mbl Page 89 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Lleyton Hewitt Can't Believe He Hit This Shot Either
There is little debate about whether or not Australia's Lleyton Hewitt is in decline; the 30-year-old who was once known for his speed has been suffering through battered knees and a slower step for a few years now. He lost to Robin Soderling in the second round at Wimbledon yesterday, 6-7, 3-6, 7...
Tennis Rallies Look Awesome When They're Made Of Racket String
We're a bit late on Richard Swarbrick's latest animation: This one, unlike the other work we've seen from him, is appropriately Wimbledon-themed. But it's still worth sharing: he took a single point from a single Wimbledon match and recreated it using racket strings. Of course he did! Swarbrick's ...
Dick Enberg Tells A Story About "Bloody Blue Balls" In Wimbledon Booth Exchange For The Ages
At 78 years old and after 28 years on the job, Dick Enberg is calling his final matches from Wimbledon this year. He'll wrap up his ESPN tennis contract at the US Open in a few months, and then he'll go home to San Diego to call games for the Padres. We're afraid that Enberg might not have the opp...
Serena And Tennis Have A Tearful Reunion At Wimbledon
This is the moment that tennis has been waiting for: its reluctant female lead in joyful tears after her triumphant return to Grand Slam tennis. The SportsCenter tribute is next. Serena Williams won her first-round match against Arvane Rezai in three sets today, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and was in tears whe...
Stories That Don't Suck: SportsFeat's Guide To Wimbledon
A quick primer on SportsFeat: Every day, we post great sports writing from across the web, both new stuff and classics. A companion to Longform.org, the site is designed to be used with services like Instapaper and Read It Later, so you can read the stories later on your phone, iPad or Kindle. You c...
Ladies Day At "The Queen's Favourite Racing Event" Featured Brawls, Call Girls, Face Tattoos And £98 Bottles Of Champagne
Yesterday was Gold Cup Day at the Royal Ascot, traditionally the "highlight of the summer calendar for the well-off and well-connected" in Berkshire, U.K. But according to a report in the Daily Mail, the well-off and well-connected vibe has devolved into something resembling the ass-end of a NASCAR...
Serena's Comeback Tally: One Win, One Smashed Racket, And Almost A Broken Nail
Serena Williams knocked off Tsvetana Pironkova in the first round at the Eastbourne Tennis Tournament today, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. There were two very good signs in the scandal-stirrer's first return to professional tennis in over a year: the first was that she won, despite a rough first set, and the sec...
Michael Vick Delivered A Graduation Speech, But No One Paid Attention
Remember Dwight Eisenhower's famous farewell address, where he warned us of the military-industrial complex, but we didn't listen to him and wound up in lots of unnecessary (and unnecessarily costly) wars? Maybe this is the lowbrow version of that address....
The Tropicana Casino In Atlantic City Is Being Devoured By Sharks
The Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City was bankrupt in 2009 when billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn sidled up with $200 million to buy the joint. After New Jersey approved Icahn's bid in 2010, the Tropicana embraced a new strategy: high stakes table games. (You can now bet $50,000 on ...
Pop Cultural Oddsmaker: What Will Be The First Column On Grantland?
The countdown clock says we're mere minutes away from launch of the most heralded website subsection named for a long-dead hagiographer since Salon's ill-fated ÆlfricOfEynsham.com. We couldn't be more excited, because they've gathered a lot of talented people, many of whom haven't yet had the proper...
This Story About Rigged Italian Soccer Astoundingly Has Nothing To Do With Sepp Blatter
Sixteen people—including current Serie B/C and former Serie A players, including ex-Lazio captain Giuseppe Signori—were arrested today related to fishy results throughout Italy's leagues. We suppose this thing is a bit more common in Europe than it is here, but wow. This is the biggest match-fixing ...
Meet The Blackjack Superhero Who Took Atlantic City For $15 Million
Two weeks ago, we learned about the gambling ace who saddled the Tropicana Casino and Resort with a record $5.8 million loss at the blackjack tables in April. There was much speculation about his identity. Now, there is an answer. The Press of Atlantic City scored an interview with the gambler, an O...
"We're On A Fucking Roll, Dude": The 1993 Profile Of Lenny Dykstra That Warned Us What Was Coming
Originally published as "Lips Gets Smacked" in the January 1993 issue of Philadelphia Magazine and later anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing 1994. Reprinted here with the author's permission and his addendum at bottom....
Mysterious Blackjack Savant Single-Handedly Busts Tropicana Casino
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement yesterday reported April revenue for casinos in Atlantic City. The numbers, down across the board, are disheartening for the second-biggest gambling market in the country. Heartening for the rest of the world, however, is that the Tropicana Casino and Re...
Your Official Deadspin Kentucky Derby Picks
I like Archarcharch (based on that stretch-running 98 Beyer fig in the Arkansas Derby) and Mucho Macho Man (who finished third in the Louisiana Derby despite leaving his shoe at the gate), and I'll box them in the exacta with Shackleford (who ran a smart second in the Florida Derby)....
We Would Like Stories Of Your Gambling Travails, Please
From time to time, you gamble, and we write about it in a column called Bad Beats. Of course, there are no Bad Beats without your Bad Beats, so please, we beg you, send us any gambling stories you normally consider appropriate only for the company of drunken assholes....
Bad Beats: Handicapping An <i>American Idol</i> That Has Gone Horribly, Horribly Wrong
Hello, folks. Welcome back to Bad Beats, the column you visit for betting advice and sad tales of gambling woe. Read past Bad Beats here. Got any stories for us? Email us at [email protected]. Subject: Bad beats....
The Quirks Of Gambling On Professional Wrestling
Since the dawn of time, it's been mankind's dream to own the Sports Almanac from Back To The Future Part II. If one could know the result of a sporting event beforehand, one could make untold riches by gambling on it. While the Novikov self-consistency principle — or perhaps Calvinism — means this c...
Timing The Trots For Six Famous Home Runs; Or, Bo Jackson Will Blow Your Mind
As a Brewers fan, it's pretty common to hear from others around the NL Central that no one is worse at watching and admiring his home runs than Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. And while I can understand where these Cards and Cubs fans are coming from, I don't completely agree. After all, I get to see...
Floyd Mayweather Bet $50k On The Cavaliers Tonight
Miami was in Cleveland tonight, taking on the Cavaliers, Zydrunas Ilgauskas' former team....