si Page 1015 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A-Rod Changes His Mind On Who He Is Again
Baseball Think Factory (via Baseball Musings) reports that endless external to-and-fro, Yankees lipstick model Alex Rodriguez has finally decided to play for the United States in the upcoming World Baseball Classic....

MLB, Feel The Excitement!
In typical finger-on-the-pulse fashion, MLB.com promotes the World Baseball Classic, encouraging readers to tap into the electric current of excitement by showing us ... a picture of two pasty white guys. To be fair, the guy on the left has a pretty sweater vest that is packing much funk....

A Beer Gut For A Beer City
We know it hasn't been the most productive offseason for our beloved St. Louis Cardinals, and we feared they would, in the face of growing public criticism in the face of a new stadium, make a rash deal just to say they're doing something. But jeez: We didn't think they'd start paying guys by the ...

A-Rod Loves His Countries Just Too Damn Much
Well, after much careful deliberation — that is to say:...

Barry Zito's Suddenly A Zesty Italian!
In response to our light tapping of Alex Rodriguez for playing for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, reader Gerald Smith emails us to set us straight:...

A-Rod, The World's Free Agent
Much talk this morning about Yankees hero of the working man Alex Rodriguez telling a radio station that he is leaning toward playing for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic rather than the United States. A-Rod has never, in fact, lived in the Dominican; he was born in Ne...

Sources: Roy S. Johnson Leaving SI
All kinds of job cuts happening at Time Inc. today — because it's not just important to make gobs of money; you must make gobs and gobs of money — and our fine friends at Sports Illustrated were not spared, it seems....

Athlete Run-In: Chris Simms', Truckin'
Today's first athlete run-in story comes to us from Austin, Tex., where an unusually high number of our athlete run-in stories originate. It's from Robert, an Austin resident, about current Buccaneer and former Longhorn Chris Simms....

Choose Bill Simmons' Next Move
We've been accused, in polite circles, of being too nice to Our Boy Bill Simmons and, in not-so-polite ones, of "kissing his ass." We don't quite understand this; we make fun of Simmons as much as any non-"Cold Pizza" employee. We think it's because the rest of the Web has made it a mission, it se...

The Jet Lag Games
We'll admit: All this talk about the World Baseball Classic is starting to get us somewhat all a-twitter. Not only are we being promised meaningful baseball a month early, but everyone appears to be showing up: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, even Roger Clemens, delaying his I'll-retir...

Who's Your Favorite Sportswriter's Binkie?
Inspired by a comment in this morning's story about Jason Whitlock and his rips on Michael Irvin, a commenter named Mr. Poon — who runs this site — pointed out something curious about Whitlock. Namely, that Whitlock, in pinch, will fall back on his blind spot; his odd belief that Jeff George (a hi...

Blogdome: Sympathy For Miamity
• Man, it's only been a day, and that whole Miami rap song thing seems like ages ago. [The Mighty MJD] • The continued woe of being a Toronto Raptors fan. [J.E. Skeets] • Hey, look, it's a lady golfers' fight! [Off Wing Opinion] • Doesn't it seem like there's a lot of athlete fights going on right n...

Athlete Run-Ins: Mistaken Identity With O.J. And Nicole
Continuing our series of great athlete run-in stories, we present winner No. 2, Mahwah, N.J.'s Steve Frischer and his obviously old yet still gripping tale of running into slashing halfback O.J. Simpson and his lovely wife, Nicole Brown Simpson....

Mark Cuban's Crush On Ayn Rand
In a new story as part of "college week" on Slate.com, various "famous people" talk about the books they read in college that made a huge difference in their lives. 40 Year Old Virgin writer and director Judd Apatow says A Death In The Family. Chris Matthews says A Thousand Days. Bill Simmons even...

Peter King, Hello!
We have always liked Sports Illustrated's Peter King, up until a couple of years ago, at least. He was plugged in, incredible for information, and had that everyman quality we Web people enjoy. But — and maybe because he's gotten all thin now, or maybe it's the breakneck schedule he keeps — he is ...

Mark Cuban Could Kick Any Writer's Ass
Well, Deadspin readers have spoken, and after about 20 hours of voting, it wasn't particularly close: You say Mark Cuban would kick Bill Simmons' ass....

Vote: Simmons Vs. Cuban. Who Wins?
If you haven't seen it yet, we highly recommend you check out Our Boy Bill Simmons' newest "Curious Guy" entry, which is a discussion with none other than ... Mark Cuban! Yes! We're living in a happy place right now, friends....

Leftovers: No Mas
• Injury forces WBC champ Klitschko to retire, HBO to air 4 extra hours of "Six Feet Under." [Flying Ass Monkey] Bill Simmons profiled in the Baltimore Sun. Good: All kinds of hints that he'll leave ESPN someday. Bad: The author keeps calling him a "blogger." Ugly: Compared to both Hunter S. Thompso...

T.O.'s 18-Year-Old Assassin
We find it amusing that people are trying to come up with alternate excuses why Terrell Owens was suspended by the Eagles — fight with Hugh Douglas, frustration over the Eagles not recognizing his 100th touchdown, so on — when it's pretty clear, to us anyway, that his comment that Brett Favre woul...

Bill Simmons' Epic Battle With Star Jones
Here's something that will make your day: Our Boy Bill Simmons is playing in an NBA.com "celebrity" fantasy basketball league that includes such luminaries as Pamela Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Michael Rapaport and, yes yes yes, Star Jones herself....