w Page 4382 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Let's Not Forget That Alabama Also Added Five Iffy National Championships
Texas A&M is (deservedly) taking a lot of shit for deciding over the summer to add two very questionable national titles to their history. But they're far from the only school to count championships awarded by obscure polls or retroactively applied formulas. Why, their new conference-mate Alabama is...

Paul Thomas Anderson: Waiting For <em>The Master</em>
In late July, the Weinstein Company announced it would be releasing The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie, on September 14, which is early for an Oscar candidate. Most Best Picture nominees come out no sooner than October so that they're as fresh as possible in voters' minds. Nonetheless, the...

The Why Your Team Sucks Butthurt Awards
“Butthurt” is an awful word. Its origins are almost certainly tied to the “Bros icing bros” movement of aught-ten, as in, “Aw bro! You’re just BUTTHURT because I iced you while Tina was givin’ you a Jeff Smoker, bro!” We at Deadspin generally go out of our way to avoid using it, because it’s a short...

Saints Players' Bountygate Suspensions Overturned On Appeal
The NFLPA, arguing on behalf of four members of the Saints who were suspended for their roles in New Orleans' bounty scandal, was actually fighting the war on two fronts. There was one lawsuit in federal court, and a second, quieter appeal to a three-member panel, challenging Goodell's jurisdiction ...

<em>Sports Illustrated</em> Senior Writer Calls ESPN A "Cesspool," Unethical
Well, surprise, surprise. ESPN finds itself in yet-another dust-up with its journalistic practices....

<i>Game Of Thrones</i> House Sigils, As Re-Imagined By A Nike Designer
Darrin Crescenzi is a Portland-based graphic designer, and something of a go-to guy for Nike. He's responsible for, among other things, the Team USA Olympic jerseys, Nike's Livestrong campaign, and various logos and brandmarks going back half a decade. These are all corporate things that are hard fo...

It's Women's Semis Day At The U.S. Open. Let's Watch It Together
Every year, the Friday after Labor Day provides a pretty awesome respite: Two women's U.S. Open semifinals, played in the middle of the afternoon. It helps shorten the already short week. First up: French Open champ Maria Sharapova against Aussie Open champ Victoria Azarenka. Then we've got Serena W...


"They Won't Magically Turn You Into A Lustful Cockmonster": Chris Kluwe Explains Gay Marriage To The Politician Who Is Offended By An NFL Player Supporting It
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has spoken out in favor of a Maryland ballot initiative that would legalize gay marriage. Yahoo has published a letter that Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote last week to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, urging him to "inhibit such expressi...

Ask Black Crowes Drummer (And Nashville Sports-Talk Radio Host) Steve Gorman About Being A Rock Star And Stuff
Steve Gorman is a founding member of the Black Crowes, and he remains their drummer. He's also an avid sports fan, and since January he's hosted his own afternoon weekday program on Nashville radio station 102.5 The Game. Gorman, who says the Black Crowes are still together even though they haven't ...

Texas A&M Picked Up Two National Championships, Two Conference Titles Over The Summer
You're looking at two photos of Texas A&M's Kyle Field, both via Rant Sports. The top was taken last season, the bottom snapped just this week. Pretend this is one of those "spot the differences" bar games, and see if you can tell what's new. Yep, the Aggies' history managed to get a lot more storie...

The USTA Told This Stellar Junior Player She Was Too Fat For The U.S. Open
Taylor Townsend is a 16-year-old tennis phenom. She's the No. 1 ranked girls junior and won the Australian Open juniors tournament earlier this year....

Are You Ready For Many, Many More Years Of Chris Berman? ESPN Is.
Two months ago, there was buzz in Bristol that Chris Berman was on the verge of re-signing a big contract. Bristolites were surprised. First, his contract wasn't set to expire till May 2013, so why do anything 10 months before? Especially since ESPN let plenty of prominent contracts go down to the w...

Exclusive: Tyler Palko Is Not Working At A Shoe Store In South Dakota
NESN.com published a report on Thursday that said Tyler Palko, the former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, was now working at a shoe store in Aberdeen, S.D. The source of this extraordinary news was Wikipedia, and NESN.com helpfully added this:...

ESPN Spokesman Comments On ESPN Spokesman's No-Comment On ESPN's Big 12 TV Deal
This morning, the Big 12 Conference officially announced a 13-year media deal shared between ABC/ESPN and Fox. But the news had already been reported earlier, yesterday afternoon, by ESPN.com college football reporter Brett McMurphy. That meant, given ESPN's attempts to keep its programming and edit...

The Existential Farce Of A Royals Pitching Change
I believe there is a hell, and it's always early September there. Your team is long out of playoff contention, forever playing out the string, yet the season never ends. Just meaningless game after meaningless game, and football is supposed to start soon, but it never comes. The game goes to extra i...

Lions Fan Named Shawn Payton Sentenced For Calling In Superdome Bomb Threats During Playoffs
Back in January, Detroit's return to the playoffs was a bit of a thud, getting blown out in the second half by the once-and-future dome offense in New Orleans. But it wasn't for lack of trying, especially on the part of Shawn Payton, from Jackson, Mich. Payton was watching the game at home, and he d...

NBC Broke Even On The London Olympics, So Get Ready For More Tape Delays And Crappy Online Streaming
The lasting legacy of these recent London Olympics wasn't Ryan Lochte's epic bro-ness or McKayla Maroney's perpetual disinterest in everything, but rather it was #NBCfail, the hashtag that, over the course of 17 days, came to signify the complete ineptness of a media conglomerate to please its wider...

Paul Ryan Allegedly Ran His One And Only Marathon "On A Whim" After Three Weeks Of Training
We're all aware Paul Ryan is in very good shape, as a longtime devotee to P90X, and his feats of athletic impressiveness are becoming well known. He's run a marathon! He's climbed mountains! Except that's where the facts have been getting fuzzy as of late. The marathon kerfuffle, which happened when...

Joe Biden Was Ecstatic When He Learned We Finally Got A College Football Playoff
We take a rare excursion away from sports today, as this screencap is simply too good not to post. The Vice President delivered a rousing acceptance speech for his re-nomination last night in Charlotte, though it's unclear exactly why he felt it necessary to do the Joker routine....