takes Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

British Skip Bayless Has A Strong Take On Mario Balotelli
We'll have more on this as an actual soccer move when (if?) it becomes official, but it's looking pretty near certain that AC Milan striker/international style icon Mario Balotelli will be returning to the Premier League, slotting in at Liverpool to replace Luis Suárez. Chris Bascombe over at the Te...

Yakuza Throwing Frisbees: The Graceful Savagery Of <em>Sonatine</em>
In 1994, the year after he released his lyrical yakuza movie Sonatine, the Japanese movie star and director Takeshi Kitano got into a bad motor-scooter accident. He came away with half of his face paralyzed. You almost couldn't tell....

<em>Denver Post</em> Columnist Writes The Hottest LeBron Take Ever
In a world where even Dan Shaughnessy will hedge against his own stupidity, we desperately need a local newspaper columnist who isn't afraid to dish out the kind of moral rectitude and one-sentence KABOOM paragraphs that will put the sporting world back on the path to righteousness. We need a hero....

Lacrosse Equipment Manufacturer Dishes Out Strong Anti-Title IX Takes
Sure, sure, we're as done with #brand fails as you are, but this is still pretty weak. There was a lacrosse event going on tonight, and whoever's running the Twitter account for Warrior—"one of the sporting goods industry's premier manufacturer of innovative, high performance, cutting-edge equip...

Dan Shaughnessy Has Been Writing The Same Soccer Column For 25 Years
Legendary old school troll Dan Shaughnessy has a real strong take in today's Boston Globe about how soccer sucks. There is no way, he says, that the overbearing Futbol Moonies will make him feel guilty for disliking the sport. Further, he says, it will never catch on in America, not least because th...

Angry Outtakes From Mike Ditka's 1993 <em>SNL</em> Appearance Are Glorious
The Chicago Bears fired legendary coach Mike Ditka on Jan. 5, 1993, Four days later, in Saturday Night Live's cold open, the recurring "Super Fans" characters, famous supporters of "Da Bears," wrote a protest letter to the team, with Ditka himself making a cameo at the end. We've come across footage...

The Hottest Take: If You Like Soccer, You May Be A Terrorist
Mamma mia, this is one spicy take....

California Chrome Owner Gives Weepy Apology
Steve Coburn, the co-owner of California Chrome, is real sorry about all the steamin' and hollerin' he's been doing in the days since his horse failed to win the Triple Crown. To prove it, Coburn and his wife went on Good Morning America, where the mustachioed old man wept and apologized the same wa...

Leaving The Belmont Is A Disaster
The parking lot at the Belmont Stakes, after a bid for the first Triple Crown in 36 years, is a mess of people, automobiles, and dirt. It was a huge event where over 100,000 people reportedly watched California Chrome come up short. Now they all want to leave and there's no lighting, no employees or...

California Chrome Owner: Tonalist's Win Was The "Coward's Way Out"
California Chrome's owner Steve Coburn was pretty salty following his horse's loss at the Belmont Stakes and a shot at the Triple Crown. The winner, Tonalist, did not run in either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness and Coburn thinks that's dirty pool. In his post-race interview, where he spends mo...

California Chrome Does Not Win The Triple Crown At Belmont
California Chrome finished tied for fourth at the Belmont and so the Triple Crown eludes another horse. Tonalist is your winner, as California Chrome got off the rail and stuck behind a pack of horses and never seemed to really catch fire. Commissioner and Medal Count came in second and third, respe...


Someday Belmont: The Making Of A Race Horse
Originally published in the June 1, 1975, edition of New York Newsday. Reprinted here with the author's permission. For more Nack, check out his classic portrait of Secretariat in Sports Illustrated....


Tom Brady Stays Goofy As Hell In Group Photo At Preakness
Off the field, Tom Brady might be one of the goofiest athletes ever. Cameras seem to catch him at the funniest moments....

California Chrome Takes Preakness, Has Shot At Triple Crown
California Chrome and jockey Victor Espinoza won the Preakness Stakes today in a time of 1:54.84....

Mike Francesa Wouldn't Shut Up About Paternity Leave Today
Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy is going to be away from the team for a few days on paternity leave, because his wife had a child and he wants to be with his wife and child. This is a thing that men in America, even athletes, do. Usually if they don't, it's because they're not lucky enough to hav...

There Are Already Dumb Things Being Written About Yasiel Puig
This has to be some kind of record. The Los Angeles Dodgers are just two official games into the season, and the Los Angeles Times' Bill Plaschke has already fired off his first "Yasiel Puig is tearing this team apart!" column of the year. It doesn't make any damn sense....

How One Woman Won A Second Straight Trip To The Final Four
On Thursday, Burger King announced @letsgolakers086 as the winner of an all-expenses paid trip to this year's Final Four. It would be the highlight of a lifetime for many people, but it's just another March for this Los Angeles woman. After all, Wheat Thins sent her to the Final Four just last year....

Jay Glazer On UFOs, His Copy Of The Spygate Tape, And Gays In The NFL
I did a big profile of Jay Glazer for GQ this month, and for the sake of space we had to cut a handful of highly amusing stories from early in Glazer's career. Like this one......