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Bristolmetrics: Fidel Castro Received As Many Mentions On <em>SportsCenter</em> As Kobe Bryant
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke. ...
On NHL Suspensions And Eggshell Skulls
Shea Weber shoves Henrik Zetterberg's head into the glass: fine, no suspension. Byron Bitz hits Kyle Clifford from behind, sending him into the boards: two-game suspension. Matt Carkner sucker punches Brian Boyle, continuing to hit him after he goes down: one-game suspension. Carl Hagelin elbows Da...
Ian Eagle Had A Whiny Meltdown Last Night, Accused Partner Mike Fratello Of Being "Patronizing"
The final minutes of last night's YES Network broadcast of the Celtics-Nets game were awkward after veteran play-by-play rock Ian Eagle inexplicably voiced his complaints to analyst Mike Fratello on-air....
History Lesson: The Time Matt Millen Punched The Patriots' General Manager In The Head
An occasional feature in which we recall notable incidents that we would've covered the hell out of had we existed at the time....
Dead Letters: In Which Two People Write Us Hoping To Reach Butterbean
Subject: Neighborhood gang terrorizing local families...
In Praise Of Stupid Laughs. <em>The Three Stooges</em>, Reviewed.
1. An old joke: "Why do women not like The Three Stooges? Because they're not funny." The appeal of The Three Stooges has always been inherently male, predominantly young male, specifically adolescent, glue-sniffing boy. Now, that's not to say that 10-year-olds the world over are obsessed with The T...
What Is The CIA Hiding About The Missing DA Who Didn't Prosecute Jerry Sandusky In 1998? (Probably Nothing.)
We've written about Ray Gricar before. He's the former Centre County district attorney who declined to prosecute Jerry Sandusky in 1998, despite a psychologist's warning that Sandusky showed a "likely pedophile's pattern" of behavior. On April 15, 2005, Gricar mysteriously disappeared from central P...
Baseball's Unwritten Rules, Uncovered After 26 Years
A few weeks ago, I found myself in Austin and happened upon one of these flea market-type warehouses. It's like a ginormous, impersonal yard sale: People come with their stuff, set it up in their little station, put a price tag on everything, and hope it eventually sells. As it turns out, one of the...
When Serious Actors Become Action Stars: A Guide
This Friday, Lockout opens, and beyond its prison-colony-in-space hook, probably the most interesting element to this sci-fi film is "Holy cow, is that Guy Pearce kickin' all that ass?" Why, yes, it is—and it's a conscious departure from the serious dramatic roles we usually see from him (Memento, L...
Better Know An Umpire: Marty Foster
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....
Pain Is A Gift, And Other Notes From A Terrified Father During A Seven-Week-Premature Birth
When the baby cried, I knew it wasn't gonna die. They had just pulled my son out of my wife and whisked him over to one of those fancy hotel pans that you put newborns in, and there was a brief moment when he said nothing, which you don't want. You want the baby to cry. You want confirmation that th...
Over Two-Month Period, Bobby Petrino Exchanged 200 Messages With Former "Miss Motorcycle Mania" Bikini Model
The process of parsing Bobby Petrino's phone records continues, and another interesting number has popped up on our radar. In fits and starts, Petrino exchanged nearly two hundred text and picture messages with a Little Rock cell phone registered to one Alison Melder, whose LinkedIn profile lists he...
A Guide For Sports Fans (And Would-Be Plutocrats) To Doing Your Taxes
Those of you who are not Darryl Strawberry will be spending the next few days on your tax returns. Here are a few practical things—and a number of not-so-practical things—that every sports fan should know about his or her taxes. ...
10 Years Of Newspapers Declaring That Mariano Rivera Is Too Old
On Friday, Mariano Rivera blew the save. It was the 73rd blown save of his career, and one of many from baseball's opening weekend. Predictably, it brought out the old standby storylines: Is this it for Mariano Rivera? Has Father Time finally caught up with the cutter?...
Better Know An Umpire: Todd Tichenor
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....
A Reporter Got Fired For Announcing His New Job In An NBA-Style Press Release
Reporter Khristopher J. Brooks told Jim Romenesko, "I'm a really big NBA fan and whenever an NBA team acquires a new player there's always a press release announcing it. I'd look at those releases and think, ‘The organization is really proud.'"...
Here Are Bobby Petrino's Phone Records
We received phone records from Bobby Petrino's university-issued cellphone dating back to Sept. 12, and the contact with Jessica Dorrell begins almost immediately. From phone tag at 10:33 a.m. on the Monday before the Troy game, to a flurry of calls the evening after the police report naming her was...
Just Three More Months Until <em>The Dark Knight Rises</em>, Folks
It always seems like the summer movie season begins earlier every year, but it doesn't, not really. The unofficial beginning in 2012 is May 4, when The Avengers—a movie that's so big, apparently, that it turned massive tentpole films like Iron Man 2 and Thor into, essentially, prequels—opens wide, f...
5 Important Contracts Set To Expire At ESPN (Or, Why Michelle Beadle Is Probably Done In Bristol)
On Tuesday, we told you that ESPN execs are ready to walk away from Rick Reilly's contract when it expires next year. But what about this year's expiring contracts? Whose time in Bristol might soon be over? We counted at least four ESPN talents—plus Colin Cowherd—whose deals are up this year. Here's...
Mark Reynolds Is The Worst Third Baseman In Baseball
Yes, even worse than Miguel Cabrera. Last night's Orioles-Yankees game only went to extra innings because Reynolds booted a grounder in the sixth inning that led to a pair of Yankee runs. In the top of the 12th, with the go-ahead runner on third and one out, Reynolds gave perfunctory chase to a f...