ow Page 1003 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

This Is Howie Ice Our Balls
During Fox's canned-laugh reach-a-around football pre-game show, a photo of a young Howie Long spread-legged with an ice pack appeared and gave Frank Caliendo some fresh material to butcher. More importantly, it got the boys at OutSports' attention....

Leading The League In Cliché: A Treasury Of Peter King's Inane, Made-Up Statistical Categories
Drew recently brought your attention to Peter King's funny little tic of expressing abundance by saying something like, "[Person or Team X] leads the league in [Intangible Category Y]." Today? X=Steve Smith, Y=guts....

Pam Ward Is Frustrated With This Damn Injured Marshall Player
"Get him off the field, please..." she mutters. Then "Come on!" Pam Ward, ladies and gentleman. Don't let the sweet smile fool ya. She's all business. [YouTube]...

One Person You Meet On His High Horse
Mitch Albom weighs in on TMZ Sports and the good ol' days of sports journalism: "Maybe the old method wasn't telling the whole story. But at least we weren't manufacturing it." Isn't it pretty to think so? [Freep]...

Your Late Games Open Thread
Hey, Bill Cowher's coming back! It'll be his chin vs. Mike Shanahan's teeth for the most desirable 4-12 team. No good late games today, but you can discuss Curtis Painter's inevitable NFL debut here. [ESPN]...

Lady Ref Breaks The Gender Barrier No One Cared About
Sarah Thomas made history by becoming the first woman to ref a bowl game. And she acquitted herself nicely. And she only burned the roast a little bit! [Detroit Free Press]...

Little Caesars Still Getting The Hang Of This Sponsorship Thing
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

What Do You Want to Bet He Climbed Down the Ladder First?
Just going to let the text speak for itself on this one. "Perched on the rafters of the Georgia Dome, ready to drop parachuting stuffed cows, Maggie Smyth's heart was racing." How to meet a wife, after the jump....

Urban Meyer Resigns as Florida Coach, Presumably For More Than One Half
Reports are coming in that the University of Florida has announced that head football coach Urban Meyer is stepping down after the Sugar Bowl. Per the press release:...

Pete Carroll is a Foxy Fox: Your Emerald Bowl of Nuts Open Thread
I just spent like 30 minutes browsing wire images of Pete Carroll. Love that guy. Anyway, USC takes on Boston College in the Emerald Bowl. It's like Jessica Simpson dating Billy Corgan. I'll let you decide which is which!...

Snapped Femur? I Barely Even Know Her!
In memory of what once was Derrick Roland's intact leg, the Daily News presents us with a slideshow of Sports' Most Gruesome Injuries. (The final slide is captioned: "A shot of Evander, minus ear.") Fun for the whole family! [NYDN]...

Last Night's Winner: SMU Mustangs
In sports, everyone is a winner — some people just win better than others. Like the SMU Mustangs, which exerted as much effort in scoring this prestige as they did in routing Nevada. They had no competition in either regard....

Your Nightly Athlete Backside
This male rear nudity is becoming a disturbing trend. This edition's exhibitionist: Shannon Brown, who probably wishes the players could change before the media enter the locker room....

Dear Deadspin Commenters: You Are The Reason The <em>Chicago Sun-Times</em> Is Full Of Racist Morons (UPDATE)
Commenters, prepare to be amused. A Sun-Times web editor named Matthew Wood chastised some of his newspaper's online community for nasty, racist remarks and has blamed this phenomenon on...Deadspin. Read on....

Last Night's Winner: Shopping Malls
In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like the megasize temple of commerce that assaulted me with annoying children, terrible seasonal music and then took all my money. You win again, Christmas....

Dwight Howard's Baby Mama Has No Right To Be Proud Of Her Son
Howard is suing the mother of his child for violating their parenting agreement by posting photos of their 2-year-old on her Twitter. This sets a disturbing precedent for any future custody battle over Chris Cooley's penis. [Orlando Sentinel]...

Bowl-Bound Schools Save Money By Spending Less Money
Is the brunt of the recession over? Not for college football programs, some of which are being forced to take tinier charter planes to their bowl games. This is truly upsetting....

TMZ Sports: Prepare For The Next Great "Tabloid War" Or Something
I already have to worry about one scary gay tyrant breathing down my neck, now I have to worry about two? If Brooks is right, TMZ Sports is about to change everything for the better. Or worse....

It's Always Snowing In Philadelphia
Yes, the Iggles faithful acted accordingly with the leftover snow in the stadium. Thankfully, the Niners fans wore hardhats to the game. We can only hope that they did not pack the snowballs with urine. [YouTube]...

Chip Caray Lines A Base Hit, Scores A New Job
Don't fret, Braves fans! Recently fired Chip Caray will be your play-by-play man for Fox Sports South this season. Said Joe Simpson, his booth partner-in-crime: "I hope the Braves' fans will be as excited as I am." [AJC/Suss]...