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Jerry Buss, Surrounded By Boobs: A Tribute To The Greatest NBA Owner Ever
Jerry Buss died today. The 80-year-old was arguably the greatest NBA owner in the history of the league. He was also a world-class Playmate aficionado who frequently dated teenage girls and used to host his birthday party at a brothel. To put it in more appropriate obituary terms, the man was "known...

UK Hockey Team Ditches New American Owner After It Turns Out He's A Registered Sex Offender
For the NHL's litany of poor potential owners—John Spano's swindling, Boots Del Biaggio's fraud, Greg Jamison straight up not having the money—at least this has never happened. The Belfast Giants, in the UK's EIHL, were recently sold to American Floridian Christopher Knight. That was before they lea...

Why Your Children's Television Program Sucks: <em>Max & Ruby</em>
A look at the awful children’s programming you’re forced to endure before you can finally kick the kids out of the TV room to watch sports for eight hours. Illustration by Jim Cooke. ...

When Is It OK For A Coach To Shove A Player?
Early in the second half, with Cal down 12 to USC at home, head coach Mike Montgomery called a timeout. When junior Allen Crabbe, the Golden Bears' leading scorer, reached the bench he was met with a sharp shove in the chest. Crabbe and Montgomery exchanged angry words, and Crabbe had to be separ...

Time To Retire The Verducci Effect: What <em>Really</em> Predicts Pitcher Injuries?
Originally published in Baseball Prospectus....

As Charl Schwartzel Lined Up His Birdie Attempt At 17, A Couple In The Gallery Got Fingerbang-y
While the 2011 Masters remains South African golfer Charl Schwartzel's sole PGA Tour win, he hasn't exactly faded to obscurity like many other recent one-and-done major winners. Indeed, Schwartzel found himself a stroke away from a playoff at this weekend's Northern Trust Open in California, a mis...

A Text Message From A South African Rugby Player May Be At The Center Of The Pistorius Shooting
Over the weekend, we learned of a South African rugby player, Francois Hougaard, who may or may not have once dated the woman Oscar Pistorius shot and killed, Reeva Steenkamp. According to one report, Pistorius and Steenkamp were fighting over a text message from Hougaard early Thursday morning, sho...

Top Fuel Dragster Explodes, Showers Track With Shrapnel, Leaves Driver Unscathed
Upon reaching the finish line in something called the NHRA "Winternationals" today, Antron Brown was going around 300 mph when his 8,000 horsepower engine exploded, causing his two back tires to also explode. He then lost control of the car as it burst into flames and careened into the wall. It th...

Reports: A Bloodied Cricket Bat Was Found At Oscar Pistorius's Home And Reeva Steenkamp's Skull Was "Crushed"
South Africa's City Press is reporting that a bloodied cricket bat was found in Pistorius's home and that it may have been used against his girlfriend of four months, Reeva Steenkamp. Police are investigating several different scenarios involving the bat, including whether it was used against Steen...

How Clark Olson Beats Everyone Else In Fantasy Everything
The guy who just beat everyone else in America at all the fantasy sports, again, is a computer science professor who is not so much into trades but who is really, really into spreadsheets. Clark Olson, the 2012 winner of ESPN's omnibus Uber Challenge fantasy game, again, tallied the high score acros...

"I'm Gonna Tell You What I'm Gonna Do": What It Was Like To Guard Michael Jordan, According To Craig Ehlo
In honor of Michael Jordan's 50th birthday, we reached out to a man who, possibly more than anyone, understands the sneering greatness of Jordan in his prime: Craig Ehlo, the former NBA player (14 seasons with the Rockets, Cavaliers, Hawks, and SuperSonics) who was on the wrong side of "The Shot" in...

How To Cook Sausage And Peppers: A Guide For The Stir Crazy
This is the worst time of year....

Report: Oscar Pistorius Attempted To Revive Reeva Steenkamp, Who Was Sitting On The Bathroom Sink When Shot
South African newspaper Beeld has contacted sources close to the police investigation of Oscar Pistorius's shooting of Reeva Steenkamp and filled in a few details about that morning: First, police believe that Steenkamp was sitting "on the lavatory"—bathroom sink—when Pistorius shot her through the...

Michael Jordan At 50 Is <i>Citizen Kane</i> Without The Sled
The perfect Michael Jordan profile is some sort of journalistic unicorn by now—what's there to say about a guy about whom too much has been said already?—but Wright Thompson's story for ESPN is the closest we'll get to it....

Did The Movie <em>Heathers</em> Kill The Name Heather?
Welcome to Dataspin, a new weekly data visualization of whatever the fuck....

"What Do You Want Me To Say?": A Day In The Publicity Machine With Adrien Broner, Boxing's Newest Star
Adrien "The Problem" Broner—23 years old, 135 pounds, undefeated, and one of the five or so best boxers in the world today—rolled into the lobby of 1221 Avenue of the Americas just before 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, along with two coaches, his friend, his large, superfluous security man, and a harried-...

Why Football Won’t Go the Way of Boxing (Yet)
Originally published in Bloomberg View...

Reports: Police Were Called To Oscar Pistorius's House Hours Before The Shooting, Reeva Steenkamp Was Shot Through The Bathroom Door
Oscar Pistorius appeared in a crowded Pretoria courtroom today, barely a day after he was arrested for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend of four months. Steenkamp was found early Thursday morning in a puddle of blood, with four gunshot wounds to her head, chest, pelvis, and hand. A 9mm p...

The Coming War: A Military Doctor's Field Guide To Masturbating In Afghanistan
The past decade of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has given military physicians such as myself the important opportunity to gather unprecedented data on some of our most pressing medical issues. This data set has spurred advances in the care of trauma, hemorrhagic shock, traumatic brain i...

Will Eating Decades-Old Athlete Candy Bars Kill You? A Taste Test
"You're not going to eat it, are you?" the eBay seller asked, after we had completed our purchase. "People have been asking me if they can eat it, and that's probably not a good idea."...