sports Page 827 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Reeves Nelson Lawyers Up, Demands Retraction From <i>Sports Illustrated</i>
This morning, Sports Illustrated published a lengthy and unflinching takedown of the UCLA basketball team under Ben Howland. But whereas Howland comes across as overwhelmed and ineffective, the undisputed villain of the piece is Reeves Nelson. Writer George Dohrmann goes through a litany of incident...

David Wright Still Thinks Those "Underdog" Mets Shirts Are A Dumb Idea
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Wright remembers that you can't be an underdog without having zero expectations....

The U.S. Beat Italy For The First Time Ever Thanks To This Clint Dempsey Goal
With Landon Donovan unfit to take the pitch, the U.S. wasn't given much chance to beat Italy in today's international friendly match in Genoa. But Clint Dempsey—scoring machine for Fulham of late—drew first blood for the Yanks off a timely pass from Jozy Altidore. It was the first non-penalty sco...

Tiger Woods Does Not Want To Discuss Whether He Wanted To Be A Navy SEAL
Golf Digest published some excerpts yesterday from Hank Haney's upcoming book about his time as Tiger Woods's coach, and the part everybody's talking about is the portion that alleges Tiger "seriously considered" leaving golf to be a Navy SEAL....

Sportscaster Wants A Do-Over: "Son Of A Bitch. One More Time. Start It Over. Ready?"
But Craig Smylie of JET 24 in Erie, Pa., was on live done in by an editor who queued up the wrong footage from the night before at that moment when this aired early Thursday morning....

Breaking Down <i>SI</i>'s UCLA Exposé To Its Underwhelming Core
George Dohrmann's investigation into the fallow years of Ben Howland's UCLA tenure dropped in Sports Illustrated today, and it desperately wants to be a cautionary tale. It wants you to make the connection—even if it can never quite do so itself—that the undisciplined and troublesome recruiting clas...

Lob City Anthem: All 91 Blake Griffin Dunks From The First Half Of The NBA Season In One Video
With a 20-12 record, the Los Angeles Clippers lead the division and with the addition of Chris Paul have finally established themselves as true NBA competitors. They've also earned the distinction of being must-see television for even casual basketball fans, and Blake Griffin is one big reason wh...

Plaxico Burress Wants To Be An Eagle, Because Of Course He Does
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: could the team get even dreamier?...

Some Men (In The 18-49 Demographic) Just Want To Watch The World Burn
FOX easily won the ratings battle with a rain-delayed, fire-delayed Daytona 500. There's a lesson here, and I'm pretty sure it's "don't underestimate the drawing power of things blowing up."...

Armageddon At Daytona As Juan Pablo Montoya Hits Jet Engine-Powered Track Dryer And Boom, Explosion
Miraculously, there were no injuries after a bizarre incident on the 160th lap of the much-delayed Daytona 500 in which Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya's car fell apart at just the wrong moment: as he approached a track-drying truck, complete with jet fuel-powered turbine in the back....

Mark McGwire Thinks He Has The Numbers For The Hall Of Fame, But "Obviously Something Happened"
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: McGwire says it's all out of his hands now....

NASCAR Drivers Spent Yesterday's Daytona 500 Rain Delay Mentioning Their Sponsors As Much As Possible
This will surprise absolutely nobody familiar with the constant shilling for products and sponsors that takes place before, during, and after NASCAR races, but when slapped together back-to-back it's worth realizing that yesterday's eventual postponement of the Daytona 500 wasn't a lost cause for...

Bristolmetrics: Jeremy Lin's Knicks Got More <em>SportsCenter</em> Coverage Last Week Than All Of Men's College Basketball Did
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....

Nicki Minaj Had A Bit Of A Wardrobe Malfunction In The NBA All-Star Pregame
Fresh off her aiding and abetting of M.I.A.'s Super Bowl impropriety and a batshit insane Grammy Awards performance Nicki Minaj got a bit too worked up during the announcement of tonight's All-Star Game lineups, it would seem, and had a falling-out with her undergarment....

This Lil Wayne Appearance At The NBA All-Star Festivities Was Just Weird
Charles Barkley couldn't resist a quick drug reference after this painful interview with Lil Wayne (or, as he was introduced, "Little Wayne") which followed a regrettable performance by Gym Class Heroes on the NBA's All-Star pregame show on TNT....

BBC Tries its Damnedest Not To Show Streaker At Six Nations Match, Shows Streaker Anyway
The Beeb's a paragon of good taste and proper culture, which rather makes you wonder how the Six Nations rugby competition ends up on its esteemed airways. (Or this.) Yet there it is, and in today's match featuring France against Scotland in Edinburgh the BBC found itself face-to-face with a nake...

Cristiano Ronaldo's Latest Goal Was Truly Outrageous
A well-played match to the point by Rayo Vallecano fell to bits when Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo put the Whites up 1-0 with this straight-up stupid blind back heel goal that somehow navigated itself past teammates, defenders, and the keeper. Call it a ¡ozaloG! [ESPN Deportes]...

Ben Henderson Severely Messed Up Frankie Edgar's Face En Route To Winning The UFC Lightweight Belt
In one of UFC's better title fights of late, Benson Henderson claimed the lightweight belt as he won a unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar at UFC 144 in Tokyo Saturday night. His ability to seize victory came in no small part to this perfectly-placed second-round upkick that mangled Edgar's face,...

Anthony "Showtime" Pettis Knocked Out Joe Lauzon With A Kick To The Skull
UFC 144's opening event of the Pay-Per-View didn't last long, as Anthony Pettis knocked out Joe Lauzon in the first round of their lightweight bout in Tokyo....

Terrell Owens's First Indoor Football League Catch Was For A Touchdown
T.O. made his mostly ignored debut in the Indoor Football League tonight, and while he was mostly invisible in the first quarter, his grab early in the second period put his Allen (Tex.) Wranglers up by a touchdown on Wichita. This is happening, folks. [Time Warner Cable]...