leaf Page 13 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Brian Burke Was Going To Rent A Barn To Fight Kevin Lowe Until Gary Bettman Intervened
Brian Burke has rapidly become one of the most stand-up guys in hockey, after his unqualified support for his out-of-the-closet son Brendan and his own anti-bullying campaign in Brendan's memory. He wasn't always so cuddly—in a great interview with The Score, Burke relates how he nearly came to blow...

Predators Player Breaks Away On Empty Net, Sends Puck Flying Over The Crossbar
Craig Smith channeled Patrik Stefan in the third period of the Predators' 4-1 win in Nashville last night. Sometimes, I guess, the net just looks that big....

Maybe Justin Bieber Isn't The Most Loyal Maple Leafs Fan After All
Yesterday Bieber went on the radio and gushed about his Leafs fandom, being from Ontario and all. No bandwagoner he. Today he's rocking the Blackhawks cap....

Justin Bieber Is A More Dedicated Sports Fan Than You
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 Biebs is a Maple Leafs fan, so he can't be a bandwagoner, right?...

Wade Belak, Another NHL Enforcer, Found Dead (UPDATE: A Suicide, According To <em>Toronto Sun</em>)
Longtime NHL defenseman Wade Belak, who spent much of his career with the Maple Leafs, was found dead at 35 today in his Toronto hotel, according to a report from QMI Agency in Canada....

Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 4,397
New blue blood/great white hope beats painkiller addiction, but still ends up with a lumpy tumor on his brain that may require radiation treatment to destroy it. Still, his outlook is serenely positive: "If you deny the fact that things are happening to you, that this is going on, whether it's negat...

Maple Leafs' Swedish Goalie Prospect Is A Terrible Rapper
Toronto signed Mark "In Da Park" Owuya, a 21-year-old goalie prospect from Sweden, to an entry-level contract on Thursday. Last season, Da Park had a 2.18 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage in goal for Djurgarden, of the Swedish Elite League....

One Ref's Fall Over A Ceremonial Carpet Is Another Ref's Fall Over The Same Ceremonial Carpet
We're not sure where this clip came from, as the Leafs missed out on the playoffs for the sixth straight year this season, but sometimes — like when two men whose job it is to be alert on ice fail to observe and avoid the same ceremonial carpet laid out in front of them, for example — context just...

Here's What Happens When A Same-Sex Couple Considers Kissing On Kiss-Cam
Now that the world has deemed the humorous display of two people of the same gender not kissing on the kiss-cam to be homophobic, what will the world make of the kiss-cam cutting away when two people of the same gender are poised to kiss? Is it homophobic? Is it funny? Does it make you angry?...

The Hardest Hit In Last Night's Maple Leafs-Flyers Game Was In Warm-Ups
Dion Phaneuf and Mike Komisarek were dutifully going through their warm-ups before last night's game in Philadelhpia when they collided. Hard. Neither player was injured, and the Leafs went on to win, 3-2, which I guess is why the announcers are so comfortable giggling about it on-air....

Checking Back In With Those Ridiculous NHL Superheroes
They're rolling out the remainder of the NHL's Guardian Project, and yes, our worst fears are realized. The Maple Leaf superhero is a tree....

Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 3,296
Ryan Leaf, having long ago surpassed the vaunted trifecta of failure, has just signed a three-part book deal. The CougFan.com columnist and former NFL player will write three books about the greatest tale of human tragedy known to sports: Ryan Leaf....

Hockey Fans Throw The Darndest Things Onto The Ice
After the Philadelphia Flyers got done beating up on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, a disgruntled fan threw waffles onto the ice. This confused winger Colby Armstrong....

The Woozy, Loogie-Hocking Aftermath Of The New York City Marathon: A Video
Finishing a marathon is an amazing accomplishment. It is also, as that David Fleming story reminded us, a rather dehumanizing and soul-crushing endeavor. As far as we know, the New York City Marathon was poop-free this year, but wobble-free? Not at all....

So, Who Comes Out Looking The Worst From <em>SI</em>'s Agent Tell-All?
An NFL agent with 20 years in the biz names names on who took money and committed other improprieties. But some people we never saw coming: Mel Kiper, really?...

Hockey Agent Gets 10 Percent Of His Client's Goalie Mask
Maple Leafs prospect Jussi Rynnäs's mask features, among other oddities, a photo of his agent. He would have named his kid after him, but Rynnäs's firstborn was sacrificed to his death metal band of choice, as per Finnish law. [Globe and Mail]...

Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 987
It seems like twice a year there's a new Ryan Leaf story published, updating us on the whereabouts of the NFL's bust-of-all-busts who is always on the verge of a personal rebirth. Here we go again....

Ryan Leaf Used To Be Carried In The Arms Of Cheerleaders, Part 782
"If I'm going to be the biggest bust, I have to own up to it. I used to go to bed at night hoping somebody else like Heath Shuler might magically leapfrog me on those all-time bust lists."[LAT]...

The Mennonites No Longer Hate America
Just hours ago, Goshen College, a private Mennonite-affiliated school in Indiana, played the National Anthem before a sporting event for the first time in their history. It wasn't without controversy. Of course....

Jonas Gustavsson, IR-Upper Body (Heart Surgery)
Toronto's Monster will have his second procedure in three months to fix an irregular heartbeat. Wouldn't be the first time Leafs fans questions their players' hearts. [Toronto Star]...