nl Page 198 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

George Bodenheimer Reminds Bristol Of The Wintry Economic Climate We're In
This afternoon ESPN President George Bodenheimer addressed his troops via video on ESPN's corporate intranet to let everyone know there's a hiring freeze, no more raises, and "downsizing" and "discontinuation" are imminent....

It Only Takes One
Kevin Laue, the one-armed basketball player inspires armless everywhere. [NYT]...

MMA Fighter Justin Eilers Shot Dead in "Domestic Disturbance" on Christmas
MMA heavyweight Justin Eilers was found dead Christmas night in Nampa, ID, with a .45 bullet in his chest....

Do Not Watch Unless You Feel Like Screaming
This is from this past weekend's New Orleans bowl, where Southern Miss receiver DeAndre Brown's leg just...stopped working. Brown is 6-6, 230 pounds of can't-miss NFL prospect. Amazingly, after successful surgery on Sunday night to repair the "clean break", he still might not miss anytime in 2009....

Another MMA Tragedy Unfolds In Los Angeles
Mixed Martial Arts fighter Justin Levens, shown here on the left, and his wife were found shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide in their Los Angeles-area condominium, say police....

A New Meaning For The Term 'NFL Draft'
Got an image you'd like to see in here first thing in the morning? Send it to [email protected]. Subject: Morning crap....

This Is Why Conlin Rules
Even if he hates the pamphleteers: "If the printed page dies, there is no denying that the fatal wounds have been self-inflicted. There was an elitist smugness even in the press boxes of the 1960s, when Howard Cosell was just a radio nobody hustling for interviews in clubhouses filled with sports wr...

Deadspin Reader Heroically Attends Screening Of Ryan Leaf Movie
In a simpler time, Mike Sebeckis was known as Seabass, Deadspin commenter extraordinaire. A software engineer who has been living in San Diego for 2 1/2 years, he doesn't have much time to frolic in the comments section these days; although he is still a regular reader and thinks Baby Mangino is a l...

Coming Soon To A Library Near You ...
If you're like me, you're constantly writing to Paramount and TriStar demanding to know when the life of Ryan Leaf will be made into a movie. Put away that spec script, because it's already here. Filmmaker Tim Carr has made Leaf, an 82-minute film about the former Chargers quarterback, which, accord...

Breaking!: Plaxico Burress May Have A Sore Leg
An urgent SportsCenter update has just informed the world that Plaxico Burress showed up to work today, less than 24 hours after facing the horrors of central booking at the One Seven. The notorious skel (hey, I've seen NYPD Blue) reported to the Giants training facility this morning, per team rules...

Lane Kiffin Hiring: A Volunteer Fan's Perspective
In a move that proves he has gigantic balls of steel, UT athletic director Mike Hamilton has replaced a national championship winning coach with an all-time record of 152-52 who graduated from and played for his university with a 33 year old who went 5-15 in 1.25 seasons as the coach of the Oakland...

Bill "Spaceman" Lee Defends Manny, Canadians and Irish Assassins
Bill Lee isn't famous because he was a good pitcher for a few years in the 1970s. He's famous (and beloved) because he has absolutely no filtering mechanism between his brain and his mouth. The man is a quote machine and so when Boston recently honored him, Mo Vaughn and Mike Greenwell by inducting ...

Beckett, Lester Take Aim at Charity (and Pull Trigger)
Josh Beckett, putative Red Sox ace, believes the best charity comes at the end of a shotgun. Therefore, he has gathered all his rowdy friends (including fellow hurler Jon Lester-Who-Once-Had-Cancer, comedian Bill Engvall, and singer Troy Gentry) to his ranch this weekend, where they will hold the fi...

Ryan Leaf Has Gone and Ryan Leaf'd Himself Yet Again
And...scene. Former inept NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf seemed poised for success while coaching at DII West Texas A & M , but thanks to a recent pill-popping scandal, that career path might also be over for good. At first, Leaf was given a leave of absence by the university for him to work on his "pers...

Pill-Popping Trouble In Ryan Leaf Land
It was just a couple months ago when Portfolio.com did an interesting feature about the post-NFL career of quarterback Ryan Leaf, detailing his remarkable success as football and golf coach at West Texas A & M and, most surprising, the fact that he's still a multi-millionaire thanks to past endorsem...

No Hollywood Ending
What they're saying out in the ether about the Phillies' 5-1 win over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series ... • But At Least I Have A Husband. (2008-10-15 3:40 p.m., PST) I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you. [Dodger Thoughts] • Farewell, Cond...

Oh Happy Day
Last February, I received an email from a friend-of-a-friend of the publisher at Philadelphia magazine who wanted to know if The Daily Examiner, the Philly mag blog I was writing for at the time, would be interested in having weekly interviews with Shane Victorino throughout spring training. The guy...

I Don't Believe What I Just Saw...
1988 was a year I didn't watch as much sports as I used to because I discovered Headbanger's Ball and had hair that looked like this, but I did watch the one-legged walk-off game by Kirk Gibson. (Most likely while ironing a Megadeth back patch to my jean jacket. Who got all the chicks?) As you may k...

LA Sports Bar Bans Dodgers Gear ... Phillies Gear OK, Though
My sports bar of choice when in the Los Angeles area? Big Wangs, of course. Now with two locations — Hollywood and North Hollywood — making it more convenient to head on over to watch Game 5 of the NLCS, and enjoy a heaping basket of Wangs Wings. Of course, if you're planning on wearing your Dodgers...

The New York Times Helps Matt Stairs Retrieve His Masculinity
Matt Stairs' stay as a Philadelphia's favorite 40-year-old beefy homer-hitting Canuck continues today, with a story about him in today's New York Times that gives America's baseball nation a closer glimpse at the 16-year vet. The whole piece focuses on Stairs' everyman-ness and how he's a "guys' guy...