major Page 61 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why MLS May Be Headed For A Work Stoppage
Over the next few months, officials from Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union will meet periodically in New York City to negotiate MLS's new collective bargaining agreement, the rules that set the terms of employment between the owners and the players....

Jozy Altidore, The Striker Who Never Was, Is Coming Back Home
Yesterday, news broke that perennial Premier League bottom feeders Sunderland had reached a swap deal with Major League Soccer. American striker Jozy Altidore is leaving Sunderland for MLS's Toronto FC. English striker Jermain Defoe, who just joined Toronto FC from Tottenham last summer, is going to...

Suit: Seattle Arena Soccer Team Owner Sexually Preys On Cheerleaders
You've probably never heard of Dion Earl, the former college and pro soccer player who is the owner, coach, and star player of the Seattle Impact, a professional soccer team that began its first season in the Major Arena Soccer League last night. He is, though, according to a lawsuit filed against...

Wilson Kipsang Could Be $500K Richer For A Shit Run In London '13
The World Marathon Majors, which consist of Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York, crown a champion every year based on overall placing during a two-year period. It is as unintelligible and confusing as it sounds. That being said, the WMM does dole out a half-million dollars to its tw...

'Baseball's Bolshevik': Why The Martyrdom Of Curt Flood Still Matters
You’re probably familiar with the story of Curt Flood, the ballplayer whose refusal in 1969 to accept a trade was the first major skirmish in the fight for free agency. You’re certainly familiar with his legacy, which today alone hangs over the news of the NBA’s media megadeal. Retro Report, via The...

Are MLB No-Hitters Really Getting More Common?
Tim Lincecum's no-hitter yesterday was the 22nd since 2010 and a walk away from becoming the sixth perfect game in that same time. This makes no-hitters and perfect games sound abnormally common today. So just how much has the frequency of no-hitters and perfect games changed?...

You Fucked Up Now, Jay Z, The Lax Bros Are Coming For You
Jay Z has a verse on the latest DJ Khaled track, which may or may not include a diss aimed at Drake (in response to that whole fondue plate thing): "Haters wanna ball, let me tighten up my drawstring / Wrong sport, boy, you know you soft as a lacrosse team." But instead of drawing Drake's ire, Jay'...

Ten <em>Mid-Majority</em> Posts You Must Read Before The Site Dies In 7 Hours
Mid-major basketball maven Kyle Whelliston is shuttering The Mid-Majority tonight after ten years of operation, and deleting the site's entire content. It's been the home of some of the best college basketball writing around, and if you haven't had the chance to ever check it out, the clock is ticki...

Italian Baseball Team's <em>Major League</em> Parody Gets Real Racist Real Fast
This starts out as a pretty great shot-for-shot remake of the American Express commercial from Major League. It's funny for a while—the costumes are right, and those Italian dudes are doing a good job at delivering their lines—but then you remember that the original scene ends with Willie Mays Haye...

Getting Ready For MLS? Allow Us To Convince You Otherwise
It's about that time of the year again! Timber Joey is gassing up his chainsaw, Thierry Henry is stretching those creaking joints, and Michael Bradley is getting ready to lace up his boots, the prodigal son back on (well, North) American soil after so many years away. Yep, Major League Soccer, the l...

Why Won't The Premier League Protect Its Players From Concussions?
Sports are brutal. Just a few weeks ago, we all watched boxer Francisco Leal get knocked out, never to regain consciousness. People who watch football, hockey or lacrosse see broken bones, ripped ligaments, spinal injuries, and concussions on an almost weekly basis. These are viewed as gladiator spo...

Why I Quit The Major Leagues
During my first year in the major leagues, I was twice sent back down to the minors. This is common for rookies, especially if their competition for a roster spot is doing well—and I was playing behind Darwin Barney, who was chasing the record for the most consecutive games at second base without an...

Bud Selig, The Commissioner Who Didn't Matter
There is a popular line of thinking among statistically minded baseball fans that declares the manager more or less irrelevant. In the course of 162 games, over tens of thousands of pitches, the impact of his strategic decision making is statistically negligible compared to the inherent quality of h...

Major Wright–But <em>Not</em> Terrance Williams–Sued For African Diamonds Loan
So, which is the better story here? TMZ's report that Bears safety Major Wright's diamond trading company is being sued for not repaying a loan that carries 100 percent interest? Or that TMZ's initial report claimed Cowboys receiver Terrance Williams was in on it too, but quickly removed him after h...

Can I Flip It?
Allen Barra once gave me a set of Major League Writers trading cards. ...

Report: A-Rod Refuses To Give Bosch Money; Bosch Cuts Deal With MLB
According to the New York Daily News, Anthony Bosch tried to get money from A-Rod to help pay his mounting legal bills, due in part to the frivolous lawsuit filed by Major League Baseball for tortious interference. A-Rod refused his request, so Bosch cut a deal that would end the lawsuit and require...

No Steroids, No Birthday Cake: Parsing MLB's Employee Handbook
Congratulations! It's your first day working for Major League Baseball. You probably grew up a huge baseball fan, and while this isn't as good as actually playing, you're about to embark on a fun and rewarding career with MLB. But first, there's something you need to read and sign....

An Abu Dhabi Sheik Is About To Buy A New York MLS Expansion Team
Back in August, we heard noise from a deep-money source that a United Arab Emirates sheik was prepared to pay a ton of money for a New York-based MLS team. The owner was reportedly lobbying for "crazy benefits and tax breaks."...

The Major Leagues Were Never Really As Black As You've Been Told
Today Tyler Kepner’s New York Times story about the dearth of African-American players in the Major Leagues quietly distinguished itself from other articles in that vein, in that it didn’t cite a popular and wrong figure about the peak of black representation in baseball....

The Missouri Valley Conference's Wichita State Shockers Are Going To The Final Four
Ninth-seeded Wichita State continued a stunning run through the NCAA Tournament, downing second-seeded Ohio State despite nearly losing a 20-point second-half lead. It's the first appearance in the Final Four for a Missouri Valley Conference team since Larry Bird led Indiana State to the national t...