that Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
When Ivan Lendl's German Shepherd Attacks And Pops Wood
Occasionally, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: The hazards of crossing rackets with Ivan Lendl when a German Shepherd (or four) is court side....
Deadspin Presents An Interpretive Rendering Of Cal Ripken Jr.'s Young Adult Book
We received an email from Cal Ripken Jr.'s publicity team at Random House, which will release his three-CD audiobook, HOTHEAD, next Tuesday. HOTHEAD (the caps are apparently intentional) is about a Babe Ruth League shortstop named Connor Sullivan and is "loosely based on challenges Ripken himself ...
How NASCAR Conquered America Through The Air
Greg Lindsay is the co-author of the forthcoming Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next, which argues that air travel has a lot more to do with your daily life than you might think. In this outtake from the book, he describes how NASCAR teams took to the skies as the sport expanded nationally over th...
Why There Are More .300 Hitters Than .299 Hitters, And Why It Matters
Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim, authors of the Freakonomically inclined Scorecasting, explore the peculiar power of round-number milestones and how they affect a ballplayer at the plate....
Jack LaLanne Tried To Kill His Brother With An Ax, And Other Fond Memories
Occasionally, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: the late Jack LaLanne, fitness televangelist....
Smart People Talk About <em>Sports Illustrated</em>'s 1968 Series About Black Athletes
On Monday, we excerpted from Jack Olsen's 1968 Sports Illustrated series, "The Black Athlete—A Shameful Story." Slate's Hang Up and Listen podcast discusses those stories with one of Olsen's subjects, Donald Smith (now Zaid Abdul-Aziz). Go listen....
When A Dance With A White Woman Divided An NFL Team
Occasionally, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: the St. Louis Cardinals of the mid-1960s and their "racial problem."...
The Sad Tale Of The Umpire Spat On By Roberto Alomar
Occasionally, we'll select stories - old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime - that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: a portrait of an umpire battling to save his sons from a rare disease....
Orioles Pitcher Accused Of Shooting Man Dead On NYE Says Whole Thing Was Silly "Accident"
"It wasn't a thing like we began arguing and I started shooting. It was some accident. It happened by accident. That's why I came here - to open my soul." And that's why he fled. [Baltimore Sun]...
10 Extremely Biblical-Looking Footballers
Of course, most of the nation will spend the weekend embroiled in sprouts, drinking heavily, and most definitely not sitting down to rewatch Mel Gibson's incredibly inaccurate and rather over-the-top remake of The Life of Brian....
The Best, Most Deranged Story About Gwar You'll Ever Read
There are band profiles and there are Gwar profiles and then there's this: The first part of J. Bennett's monstrous, satisfyingly disturbing Gwar piece, "Slay Bells," is after the jump, courtesy of Decibel. Prepare for words that haunt....
My 2003 Interview With Fred Phelps Of The Westboro Baptist Church
The Westboro Baptist Church will be disrupting the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards this weekend. Here's an interview I did with Pastor Phelps right before he and his church were headed to Pittsburgh to protest poor Mr. Rogers' funeral. [TheMightyBlackTable]...
Read This: "One Throw," By W.C. Heinz
Bronx Banter has dug up a charming old short story by W.C. Heinz, author of one of the all-time great pieces of sportswriting....
Balls Bouncing Every Which Way Into Buckets Makes For Oddly Exhilarating Viewing
Click to view What I like the most about this video is that the creator kept the misses. Well, the really cool misses (or at least some of them)....
Stories That Don't Suck: David Halberstam On Maurice Lucas And The Powers That Be Scared Shitless
Occasionally, we'll select stories — old and new, sports and otherwise, relevant and merely sublime — that we urge you to read for one reason or another. Today: the late Maurice Lucas, menacing the whistle right out of a ref's mouth....
The Invention Of Air: The Myths Of Young Michael Jordan, Deconstructed
There was a time when Michael Jordan was a very different kind of superstar, writes Bethlehem Shoals in this excerpt from FreeDarko's wonderful and wonderfully idiosyncratic Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History. That MJ was edgy and menacing, and he helped make embarrassing music that no one r...
A Yankee Stadium Memory: "Their Look Didn't Say, 'Shut Up.' It Said They Wanted To Kill Me."
The following is taken from Bronx Banter Presents: Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories, edited by Alex Belth and featuring recollections of the old ballpark—sorry, stadium—from the likes of Pete Hamill, Charles P. Pierce, and Joe Posnanski. Bob Costas has something in there, too, I guess. Here, the grea...
Jeff Garcia Pisses In Hand Towels, And The Art Of Breaking Thumbs In The Loose-Ball Pile
Today, mongrels, we're excerpting from Anthony Gargano's tremendous NFL Unplugged, which offers a ruthlessly entertaining portrait of the NFL. It has all the lawlessness, the poop, the broken fingers, the organized insanity that the league would prefer you not know about....
The One Where Mark Sanchez Unconstipates Himself With A Spoon
Welcome back to Deleted Scenes. If you're new, read this to figure out what we do here. If not, well, let's get down to business. (PHOTO: via Bart Hubbuch's Twitter)...
You Can't Write A Pot Story About The NBA Without Including Michael Beasley
The following is an excerpt from High Times magazine's story "Pot and the NBA," found in the December issue of America's favorite dank rag. Super Cool Beas, indeed....