pitt Page 60 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Russell Martin Leaves Canada's WBC Team Because They Won't Let Him Play Shortstop
Pirates backstop Russell Martin doesn't want to be a catcher. It's boring. You have to crouch all game. You never get to run around. You rarely get to throw the ball beyond returning it to the pitcher. Rather than getting to enjoy a sunny afternoon on the diamond, you have to spend every moment goin...

Flyers-Penguins Scramble Makes For The First Harlem Shake Video That Doesn't Suck
In that bananas Flyers-Penguins game Wednesday night, the oddest of some odd goals came when Nicklas Grossmann finally put home a puck after an interminable goalmouth scramble. Paul Bissonnette identified the chaos as reminiscent of the Harlem Shake. The Youtube genius behind HockeyVideoHD did the...

Flyers-Penguins Is The NHL's Best Rivalry
You could call it hockey for people who don't like hockey, but that's a disservice to those of us who love a good, boring, defensive clinic, and also love Flyers-Penguins barnburners. Last night's edition featured everything you'd want to show a friend who isn't sold about the NHL: end-to-end action...

Here's A Photo Of James Harrison Sucking At Dodgeball
It seems James Harrison has given this offseason dodgeball thing a try before. A reader named Kristofer just emailed me the action shot you see above; the photo shows the Steelers linebacker following through on one of his candy-armed throws at Pittsburgh's Allegheny Y last winter. Kristofer also sa...

James Harrison Sucks At Dodgeball
We told you last night about Steelers linebacker James Harrison's newest avocation as a headhunter dodgeball player for a team called the Ball Busters. Our post generated a few responses from folks affiliated with the Pittsburgh Sports League, which organizes the dodgeball teams that include Harriso...
![James Harrison Has Joined A Dodgeball League [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18enmrolhp3hhjpg.jpg)
James Harrison Has Joined A Dodgeball League [UPDATE]
James Harrison, who had knee surgery last year and two back surgeries the year before, turns 35 in May. The Steelers are in salary-cap hell, and one of the biggest decisions they'll make this offseason is whether to keep the former NFL defensive player of the year around. In the meantime, Harrison h...

This Is The Face Of A Hockey Player As A Skate Slices Through His Achilles Tendon
Erik Karlsson, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman, was putting on another spectacular year. And now it's done. Karlsson suffered a lacerated Achilles tendon as the skate blade of Pittsbugh's Matt Cooke came down on the back of his left foot. He will require surgery and is...

Another Weird Baseball Injury: Francisco Liriano Broke His Arm While Trying To Scare His Children
A few days before Christmas, the Pirates were reportedly close to inking a free-agent contract with lefthander Francisco Liriano. The deal appeared to be on the verge of falling through, however, when the team announced that Liriano had mysteriously injured his non-throwing arm sometime over the hol...

Map: Which Parts Of The Country Were Calling Ray Lewis A Murderer During The Super Bowl?
The map above shows the concentration of geolocated tweets sent during the Super Bowl that contained both the words "Lewis" and "murder." We were looking for references to Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who in 2000 was charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of two men after an Atlanta Su...

Washington Scores Freak Goal By Banking Puck Off The Boards
Here is Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson dumping the puck into the Penguins zone and using the boards to fake out Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun four minutes into the second period. Carlson successfully got Vokoun to anticipate where the puck should have been and banked the puck into a wi...

Jerome Lane's Backboard-Smashing Dunk Was 25 Years Ago Today
Like any other 12-year-old in Western Pennsylvania whose favorite television program was any game involving any teams from The Old Big East, I was captivated by Pitt basketball in 1988. But the biggest memory—and biggest regret—I have of Jerome Lane’s dunk is that I missed watching it live....

Willis McGahee Wouldn't Describe The Aftermath Of This Massive Hit That Got Him Carted Off The Field As An "Injury"
Above is the infamous Ryan Clark hit on Willis McGahee, four years ago yesterday, that put McGahee on a stretcher to close out the 2009 AFC Championship game. Though the next day the Associated Press considered it newsworthy that Willis McGahee would, in fact, recover from the collision, McGahee t...

Another Famous Samoan Football Player Slowly Backs Away From The Manti Te'o Scandal
We told you earlier how Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Maui'a told ESPN he had met Lennay Kekua, which is rather odd because she doesn't actually exist. But also buried in that report was Kekua's reference to another famous Samoan football player:...

NBC's NHL Promo Tries To Rewrite Last Season's Playoff Results
The Flyers beat the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs last year, yet it wasn't as simple as that. The teams combined for 56 goals, hundreds of penalty minutes, and multiple suspensions. It was simultaneously the ugliest and most entertaining playoff series in recent member. But the Flyer...

Eyewitness: Former Steeler Chris Rainey Didn't Slap His Girlfriend
We told you yesterday about Chris Rainey's arrest for allegedly slapping his girlfriend in Gainesville, Fla., which led to Rainey getting cut by the Steelers by the afternoon. Late last night, we received an email from a woman who says she saw what went down, and that her version of events doesn't m...
![Steelers RB Chris Rainey, Who Once Texted "Time To Die Bitch" To A Woman, Arrested For Allegedly Slapping His Girlfriend [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18b38tu81tvoujpg.jpg)
Steelers RB Chris Rainey, Who Once Texted "Time To Die Bitch" To A Woman, Arrested For Allegedly Slapping His Girlfriend [UPDATE]
Oh, look. It's another Pittsburgh Steelers player being an outstanding citizen. (Hold your fire, Steelers fans. I'm one of you. Even wore this during my commute to work today. I'm also well aware of the franchise's fine tradition of not once making the playoffs only once* during the first 40 seasons...

Todd Haley Is Giving One Reporter A Giant Headache
We like NFL.com's Ian Rapoport—good guy, good sources, good track record. But nobody deserves the head-spinning confusion he's dealing with today, thanks to Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who might be interviewing for the Arizona Cardinals head coaching gig. Or he might not be. Or maybe ...

Hammer-Wielding Yinzer Tries To Break Into Steelers Locker Room
A man wearing (only?) a Pittsburgh Pirates hat and gray sweatpants attempted to break into the Steelers locker room at Heinz Field Saturday with a hammer. Security at the stadium noted that he busted a lock at Gate B to gain entry to the stadium and then took his own personal tour of the playing fi...

Steelers Safety Ryan Clark Made A Good Point About Hypocritical Steelers Fans
If there's one thing we learned while sifting through the assorted vitriolic, typo-ridden responses to the Why Your Team Sucks series, it's that many fans have no perspective when it comes to their favorite teams and players. Morals go out the window ("He basically paid his debt to society!"), logic...

The NFL In Mexico Is The NFL Reduced To Its Essence
MEXICO CITY—Freedom Sports & Fun Bar is located in a neighborhood here called Del Valle, where many of the streets are named after American cities. Boston, Detroit, and Sacramento run east and west just outside the bar. But inside, the only city with any cachet is Pittsburgh, especially on Sundays i...