si Page 662 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Which Countries Have Produced The Most World-Famous Athletes?
The treemap chart above—part of the Pantheon project out of MIT Media lab—shows the birth countries of "globally known" sportspeople from 4,000 BC to 2010, i.e. sportspeople who are listed in the Wikipedias of at least 25 different languages. The U.S. and the U.K. come out on top, having produced 16...

This Is The Strangest Hockey Puck Ever Made
If you're of the mind that the most exciting moments in football are when that capricious prolate spheroid starts bouncing around, then do we ever have the hockey puck for you. Meet the Aalto Puck. It can be yours for free....

MLBers Say Mike Trout Is The Best—But Not Worth A Historic Contract?
The new ESPN The Magazine has an anonymous survey of 143 current MLB players, and 56 percent of them peg Mike Trout as the best player in the majors. Miguel Cabrera got 26 percent of the vote, and Clayton Kershaw got six percent. But they don't think he's that much more valuable, which isn't exactly...

ThinkProgress and others take issue with Roger Pielke, Jr., a new contributing science writer at FiveThirtyEight, who was last seen on the receiving end of a six-page thumper of a White House response about his positions on the California drought. Give this some time, but it hasn't gone great out of...

Baseball's Back! Here's An Animation Of Yasiel Puig Being Yasiel Puig
Well, baseball's back. And while the opening, off-continent series is self-evidently annoying for any number of reasons, this year it also means that Yasiel Puig is back. So here's a fun GIF of him doing work. ...

In Praise Of The Schlub Frontman: Future Islands And The Hold Steady
There is no greater cultural delight on this earth than the sight, and sound, of David Letterman actually enjoying one of his musical guests. His curiosity piqued, his force field of indifference and disdain penetrated. It still happens. He likes Darlene Love; he likes drummers. And earlier this mon...

Doomsday Prepper Sells Heavy Metal Bed & Breakfast To Fund Marijuana Biz
My neighbor is a reality TV star. Brent Bruns II, who with his family appeared on such intelligent National Geographic Channel programs as Doomsday Preppers and Doomsday Castle, decided to settle down in our neighborhood and open a rock & roll-themed bed and breakfast. Alas, he's now selling it to g...

Columbus Crew Broadcast Features Soundtrack Of Woman Having Sex
Saturday's Columbus Crew vs. Philadelphia Union match broadcast on Time Warner Sports Channel featured a bonus, sexy interlude midway through the second half....

UNC Fan In Primo Seats Lifts Jersey To Display "Fuck Duke" T-Shirt
This is no usual videobomb. No, this Tar Heels fan came prepared, with a "Fuck Duke" shirt on just for that one moment when he'd be on display behind Marv Albert and Steve Kerr. Fine job, gent....

Here's Jim Tressel's Application To Be U. Of Akron President
Akron's president will step down this summer. Among the 19 candidates under consideration is Jim Tressel, the only one without a doctorate. ...

The Plays That Power The Creighton Offense, The Best In A Decade
Since the beginning of the KenPom era in 2002-03—college basketball's own little Copernican Revolution, during which the laws of the universe finally began to piece themselves together—there hasn't been an offense as efficient or as skilled as the 2014 Creighton Bluejays. But exactly how it operate...

Soccer Broke My Brain
Check out this powerful story over at Aeon by Rebecca Ruiz: ...

University Of Tennessee Baseball Team Sprints To Clean Up Field
Tennessee's baseball team is 17-2 this season, which is nice, but it's not why we're here. We're here today because the Volunteers have an entertaining and simple method for cleaning up the field before a game: do it as quickly as possible. ...

Manchester United Get A Big Win, Remain Soccer's Funniest Joke
Coaches and players often say, when asked whether something or other has added fire to an upcoming game, that if just being in the Big Time Sporting Event doesn't motivate you, you're beyond hope anyway. If that's true, then Manchester United's passion-filled 3-0 comeback against Olympiakos probably...

Andrew W.K. Was Once A Smoldering Male Model
Thanks to the Village Voice's Brian McManus, we now know that Andrew W.K. wasn't always the grimy party-dude who's always rocking out with a nosebleed. He was once a pretty kid with a strong jaw, just trying to break his way into the world of male modeling. ...


Cash Rules? Breaking Down The Budget Mismatches In The NCAA Tournament
Inequality of college athletic spending is something we all know exists. But strangely, it's not a common topic of conversation in the lead-up to today's hysteria of March Madness and its bracketful of would-be giant-killers. So let's take a look at who's bringing a knife to an Aston Martin fight. ...

These Beautiful Charts Show How Well Your NBA Team Spreads The Ball
In another cool application of SportVU technology, Andrew Bergmann of the Hangtime blog on NBA.com has put together some beautiful charts showing how often different NBA starters pass to each other....

Redesigning The Madness: Is there A Better Format For The NCAA Tourney?
March Madness is surely the most exhilarating playoff system in American sports. We love the tournament—but it also isn't perfect. Which got us to thinking: Is there a better way to organize March Madness?...
