ja Page 656 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

And So The Red Sox Love Begins
Say what you will about having the start of the baseball season happen in Japan, but, all told, it's not too shabby to come into work and watch the end of a game while drinking your coffee. And if you're a Red Sox fan, it's doubly pleasant....

At Last, The Glory Of Youkilis Is Introduced To Japan
Well, it's doesn't feel the start of the baseball season tomorrow morning — jeez, like, 11 hours from now — but it is, in fact, the beginning: The Red Sox and the A's, in the Tokyo Dome, 6 a.m., baseball is here ... kind of....

Your AL East "Preview"
The baseball season officially kicks off tomorrow, though no one will really think of baseball as happening until next Monday. (Or maybe that Braves-Nationals game on Sunday night.) So we figured this would be the last week to actually start previewing each division. So we're gonna hit one a day, s...

There Are Right Reasons, And Wrong Reasons, To Slap A Lady, Apparently
This is James Harrison, an All-Pro linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Earlier this month, Harrison, charmingly, smacked his girlfriend in the face, breaking her glasses, during an 1 a.m. argument. Harrison was not kicked off the team. Just a few days later, though, wide receiver Cedrick Wilson ...

All Hail Davidson, Our Link To Why This Is Fun
If Florida hadn't have won the NCAA Title again last year, it would be safe to say that it would be difficult to remember who was the 2006 NCAA Champion. That's because 2006 was the year of George Mason, and the Final Four itself — which, you may recall, was lousy that year — was just a sidebar to ...

Red Sox, A's Look Like They'd Rather Not Be In Japan
The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's landed in Japan yesterday — their series starts Tuesday at 6 a.m. ET — after an 18-hour flight. We've never taken an 18-hour flight, but if we did, the last thing we'd want as soon as we got off the plane would be a bunch of photographers ready to take our picture....

A Look At The First Three NCAA Tourney Games
Storming The Floor wraps up the first three games, the ones we were stupidly live blogging even though you couldn't see any of it....

NCAA Pants Party: Butler Vs. South Alabama
Butler Bulldogs (29-3) vs. South Alabama Jaguars (26-6) When: Friday, 2:45 p.m. Where: Birmingham...

Storming The Floor's Midwest Region Preview
After our cheap, quick-hit, easy looks at each bracket, the gang at Storming The Floor take considerably closer looks, game-by-game. Here's the Midwest Regional preview, with the West coming tomorrow....

NCAA Pants Party: Southern California Vs. Kansas State
Southern California Trojans (21-11) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (20-11) When: Thursday Where: Omaha...

Bill James Wants To Help You Relax
We've noticed the sabermetric Baseball Prospectus-type guys doing a lot of work in the world of college basketball lately. It seems to fit. There's plenty of statistics to play with, but unlike the NBA, college basketball can still be painted with the same brush of blissful, presumed philosophic "in...

NCAA Pants Party: Kansas Vs. Portland State
Kansas Jayhawks (31-3) vs. Portland State Vikings (23-9) When: Thursday, 12:20 p.m. Where: Omaha...

South Alabama Jaguars
1. It's the Jags baby... The University of South Alabama will be coming to a television near you this March. I'm guessing most of you are surprised that such a school exists. USA is a small school located in the Mobile area. That's pretty much as far south as you go in Alabama. Last year, they enrol...

Kansas Jayhawks
1. Joe Morgan disapproves. According to the VORPies over at Basketball Prospectus, Kansas has the #1 Pythagorean winning percentage in all the land. In addition, they are ranked #1 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. I have no idea what this means (other than Mario Chalmers clogging up the b...

Southern California Trojans
1. At Guard, Super Dave Osborne. One of the keys to last season's surprising Sweet Sixteen run was then-freshman Daniel Hackett's aggressive tournament play: He was all over the place, grabbing boards, causing turnovers, ending Kevin Durant's college career earlier than expected. The dude doesn't kn...

About Last Night...
Jeez, I knew she was pissed, but I didn't think she was going to make a lawsuit out of it, considering I apologized profusely ... • NCAA Basketball: Georgia beat Kentucky. Then Georgia beat Mississippi State. But Georgia has yet to qualify for NATO membership. • NBA: Pau, right in the ankle. Lakers ...

It's The Utah Jazz On The Town, Skeet Skeet
Looking for that perfect Saturday night activity? Live in the Salt Lake City area? Have 29 bucks to blow on a the possibility of seeing Andrei Kirilenko party like it's New Years Eve? You're in luck....

Jawz The Jaguar Vs. Eli The Eagle: This Isn't Over!
What started off as a friendly dance-off between a jaguar and an eagle — which you see so often in the wild — turned grim and frightening on Wednesday during a break in this Summit League Championship basketball game. IUPUI's mascot, Jawz the Jaguar, grapples with Oral Roberts' Eli the Eagle, and i...

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Day
ESPN scoured its message boards this morning to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comment, and chose this one above all others ......