of Page 461 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Sir Bam Bam
There are 23 large iron lamps affixed to the ceiling. The tints of neon light they throw down into the indoor batting cage, a concrete room tucked deep into the guts of Yankee Stadium, vary according to when they were last smashed out by errant balls and replaced. Under these lights, largely out of ...

Report: Braves Players Boycotted Chipper Jones's First Pitch
Christ, could the Atlanta Braves get any more annoying? Baseball's fun police reportedly added another name to their "People Who Don't Respect The Game And/Or The Atlanta Braves And All That They Stand For" list, and that name happens to belong to Braves legend Chipper Jones....

The Champ And The Chump: The Meaning Of Liston-Clay I
Originally published on March 7, 1964, in The New Republic. Reprinted here with the permission of the author's family....

Juan Uribe Sends The Dodgers To The NLCS With This Bomb
In the bottom of the 8th in Los Angeles, Juan Uribe sent the Atlanta Play The Game The Right Ways packing with an absolute monster blast to left field....

Dodgers To Start Clayton Kershaw Tonight On Short Rest
Had they lost last night, the Dodgers let it be known, they would have considered starting Clayton Kershaw tonight in what would have been an elimination game. Sensible enough—Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball, after all! No reason not to start him in an elimination game. But then they went ou...

Win Or Lose, Carlos Beltran Is The King
Carlos Beltran hit the 16th postseason home run of his career yesterday, passing Babe Ruth on the career postseason home run list. If you've watched playoff baseball over the last decade you know all about Beltran's surreal ability to come up big in October, but there probably aren't that many casua...

Spectator Video Captures Frightening, Up-Close View Of IndyCar Crash
IndyCar driver Dario Franchitti sustained two fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle, and a concussion when he crashed his car on the final lap of yesterday's Grand Prix of Houston. The Big Lead found this terrifying video taken by a fan standing right along the catchfence at the moment and place of im...

There's No Crying At The Pee Wee Super Bowl
A new magazine story from Jeanne Marie Laskas is good reason to be excited. Her latest for GQ, "There's No Crying at the Pee Wee Super Bowl" looks like another sure shot:...

V. S. Naipaul on Writing
"The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it."...

Report: Lions Center Was A Dick To The University Of Wisconsin Band
It appears that Dominic Raiola, the starting center for the Detroit Lions, is a huge dick. That's because there are reports going around alleging that Raiola spent part of his Sunday verbally assaulting the University of Wisconsin marching band, which was in Green Bay to play at this week's Lions-Pa...

The Pirates Are Five Wins Away From The World Series
This single from Pedro Alvarez in the bottom of the eighth gave the Pirates a 4-3 lead in Game 3 of the NLDS and proved to be the game-winning run. Pittsburgh is now one win away from the NLCS. Four wins there would get them to the World Series for the first time since 1979. ...

The Goon Show: A Life In Letters
Mike Fox on "The Africa Project," 1966...

Did Wil Myers Blow This Play, Or Was He The Victim Of Gamesmanship?
Here's Rays outfielder Wil Myers, in the fourth inning of today's playoff game against the Red Sox, doing God knows what....

Paul Rhoads Goes On Rant For The Ages After Officials Screw ISU
Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads, already on the hot seat after losing the Cyclones' opening game to Northern Iowa of the FCS, had a right to be upset with officials after tonight's game against Texas, a 31-30 Longhorns win....

From Louisville To The Nation Of Islam: My Ups And Downs With Ali
This story was originally published in a 1971 issue of Sport magazine. It is reprinted here with permission....

The Challenger And The Muslims
In this story, Dick Schaap writes about the newspaper article that first revealed the connection between Ali and the Black Muslim movement. Schaap's "scoop"—which ran on the front page of the Herald Tribune of January 23, 1964, three weeks after I became city editor of the paper—follows....

ESPN Cancels International X-Games; More Job Cuts Coming
ESPN is canceling the international edition of the X-Games, Reuters reports. ESPN announced the expansion in May 2012 but apparently hasn't found a way to make any money off the games this year. This also means more job cuts are coming to Bristol....

Daniel Negreanu: Card Stud
Daniel Negreanu is a vegetarian, without much interest in food. ''I ate two days ago'' is the kind of thing he says. His disdain for food is a reaction to his mother, who is obsessed with food. Mommy, as he calls her, likes to serve people food, then sit down and smile at them as they eat. When Negr...

All The MLB Pundits Made Dreadful Picks This Year
Republished with permission from PunditTracker....

Furry's Blues
“By now there must be in the world a million guitar virtuosos; but there are very few real blues players. The reason for this is that the blues–not the form but the blues–demands such dedication. This dedication lies beyond technique; it makes being a blues player something like being a priest. Virt...