v Page 2509 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Death Of A Playmate
The good people over at Longform present Teresa Carptenter's 1980 Village Voice profile, "Death of a Playmate." First time it's appeared online:...

1,000 High School Students Celebrate Olympics With Patriotic Flash Mob
So, we're not entirely sure what's going on here, but the person who originally uploaded this video to Facebook claims that it happened in a Kentucky hotel on Wednesday, and was done to mark the start of the Olympics....

Charles Barkley Tries, Fails To Pronounce "Jonas Valanciunas"
I don't know how either, but I know that's not it....

Olympic Luger Crashes, Makes Incredible Recovery
During a training run on the Olympic luge course, Indian luger Shiva Keshavan fell off his sled before making an amazing save, somehow flipping over and regaining his position on his sled. The scene made for a pretty mind-bending GIF, which makes it look like Keshavan was aided by CGI or wire effect...

Max Pacioretty Misses Two Penalty Shots, Scores Hat Trick Anyway
Canadiens winger Max Pacioretty became the first player in NHL history to miss two penalty shots in one game. While I can't find the specific record, I'm pretty confident in adding that he's the first player in NHL history to miss two penalty shots in one game while scoring three goals....

The Big Book Of Black Quarterbacks
On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks walked all over the Denver Broncos, 43-8, to win Super Bowl XLVIII. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson passed for 206 yards, ran for 26 more, threw two touchdowns, and made National Football League history. He became the second African-American quarterback ever to st...

Meet The Underdogs Of The U.S. Figure Skating Team
The figure skating competition is already underway in Sochi, and I have to break the bad news to you: For the first time in years, no American man or woman is expected to seriously vie for an individual gold medal. Which doesn't mean this won't still be the most fascinating, nerve-wracking competiti...

This New NBA Stat Is A Huge Step Forward For Basketball Analysis
This morning on Grantland, Kirk Goldsberry introduced the stat Expected Possession Value Added (EPVA), which he developed with some colleagues as part of a Sloan Conference paper. EPVA still needs some work, but it may represent an enormous development in NBA analysis. Here's why....


Stray Dog Wanders Onto Cross-Country Skiing Course, Barks At Everyone
One of Sochi's many adorable strays found itself in the middle of the cross-country skiers' training runs, and courseworkers seemed oddly unwilling to chase it away. ...

Maverick: The George Kimball Interview
The George Kimball Interview...from Hunter S. Thompson and Terry Southern to Bill James, Gayle Sayers, Norman Mailer, Bob Arum, George Foreman, and oh, so many more:...

How To Watch The Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony Live
The XXII Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony in Sochi starts Friday morning at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, but it won't be aired in the U.S. until more than eight hours later thanks to NBC's tape-delay policies. They aren't streaming it live online, either, so if you'd like to join the rest of the world...

Lakers Beat Cavs Despite Having Only Four Eligible Players
The Lakers started tonight's game in Cleveland with only eight available players. That dropped to six when Nick Young and Jordan Farmar got hurt, and four when Chris Kaman and Robert Sacre fouled out. They still won, 119-108....

No, Pete Carroll Doesn't Have A "9/11" Tattoo On His Wrist
One photo taken immediately after Super Bowl XLVIII shows an unidentified Seattle Seahawk—with a "9/11" tattoo on his wrist—holding the Lombardi Trophy. One tipster asked if the ink belonged to head coach Pete Carroll, which would be interesting, considering his thoughts on the September 11th attack...

Marshawn Lynch Reaches For A Bottle Of Fireball At The Seahawks Parade
This picture was sent to us by a reader who saw it pop up on his Facebook feed. According to the description added by the person who took the picture, that is Marshawn Lynch reaching for a bottle of Fireball while riding on the front of the duck boat during his team's Super Bowl parade....

The Super Bowl, Reenacted With Legos
These things are never as cool as they seem like they should be. But I bet something like 100,000 man-hours went into making this, so the least you could do is watch some of their video. [Guardian]...

The Olympic Village Has An "Extreme Shortage" Of Pillows
There is a quiet war being waged between newly arrived Olympic athletes and members of the games support staff. At stake? The precious few pillows extant in Sochi....

The Durant-LeBron Arms Race Is Real—And Statistically Unprecedented
We mentioned this back in November, but LeBron James and Kevin Durant—the two best basketball players in this galactic quadrant—are outdoing themselves in 2013-14. Here are some per game lines:...

<em>Game Of Thrones</em> And Nutella Ads: How The Super Bowl Looked In Austria
We've barely withheld our admiration for Austria's love of the NFL, and official network PULS4 gave the Super Bowl its full attention on Sunday—complete with lengthy pre-game show, halftime analysis, and, yes, Super Bowl ads. Oh, and they updated that awesome Game of Thrones-themed intro for the gam...