ja Page 704 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The AFC Wildcard Picture
Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, San Diego and Kansas City are all still slugging it out for the two wildcart spots in the AFC. Only two of them are going to make it, which is kind of a shame since each of them, with the possible exception of Jacksonville, are probably better than all but one team in the...

Soon, They'll Start Stealing His Chicks
So here's a completely strange story: Apparently USC quarterback Matt Leinart — perhaps you've heard of him — was apparently suspended for the Rose Bowl for, like, an hour....

Watch Your Back In Park City
On the list of Stories We'd Rather Not Report But Have To Anyway, we point out that Utah Jazz point guard — and University of Illinois legend — Deron Williams was arrested (along with another, more anonymous, rookie) over the weekend for giving false information to police. Apparently, there was a ...

Leinart Responds To Party Photos
As you might have heard yesterday, USC quarterback Matt Leinart was spotted at NYC hotspot Marquee after finishing third in Heisman voting on Saturday night and according to the emailer who sent us the photos, he hit on a Texas woman — described as "one of the nicest people" by one of our commente...

NFL Roundup: "I Disagree With Your Decision And Shall Protest Thusly"
• It's funny, because if you remember when Guenther Cunningham actually coached the Chiefs, you'd understand that here, he's just giving his unique signal to go for two. • It's like the Chargers suddenly remembered that Marty Schottenheimer's their coach. • Anybody see the new ESPN magazine? (Anyb...

Colts Prepare For A Month Of Boredom
With their 26-18 win in Jacksonville, and Tony Dungy's stated preference to not actively pursue the '72 Dolphins undefeated mark, Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James have about a month to do whatever they please....

LeBron May Be The Smoothest Man Alive
I couldn't hear the commercial real well, and I'm not quite sure what was going on. Some kid was dreaming about bread, and there was butter involved, I don't know. It doesn't even matter. LeBron James is the smoothest man alive....

"Really, Really Need Tickets"
If you've been on eBay at all, you know how expensive Rose Bowl tickets are getting. (They're running about $1,000-$1,200 a piece.)...

Keeping The Streets Safe From Waltons
Of all the celebrities who showed up at the USC-UCLA game last weekend, it must have been easy to miss Luke Walton, Lakers bit player and son of Big Bill Walton. But not for long. As reported by USC's From The Sidelines blog, the younger Walton was booted off the sidelines last weekend for not ha...

Here Come The Rosenhaus Defections
The first domino has fallen. Yesterday, in a move that everyone knew was coming but hadn't been made official, Packers wide receiver Javon Walker fired Drew Rosenhaus as his agent. The move is the first of what many expect to be several defections from Rosenhaus' stable of clients, considering he ...

Get Your Defunct T-Shirts
We're not much for handicapping — or, for that matter, the Heisman Trophy in general, which lost most of its charm for us when they moved it from the Downtown Athletic Club after September 11 — but we have to say that if you're looking for a potential collector's item, you musn't look much farther...

Oddjack Takes Its Final Bow
It is with much sadness that we point you to the very last day of Oddjack, our beloved brother site that's ceasing operations today. Obviously, not enough people were checking out Oddjack, and that, we're afraid, was your loss: We've never been big gamblers but found our friend A.J. Daulerio's sit...

Athlete Run-Ins: Messing With Cade
Today's first athlete run-in story comes to us just in time for the big UCLA-USC game this weekend (which would have been 10 times cooler had UCLA not gotten killed by Arizona earlier this year) and involves everybody's favorite Bears draft bust, Cade McNown. The teller is Joe Lederer from Long Be...

Rock (Expletive) Jayhawk
Well, when your supposedly legendary franchise has started the season 2-3, you just lost at home to a team from the WAC and your head coach boss thinks he's actually fooling anyone with that toupee ... sometimes all that will leave you in a foul mood....

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...

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...

Jake Plummer, The New Cher
You had heard all about the (ultimately successful) petition to bring back Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer's moustache, and, if you're like us, you might have thought, hey, as long as he's giving mustache rides to cheerleaders, all is pretty much fine....

Seeing Oddjack Off In Style
As some of you might have heard, our trusty, pathological brother Oddjack announced yesterday that it was taking its ball and going home on December 2. This saddens us — as you've surely noticed, we're big fans of the site — but we know editor A.J. Daulerio will be back haunting the halls of the I...

Our Own, Demented Version Of "Switched At Birth"
Because in a month we're going to be the only people who remember the show, we feel obliged to point out — per a reader's excellent, perceptive eye — that ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas and Will Arnett's ridiculously funny "Gob" from "Arrested Development" look so much like each other t...