nl Page 145 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Age 66, Played All Nine Positions Last Night
The Spaceman's still going, man. Baseball's most famous old hippie again made a couple of appearances with the independent San Rafael (Calif.) Pacifics this week, nearly one year to the day after he tossed a complete game for them at the age of 65. Far out....

Despite Layoffs, ESPN Will Soon Have "More Employees Than Ever"
Earlier this year, ESPN went through a unexpected series of layoffs, in the end shedding somewhere close to 400 people. It was done, ESPN folks were told, as a critical cost-cutting measure in the run-up to the launch of Fox Sports 1 and with higher fees looming for Monday Night Football and basebal...

Be Amused. Be Very Amused. <em>You're Next</em>, Reviewed.
1. You're Next is officially a horror movie—it is sold the way all horror movies are sold these days, with an ominous poster image and an appealingly simple, self-sustaining premise—but it's really a comedy. It is a comedy in the way Army of Darkness is a comedy, or The Cabin in the Woods is a comed...

Phillies Finally Beat Dodgers On Walk-Off Error
On Friday, the Phillies fired Charlie Manuel and appointed Ryne Sandberg interim manager. He picked up where Charlie left off and was shut out in his first two games. But then Sunday rolled around and Hanley Ramirez decided to start handing out wins....

NBA Efficiency Rating Inventor Kills Self, Explains Via Website
Martin Manley, the former Kansas City Star contributor whose insight into sports made him a key component of that paper's sports section, committed suicide yesterday—and left a sprawling website to explain why....

Chris Nilan Denies Giving Whitey Bulger A Stanley Cup Ring
Yesterday morning, just before former Boston underworld kingpin Whitey Bulger was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy, and murder, word got out that a Stanley Cup ring in his possession would be exempt from criminal forfeiture proceedings. But a larger question remained: How in the world did White...

History As Pop As Camp: <em>The Butler</em>, Reviewed.
1. Lee Daniels is a total lunatic of a director, a man who knows nothing of restraint, decorum or moderation. Sometimes this works for him; his Precious was lurid and garish and melodramatic in a way that fit the material, making the protagonist's sufferings feel both pulpy and weirdly real. Mostly,...

How The NHL Fit Into Whitey Bulger's Underworld Empire
James "Whitey" Bulger, formerly one of the country's most wanted fugitives, was convicted this afternoon by a Boston jury on multiple counts of racketeering and conspiracy in connection with 11 gangland-style murders dating back to the 1970s. He will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. But ...

Terry Southern on Stanley Kubrick
Everything You Always Wanted To Stop Worrying About The Bomb over at Cinephilia and Beyond including these two notable items by screenwriter Terry Southern:...

Court Documents: Aaron Hernandez's Fiancée May Have Hidden Evidence
The Courant has obtained court documents from the Aaron Hernandez murder investigation that point to possible involvement by Hernandez's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins, in the disposing of evidence. ...

Juan Uribe Fell For The Hidden-Ball Trick
The Tampa Bay Rays pulled off the hidden-ball trick Saturday, and Juan Uribe was the unfortunate victim....

Subtle As A Boomsaw: <em>Elysium,</em> Reviewed.
1. Elysium, like writer-director Neill Blomkamp's much-loved first film District 9, is very concerned with making you understand that it is about something. I wasn't as big a fan of District 9 as most were—it felt like a great idea for a short film, which it was, stretched out to feature length—but ...

The Killing of Gus Hasford
A monster story from the late Grover Lewis:...

Ryan Lavarnway Cannot Do Anything Right
Ryan Lavarnway bounced a throw to second just beyond the mound and allowed five bases and two runs on four passed balls in the first inning tonight. Worse, he helped the Astros take the lead on the Red Sox....

Royals Fountain Lady Had A Hell Of A Night
Gather 'round children, and let me tell you the story of Royals Fountain Lady. It starts with pregame drinking in the Kauffman Stadium parking lot, and ends with a teary mug shot and a night in jail....

Andrew Shaw To Auction Off The Stitches From His Glorious Hockey Face
Andrew Shaw's busted-up face was one of the highlights of the Chicago Blackhawks' Stanley Cup victory. Shaw hoisting the cup while his face continued to swell and blood oozed from his stitched-up wounds is an image that will always hold a place in hockey history, and now fans have the opportunity to...

Lady Goes For A Stroll Through The Kauffman Stadium Fountain
This lady scaled some wet, narrow terrain and found her way into the fountain area in Kauffman Stadium Monday night. Was she drunk? Hard to tell. She might have been hot and wanted to cool off. Maybe she just wanted to drink her teal blue (possibly alcoholic) drink in the comfort of wet denim. It's ...

Lindsay Lohan Is the Only Part of <em>The Canyons</em> That Isn't Horrible
The Canyons opens (and ends, over the closing credits) with photographs of abandoned, dilapidated movie theaters, which would be the world's most obvious metaphor if the film were actually competent enough to be about what it wants to be about. Director Paul Schrader (who should know better) and wri...

Get Your Ya Ya's Out
From his classic book, The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones, dig Stanley Booth on the band's gig at MSG in 1969:...