rio Page 198 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Two Favorites Tangle, Two Fresh Faces Step Up, And A Strong 800 Meter Olympic Team Emerges
What the heck is that, above? It’s years of 24/7 grind going down the tubes in a hundredth of a second. It’s dreams dying and being made. It’s bad luck and dumb luck. And according to USA Track & Field, it’s incidental contact. It’s the sport of track and field....

The White Sox's Disco Demolition Riot Was Even More Insane Than You Thought<em></em><em></em>
This month marks the 37th anniversary of the Disco Demolition riots, which took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1979. The White Sox and a local radio station put together one of the most ill-conceived, successful promotions in sports history, wherein they sold tickets to a doubleheader against t...

Braying Shitheel Mike Lupica Pens Worst Possible Column About Kevin Durant
It’s the question on America’s mind: After Kevin Durant abandoned Oklahoma City to join forces with the Golden State Warriors and their garbage fans, who would blurt out the shittiest, most predictably obnoxious, pseudo-macho take possible? Would it be Stephen A. Smith, who previously threatened Dur...

Rio Police Officers To Visitors: "Welcome To Hell"
Yesterday, members of the Rio de Janeiro police force staged a protest at the city’s airport, claiming that they haven’t been paid for months and thus will not be able to sufficiently police the city during the Summer Olympics....

Counterpoint: Fuck This Shit
Everything Barry wrote this morning is 100-percent correct, and it’s been six years since the ugly backlash against LeBron James’s decision to leave Cleveland proved that getting mad at an athlete for making an employment decision is one of the shittiest things a sports fan can do. I’m not a Thunder...

Kevin Durant Took A Better Job
I am baffled by the blowback against Kevin Durant—every bit as baffled by the even larger backlash against LeBron James six years ago—for doing nothing more than taking the job in which he believes he’ll be most successful and fulfilled. Everyone criticizing Durant for joining a dominant team would ...

Fans Argue Over Whether Kevin Durant Is A Traitor
Kevin Durant has joined the Golden State Warriors, and Oklahoma City Thunder fans are figuring out how to process the news. Some are thankful for what he did during his nine years in Oklahoma City, others are burning his jersey, and still others are crying and would punch him in the face....

Kevin Durant Signs With Golden State Warriors (No, For Real!)
Kevin Durant has signed with Golden State, declaring Oakland to be the city that offers “the greatest potential for my contribution and personal growth,” according to an article attributed to him on The Players’ Tribune....

CBS Reports Kevin Durant Signs With Warriors, Is Probably Full Of Shit<em></em>
Kevin Durant has agreed to a max deal with the Golden State Warriors, according to a CBS Sports report this morning that either features people broadcasting from the future or reporting a story before it actually happened....

One Runner’s Quest To Escape From A Nike Contract<em></em>
“Nike ego takes over,” 1500-meter runner Will Leer told me. “They never let something happen on your terms. They want to solidify the power structure—they have all the power, the athlete has none.”...

Michael Phelps Has Qualified For His Fifth Olympics
The most medaled human being in existence is going to make some more Olympic history. By winning the 200-meter butterfly at the Olympic trials in Omaha yesterday, Michael Phelps has qualified for his fifth summer games, a first for an American male swimmer....

God Fucking Dammit, Gonzalo Higuaín
At this point, it’s pretty hard to dismiss out of hand the notion that Gonzalo Higuaín—unquestionably one of the best forwards in the sport, fresh off a historically great season—might be a sleeper agent embedded in the Argentine national team for the express purpose of bringing the team, the countr...

The USA Olympic Basketball Roster Is Set, And We'll Probably Be Fine
One of the big storylines in the run-up to this summer’s Olympics was the fact that many of America’s best basketball players would not be making the trip. Steph Curry and LeBron James both decided they’d rather do other things this summer, Anthony Davis and LaMarcus Aldridge got hurt, and Russell W...

Why Lionel Messi's "Retirement" Is Probably Just A Threat
It might have been merely frustration: Three straight years of making international finals, three straight finals losses in extra time or on penalties. Or it might have been the last night of Argentina as we know it....

So, Uh, Rio's Doping Lab Just Got Shut Down
I’m usually cynical about the chicken-little claims that a given Olympics is going to be a disaster. Biennially, everyone spends the run-up to the games fretting, and then the games go off largely hitchless. (And then the disaster strikes as the mountain of debt.) But Rio de Janeiro sure is doing it...

Hater-Ass Diego Maradona Is Lowkey Shit-Talking Argentina's National Team Again
Argentina, you may remember, just Hulk-smashed the USMNT in the Copa América Centenario earlier this week to earn a spot in the Copa final—the third consecutive tournament title match the Albiceleste have competed in. Understandably, someone asked former Argentina great and current waterlogged greml...

Idiot On The Field Leads Slapstick Chase Through Copa America Match, Eventually Gets Bodyslammed
Chile vs. Colombia was exciting during the first half, nonexistent for the next two hours, then soggy and boring for the second half. Thankfully, stoppage time featured an amazing moment in Idiot On The Field history, as this enterprising dumbass managed to escape a sizable horde of the security tea...

Bill Simmons's New HBO Show Debuts With Insane Ben Affleck Ballghazi Rant
Any Given Wednesday, Bill Simmons’ new weekly sports talk show, debuted this evening on HBO. It was ... exactly what you’d expect. It opened with a segment on the NBA Finals and LeBron’s greatness (featuring a Teen Wolf comparison less than two minutes in) before Charles Barkley joined the show to l...

Shut Up, Joe Lacob
The Warriors spent all season strutting around the NBA with their chests puffed out, telling anyone who would listen that they were better than the elite teams of the past, were horny for trophies, and had successfully re-engineered basketball from the circuits up to create a new, unforeseen way of ...