2's First Take is bad for the soul but awfully good for business. In late September, ESPN made the show the personal property of the professionally disagreeable Skip Bayless, turning the format into wall-to-wall staged argument. The conceit looked like a hit an...

LeBron James Is Finally Good At Basketball
Now that LeBron has finally won a game people think is important, maybe we can talk about how good the guy has been. We've talked some in these parts about Rajon Rondo and his Fuck You brand of basketball. LeBron James, with that one three point shot late in the game and follow through pose, ushere...

Here Are All Of LeBron's Unspectacular 45 Points
Watching a supercut of LeBron James's scores in last night's parquet floorwiping of the Celtics, you're struck at how rote it seems. A cold, clinical series of possessions that resembled nothing so much as a practice drill that just happened to have five green-and-white clad obstacles on the court...

LeBron James Destroyed The Celtics To Force A Game 7 (And Got A Beer Dumped On Him)
Oh, this wasn't how it was supposed to be? LeBron James wasn't theoretically capable of delivering a devastatingly effective performance in Game 6 at the TD Garden? Fuck all that. James finished with 45 points, 15, rebounds, and five assists, and the Heat won by 19 points. (The last player with such...