w Page 3065 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Philip Rivers Wears A Mullet Wig While Secretly Playing Softball
If you've ever wanted to see Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers in short shorts, high socks, and a wig, well, drink it all in....

Mark Teixeira's Fake Talk Show Is Actually Pretty Funny
I had no idea that Mark Teixeira has a fake talk show, which comes off as some kind of cross between Between Two Ferns and The Chris Farley Show, and I am upset about that because Foul Territory with Mark Teixeira is pretty funny. This is a surprising development, as I always just assumed that Mark ...

World Cup Group D Preview: Luis Suárez Is Bathing In Placenta <em>Right Now</em>
Here's your Group D hub and open thread, where you'll find our previews and predictions....

Rio Mayor On World Cup: "We’re Latins, We’re Not Used To Deadlines"
The World Cup will go off on time. This was never in any doubt, despite the requisite doom-and-gloom stories surrounding Cups and Olympics. But it has not been pretty—11 of 12 airport upgrades remain unfinished, mass transit infrastructure is well behind schedule, and the São Paulo stadium set to ho...

"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....

Overmatched, Costa Rica Can Still Make It Rough For Everyone Else
Do they have any shot? Not really. But that doesn't mean Costa Rica can't put the fear of God into the Group D favorites for a half or so....

Danny Amendola Draws Ire Of Insufferable Boston Media
Boston sports media sucks, and a good way to make it worse is to toss it some mildly controversial chum while the boredom of the NFL offseason has it itching for something to be shitty and annoying about. That's what Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola did on Tuesday when he hung up in the middle ...

I Found Michael Jackson In A Brazilian Favela
From Dave Zirin's newest book, Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy, available now. We'll be running excerpts throughout the World Cup....

Get Ready To Hate The Caxirola
Brazil's answer to the vuvuzela? Not quite. The "official musical instrument of the 2014 World Cup" is softer—it produces a rattle, not a blare. Another thing in favor of your viewing experience: it's been formally banned from Brazilian stadiums. But that hasn't stopped fans from bringing them in so...

Italy Great; Sky Still Blue
Regardless of how you feel about a shirtless, flexing Mario Balotelli, the luxurious follicles that sprout all around Andrea Pirlo's head, or Lorenzo Insigne's textbook giocatore look of prison-chic with a €1,000 weekly hair budget, Italy do not enter this tournament as a "sexy" team. Somehow, one o...

Cleveland Politician Proposes Tying Stadium Money To Wins
Last year, voters in Cuyahoga County approved a 20-year extension of a sin tax to pay for upkeep on Cleveland's three pro sports stadiums. Today, one elected official presented a proposal to tie part of that payout to the teams' performance. He calls it, a little obviously, a "win tax."...

Did Delonte West Get A Raw Deal?
Over at Slate, David Haglund catches up with Delonte West, temporarily (he hopes) exiled to China for the sin of being branded mentally ill. It contains lengthy, honest (he doesn't know any other way to be) chats with West, in which the 30-year-old wonders aloud if maybe the problem's not in his hea...

Finally, England Have A Chance To Win Something
At long last, England's "Golden Generation" is dead....

For 20 Minutes, The Kings Were Historically Dominant
The third period of L.A.'s eventual overtime victory was the Rangers' worst nightmare come to life—the Kings dominating possession as they have all year, forechecking the life out of New York, and raining down shot after shot. How overwhelming was it? Unprecedentedly so....

Uruguay Are Inevitable
Many believed that Uruguay's dramatic run to the World Cup semifinals in 2010 was somewhat of a surprise. It wasn't....

Did The Rangers Hang Dan Girardi Out To Dry?
Work backwards through the sequence preceding nearly any goal, and you'll find one really basic error that led up to it. You didn't have to look very far for last night's winner: A slapstick turnover from Dan Girardi left Justin Williams all alone in front, and just like that—four seconds from whiff...

World Cup Group C Preview: Let's Be Honest, This Is A Crapshoot
Here's your Group C hub and open thread where you'll find our previews and predictions....


My Anger Therapy
Here's an excerpt from Bosnian-American writer, MacArthur "genius" fellow, and Howler contributor Aleksandar Hemon's new e-book, The Matters of Life, Death, and More. It'll give you a little taste of how seriously this World Cup debutante nation takes its soccer....

Why Japan Is One Of The World Cup's Most Exciting Teams
Japan is the best team in Asia, and it's not even close. Part of the reason they are the best is because they might be the closest thing to Spain's tiki-taka seen anywhere on the international stage....