ty Page 718 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The New England Patriots Are Not Out For Revenge
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Clint Dempsey Is Better At Soccer Than You, And Every Other American Ever
From now until the end of the season, we'll be posting a number of clips from the previous weekend's English Premier League games. If there's a goal, save, dive, lip-read profanity, or hocked sputum we should know about, drop us a line at [email protected]. (You might also enjoy our better-late-than...

A Plea To Joe Posnanski: Stop Writing Mealy-Mouthed Nonsense About Joe Paterno
Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski is in a tough spot. He's a gifted writer and by all appearances a decent guy. His decency is his defining characteristic; he grew up rooting for doomed Cleveland teams and covered the worthless Kansas City Royals, but he never gave in to the urge to be a hatchet ma...

Oh, God, "Sources" Are Already Bullshitting Reporters About LeBron Leaving Miami
Here's the mind-bending scenario, as outlined by Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio: LeBron is unhappy about being persona non grata in Cleveland, he's unhappy fans around the country have been booing him, and he's unhappy about something in particular with his current digs in South Beach:...

Which Will Prince Fielder And Miguel Cabrera Reach First: 600 Combined Homers Or 600 Combined Pounds?
The balance of power in the American League shifted toward Detroit today with the Tigers' surprise signing of Prince Fielder. So did the center of mass....

This Is What Happens When You Accuse Steven Tyler Of Butchering The National Anthem
Our post Sunday asking whether Steven Tyler's pre-AFC championship performance of the national anthem was the worst ever drew a flood of reader feedback, both in the form of poll responses and in writing. Here's an update on the poll results, as well as a sampling of your reaction to Tyler's perf...

Ben Roethlisberger Didn't Pay Much To Settle The Lawsuit Against Him
When former Harrah's Lake Tahoe hostess Andrea McNulty settled her sexual assault lawsuit against Ben Roethlisberger, everyone presumed that money changed hands. Both sides were mum, likely bound by a confidentiality agreement, but it seems the NFL is under no such gag order. Pro Football Talk cites...

By Dying, Joe Paterno Is Still Protecting Penn State
During the grand jury's investigation of Jerry Sandusky, it was Joe Paterno who provided the testimony that corraborated Mike McQueary's story, which is what led to the perjury and failure to report abuse charges against Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president for business...

The Worst National Anthems Ever
These are the five we included in our poll on Sunday. As of this writing, Roseanne Barr's version is the "worst anthem" clubhouse leader by a substantial margin (she has nearly 50 percent of the vote, with Carl Lewis checking in at 28). Facebook users can vote here....

Why The Giants Targeted A Player Prone To Concussions
The day after a conference championship game, there is an avalanche of coverage, usually sticking to the main storylines. But other than this New York Magazine story, it's odd that no one had made much of a fuss over two Giants saying they specifically targeted Kyle Williams because he had a history...

The Giants Went After Kyle Williams Because He Had A History Of Concussions
On NYMag.com, the splendid Ben Wallace-Wells takes a look at fumblin' Kyle Williams and the Giants' strategy. "They'd targeted Williams for extra violence because they knew he had suffered several concussions in the past, and they think it worked." [NYMag]...

Billy Cundiff Rushed His Kick Because Of An Error On The Gillette Stadium Scoreboard
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Read Tim Thomas's Odd Explanation For Skipping The Bruins' Day At The White House, And Then Back Slowly Away
Here's the 2011 Conn Smythe and Vezina winner, pamphleteering online:...

"You Don't Have To Worry About Me Jumping Off A Ledge": An Interview With Billy Cundiff
We're doing a season-long NFL roundtable with our friends at Slate. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries....

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Cubs Of Tomorrow
The Idaho Cubs, presented without comment, but with "Party Rock Anthem." [via Big League Stew]...

Tennis Players Bill Simmons Would Do: Another Classic From The Secret Sports Guy Vault
It's a curious quirk of the internet that almost nothing survives of Bill Simmons's pre-ESPN work. After seeing last week's newly unearthed column from Simmons's AOL Digital City days, a reader sent along another Boston Sports Guy entry rescued from the dustbin of history. If you've got any old Simm...

Steven Tyler's "Star-Spangled Banner" Was Terrible. But Was It The Worst Ever?
Aging rockers often struggle to hit high notes, but Steven Tyler's juxtaposition of screaming and a languid pace made his rendition of the National Anthem before the AFC Championship in New England especially difficult to listen to. (His liberal lack of adherence to the actual lyrics didn't help.)...
![Joe Paterno Is Reportedly "Near Death" [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18j4nbxonp1lxjpg.jpg)
Joe Paterno Is Reportedly "Near Death" [UPDATE]
Twitter has been abuzz in the last few hours with plenty of rumors about Joe Paterno's deteriorating condition, but Michael Sisak of the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Citizens' Voice, citing a source, says Paterno is "near death":...

Ben Roethlisberger Settles Lake Tahoe Rape Suit
The suit, filed by former Harrah's casino host Andrea McNulty, was resolved via stipulation by all parties in December. The settlement comes a few months—which is like, a few hours, in the judicial system—after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled against the defendants' (including several Harrah's emplo...

The A's Are Very Interested In Manny Ramirez
Per ESPN Deportes: "The Oakland Athletics are 'very interested' in making Manny Ramirez their designated hitter next season," a source said. (The source, we'd assume, is a baseball insider named "Bott Scoras," but we digress.) Ramirez appeared in a supremely forgettable 17 at-bats for the Rays last ...