ja Page 670 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Cavaliers Get The Chance To Make Us Care
At this point, most of the NBA world is so afraid of a Spurs-Pistons final that they're willing to do anything to prevent, even rooting for a listless, clearly distracted LeBron James to fulfill some sort of imaginary destiny. We'll find out if he can start it off tonight. Surely, if the Bulls can w...

Have The Conference Finals Started Yet?
At this point, barring a massive surge from LeBron James or Deron Williams deciding to score 18 points in the fourth quarter of every game, that the last image of these playoffs is going to involve Baron Davis, not Tim Duncan or Tayshaun Prince. The Western conference finals started yesterday, and w...

About Last Night ...
What you missed while mopping up the loose teeth ... • NBA: For those who didn't watch it — which is pretty much everybody, we have a feeling — Spurs 108, Jazz 100. • NHL: If Emilio Estevez shows up, we're leaving ... Ducks 2, Red Wings 1 OT. • Tennis: Feat Of Clay ... Roger Federer ends Rafael Nada...

Free Darko Playoff Pants Party: Jazz Vs. Spurs
The NBA's conference finals begin today with the West, and the East follows tomorrow night....

Spurs vs. Jazz: Because They're What's Left
For those of you who haven't yet boycotted the NBA Playoffs, the Western Conference Finals are getting underway in about a half-hour. The Jazz head to San Antonio to take on the Spurs in a battle of teams who beat teams that most people liked a whole lot more than either of these teams....

The Number 30 Is Worth A House
The sale of jersey numbers is a time-honored tradition in sports. A team will sign or trade for a star free-agent, and some other scrub on the roster is already wearing the number that said star has worn his entire career ... and the star will pay the scrub tens of thousands of dollars for his numbe...

Thirsty Thursday Is Really All About The Kids
What's coming up in the world of minor league baseball ... we proudly present you with Rick Chandler's Minor Enterprise!...

Thanks For The Memories (At Least The Ones We Could Stay Up Late Enough For)
We salute the Golden State Warriors for the ride they've taken us on, but after last night's once-again-convincing 100-87 Jazz victory, they're the first team to be eliminated from the conference semifinals. And the Warriors fans are rather Zen about the whole thing....

Last Call For Bandwagonners
We've never been as offended by bandwagon fans as most people are. When Bill Murray started following around the Illini during their Final Four year, we didn't mind: It was Bill Murray, for crying out loud....

Reintroducing Jack Cust
Anyone who has paid attention the world of sabermetrics and Baseball Prospectus over the last few years is probably familiar with Jack Cust. For years, he was that supposed slugging Colorado catcher we were all waiting to take over the National League, the guy we hoped no one else in our fantasy lea...

Apparently, The Warriors Can Lose At Home
In their their preview of the Suns-Spurs series, Free Darko, describing Stephen Jackson and the Golden State Warriors, wrote, "Stephen Jackson doesn't care because he has nothing to lose, and thus is invincible." For the first time, last night, his team looked like it cared, like it had a lot to los...

Baron Davis Climbs Andrei Kirilenko
If you watch closely, you can see Andrei Kirilenko looking back at Baron Davis afterwards, as if to say, "You know, that really wasn't necessary." Even Adonal Foyle crinkled up his nose in a "Damn that was nasty," kind of a way. When Adonal Foyle acknowledges the nastiness, you know things just got ...

A Tribute To All The Sports Moms Out There
As we remind you to grab your cards and flowers for Mother's Day on Sunday — we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be in Mattoon this Mother's Day — we thought we might take a moment and remember some of the special mothers in the world of sport....

Wild Nights In Salt Lake City
Just Call Me Juice points out what we're all thinking but are afraid to admit: These NBA playoffs have been so much more entertaining than the NCAA Tournament. (Assuming, of course, you ignore the Eastern Conference.) Last night's wild overtime thriller, a mad hatter 127-117 Jazz win over the Warrio...

Look, Another Steroids Story
Poor George Mitchell. Most people thought his steroids investigation into baseball was doomed more than a year ago, when it began, because if you don't have to talk to a guy like that, why would you? What, this guy's gonna bust this wide open? George Mitchell is a respected public figure, but, you k...

Vernon Wells Loves Interacting With His Fans
By now, you might have heard about Vernon Wells signing a baseball for a fan who was heckling him. It's really one of our favorite stories in a while, because it shows a sense of humor from Wells — it was his idea — and it includes a Major League Baseball starting off signing a baseball with the wor...

Wow, We Get Another One Of These Series, Apparently
So here's something no one could have expected: A second-round playoff series between Golden State and Utah that's destined to be thrilling, amazing to watch and go the full seven games. Utah won Game 1, but, as we watched the game early this morning while shaking off our Arcade Fire hangover, we we...

Free Darko Playoff Pants Party: Jazz Vs. Warriors
The second round continues with another new matchup tonight. It's certainly one few would have anticipated....

The Sad Tale Of Tracy McGrady
We were pleased to see former Illini Deron Williams and Dee Brown advance to the Western Conference semifinals with the Jazz's win over the Rockets on Saturday night, but it brought us no joy to see the likable and seemingly doomed Tracy McGrady fail once again to push his team out of the first roun...

Look, There Was Another Game On Thursday Night
Lest we forget, in all the Warriors hub-bub, that another series took a fun turn last night, with the Jazz tying the Rockets 3-3 with a 94-82 win in Utah. The key Jazz star was Andrei Kirilenko, who shined late despite, you know, crying like a little girl earlier this series because he wasn't gettin...