rap Page 117 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Hand Trying To Win Job
Here's the tail end of a package that ran on KSTP-TV in St. Paul tonight about Marlins pitcher Brad Hand, a Minneapolis native fighting for a spot in the Miami rotation. You can see a bit of a giggle in sports anchor Joe Schmit's voice as he realizes the unfortunate turn of phrase in the over-the...

Homemade Infographic: What Were The Gayest (And Straightest) Super Bowl Halftime Shows?
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

ESPNU Inadvertently Trolls Michigan Fans With Graphic Error
As an Ohio alumnus, I'm overly sensitive to fans & the media confusing my alma mater with that school in Columbus—or certain coaches who refer to the Buckeyes as "Ohio."...

Tickets For Sunday's Nets Game Against The Raptors Can Be Yours For Just $.01
It was just last week that StubHub prices for Wizards tickets had jumped overnight from 30 cents to to $2.50. But even that markup is 250 times what it will run you if you really, really want to catch Andrea Bargnani and his high-wire act from Toronto on Sunday evening in Newark (click the above im...

A Graphic Guide To Understanding <em>USA Today</em>'s Purchase Of The Big Lead
The old new paradigm got a piece of a newer paradigm this week, as once-revolutionary USA Today acquired the Big Lead. What does this mean? Blog posts slipped under your hotel-room door? We pulled some numbers from the press release to illustrate how it all might fit together....

Lefty Driesell Is Mad Because Maryland Named Its Court After Gary Williams
Gary Williams retired after last season as the winningest coach in the history of Maryland basketball, a 22-year run that included a national title in 2002. The school has named its court at the Comcast Center after Williams, but not without an objection from Lefty Driesell, who coached the Terps f...

Ben Roethlisberger Settles Lake Tahoe Rape Suit
The suit, filed by former Harrah's casino host Andrea McNulty, was resolved via stipulation by all parties in December. The settlement comes a few months—which is like, a few hours, in the judicial system—after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled against the defendants' (including several Harrah's emplo...

Homemade Infographic: Google Images Isn't Excited About The Los Angeles Clippers Yet
Have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin led Los Angeles's No. 2 NBA team into a new era of respect and recognition yet? Here's an analysis of results from a Google Images search for "Clippers": ...

In Honor Of His 70th Birthday, Here's Muhammad Ali Riding A Horse
Photographer and filmmaker Anton Perich snapped this photo in Deer Lake, Pa., in 1974. He likened it to an image of St. George slaying dragons he had seen as a youth in his native Croatia: "It was a majestic moment, when reality meets mythology." The above image is one of 70 photos and tributes Tim...

Jamaal Magloire Airballed A Free Throw In Spectacular Fashion
12 seconds left, game on the line. In whose hands do you want the ball? Definitely not Jamaal Magloire, who sealed a Pacers win by airballing his first free throw and bricking (but at least catching rim) on the second. [TSN]...

Bud Selig Can't Hear You: A Gallery
In honor of Commissioner for Life Bud Selig's new contract, we give you this metaphorically rich gallery, which we first ran in September 2010. ...

"Resume Goes Here" For The ESPN Graphics Operator Who Made This Blunder
ESPN makes plenty of graphics errors, but this one (from today's BBVA Compass Bowl) is a doozy reminiscent of the golden era of ESPN chyron failures. ...

No, Brad Nessler, West Virginia Is Not A City In Virginia
This just in from the Allstate Sugar Bowl featuring Michigan vs. Virginia Tech: In tomorrow night's Orange Bowl, the Clemson Tigers will "take on another team from the state of Virginia: West Virginia." (H/T Jeff Q. and Cyrus the Virus)...

Homemade Infographic: When's Your Bowl Season?
Congratulations! Your football conference got invited to some bowl games. But "bowl game" covers nearly four weeks' worth of possibilities—from the MAC-WAC showdown in last week's Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to the SEC-on-SEC Alabama-LSU rematch in the national title game on Jan. 9....

Breaking Down The Football In <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>
It's nerd Christmas, as the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was released today to the orgiastic squeals of the internet. There's plenty to take in: Bane's unintelligible speech, Anne Hathaway's vie to become the first woman since Michelle Pfeiffer to actually add something to a superhero movie—b...

Why Albert Pujols Really Doesn't Care About The Money
Infographics: we have them! Click to enlarge. Turns out that by moving to a state with one of the highest income tax rates in the nation, Albert Pujols has a legitimate claim to not worrying about the extra "$3 or $4 million a year" he's getting from the Angels. Meanwhile, the zero state income tax ...

LeBron James Wouldn't Let Walter Iooss Jr., Who Was Photographing Him For Nike, Speak Directly To Him
If you get a chance to pick up last week's Sports Illustrated issue without gagging at the cover, it's worth flipping through to Walter Iooss Jr.'s career retrospective. The photographer has been shooting athletes and swimsuit models for SI for 50 years, and it turns out that he's got as many wonder...

Jay Bilas Brings It Straight From The Hood
ESPN basketball analyst and Duke graduate Jay Bilas sought assistance from "urban philosopher" Young Jeezy while breaking down Missouri's ability to score on Villanova during tonight's Jimmy V Classic game at Madison Square Garden. He's just keeping it real. [ESPN]...

Bobby Valentine May Or May Not Have Invented The Wrap Sandwich
The Red Sox announced Bobby Valentine as their new manager yesterday, and that's a hell of a thing. Good for them. But Valentine brings with him many unanswered questions. Can he prevent another collapse? Can he get up to speed on innovations in MLB since 2002? And did he really invent the wrap?...

The Rays' New Rape Problem
The Tampa Bay Rays just traded for Mariners reliever Josh Lueke, a righty who's undervalued because he dodged a rape charge a few years back. Our resident Rays fan, Mobutu Sese Seko, is not pleased. TB brass is advised to read his debunking of the various pro-Lueke factions sooner rather than later....