sports Page 629 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

NBC Affiliates File Bankruptcy Petition For CSN Houston; Astros Pissed
The Astros are the largest owners of CSN Houston at a little over 46 percent. The Rockets own 31 percent and the remaining 22-ish percent is probably owned by the Dos Equis guy because he had to foul up at some point belongs to NBC Universal. NBC Universal just filed a petition to begin an involunta...

NBC Sports Network Cancels NRA-Sponsored Elephant Hunting Show
NBC Sports Network is dumping the show that featured a guy shooting an elephant in the face. The show—hosted by NRA lobbyist Tony Makris—isn't being canceled for that episode with the elephant shooting, exactly (though that didn't help). Instead it's because Makris compared his critics to Hitler ea...

EA Sports Settles With Former Players For $40 Million. Next: The NCAA?
Yesterday it was announced that EA Sports is at least temporarily getting out of the college football video game business, after settling lawsuits brought by thousands of former players claiming their likenesses were used without compensation. It's chump change for the players, but one big fish stil...

This Will Be The Most Interesting Baseball Video You Watch Today
The grammar for how baseball is broadcast on television is not an obvious one, as the sport's irregularly-shaped field and rapidly-changing scenes of action makes it the most challenging to televise. Today we take for granted how baseball is supposed to "look," but the man responsible for crafting ...

NBC Sports Host Who Shoots Elephants Compares Critics To Hitler
Of course he does. Tony Makris, the gun-humping NRA lobbyist whom we last saw on the NBC Sports Network shooting an elephant in the face, has recently been dealing with some people who are critical of his decision to shoot an elephant in the face. To Makris, those people are just like Hitler....

Michelle Beadle's <em>Crossover</em> Is Finished
Crossover, the troubled NBC Sports Network studio show hosted by Michelle Beadle, is "donzo," tweets Beadle. Beadle: out. Shooting elephants in the face: in....

Something Terrible Is About To Happen
There, in the upper-left-hand corner of the screen. Behind the goal and a step to the left. The videotape is probably a copy of a copy of a copy, as grainy as a Navajo sand painting. A hockey game. The camera pans too fast, too slow, chasing knots of players back and forth across the ice. Medium wid...

Craig James Is A Christian Martyr, According To Craig James
After a disastrous senate run, Craig James landed himself a gig at Fox Sports Southwest—for all of one show before being dumped. Officially, the higher-ups at Fox were caught by surprise by the regional network’s hire of the all-around toxic James, and he was tossed out before any deal was official....

Why <em>SI</em>'s Oklahoma State Series Sucked: The Inside Story
On Wednesday, Aug. 28, Sports Illustrated senior writer George Dohrmann placed a phone call to Oklahoma State's public relations office. He said that the magazine was about to publish a series of stories about what he characterized as "disturbing allegations" involving the OSU football program. An i...

Here's A Dude Shooting An Elephant In The Face On NBC Sports Network
What is this shit? For some reason, NBC Sports Network has been airing an NRA-sponsored hunting show called Under Wild Skies, on which gun-humping NRA lobbyist Tony Makris shoots elephants in the face....

Coming Soon: The Best American Sports Writing 2013
Coming October 8 is The Best American Sports Writing 2013. Edited by J.R. Moehringer. Check out the table of contents over at series editor Glenn Stout's site. Looks to be another sure shot to this great long-running series. ...

The New <em>SportsCenter</em> Commercial You're Going To See Everywhere
It's been a rough stretch for ESPN and SportsCenter. Ratings for ESPN's flagship show have been sagging, bringing in about 828,000 viewers this year, down from about 1 million last year. Primetime ratings for ESPN and ESPN2 have seen declines too. ESPN's gotten really defensive about it, especially...

Da Stadium
More Chi-town. Rick Telander's 1992 Sports Illustrated story on Chicago Stadium:...

Bill Murray, The Sports Fan
Since we're talking Chicago this week, it's a good time to revisit Peter Richmond's story about hanging with Bill Murray that we reprinted earlier this year....

Villa Scores Hat Trick As Atlético Beats The Washington Nationals 5-2
Send stories, photos, and anything else you might have to [email protected]....

Rest in Peace, Ken Norton
Ken Norton, a great athlete and formidable heavyweight boxer, is dead. He was 70. Here's a nice tribute by Hamilton Nolan. ...

How Far Did Rocky Go in His Training Run in <em>Rocky II</em>?
Originally published in Philadelphia magazine....

N.J. sports betting is dead: Thanks to a Third Circuit ruling, which was premised in part on the "reputational harm" leagues might suffer in a dystopia where Phil from Monmouth can openly put $50 on the Jets to cover. Skip Oliva wonders: What business is it of the federal government's to protect the...

Bud Shrake In The Land Of The Permanent Wave
Bryan Curtis wrote a nice story about Dan Jenkins, Edwin "Bud" Shrake, and their alma mater for Texas Monthly in 2008:...
