rain Page 49 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Hockey Sure Is Having A Lot Of Concussions Lately
The numbers are kind of insane—there are currently 25 players out with concussions, or "upper body injuries" that include "concussion-like symptoms." (That includes Rene Bourque, whose team has "no idea" when he suffered it.)...
A Half-Blind Pitcher With Almost No Depth Perception Is Trying To Make The Rays, And He's Impressing Coaches
In February of 2006, then-Mariners prospect Juan Sandoval, at that time hoping for a promotion to Class AAA, was eating at a restaurant in his hometown of Bonao in the Dominican Republic. A bouncer at the restaurant got into an argument with a drunk patron, and the patron went to retrieve his shotgu...
Luke Scott Hath Slain The Hellboar
Everyone's favorite gun-humping birther, Luke Scott, arrived at the Tampa Bay Rays' spring training facility with a special guest: the stuffed head of a slain hellboar. How did Scott come to claim this bloody prize? By sticking the beast with a spear, of course! Scott told Rays Report that the boar...
Poor Son Of A Bitch Mat Gamel Tore His ACL For The Second Time In Two Years
It super sucks to be Mat Gamel right now. The Milwaukee Brewers' corner infielder, who was at one time a fairly promising prospect, will miss the entire 2013 season after tearing his ACL. Gamel's injury is all the more depressing due to the fact that he just finished a rehab stint after tearing the...
Tim Lincecum Had A Very Zen Offseason
Now that spring training has officially kicked off, it's time for baseball writers to spend the next two months filling column space while absolutely nothing of consequence happens. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal got started today, asking various members of the San Francisco Giants to share their favori...
Alfredo Aceves Is In Mid-Season Form
Alfredo Aceves began tossing batting practice this morning, pretty standard procedure for this time of year. Alfredo Aceves does not know the meaning of pretty standard. So, instead of using it as a slow and steady way to ease into spring training and build arm strength, he used it as another opport...
You Know Spring Training Is Here When You Read Sentences Like "Denard Span Said He Started Screaming And Making Noises To Discourage The Bird"
There is no baseball, no real, meaningful baseball for another 44 days. But the dead zone of the sports calendar has quickened considerably by the advent of spring training. Camps in Arizona and Florida stir to life, as co-workers who haven't seen each other since September get back together for som...
The Second Weird Baseball Injury Of 2013: Red Sox Prospect Bryce Brentz Shot Himself In The Leg
How hard are guns to clean, really? "Man shot in leg while cleaning gun," "Man shoots self while cleaning gun," "SAPD: Man shoots self while cleaning gun," "Florida Man Shoots Himself In Crotch With Flare Gun." (The guy with the flare gun wasn't cleaning it—but the story does note that this Septembe...
Retired NFL Players Are Depressed And Don't Even Know It: Study
The most striking aspects of the new head-trauma study of former NFL players published in JAMA Neurology are not the formal findings per se. In many ways, those merely quantify and validate suspicions that even casual fans likely hold. The rub is that 40 percent of the retired players that researche...
Deion Sanders, On Players Out With Concussions: "Half These Guys Are Trying To Make Some Money"
Deion Sanders, concussion truther. Though the commissioner of of the NFL went on Face the Nation today to deny that his league ever covered up the dangers of football and its potential to induce brain damage—because at this point, denying the dangers themselves is impossible—Deion Sanders isn't co...
New Study Reveals That CTE May Be Detectable In Living Patients
A new study, published by researchers at UCLA in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, shows evidence that Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) can be detected in living patients via positron emission tomography (PET) scans. CTE is a particular type of brain damage that causes depression,...
Brian Scalabrine, Of All People, Also Risked His Long-Term Health By Rushing Back From A Concussion
We talk a lot about football players risking their long-term health and well-being by rushing back on to the field after sustaining horrible injuries, and in particular, risking their mental acuity and balance by forgoing concussion recovery procedures. The same holds true for hockey, where Sidney ...
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...
Junior Seau Had Chronic Brain Damage
According to ESPN, former NFL linebacker Junior Seau had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his suicide last May. In an interview with ESPN, Seau's widow and son claim that researchers at the National Institutes of Health informed them of the diagnosis after completing a thorough...
The Health Of An NFL Player Belongs To Everyone But The Player Himself
"Greatness is not given," Robert Griffin III says in his national Gatorade spot. "Greatness is taken, when the weak and distracted are resting on their reputations."...
The Army Powerlifting Coach Is Here To Yell At Your Fat Asses. Ask Him Stuff.
Rick Scarpulla knows a thing or two about strength training. He is currently the head strength and conditioning coach for the United States Military Academy at West Point's powerlifting team, and is the creator of the Ultimate Athlete Training Program. He has also trained numerous high school, coll...
Report: Former Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman Neil Smith, 46, Suing The NFL For Concussion-Related Fraud, Misrepresentation And Negligence
Neil Smith, a six-time Pro Bowl selection at defensive end who played eight years for the Chiefs, three for the Broncos and one for the Chargers, is suing the NFL in federal court for misrepresentation and negligence. Smith seeks sanctions against the NFL and damages for memory-loss, cognitive impai...
The Meaning Of Ryan Freel's "9 Or 10" Concussions
Ryan Freel was "tough." In baseball parlance, that means hustling on every pitch, giving up your body to make the play. These types of players are celebrated, of course. In August 2006, the Cincinnati Enquirer paid tribute to just the latest example of Freel's toughness, a diving catch on the warnin...
![Report: Former Major Leaguer Ryan Freel Commits Suicide At Age 36 [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18970v1t537j7jpg.jpg)
Report: Former Major Leaguer Ryan Freel Commits Suicide At Age 36 [Update]
Former utility player Ryan Freel, who broke into the majors with Toronto in 2001 and played the majority of his eight-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, committed suicide today. First Coast News in Jacksonville has the first report:...