pr Page 623 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Adam Schefter Was Once Pranked Into "Reporting" John Elway's Nipple Ring
In a SportsJournalists.com message board thread on this week's excellent Adam Schefter profile in the Washington Post, one long-memoried poster recalled a wonderful story from Schefter's days on the Broncos beat, one of the better and meaner sports media pranks of all time....

University Of Oregon Now Letting Any Schmuck Run On Hayward Field
Eugene and Nike and the University of Oregon all make one big stew of running history, and plenty of tourists would still visit the tiny town even if its football team wasn't worth a damn. With that in mind, UO has announced per its website that it will be offering running tours to showcase the ca...

<em>Boardwalk Empire</em>: Gone Too Soon, Though It Went On Too Long
Boardwalk Empire's fifth and final season starts Sunday night, but even its fans can't muster up the enthusiasm or the pathos that greeted the beginnings of the ends of Breaking Bad or Mad Men. Its critics, meanwhile, have been trying to burn this thing down since it began....

Mario Balotelli's Supposed New House Is Cool And Good
This may not be news to you, but Italian soccer star Mario Balotelli, who is the funnest, is back in England after being bought by Premier League side Liverpool from AC Milan. Since he'll ostensibly be sticking around for a little while, at least, he needs somewhere to live. This is the house he's r...

An NFL Safety's Zen Quest For The Perfect Hit
Excerpted from The Library of America's unflinching anthology, Football: Great Writing About the National Sport, edited by our old pal John Schulian . Reprinted here with permission of the author's son, Mark Kram Jr. ...

Jim Irsay Pleads Guilty To OWI, Receives Probation
Colts owner Jim Irsay, who was arrested in March after being pulled over with a duffel bag and briefcase full of pills and cash, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence of prescription drugs. The deal will allow Irsay to avoid serving any jail time....

Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!
Steve Austin dropped by the College GameDay set this morning and did typically Stone Cold things....

Wayne Routledge Scores With A Beautiful Chest-High Volley
Mmmmm, this contorted, leaping volley from outside the box by Swansea City's Wayne Routledge is just delicious. How did he get his foot so high?...
![Yep, That's An Idiot's Dong Featured On ESPN.com [NSFW]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/vbmcnxwu1jgw4cs8rbhl.jpg)
Yep, That's An Idiot's Dong Featured On ESPN.com [NSFW]
Tonight's Cubs-Cardinals game in St. Louis was interrupted by an Idiot On The Field who invaded Busch Stadium's turf clad only in a pair of boxers. One AP photographer spotted the hooligan just as he was apprehended with his junk hanging out the fly of his shorts; ESPN proceeded to put the photo on ...

Cowboys Fans Got Ripped Off More Than Any Other Fans This Pre-Season
There's no great secret that pre-season tickets are the biggest scam in the great cascade of scams that fuels the NFL machine. Season-ticket holders are compelled to pay full freight for two meaningless games played by guys they've never before or will ever again hear of. ...

The Making And Unmaking Of Preston Zimmerman, American Soccer Player
A version of this story originally appeared in the fall 2012 edition of XI Quarterly. ...

This Giant Crab-Topped Pretzel Is A Tasty-Looking Horror
From the DC Sports Bog comes word that the University of Maryland will begin selling a 1.5-pound crab-and-cheese-bedecked soft pretzel called "the Chessie" (short for "Chesapeake," presumably) during the upcoming football season. That is to say, the pretzel alone weighs 24 ounces. Presumably t...

Hustler's Handbook
Here's Pat Jordan's 1971 Sports Illustrated pool room story, "A Clutch of Odd Birds." It's the kind of piece you don't see much these days and worth a read. ...

NFL Fines Pete Carroll, Seahawks For Contact In Offseason Practice
Pete Carroll and the Seahawks will be fined approximately $300,000 for "excessive contact between players during a June 16 practice," according to Chris Mortensen. The team will also lose two minicamp practices next season. Another report said the NFL Players Association looked into a possible viola...

Cyclist Crashes Through Team Car's Rear Window
Cyclist Ian Crane was freakishly injured during yesterday's final stage of the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, when he came off his bike and went through the rear window of a team car that stopped short in front of him. He remains sedated in the hospital, and is listed in stable condition....

Ain't No Liga Like The One I Got: Your 2014-15 La Liga Preview
Here we are. The La Liga season has just started up, and now we get to watch the league with the world's three best players, its two best teams, and the saddest hodgepodge of patsies since Enter the Dragon. In spite of these financial realities, Spain managed to produce Europe's wildest title race...

Matt Prater Suspended Four Games, Could Have Been The Whole Season
Broncos kicker Matt Prater negotiated a year-long suspension for an alcohol-related violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy into a four-game suspension. Prater has been in the league's alcohol program since he was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of a crash in August, 2011. ...

This Is The Best Hockey Goal You Will See All Day
OK, so this is also the only hockey goal you are likely to see today, but do you know what that changes? Nothing. You are watching 20-year-old Kloten winger Vincent Praplan turn Champions Hockey League opponent HV71 into his own personal Washington Generals. ...
