ric Page 509 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Padres Invite Navy Spouse To Sing, Err, Lip Sync "God Bless America"
It's Military Spouse Appreciation Day in San Diego; the Padres are in their usual Sunday camo and a special 7th-inning message from deployed Navy sailor Joseph Dale was featured on the scoreboard. Following that message, Dale's wife Caroline sang "God Bless America." Except it's pretty clear she wa...

Utah Soccer Referee Punched By Teenage Player, Dies A Week Later
Richard Portillo, a 46-year-old soccer referee from Salt Lake City, was officiating a game on April 27 when a player punched him in the head after Portillo gave him a yellow card. Portillo slipped into a coma and died Saturday night, exactly one week after the incident....

Sure, Why Not, Give Blind Boy Some Credit For Ryan Howard's Homer
We can’t say with certainty that Ryan Howard a home run Friday for a little boy who is blind. What we can say for sure is a little boy named A.J., who is 7 years old and who is blind, asked Ryan Howard before the game to hit a home run and that Ryan Howard clobbered the first strike Ricky Nolasco pr...

Derrick Rose Is Not Willis Reed (Neither Was Willis Reed)
Derrick Rose won't be playing tonight in Game 7 against the Nets. Can you believe it? What's this guy's deal, anyway?...

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...

Lots Of People Don't Want To See Lars Eller's Blood
Montreal center Lars Eller is the hospital this morning, after this devastating hit from Ottawa's Eric Gryba. Eller briefly lost consciousness and the team says he suffered a concussion, and facial and dental fractures. Now some people are mad that an Ottawa paper stuck a bloodied Eller on its fron...

Eric Gryba Ejected From Sens-Habs After Bloodying Lars Eller With Hit
Senators defenseman Eric Gryba may be looking at a league suspension after his hit in the second period of tonight's matchup in Montreal left the Canadiens' Lars Eller bloodied and motionless on the ice....

Blackhawks Raise Ticket Prices For The Fourth Time In Six Years
And the season ticket packages won't even include the outdoor game at Soldier Field. This is the price you pay for a good team and good attendance, Chicago....

So Put That in Your Pipe and Smoke it
Random baseball rap lyric of the day......

Mama Says...
Here's more from Peter Richmond, on Larry Johnson and homophobia:...

Watch Puerto Rican TV's Awesome Reaction To New 3-Point Champion
Ray Allen rightfully made headlines two years ago when he passed Reggie Miller to become the NBA's all-time leader in career 3-pointers. The NBA isn't the only pro basketball league in the U.S., though, and when former USC player Larry Ayuso set the Baloncesto Superior Nacional career record last n...
![Patrick Kane's Middle Finger Is Ready For The Playoffs [Update: Doppelkaner]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18m8f0w2e57rqjpg.jpg)
Patrick Kane's Middle Finger Is Ready For The Playoffs [Update: Doppelkaner]
Rest easy, Blackhawks fans. The Stanley Cup playoffs begin tonight, and Patrick Kane looks like for all the world like he's back to behaving like Patrick Kane, which is to say he and his middle finger were spotted at a bar in Lincoln Park the other night....

Grand Master
Spring brings with it a bum's rush of new sports books. This year, one of the most prized titles comes from the distinguished Library of America—American Pastimes: The Very Best of Red Smith (edited by Dan Okrent). Smith is our most venerated sports columnist and we'll have much more on him and this...

The Bulls Win 3OT Classic Against Nets And What The Hell Is This Photo
As we noted a couple of times (Nate Robinson scuffling! Nate Robinson banking in a 20-foot runner!) this afternoon the Bulls' 142-134 triple overtime win over the Nets was straight-up bananagrams and what on earth is happening in this AP photo....

"I'm Coming To Kill You": OKC Ball Boy Not Happy With Westbrook Injury
When Russell Westbrook went down earlier this week with a potentially season-ending knee injury, basketball fans everywhere sighed loudly. Crazy, stupid and crazy-stupid people shouted at Patrick Beverley, the man who ran into Russell Westbrook's knee during the second quarter of Game 2 between the ...

Here Are A Bunch Of Photos Of An Alligator At The Zurich Open
The AP has put out a bunch of photos of an alligator that's among the spectators at the TPC Louisiana in New Orleans, the site of the Zurich Open. Shhh. Let's follow the gator as it makes its way across the 14th fairway....

The Boston Bombing Suspects' Final Day On The Run: A Reconstruction
One week ago, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev killed a police officer, engaged in a massive shootout that wounded another and left Tamerlan dead, and set off a manhunt that put Boston on lockdown. Many of the initial reports were a confused jumble, and we're only now able to recreate the Tsarnaevs' m...

