race Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The First Announcer Flub Of The College-Football Season Arrived After Just 21:28 Of Game Time
Don't know who's in the ESPNU booth for the Louisville/Murray State game, but the guy's flat-out right. Players should not worry about play cocks, what with so much else going on in the first game of the season....

This Evening: A Monkey Jumps Out Of The Stands To Thwart Teddy Roosevelt
Your p.m. roundup for Aug. 17, the day we received crucial life lessons from Conan the Barbarian. Video via DC Sports Bog. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors....

In Which Sport Can You Win Despite This Grotesquely Swollen Ankle?
None. But you can win in NASCAR, as Brad Keselowski proved yesterday at Pocono, taking the checkered flag with a broken left ankle that looked like someone stuck a softball under the skin. (On race day, it looked more like this.)...

Mark Grace Arrested For Looking Like A High School Teacher While Driving Drunk
Grace, the former Cub and Diamondback first baseman who now announces games for Arizona, was busted in Scottsdale during the wee hours of Memorial Day for weaving in his lane. The D-Backs had won that afternoon in Houston, their sixth in a row....

A Day At The Rug Races: A Filthy, Hooker-Filled Excerpt That Was Cut From The Upcoming ESPN Book
Next week, excerpts from the long-awaited ESPN oral history Those Guys Have All The Fun will start trickling out, including one next week when the June issue of GQ drops. There are a lot of very nervous people in Bristol right now, and if the following passage is any indication of the book's conten...

Picture Of An Engineering Student In Bikini Gets College Race-Car Team Suspended From Competition
Oh, the crazy stuff that goes on at the University of Waterloo's Student Design Center. As part of its preparations for an international competition in Michigan, the Canadian school's Formula SAE race-car-building team decided to conduct a photo shoot....

The Truth About Race, Religion, And The Honor Code At BYU
Over the past month, BYU has been held up as a symbol of all that is decent in college sports for its unsparing treatment of Brandon Davies, the African-American basketball player who violated the school's honor code by reportedly having sex with his girlfriend. Davies was suspended shortly before t...

Watch Deadspin's Luke O'Brien Join Martin Bashir Live on MSNBC
Deadspin's Luke O'Brien joined MSNBC's Martin Bashir on April 13, 2011 to talk about his story on the BYU honor code. Watch above....

Justin Bieber Training With Barcelona Is Much Worse Than Ochocinco In Kansas City
No, goddammit. No. This should not be allowed. And if it is, why isn't Gerard Pique flying in with both boots?...

The Atlanta Thrashers Hope Black Players On The Ice Mean More Black Fans In The Seats
The Atlanta Thrashers are just the second team in NHL history to have five black players on the roster. "We do joke around with it a little bit," says Dustin Byfuglien. But, the front office sees opportunity....

Smart People Talk About <em>Sports Illustrated</em>'s 1968 Series About Black Athletes
On Monday, we excerpted from Jack Olsen's 1968 Sports Illustrated series, "The Black Athlete—A Shameful Story." Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast discusses those stories with one of Olsen's subjects, Donald Smith (now Zaid Abdul-Aziz). Go listen....

When A Dance With A White Woman Divided An NFL Team
Occasionally, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: the St. Louis Cardinals of the mid-1960s and their "racial problem."...

Leslie Frazier And The Failings Of The Rooney Rule
Leslie Frazier has led the Vikings to a respectable 3-2 record since taking the helm. But does the Rooney Rule prevent Minnesota from locking him up now as coach for next year, even though he's African-American? Yes and no....

Indiana Man Selling "Racist Soaps" Doesn't Have Time For "You Politically Correct People"
An Indiana shopkeeper stands accused of selling racist soaps. Gary DeWester, the merchant, says they're "nostalgic" and representative of "American history." He keeps them in his "joke drawer."...

Darren Pang Isn't Racist, But His Tongue Nearly Was For A Second
Talking about the Montreal Canadiens' benching of defenseman P.K. Subban, TSN's Darren Pang "suggested that the flamboyant Subban might try to emulate St. Louis's Alex Pietrangelo and do things on and off the ice 'the white way.'"...

Scandal! Ohio State Paid For Evan Turner's Braces
There's a well-meaning NCAA program that made $54 million — $500k for OSU — available to players via a "Special Assistance Fund." It's a lovely idea that's sure to be abused in the next big college scandal. [The Lantern, h/t Dan]...

In Which We Veer Toward Animal Cruelty In Our Inaugural Lobster Roof Race
We received a LobsterGram, it's less delicious than a candygram, but it's more fun because it comes with live lobsters. We didn't know what to do with them (before cooking them) so we raced them on the Gawker HQ roof deck. Watch....

Alabama Gas Station Makes Shopping For Contraception, Saban Photos Easier
Shopping season is upon us and tipster Nick B. sends in a suggestion for those looking to procure pre-framed images of Alabama Crimson Tide head coaches: Just find the jimmy hats....

Gay Nascar Fan: Gays Give Me More Guff About Being A Gay Nascar Fan Than Nascar Fans Do
Having grown up in the racin' bastion of South Carolina, Michael Myers started the website Queers4Gears.com last September. The idea: Provide an online home for kindred sporting souls. The demand: Initially 2,000 unique visits monthly....

The Ugly, Racially Charged Fight Over A Confederate Mascot. In Vermont.
My small Vermont hometown has made the national news circuit on just a handful of occasions since I was a kid: the Bush-Cheney arrest warrant, the public nudity ban, the closing of the nuclear power plant, the annual cow parade, and the time my high school retired Colonel Reb as our mascot....