summer Page 25 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Iranian Olympian Comes Down With Mysterious Infection To Avoid Facing An Israeli
For 33 years, Iranian athletes have forfeited or withdrawn to avoid matching up against Israeli athletes in international competition. It was all supposed to change in London. Earlier this week, Bahram Afsharzadeh, the head of Iran's Olympic committee, said "we will be truthful to sport. We just fol...
Oh Look, Another Awesome Summer League Dunk
This one's from the South Carolina Pro-Am League, where last night UNC-Wilmington product Dominique Lacy just straight pushed some guy's shit in. Lacy last played with the unfortunately named Luxembourgian team BC Mess, so someone please give him a job in America. Is Slamball still around? [Slam]...
The Deadspin World Freedom Sports Index: Grading Countries On How Much They Allow Their Leaders To Suck At Sports
On the day of the Olympic Parade of Nations, let's consider the relationship between sports and national character. Every year, a few organizations release a list of the countries they think are the freest in the world, and in so doing make clear their own biases. The free-market wonks at the Herita...
Your Complete Guide To London's Creepy Brand Protection Policies
With the Olympics underway, so many nice folks—tourists, ticket scalpers, chemically enhanced athletes—will grace London. But so will unpleasant people, like the so-called Olympic brand police. Hundreds of "trading standards officers" are now stalking the streets, looking for anyone who might be en...
When Michael Phelps Was A 15-Year-Old Dork Olympian Who Kept Losing His Retainer
This is maybe not news, per se, but it's suprising how many people forget that Michael Phelps's last Olympics will actually be his fourth. Yes, before Phelps became America's greatest swimmer and most eligible doofus, he was a regular old 15-year-old doofus, just happy to be at the Sydney games....
The Hater's Guide To The 2012 London Summer Olympics
Greetings, Olympic fanboys! Or should I say ... TOP OF THE OLYMPICS TO YE?!! The London Olympics are here at long last, and I think we're all excited for 16 days of corrupt amateur sports, monumentally wasteful publicly funded infrastructure, and totalitarian branding guidelines. Also, I'm told ther...
Legally Blind Archer Breaks First World Record Of 2012 Olympics
Yes, the opening ceremonies come later today in London, but a handful of events are already underway, and there's already been a world record established....
Happy Girl, Sad Girl: Shawn Johnson And Dominique Moceanu Tell The Two Stories People Want From Their Sport
American coverage of women's gymnastics falls squarely into one of two camps: tales of plucky, lovable teens wearing their perma-smiles to the winners' podium, or exposés of the sport's seedy underbelly, of eating disorders, abusive training methods, of cruel coaches and broken bodies. It's either N...
This Photo Of Team USA Sleeping On An Airplane Is The Best Thing Today
Kevin Love surreptitiously snapped this and posted it to Instagram, as Team USA flew from Barcelona to London last night. From right to left, front to back, that's LeBron James, Chris Paul, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Anthony Davis, and even Mike Kryzyzewski, back in business cl...
We Will Go On Believing That The Olympians Crashed Grindr, Despite What Grindr Says
A couple of days ago, the gay cruising app Grindr crashed in London around the same time Olympians arrived. This is an entirely plausible cause-and-effect that admits no other explanation strictly on account of its sheer gay awesomeness....
Olympic Swimmers Already Humping, Or Possibly Preparing To Hump, Australian Newspapers Report
The Hot Sexxxy Olympics of Sex don't officially begin until tomorrow, with all the hot sexy athlete sex, but some Olympians aren't even waiting for the opening ceremony to start sexing at the Sexlympics. ALLEGEDLY MAYBE....
Olympics Field Guide: The Embattled (And First-Ever) United States Women's Boxing Team
Names: Marlen Esparza, Claressa Shields, and Quanitta "Queen" Underwood...
Greek Olympian Banned For Racist Twitter Joke
If we learned anything from Euro 2012, it's that Euros can be casually racist on a stunning level. But how about some casual racism infecting the Olympic spirit? Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou will not be going to London, just two days after a tweet that seems to have sent the whole nation i...
Olympic Sprinters Will Be Running Not Only For Gold, But For These Frigging Adorable Baby Cheetahs
Today, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. officially unveiled their two new cheetah cubs. The ridiculously cute fluffballs don't have names yet—the zoo is waiting on the Olympics. The three-month-old cubs will be named after the top American finishers in the men's and women's 100 meters. So, Justi...
USA Vs. Spain: Let's Discuss
The US men's basketball team is set to tip off its exhibition match against Spain in just a few minutes. Earlier, we wrote about what this game could mean, and now we want to yak about it with you as it unfolds (4:30 ET, ESPN2 and WatchESPN). Please report to the discussion section below with all o...
The Olympics Opening Ceremony? Giant Voldemort Fighting 30 Mary Poppinses, Obviously
London's Sunday Times is reporting that Friday's Olympics opening ceremony may not be unwatchably boring. According to Yahoo, which excerpted parts of the Times' subscription-only story, a 40-foot Voldemort (hologram? parade float? ventriloquist's dummy?) will take center stage for the ceremony and ...
Today's USA-Spain Basketball Game Could Mean Everything Or Nothing
The last time the United States and Spanish Olympic basketball teams met each other, they gave us one of the greatest basketball games that nobody watched. That was the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing, which the USA won 118-107 after being up by only four points with under three minutes to play. It...
Gay Cruising App Grindr Crashes After Olympians Arrive In London
Well, looky here. Seems Londoners have been having a tough time accessing gay cruising app, Grindr. The cause? The Mirror reports the app suspiciously crashed around the time that Olympians arrived into London:...
London Eye To Serve As Giant Mood Ring For Olympic Games
EDF Energy, an energy supplier in London, has announced their Energy of the Nation initiative, in which they plan to illuminate the London Eye according to how Twitter users are feeling about the Olympics each day. EDF, along with a group of 70s-minded MIT grads, has developed an algorithm to conve...