ty Page 518 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bosnia And Herzegovina Could Break Some Hearts In Their First World Cup
After generations spent competing on the international stage for various iterations of Yugoslavia, after gaining independence in 1992, making it through the Bosnian War, then getting FIFA recognition mere days after the war's conclusion, the nation known as Bosnia-Herzegovina will finally make its f...

Do Not Wear A Suit With Shorts
Men's shorts are OK. (Women's shorts are also OK, but they are much more obviously OK, and not what we are talking about.) Summers get hot around this part of the solar system; why swaddle those vast swaths of leg-skin behind fabric when you could use them, sensibly, to radiate your body's interna...

Robert Duvall: An American Hero, Or At Least An American Man
Careening down the road behind the wheel of a sturdy old Cadillac, Robert Duvall makes his intent clear: "I want some singin' and dancin'. And a woman. I want me a woman." With little more than a sharp tongue, pink and frequently squirming loose in anticipation, the weather-beaten octogenarian bulli...

On Hockey's Fetish For Finding The Latest "Best Player In The World"
Because hockey people have the attention spans of goldfish, some have pronounced Drew Doughty the best player in the world. That he's the third or fourth to receive the honor since the playoffs started should tell you how much weight that carries. ...

Study: Napoleon Complex Is Real; Shorter NBA Refs Call More Fouls
A new study in the Journal of Sports Economics finds that shorter NBA refs may call more fouls, in an excellent manifestation of the Napoleon Complex. Paul Gift and Ryan Rodenberg looked at 4,463 regular season games from 2008 to 2012, and—controlling for variables like race and experience*—found a ...

Royals Fans In Cat Singlets Give Derek Jeter The Tribute He Deserves
The Derek Jeter Farewell Tour has thus far proven itself to be a breeding ground for fan-made signs that make us want to vomit. So it was refreshing to see two weirdo Royals fans, either knowingly or unknowingly, poking a little fun at the whole spectacle and building a tribute to Jeter around match...

The Spurs Made The Mistake Of Thinking LeBron Had Something To Prove
LeBron James is, if nothing else, hyperaware of expectations. Some players use that for individual motivation, others fail under the pressure, but James, on occasion, twists it into a game plan. You saw that last night down the stretch, as the Spurs appeared convinced James would seek personal redem...

Royals Ball Boy Fields Fair Ball, Compensates For It In The Best Way
Look at that face. That's the face of a kid dealing with screwing up on TV during an MLB game. Today, Royals Ball Boy scooped up Brian Roberts's fair ball, unwittingly turning the play into a ground-rule double for the Yankees. Thankfully, the tale of Royals Ball Boy doesn't end there....

"The Ball," From <em>Soccer In Sun And Shadow</em>
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....

Honduras Don't Stand A Chance, But They Won't Play Like It
Calling Honduras a minnow isn't fair. Sure, Honduras are likely to ultimately be outclassed and eliminated in the group stage. But the two Group E teams that advance after playing the Central American side won't be leaving the experience behind them in the knockout stages. They'll have been pushed t...

Why Ecuador's Inspiring Trip To Brazil Won't Have A Happy Ending
If you're looking for a last-minute underdog to support, this is your team. ...

Even France Couldn't Mess This Up...Right?
In theory and on paper, France are stacked. The spine of this team is ridiculous. Their keeper is incredible. They have more powerful, quick, shockingly young center backs than they know what to do with. The center of their midfield is an embarrassment of riches nearly on par with Spain's and Italy'...

Actually, LeBron James Was Drinking Gatorade Last Night
Brand fights are the worst of all fights, Gatorade's sustained trolling of LeBron James's cramps due to a supposed lack of proper hydration lacked some pretty key context: James had been drinking Gatorade all night....

Definitive Proof That God Is Swiss
When the World Cup groups were drawn in December, many of the top seeds—Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina—were perennial giants. A few—Colombia, Uruguay, Belgium—raised a few eyebrows for, if nothing else, their novelty as a world superpower. One country in particular, Switzerland, didn't seem to be...

Visitors To Hell: How Two Minor Leaguers Earned Their Medals Of Honor
The walls were plywood. The ramp was steel. On June 6, 1944, Joe Pinder fought seasickness in a cramped troop carrier, waiting to take his place on Omaha Beach. On March 8, 1945, Jack Lummus grew impatient in an Iwo Jima foxhole, after 36 hours pinned down by sniper fire. Both men had once made a li...

Rashad McCants Made The Dean's List At UNC Without Attending Classes
Rashad McCants, who starred on the 2005 North Carolina championship team, comes clean about his experience at UNC—and says academics could hardly have been more of a sham. He claims he skipped classes, had his papers written for him, and that Roy Williams and the athletic department "100 percent" kn...

NBA Players' Union Calls Lack Of A/C "Completely Unacceptable"
About midway through the third quarter, Spurs Sports & Entertainment released a thoroughly unsatisfying statement about the broken air conditioning at the AT&T Center. It read:...

LeBron James Leaves Game 1 Due To Cramp, Because He's Human
You won't believe this. LeBron James, a human being, suffered a cramp and had to leave Game 1 of the Finals. He clearly can't win when his team needs him, or something. Stupid involuntary muscle spasms....

Unlucky Norichika Aoki Gets Hit In Head With Throw Back To Mound
Royals outfielder Nori Aoki has had an odd string of bad luck recently. He's swung at a terrible pitch, received a foul ball to the dick, and now, he's taken Yadier Molina's throw back to the mound to his dome....

"The Referee," From <em>Soccer In Sun And Shadow</em>
From Eduardo Galeano's classic, now available as an ebook. We'll have excerpts throughout the week....