sports Page 880 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bullfighting, Minus The Blood Or Swishy Uniforms
The Spanish have invented a replacement sport for bullfighting, called "bull dallying." For those who hate seeing animals brutally tortured, but still want to watch idiots risking their lives for no reason. It still probably won't satisfy PETA. [Steady Burn]...

Hooray! America Is Still Dominant In Something!
The U.S. has won another LLWS. Let us reflect on the wise words of former attorney general Herbert Brownell: "The young Americans who compose the Little League will prove a hitless target for the peddlers of godless ideology." [AP]...

Scoring At Home: Your <em>SportsCenter</em> Catchphrase-O-Meter
An occasional feature in which we explain and evaluate a SportsCenter anchor's pet phrase. Today's phrase: "Mahatma ... Gandhi."...

Ohio State Asks Fans To Stop Being Obnoxious Pricks For Five Seconds
Ohio State is graciously allowing a service academy to play football on its field this season and also politely requests that their fans not mercilessly rain boos, slurs and D batteries down upon the Midshipmen as they take the field....

This Man Will Not Defecate For Less Than Your Annual Salary
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

The Ballad Of Jericho Scott
Jericho Scott was the 9-year-old who briefly became a media sensation when he was deemed "too good" to pitch in his youth league. A year later, Craig Fehrman checks in on Jericho and finds that everyone got the story wrong....

Nicholls State Mascot Will Smash Capitalism, Slash You In The Face
Greetings, Comrades! Nicholls State was named in honor of a former Confederate officer, but since the Civil War is (mostly) over, the school decided their Southern Gentlemen Warrior mascot needed an refresh. So now he's a bloodthirsty fascist oppressor....

Pregame Handshake Coming To College Football
Oh good, this'll solve all the problems with recruiting violations, BCS absurdities, jumping early to the pros, coaches' secret ballots, "gifts" from recruiters, grade inflation, ridiculous bowl sponsorships, competitive imbalance, players running afoul of the law, overpaid coaches... [USA Today]...

The Worst American Sports Writing: Greg Bishop
On top of everything else Jets fans have to live with, they get a New York Times beat writer who seems to be trying to write scripts for NFL Films....

The Worst American Sports Writing: Steve Yanda
Deadspin readers met Steve Yanda this week when he compared the Nationals' winning streak to Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (the Nats have not won a game since). But Steve Yanda writes like that all the time....

The Worst American Sports Writing: Gene Wojciechowski
Writing. About sports. Sometimes it is so terrible it can make you cry, cry like a child who has learned his heroes have feet of clay. "Feet" meaning "buttocks" and "of clay" meaning "shot full of Dianabol." Here's Gene Wojciechowski....

Spencer Swindle, Eamonn Daggerpiece To Work For Sunglassed Lurker
Congratulations to these fine gentleman. The SB Nation is poised to become scary good. [SBN]...

Scoring At Home: Your <em>SportsCenter</em> Catchphrase-O-Meter (UPDATE)
An occasional feature in which we explain and evaluate a SportsCenter anchor's pet phrase. Today's phrase: "Hotter than a fox in a forest fire."...

You May Be Taller, But You're Still Beneath Him
Mike Lupica's ego is to sportswriting what Milton Berle's cock is to comedy. It is an occupational totem, around which colleagues spin fantastical-seeming yarns that just so happen to be true. Here are a few such tales....

Joe Posnanski Just Gave You A Reason To Renew Your <em>Sports Illustrated</em> Subscription
Posnanski, who in the time it takes you to read this will have written two features and a post about Yuniesky Betancourt, is SI's newest senior writer: "This is Broadway. This is Paris under a setting sun." [Joeposnanski.com, TBL, Shanoff]...

<i>NCAA Football 10</i> More Time Consuming Than Actually Being In College
Did you pick up EA's new college football game? Of course not. You wouldn't be reading this right now if you had. You'd be so busy designing high school uniforms for your virtual doppelganger that you'd probably forget to eat....

Sports Writer Turns To Pimping For Extra Cash
Things are tough these days for newspapers (don't say it) and their writers (don't say it), but if you must work a second job, please don't try "deriving income from prostitution," because that just causes more difficulties for you. (Don't....)...

Omar Minaya: Mix Master No More
It was just two years ago that Omar Minaya was a Sports Illustrated cover boy and subject of a fawning profile in which he was referred to simply as O. As in: Oh my, how things have changed....

The Sports Fella Has Tremendous Upside On Mediaite Power Grid
He'll have that green arrow next to his portrait in no time after this miniature mailbag of an interview. The word cloud: Twitter, fad, ESPN, think, stories, nervous, immediacy, Letterman, saying, blog, better. [Mediaite/Wordle]...

Sports Psychologist Takes Full Credit For Stewart Cink
Who is really to blame for "stepping on a Hall of Famer's neck" and ruining golf forever by not laying down for Tom Watson. Not that jerk Stewart Cink. Send a note to Dr. Morris Pickens, famous sports psychologist, instead....