si Page 750 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Nobody Is Watching NBC Sports Network
Via Awful Announcing, Sports Media Watch published a list of NBC Sports Network's most-viewed programs for the four weeks ending Dec. 23, and it's grim. Aside from a boxing card and a simulcast of Sunday Night Football (because NBC broke in to show Obama's Newtown speech), no show broke 200,000 view...

A Rusty Barry Alvarez Struggled With Some Of The More Complicated Aspects Of Coaching, Like How To Wear Sunglasses
Barry Alvarez ascended himself to the post of Wisconsin Badgers head football coach for the Rose Bowl, filling in for a Bret Bielema who'd abandoned his team for the bright lights of Fayetteville. (He gave himself quite the Christmas bonus for the trip, too.) Alas, Alvarez let the natives of Cheese...

The Public Humiliation Diet: A How-To
Originally published May 24, 2010....

Georgia Tech's Rod Sweeting Wins Sun Bowl MVP Honors, Immediately Utters "Sheeeeeiiit" On CBS
Georgia Tech cornerback Rod Sweeting dominated a USC offense uninterested in making the Sun Bowl competitive, earning his way to the bowl's MVP honors. The televised trophy presentation led to CBS's Tracy Wolfson demanding a few words from Sweeting, but his first one—left to reverberate against th...

Torii Hunter Says Homosexuality Is "Not Right" (Then Claims He Was Misquoted)
On Saturday, Kevin Baxter of the Los Angeles Times wrote a column about the obstacles that a potentially gay athlete still faces in today's locker room culture. Included in the piece is the following quote from Detroit Tigers center fielder Torii Hunter:...

Report: Former Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman Neil Smith, 46, Suing The NFL For Concussion-Related Fraud, Misrepresentation And Negligence
Neil Smith, a six-time Pro Bowl selection at defensive end who played eight years for the Chiefs, three for the Broncos and one for the Chargers, is suing the NFL in federal court for misrepresentation and negligence. Smith seeks sanctions against the NFL and damages for memory-loss, cognitive impai...

Anderson Varejao Wig Night Was Exactly The Whimsical Clown-Nightmare You Would Hope For
The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday gave away 10,000 wigs to fans for "Wild Thing Wig Night," a.k.a. Anderson Varejao Wig Night, a.k.a. Sideshow Bob Appreciation Night, a.k.a. Bill Walton Merkin Night, a.k.a. Beyoncé Perm Re-enactment Night, a.k.a. Mad Hatter Cosplay Night, a.k.a. Will Ferrell as Ja...

Russian Dash Cam Captures Moscow Plane Crashing Into Highway
Earlier today, we reported on the airliner that crashed into a highway while attempting to land at a Moscow airport, killing at least four people....

33 Bowl Games Ranked As If They Were Dishes
The custom of calling post-season collegiate contests "bowl" games stems from the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, so-called for the eponymous bowl-shaped stadium. But our first association with the word "bowl" of course is as a container, most often for food, keys, change, or cereal milk and ...

Drew Brees Is Now Being Used To Sell Bath Salts (The Kind You Smoke)
This should be obvious, but if you want to sell narcotic bath salts masquerading as aromatherapy powder, there's no better packaging than Drew Brees, photoshopped to make it look like he's wearing Heath Ledger's Joker makeup (we think). It's basic marketing. Unfortunately, Blue Brees, the hot new d...

College ShameDay: Would Air Force Losing To Rice Be Our Country's Most Shameful Military Defeat? A Shitty Bowl Games FAQ
Our weekly college football shame index previews the bowls through New Year's Eve. ...

Don't Be Terrible, Be Good, And Win: How To Pitch, According To Fox Game Of The Week Scouting Reports
Originally published in Baseball Prospectus....

Former Louisville Football Player Files Lawsuit Alleging Assault Cover Up And NCAA Violation
On Dec. 21, former Louisville football player Patrick Grant filed a lawsuit against the university and head football coach Charlie Strong. In the lawsuit, Grant claims that he was asked to cover up the circumstances of an assault that he suffered at the hands of two teammates. On Oct. 24, 2010, Gra...

Everything You Need To Know About New Browns Quarterback Thad "The Champ" Lewis
Per Mary Kay Cabot, Browns head coach until Monday Pat Shurmur announced today that third-string quarterback Thad Lewis would start against the Steelers in Week 17, as Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy are terrible "dealing with injuries." Lewis will be the Browns' 18th starting quarterback since 1999,...

Straight From 1984, Here's The Disco Version Of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" That Never Quite Caught On
A reader named Brian, presumably going through his old VHS tapes, has been uploading a number of old Virginia news broadcasts. He sent along this one, a 1984 broadcast from Hampton Roads station WAVY-10, about the Tidewater Tides (then the Mets AAA affiliate) and a local band trying to update the ...

This Charles Barkley Slavery Joke On TNT Presented Without Comment
(Due to technical limitations we're unable to provide this without comment. We regret if you feel misled into believing there would be no comment.)...

English Soccer Fans Ejected And Banned For "Persistent Standing"
Maybe this is just what happens in a country where the sale of cutlery is circumscribed, but there's a little controversy going on at Sunderland. Fans showed up for yesterday's Boxing Day match against Man City only to find the above note attached to the backs of certain seats....

"In The Oil Business, We Call It A Dry Hole": Angry Letters Boosters Send The AD When The Football Team Goes 0-12
We've examined the difficulties faced by first-year athletic director Jeff Hammond, who inherited a multi-million-dollar budget deficit when he took over at Southern Miss. Complicating matters was the performance of the team, which went 0-12 under new head coach Ellis Johnson. Johnson had been hired...

Dwyane Wade Kicked Ramon Sessions In The Nuts
It's easy to still think of Dwyane Wade as the reckless, wide-eyed young star who led Miami to the 2006 title. But he's almost 31 now, a wily veteran with a bag of tricks—like straight kicking an opponent in the groin and playing it off like an accident....

Cash-Strapped Southern Miss Tries To Wring More Money Out Of Its Schedule, Considers Canceling BYU Series
Last month, we took a look at the University of Southern Mississippi football program and its athletic director, Jeff Hammond, who a year ago inherited a coach he never wanted and a multi-million-dollar athletic department deficit he had to fix. Last month, he addressed the former by firing coach El...