ti Page 1550 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Oops! Joe Paterno Knew How To Use Email After All
The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting today that it has obtained evidence demonstrating that, contrary to claims from his family's legal representatives, former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was in fact able to use email. And he wasn't afraid to do so in order to try and protect hi...

What's Sadder Than Not Making The 2012 Olympic Team?
Confetti. Lots of it....

Usain Bolt Is Lookin' Kinda Human
Usain Bolt's been the fastest non-jetpacked man in the world for four years now, and at 25, is still in a sprinter's prime. But a funny thing has happened over the last calendar year. At the 2011 World Championships in South Korea, Bolt was disqualified in the 100m final for a false start, and the g...

Bryce Harper Will Train To Become A Firefighter In The Offseason So He'll "Have Something To Fall Back On"
Once upon a time, MLB players held jobs in the offseason. The good ones owned local businesses—car dealerships and the like—the not-so-good ones dug graves. But now that the owners and the union have thoroughly streamlined the process of separating you from your money, players don't need jobs in the...

How Do You Get The Contest Out Of Your System? Trying To Answer The Only Question On Anybody's Mind At Nathan's
The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest is a lot of things—patriotic, promotional, repellant—but above all, the contest is a study in misdirection. Like so many of Coney Island's storied card sharks and freak shows, the contest succeeds by distracting its audience, pl...

Players Sue NFL Over Bounty Punishments
Grab your popcorn. Two days after upholding his own disciplinary rulings against four Saints players for their roles in the bounty scandal, the NFLPA has filed a lawsuit challenging both the decision, and Goodell's authority to make it. The union is suing on behalf of Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, a...

One Female Tigers Fan Was Really Letting It All Hang Out Last Night
The weather in Detroit's been in the mid-90s this week, high enough to encourage wearing as little clothing to the ballpark as possible—even amidst a rainstorm that delayed the game two and a half hours. The wait was worth it for Tigers fans, who stuck around to admire yet another command Justin Ve...

Appreciating The Genius Of Joey Chestnut Requires Watching Him Eat In Super-Slow Motion
Joey Chestnut retained the mustard-yellow belt at Coney Island today with a command performance, consuming 68 hot dogs (and buns) in ten minutes and falling just shy of setting a new "official" record....

Joey Chestnut Downs 68 Hot Dogs To Win Sixth Straight Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
Well that was gross. Joey Chestnut just wrapped up his sixth straight championship at the world's most popular eating contest by mashing 68 hot dogs down his gullet in ten minutes. Chestnut had the contest in hand from start to finish, and gets to go on being called the world's best competitive eate...

Timbers Defender David Horst Took A Shot To The Face At Point-Blank Range
The Portland Timbers turned away San Jose last night at Jeld-Wen Field with a 2-1 win over MLS' top squad. It didn't come without some pain and suffering, though, as defender David Horst lay his face on the line for his team to block a shot in the 37th minute. Lest the reputation that soccer play...

Deadspin Classic: The Lonesome Independence Day Of Kobayashi, Eater In Exile
Originally published July 3, 2011....

How To Eat 1 Gallon, 9 Ounces Of Ice Cream In 12 Minutes Without Getting A Headache: The Secrets Of Ed "Cookie" Jarvis
Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they knew their playing days were over. Today: Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, a 46-year-old real estate agent, married father of two, cancer survivor, and retired competitive eater....

5 Times As Many People Watched The BET Awards As Watched ESPN <em>Sunday Night Baseball</em>. Sports TV Ratings, In Context.
A weekly feature wherein we contextualize TV ratings for national sports broadcasts. Data via Nielsen and Sports Business Daily. Viewership numbers represent approximate number of persons tuned to a given program; ratings share refers to the percentage of all households using a television who are tu...

Meet Your Gold-Medal-Favorite 2012 U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Team (And The Men, Too)
There weren't many surprises in the United States women's gymnastic team that emerged this past weekend from two days of all-around competition at the Olympic trials. This was the set of gymnasts that we seemed destined to end up with for months now, or at least since returning Olympic champion Nast...

The Grierson & Leitch July 4 Extravaganza: Movies That Made Us Love America
Today and yesterday, Grierson & Leitch honors America by spotlighting films that exemplify the best our country has to offer—and the worst. Yesterday: Movies that made us feel worse about America. Today: Movies that made us love this goddamned country. ...

Roger Goodell Upholds Own Ruling In Decision That Cannot Be Appealed
The NFL announced today that Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld discipline against four Saints players for their roles in the bounty scandal, despite not letting them see all the evidence against them, and despite legitimate questions over whether Goodell had the authority to rule in the first place....

Records Suggest PSU Officials Knew In 2001 That Sandusky Shower Incident Involved More Than Just "Horsing Around"
The meeting supposedly took place in 2001 in response to the now infamous shower incident reported by Mike McQueary. As we learned from CNN, Penn State's trio (VP Gary Schultz, president Graham Spanier, and athletic director Tim Curley) had initially devised a three-pronged approach to dealing with ...

Sorry, Mario Balotelli Didn't Really Make This German Fan Cry: How TV Lied To You During Euro 2012
In the 36th minute of the Euro 2012 semifinal, Mario Balotelli scored his second goal, a screamer to the top right corner. Balotelli ripped off his jersey and flexed, and the telecast cut to a woman in the stands, a German flag painted on her cheek, a single tear leaking from her eye....

Better Know An Umpire: Tim McClelland
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

White Sox Bribing Fans To Vote Jake Peavy To The All-Star Team
It's time again for the stumpin' and campaignin' of the All-Star Game Final Vote, which I reluctantly capitalize since it's not a particularly creative branding (No "Plus One?" Or "Let's Get The Japanese Fans On Our Mailing Lists?"), and it's not particularly final, since most of these guys will get...