rant Page 81 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

LeBron's Fourth MVP Is Pushing Him Into Ludicrous Territory
Reports are swarming that LeBron James will be named the NBA’s MVP for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Somehow this makes Derrick Rose’s 2011 MVP — the only blemish in that stretch for LeBron — seem all the more impressive, if all the more anomalous. Only four other players (Kareem Abdul-J...

Kevin Durant Finds That Life Without Russell Westbrook Isn't Much Fun
Comebacks from a 3-0 deficit have been done in hockey, and in baseball, but never in the NBA. It makes sense; those first two sports put an inordinate amount of weight on one person, a goaltender or a pitcher. But basketball is ostensibly the same starting five every night—except when it's not. Hous...

Deer Antler Spray Panic: Vijay Singh Is Dumb, But He's Not A Doper
Vijay Singh admitted to using deer antler spray, a "supplement" containing the banned substance IGF-1. But deer antler spray is so ineffective at delivering IGF-1 that the PGA tour has decided not to punish him. This is almost more embarrassing for Singh: he may not be suspended, but he did get scam...

Carlos Delfino Dunks All Over Kevin Durant
This has got to be the highlight of Carlos Delfino's career, right? I mean, I just spent two minutes and thirty-five seconds watching a Carlos Delfino mixtape on YouTube, and I didn't see anything that even came close to being as cool as picking Kevin Martin's pocket, streaking down the court, and ...

Kevin Durant Blew By Four Houston Defenders For A Vicious Dunk
As powerful and graceful as this dunk was, Serge Ibaka's last second layup/tip-in attempt was just goofily anemic. The Rockets win 105-103 and keep the series alive at 3-1....

Kevin Durant To Russell Westbrook: "I Love You, Russ"
There sure are a lot of good vibes floating around in the NBA today, aren't there? We've got Jason Collins bravely opening up about his homosexuality, the Kings staying in Sacramento, and Metta World Peace talking about his Cookie Monster outfit. So let's keep the positivity flowing!...

"And That's The Cubs? My Fuckin' Ass!": Lee Elia's Famous Rant Is 30
On April 29, 1983, the Cubs lost by a run to the Dodgers at Wrigley Field, dropping them to 5-14, last place in the National League East. Afterward, a reporter asked Cubs manager Lee Elia a question about fan support. Elia responded with an unrivaled fusillade of profanities....

Bill Polian Rips Tyrann Mathieu, Calls Honey Badger "A Poor Teammate"
Former NFL general manager and current ESPN analyst Bill Polian destroyed Tyrann Mathieu today, calling the prospect a "poor teammate and a poor risk," and claiming were he still in charge of drafting for a pro team that he'd "take him off our board."...


The Goon Show
It'll come as no surprise that my favorite series at Grantland is the "Director's Cut" feature curated by Michael MacCambridge. He does a beautiful job and I'm always eager to see what gift he gives us next. Here's an especially good one—"The Making of a Goon," by Johnette Howard, which originally ...

Grantland just dropped nearly 20,000 words from the great Brian Phillips on the Iditarod. If we said we had read it and it was great we would be lying, because reading it will take a couple hundred lunch breaks or so, but we can probably bet that it is great. The layout itself is beautiful. [Grantla...


Russell Westbrook's Awesome Block Leads To Kevin Durant's Scary Dunk
Here, in just over 30 seconds, is a perfect encapsulation of what makes the Oklahoma City Thunder such a frighteningly good team. Not only do they have a point guard who can recover from a defensive lapse with a brutal chase-down block, they also have a small forward who can corral the loose ball, ...

Kevin Durant Congratulated The Louisville Women's Basketball Team, And Some Dude Accidentally Got Punched In The Face
Kevin Durant was in the house last night when the Louisville women knocked off Brittney Griner and Baylor in Oklahoma City. After the game, Durant paid his respects by visiting the Cardinals' locker room. He was greeted like a rock star. One of his pals just got in the way. [SportsGrid, via Tom B.]...

Hey, Grantland Is Streaming Live From Bill Simmons's "Man Cave"
Here's ESPN's counterprogramming from Day 1 of the tournament: A live feed from Bill Simmons's house. Jalen Rose has a bat over his shoulder, there's a tux and Simmons is wearing a T-shirt for a fictional band. There's lots of talk about gambling. Watch it here. ...

LeBron James Is A Better Defender Than The Computerized Version Of An Ideal NBA Defender
There is plenty of great information to be gleaned from Zach Lowe's exclusive look at the Toronto Raptors' camera tracking system, known as SportVU, but buried within the piece is yet another anecdote that demonstrates the fact that LeBron James is not of this planet....

Lady Who Filed Paternity Suit Against Michael Jordan Changes Her Mind
Pamela Smith, mother of Grant Pierce Jay—the kid with a YouTube account who said he was Michael Jordan's illegitimate son—has dropped her paternity suit against Michael Jordan. According to TMZ, Smith dropped the case at her attorney's urging....

Welcome, "Kinglandia"! <em>Sports Illustrated</em> Is Giving Peter King His Own Website
Peter King and Sports Illustrated are taking a crack at the Grantland model....

