m Page 6848 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

What A Win Tonight Would Mean: Ohio State
A national title, or a championship in any sport, resonates for years beyond just one small victory for a group of tall men. It stands for something not just in athletics, but for a university as a whole, a matter of civic pride, an achievement disparate groups of people can all stand alongside, joy...

Joel Zumaya Is Just Like The Undertaker
Sometimes we forget that the men we watch and obsess over on the baseball diamond are mostly children themselves, not just in age, but in a state of perpetual arrested development. They are gleeful imps, lucky to be allowed to frolic for a living....

We Have To Ask ...
Suggested questions for today's ESPN SportsNation chatters ... • 1 p.m. MLB Insider Keith Law: If we declare war on Canada, who gets the Blue Jays? • 2 p.m. MLB Insider Rob Neyer: Can there possibly be this much inside information? The season is exactly one game old. • 4 p.m. NCAA MBB with Gene. So ...

Bill Simmons Isn't Going Anywhere
For years now, Bill Simmons has notched considerable comedic mileage out of the supposed battle between his desire to say what He Really Wants To Say and what ESPN Will Allow Him To Say. There'd been enough supposed friction there that many wondered, when his contract with the network ran out at the...

An Opening Night Loss? No Problem!
On Faith And Fear In Flushing yesterday, Jason Fry wrote that the Opening Night game between the Cardinals and Mets at Busch Stadium last night was lose-lose for the Mets and win-win for the Cardinals. A Mets loss would remind of misery, and a win would just remind of what could have been; meanwhile...

Hey, The Couch Is Better Than Atlanta. Totally.
If you're one of those Frank Rich-obsessed souls who read the TimesSelect column, you already know this, but if not, we should make this clear before we start talking about the Final Four: We did not make it to Atlanta. Because Peter King is the only person left on earth who doesn't recognize that i...

NBA Roundup: Suns Over Mavericks Again. Gnarly.
Notes on Sunday's games in the National Basketball Association ......

About Last Night ...
What you missed while calculating the trajectory for hitting Mike Francesa with a cup of ice ... • Baseball: Mets even NLCS with Cardinals 4-all. • NBA: Barbosa leads Suns over Mavericks 126-104. Affirmed. • Wrestlemania: Trump's hair emerges victorious, as we knew it would....

Opening Day Eve, Or Whatever They Call This
Tonight, The St. Louis Cardinals begin their defense of the World Championship. Providing the opposition for the World Champion Cardinals will be the New York Mets, who are not World Champions, and who the Cardinals beat in the NLCS last year en route to a World Championship. On the hill for the Met...

To Watch Tonight...
• MLB Baseball. New York Mets @ St. Louis Cardinals. Welcome back, Nice to see you again, Joe Morgan. 8:00, ESPN2. • Professional Wrestling. Wrestlemania XXIII. If you shave Donald Trump's head, do you have to take the toupee off first? 7:00, Pay Per View. • Women's College Basketball. NCAA Tourname...

For Sale: Game-Worn Barbaro Saddle
Soon, you'll have a chance to bid on the saddle that was used to ride Barbaro in the Kentucky Derby. It's being auctioned off at the Mint Jubilee Gala (I wonder what they serve at those things) the night before the next Kentucky Derby....

There Are Ways To Support Your Brother That Don't Involve Murder
I really wish Demetrius M. Pepper was either less devoted to his brother, or better at stealing cars. Pepper shot and killed a 60-year-old woman, and shot a store clerk, in the process of stealing their cars so he could get to South Carolina's spring game and watch his brother Nathan, a junior Gamec...

LeftoverDome...
• Herb Carneal, voice of the Minnesota Twins, has passed away. [USA Today] • New swimwear that, depending on who's wearing it, you could really appreciate or downright loathe. [Wholesome Wear] • Celebrating a very special five-year anniversary. [Hurricanes are for Drinking] • Perhaps the NCAA tourna...

The Crack Of The Bat, The Middle Finger Of Pat Burrell
With the start of the 2007/2008 MLB season just hours away now, everyone's thoughts turn to how beautiful the game can be ... the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the green grass, the fathers and sons in the stands with their mitts, and the asshole in the Phillies dugout gesturing to opposin...

Buckeyes Tend To Look Old
The man on the left, Ohio State head coach That Matta, is two years younger than the man on the right, Florida coach Billy Donovan. There must be something in the water in Columbus that ages people prematurely. At this time next year, Mike Conley Jr. is going to look like Laurence Fishburne....

Ricky Williams Wants Back In Your Life
The ball is rolling for Ricky Williams to get himself back in the National Football League. His agent, Leigh Steinberg, claims that Ricky's in the best shape of his life (though I don't know if an agent has ever said that a client of his wasn't in the best shape of his life) and has passed all of hi...

One Of These Men Does Not Play Basketball
The guy in the middle sent this picture into us ... some of the Florida Gators were nice enough to pose for a shot with him at a TGI Friday's last June. It's weird that Taurean Green, Al Horford, and Corey Brewer all smile politely for the camera, while Joakim Noah stands there with no expression on...

Michael Phelps Will Have Eight Gold Medals Over Ian Crocker's Dead Body
Michael Phelps wanted to swim eight events at the World Swimming Championships, and he wanted to win 8 gold medals. The biggest obstacle in his way was fellow American Ian Crocker, the worst record holder in the 100m butterfly, an event in which Crocker would be swimming against Phelps....

That Was A Dress Rehearsal, Right?
It was just so thoroughly disappointing. I won't believe that the hype was unwarranted; it absolutely was. All the ingredients were there for a fantastic evening of basketball, but it never happened. It was never what it should have been. I feel like I just watched The Godfather III....

For Your Sunday Afternoon Viewing Pleasure...
12:00, CBS. Tennis. Sony Ericsson Open, Men's Final. 12:30, NBC. NHL Hockey. Detroit Red Wings @ Columbus Blue Jackets. 1:00, CSTV. College Softball. Alabama-Birmingham @ Houston. 1:00, ESPN. PBA Bowling. Tournament of Champions. 1:00, ABC. NBA. Miami Heat @ Detroit Pistons. 1:30, ESPN2. Arena Footb...