one Page 295 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Shaq: Best Big Man Ever, Or Perpetual Second Banana?
We are about to enter the first week in a world in which Shaquille O'Neal is a Cavalier. Diesel's last stop or not, it's worth speculating what his legacy will be. It's not so cut and dried....

Egyptian Press Reports What Really Happened In That South Africa Hotel Room
In Egypt, which lacks a free press, the government can try to make a scandal dissipate just by using politically correct language. Case in point: apparently, the translation for "possibly-money-stealing-and-home-wrecking prostitutes" is "girls."...

Mazel Tov, Omri Casspi
Casspi was selected with the 23rd pick in the Draft last night, which, in David Stern's mind, completely validates the NBA's entire push for globalization. Shalom, chaver. If Casspi — a 6-foot-9 small forward who had some success in the Euroleague — makes the NBA, he will be the first Israeli and se...

Magglio Ordonez Loses His Magically Silky Hair
After being benched for terribleness, the Tigers "slugger" has shorn his legendary flowing locks. (You can maybe buy them on eBay.) So did it have the intended Reverse Samson effect? Two-for-four! Against the Cubs? Ok, that's inconclusive evidence. [Detroit4Lyfe]...

LeBron, Meet Your New Teammate: Shaquille O'Neal
The Cavaliers and Suns have reached a deal in principle to send Shaquille O'Neal to the Land of LeBron, Yahoo! Sports reports. Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic and a pick to Phoenix. No confirmation from @THE_REAL_SHAQ yet. [Yahoo!, Twitter]...

American Newspapers Can't Quite Afford Wimbledon Coverage
Filip Bondy reports that only eight papers — the usuals plus, uh, the S.F. Examiner? — sent tennis correspondents overseas, and some aren't even there yet. To be fair, though, that's one reporter for every 6.375 players. [Bondy via TBL]...

Sportswear Company Outplays Nike, Loses Anyway
It's a classic underdog tale—an upstart company devises a brilliant product plan, employs pluck and good fortune to make their dream a reality, and takes on the big boys....and then is summarily crushed by a large, multinational corporation....

Billy Beane Is A Golden God: Excerpts From The Scrapped Moneyball Script
It looks like Moneyball might not be coming to the big screen anytime soon because director Steven Soderbergh tinkered with the script and everyone realized that a movie version of the book made about as much sense as Joe Morgan....

USC Knows How To Pick Coaches
Trojan athletic director Mike Garrett says he'll put his hiring record up against anybody's record, provided that record doesn't include all the coaches who turned him down before he was stuck with Pete Carroll....

Harold Reynolds Won't Embrace OPS
Now that Joe Morgan is telling tales 'round the national campfire, who out there is left to make specious, proudly ignorant arguments about the value of baseball statistics? Batter up, Harold Reynolds!...

<em>Moneyball</em>'s Deep-Sixed
Break out the baseball puns! Columbia has dropped Steven Soderbergh's Moneyball adaptation like an overvalued, arbitration-eligible pitcher after a career year. Why, it's as if producers made a running, 20-foot backhand flip to cut down the movie at the plate....

Former Lingerie Football Quarterback Is Now Golf Phenom
Blair O'Neal is a woman who enjoys posing in pubis-bone baring bikinis as well as frumpy khakis. Oh, and she's apparently quite the golfer too. [InGameNow]...

Anxiety Disorder Stops Dontrelle Willis Again
So I guess The D-Train doesn't have it all figured it out. There were signs of promise, but after a couple of horrendous starts—8 walks in 3.2 IP on Sunday—Willis is back on the DL (head case)....

Financial Scammer Robs NHL Players To Throw Raunchy Parties For MLB Greats (And Joe Morgan)
There are many tales of financial woe to emerge from our economic meltdown, but few are more bizarre than the developer who bilked NHL players out of millions of dollars—only to lavish it on ex-baseball players?...

$1.5 Billion Doesn't Go As Far As You Think
Martellus Bennett takes you on an informative and possibly racist (just against the Chinese, though) tour of the new Cowboys stadium. Hope you like $14 BBQ sandwiches, Dallas fans! Someone has to pay for those video screens. [MartyBTV]...

The Chosen One Chooses Junior College
Chosen Person Bryce Harper, a rising high school junior, has elected to skip his last two years of high school, get his GED and matriculate at the College of Southern Nevada. Cue the Doogie Howser song....

And Here's The Best Commentary You'll See About The Lakers' Championship Anywhere
Kobe wins. Everything....

Iowa High School Umpire Knows How To Clear A Room
High school baseball umpires have a lot of options in handling disputes. They can give teams warnings, ask the audience to control themselves ... or just throw everyone out of the game....

Joe Buck Will Slay You
You guys getting pumped for HBO's Joe Buck Dry Humor And Sporting Chit-Chat Hour? No? How about if I told you the topic of the first show? "Celebrities in Sports — Fans blur the line between celebrities and atheletes." Sic!...

The Nationals Even Lose To Fireworks
Nationals Park sucks — we know that — so the franchise rewards those 200 people who shell out to watch another loss with fireworks. Nice gesture, until the Nationals, as always, managed to screw it up....