layoffs Page 167 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Why Do Players Choke? Oddly Enough, Because They Hate Losing.
The New Yorker poached science writer Jonah Lehrer from Wired, and what do you know? His second piece is sports, and it is timely. Lehrer seeks to explain the plague of every duffer and NBA superstar since the beginning of time: Why do we choke? Why do we freeze up under pressure? Why do things that...
One More Clueless L.A. Media Moment: "Kings Goalie Jonathan Swift"
The Stanley Cup itself will be at the Staples Center tonight, and the Kings look all but unstoppable. (Up 3-0, Kings merchandise is flying off the shelves, because L.A. is filled with more bandwagoners per capita than any other North American city.) You'd think by now the local media would have go...
Bristolmetrics: The Miami Heat Got More <em>SportsCenter</em> Coverage Than The Spurs And Thunder Combined
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute by minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....
A Masseuse Died In Chris Bosh's House Yesterday
The unnamed woman arrived at the Bosh home around 10:30 a.m. on Monday, "suddenly passed out" in the early afternoon, and died just shy of midnight....
Math! Says Hero Ball Doesn't Work
Some interesting research from the TrueHoop gang today, meant to address the non-flop-related issue of the 2012 playoffs: Who should be taking those crucial last shots? If the choice is between a covered superstar and an open non-superstar, the numbers say: give it to the open man....
The L.A. Kings Taunted The Devils With Giant <em>Jersey Shore</em> Cutouts Yesterday
We already knew that the L.A. Kings were the most fun team to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals in recent memory, thanks in large part to the team's playful and hilarious Twitter feed and their unique style of play. They're also probably the best team to make it to the Stanley Cup finals in a while—...
Unstoppable Spurs Juggernaut Only Two Wins Away From NBA Finals
The Spurs—can they be beaten? In the past week (well, the past week plus a little), they've been called "unstoppable", "unstoppable and utterly dominant", "unstoppable" again, and "unstoppable" a few more times. Clearly, the stoppability of the Spurs is not at issue. They are unstoppable. They've wo...
"Let's Clean This Thing Up. Let's Not Hurt The Game": Red Auerbach's Anti-Flopping Video
It was the mid '70s, and Red Auerbach wanted to teach the basketball world to stop flopping. To get his message across, he called in a dream team of Elvin Hayes, Clem Haskins, Wes Unseld, Paul Silas, Mike Riordan, and referee Mendy Rudolph, who was named head of officials and inducted into the Hal...
Rajon Rondo Was Surly And Surgical Last Night
Last night the Celtics tied the Heat at 2-2 in the Eastern Conference finals, which is good news if you want to watch a competitive series. It's even better news if you want to watch Rajon Rondo play incredible basketball....
Maine TV Anchor Reports Last Night's Heat-Celtics Game Four Ended In A Tie
Portland, Maine, isn't exactly a small television market. With a Nielsen DMA rank of 78, it's solidly mid-sized, amongst the Toledos and Omahas of the TV landscape. Regardless, stations sometimes find themselves shorthanded on the weekends—which appears to have happened at Portland's ABC affiliate...
How The Kings Toughened Up And Conquered The NHL
There are two central oddities in the New Jersey Devils-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup final, which the Kings lead 2-0 after two overtime wins. One is that the Kings were an eight seed with a meager plus-15 goal differential during the regular season, an eight seed that went 5-2-3 in its last 10 game...
Somebody Finally Told Chris Bosh The Truth About Santa Claus
Chris Bosh will reportedly return for the Eastern Conference Finals' Game Five, which really is a shame, because we've grown accustomed to his face—that twisting, tortured face that's provided us so much enjoyment as it beams or frowns or, uh, whatever it's doing above from Miami's bench....
ESPN's Brad Daugherty Promos NBA Playoff Game As "Paul Pierce & The Celtics Vs. LeBron James & The Officials"
ESPN analyst Brad Daugherty is one of the network's best NASCAR minds, but it was in basketball that he originally made his fortune. Thus, the NASCAR Countdown studio crew handing the reins for the promo reader of tomorrow night's Eastern Conference Finals game over to Daugherty was probably obvio...
Some Celtics Fans Will Be Wearing Tim Donaghy Masks Tonight
Celtics fans, including the world's most famous Celtics fan, truly believe that the NBA is rigged and/or biased for Miami and against Boston. To do their best to give David Stern an aneurism, there's a campaign to print out and wear masks of everyone's favorite crooked ref Tim Donaghy. This is the b...
Now A New York TV Station Thinks The Islanders Are Playing The Kings In The Stanley Cup Finals
Media ignorance to the NHL playoffs continues, as tonight's 6 p.m. WABC newscast featured a graphic not only suggesting the New York Islanders were in the Stanley Cup Finals but text to that effect as well. As inexcusable as the various mistakes made in identifying the Kings by Los Angeles media af...
Rajon Rondo Is Beautiful And Hopelessly Alone And Playing Fuck-You Basketball
Last night against the Heat, Rajon Rondo put up 44 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists, and three steals while committing just three turnovers. He played every single minute of a game that went into overtime and was undoubtedly the best player on the floor on a night that included five future Hall of...
Don Cherry Picks The Kings To Win The Cup Because They Have Fewer European Players
Last year, an academic study tapped Don Cherry as the new face of Canadian Nationalism. The world recoiled in horror, not least of all Canadians themselves. (I know. I asked them all.) But Grapes's geographical jingoism is something you kind of have to tune out, because at least it doesn't affect hi...
23 Percent Of All <em>SportsCenter</em> Programming Last Week Was Devoted To The Miami Heat
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....
Rex Ryan: New Jersey Devils Fan
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and family took in last night's opening game of the Stanley Cup Finals, garbed in Devils jerseys and ready for action. Alas, the Kings took Game One 2-1 in overtime, but we're not entirely sure how much Ryan's behind the Devils anyway—he grew up a Maple Leafs fan in Tor...
The Unappreciated Playground Genius Of The San Antonio Spurs
Last night in San Antonio, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the sum of their parts. It was a pretty good sum, even. The Thunder were solid on the glass against the Spurs; they lit it up from three-point range; they earned plenty of points at the free-throw line. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and...