ti Page 1655 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Dope Scandal: Why Is ESPN's Drugs-In-College-Football Story So Stupid?
Honestly, I feel bad for everyone involved in the making of this ESPN The Magazine feature about college football's marijuana "problem," which has to be the stupidest sports-and-dope story I've read in an allegedly reputable outlet since the Yahoo guy went running around the Syracuse campus with a p...

Breaking Down The Athletes Of The <i>Time</i> 100
Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list is out, and I checked, you aren't on it. But some athletes are! But how did they get there? How can a pro athlete who's not Muhammad Ali or Jackie Robinson or Maximus from Gladiator possibly qualify as "influential?" Time's metric for selection is top...

LeBron And Jay-Z Have A Secret Handshake
We regret missing this after the Nets-Heat game on Monday night, but you ought to forgive us because it was a game that involved the New Jersey Nets. LeBron James scored the Heat's final 17 points—Miami outscored Jersey by 12 in the fourth quarter but only won by three—and then shook hands with Net...

How To Earn A One-Game Suspension In The NHL Playoffs
Attack and repeatedly punch a defenseless player. Jump into a scuffle and pound on a defenseless player from behind, and pull his hair. Take runs at two separate players, ringing two bells on one shift. Give a cross-check shove to a player's face after he tripped your team's star....

Davey Johnson Is Perplexed And Unmoved By Press Conference Fire Alarm
Okay, let's get this out of the way first. Yes, it's hilarious to hear Nats manager Davey Johnson say, completely out of context, "It was shockingly beautiful, and big. I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, jeez. My first one was in 1966." He's talking about Edwin Jackson's World Series ring. Not a pe...

Miami TV Station Congratulates The Florida International University Panthers On Their Stanley Cup Playoff Win
The Florida Panthers took a 2-1 series lead over the New Jersey Devils with an astonishing 4-3 win that came after falling behind 3-0 in the first period. It's understandable, then, that the story led off the 10:00 news on Miami's WSVN; perhaps unaccustomed to hockey success, they got a few details...

Is It Time To Forgive Mel Gibson?
As much as our society loves to mock celebrities, we love to forgive them even more. We'll pick on Lindsay Lohan for her drug problems or Nicolas Cage for his bankruptcy money woes* and bad movies, but, deep down, we're hoping that they'll pull out of their nosedives. The redemption story is a power...

Commenting Changes Are Coming Soon; Don't Be As Petulant As These Gawker Commenters, OK?
If you want to read the basic outline of the changes—coming to Deadspin in a matter of weeks—float on over to Gawker. The new commenting regime won't be nearly as scary and complicated as it sounds. The basic conceit remains: Smart and insightful are given primacy over dumb and boorish. Actual discu...

Finance Guy Keeps Incredibly Detailed, Incredibly Creepy Spreadsheet Of His Match.com Prospects
Let's call this guy, oh, "Dave." Dave is a financial services employee in New York. Dave goes on Match.com, and meets women, and sometimes goes on dates with them. Then Dave goes home and enters all sorts of information into an Excel sheet, to keep track of everyone....

How A Career Ends: Mike Marshall, Ph.D., The Outcast Screwballer Turned Outcast Pitching Coach
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: Mike Marshall, the rubber-armed screwballer who won the 1974 National League Cy Young Award and who now believes his unconventional methods could eradicate pi...

Rick Ankiel Threw A Strike From Center Field
Houston's Jordan Schafer had 22 stolen bases last year, so he's not slow. But even he wasn't about to tag up and test the arm of Rick Ankiel, who showed the Astros' prudence to be warranted by hitting the catcher on the fly. Perhaps it wasn't strictly a strike (unless Larry Vanover was working the p...

Boston Paper Already Declares Red Sox Clubhouse Mutiny
The Red Sox lost a frustrating game yesterday, highlighted by a questionable strike zone, a mid-conversion Daniel Bard looking great but clearly tiring, and the manager crossing swords with the team's two most beloved players. So today the Herald leads not with a game report, but a rush to be the fi...

Is There A Young Lefty Starter In MLB Who <em>Hasn't</em> Gotten An Extension?
The San Francisco Giants just signed lefty starter Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $35-million extension. 2011 was Bumgarner's first full season in the big leagues. He struck out 8.4 batters per nine innings and walked only two per nine. That's quite good. It is, as you might expect, far too early...

The Mets' Regrets: Will You Start Loving Citi Field If It Gets Uglier?
So now the ballpark of the moment is glassy and modern and full of moving fish, leaving the retro-style ballparks of the previous moment kaput. What happens to all those teams that are stuck with suddenly unfashionable nostalgia-parks? (And are stuck with them for a very long time.)...

Bobby Valentine Is Now Openly Antagonizing Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Youkilis has had a rough start to his 2012 season. He's hitting .200/.265/.223, and the Red Sox are 3-5. (CLARIFICATION: They were 3-5 when Valentine gave this quote. They're 4-5 now.) But it's the smallest of sample sizes, and the Red Sox got off to a bad start last year and everything work...

Rick Pitino's Son To Take Over For Isiah Thomas At FIU
According to Andy Katz, Rick Pitino is reporting that his son will take over the reins at Florida International as they move on from the Isiah Thomas era. Richard Pitino is 29 and has coached with his father and Billy Donovan among others. He was most recently an assistant on this year's Louisville...

Anonymous Florida Couple Pays $100,000 For A Day With Tim Tebow
How much is Tim Tebow worth? According to the Jets, a fourth- and a sixth-round pick. According to the winning bid yesterday at the charity auction for the Tim Tebow Foundation at Timmy's own Celebrity Golf Classic, $100,000. A day....

Today In Jose Canseco Tweets As Motivational Posters: The Duality Of Life
This is a feature wherein we celebrate Jose Canseco by creating motivational posters out of his actual tweets. We believe it is in this context that the world can best appreciate our favorite Bash Brother....

The NHL Had A Good Day Yesterday
The Stanley Cup Playoffs, like the NBA playoffs, drag on for what feels like an eternity-spanning April, May and June. If every day shakes out the way yesterday did, however, then it might be worth it. Four games were played and three went to overtime. Four series had the chance to go 2-0 and all f...

Jacoby Ellsbury Placed On Disabled List After Dislocating His Shoulder Yesterday
It's been a tough April for the Red Sox. They're in last place in the East and are still dealing with the hangover of last September's epic collapse. Centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury can't be blamed for either. He was the best position player in the American League last year (321/.375/.552, 32 HR), a...