w Page 4843 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

One Flew Over The Broadcast Booth
Monday's nagging question is, where's Mr. Belvedere when you really need him? Absent a fussy English butler to turn away crazies at the door, Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker has been left to his own devices to fend off dedicated fans apparent mental cases like Ann Ladd. The Smoking Gun reports that...

Togo Already Dominating The World Cup
On Thursday, Togo's chief voodoo priest predicted that Togo's World Cup team would win the entire tournament, which is exceedingly unlikely. I think he had his signals confused a little bit, but hey, he was close. Miss Togo did win the Miss World Cup pagent....

To Watch Tonight...
• MLB: Angels @ Indians. The last time I watched CC Sabathia on a Sunday Night on ESPN, it didn't go that well for him. 8:00, ESPN. • Movie: Top Gun. If you need a sports connection, there is that homoerotic volleyball scene. 7:30, Spike. • College Softball: ESPN2: Games 13 & 14. I feel for the ESPN...

Accompanying The Heat And Tom Petty To The NBA Finals...
And your NBA Finals are set: It's old school vs. new school. It's a friendly, non-threatening German vs. The Diesel. It's a young, energetic, wide-smiling head coach vs. a crusty old man who hasn't smiled since 1983....

Taking Steps Towards Shaq...
A Dallas win tonight could set up a Finals matchup between two of the most media-friendly guys in the league: Shaquille O'Neal and Mark Cuban. I believe it would be the first appearance in the NBA Finals for any team that was owned by a man with his own blog....

To Watch Tonight...
• MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks @ Atlanta Braves. It's the back-end of a Fred Smoot Special today between the D'Backs and Bravos. 7:00, TBS. • NBA Playoffs: Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns. For the first time in about three months, there's no basketball on tomorrow night. So enjoy this one. 8:30 pm, TNT...

Today In Soccer...
• Your World Cup Togo Update: The Togoans, or Togoites, or Togolese players, whatever it is that they're called, are demanding 155,000 euros each to even play in the tournament, plus 30,000 euros for each win and 15,000 for each draw. The government says "No, we're poor, and you suck." It might tu...

Ricky's Canadian Debut
Ricky Williams made his Canadian Football League debut last night in a pre-season exhibition game for the Toronto Argonauts. It looks like Ricky's domination of the Canadian game is not a given. He had seven yards on four carries. And I think his numbers get even worse when you consider the exchan...

Joey Porter Manages Not To Kill And Eat The President
The Steelers finally made their visit to the White House yesterday, with President Bush playing host to the Super Bowl champions. Here are some quotes from his speech:...

Week In Deadspin: He Sees All
• Carl Monday, Freedom Fighter. • George Bodenheimer is a fool for romance. • Larry Hughes puts his clothes where his heart is. • How have we survived without Roger Clemens in our lives? • Your two-time NBA MVP. • Carson Palmer, cornholer. • We have World Cup fever, and we're not the least bit ash...

To Watch Tonight
What to watch if for no other reason than to avoid this. • College Softball: NCAA Division I, World Series, at Oklahoma City. Enough slap hitting, bunting and striking out to last twelve lifetimes. But we kid college softball ... [ESPN2] • Motor sports: NASCAR Nextel Cup, pole qualifying for Neighbo...

Your Last World Cup News Of The Day
The Mighty MJD points us to a Web site of considerable terror: Heal Rooney, a page featuring a huge picture (purportedly) of injured England striker Wayne Rooney, who is still in danger of missing the World Cup. The premise of the site, apparently, is for you, the user, to roll your mouse over Roo...

World Cup Preview: Group C
The World Cup is almost here! So that you aren't caught flat-footed, we're previewing each group, in no particular order, to explain why your team has no chance to win (you'll thank us later). Today: Group C! If you have any thoughts on a particular group, send them to [email protected]. Our opera...

Bonds' Anti-Climactic Trip To Shea
We've been fortunate enough, during our time here in New York, to see the Shea Stadium crowd riled up a few times, including our favorite, John Rocker's return to Shea for the first time, in June 2000, since his infamous 7 train remarks. (As was typical at the time, the crowd booed him lustily, an...

A Guide For The Casual Soccer Fan
So we know there are still a lot of stragglers around these parts either uninterested by the World Cup or intimidated by their lack of inherent knowledge of the proceedings. That's OK, of course: We are not a nation who grew up gathered around the radio listening to soccer games. We have some catc...

Is It Good To Be Dirk Nowitzki?
We've figured out why Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, despite scoring 50 points in a Game 5 victory of massive import and generally making that leap into alpha dog status that we require of all our superstars, always fails to appropriately inspire us the way that, say, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade...

To Watch Tonight
What to watch as you tell the other Berea boys downtown what you're in for ... • MLB: New York Yankees at Detroit. New York goes for four-game sweep as Leyland increases to eight packs a day. [ESPN] • NBA Playoffs: Western Conference finals, Game 5, Phoenix at Dallas. As long as we know that Mark Cu...

Chris Berman Knows Not Of Your Velvet Rope!
Not that it's particularly difficult to piss off a group of beat reporters — typically, a smile or similar expression of anything resembling joy will do it — but it appears our favorite Leather aficionado appears to have pulled it off at the Yankees-Tigers game the other evening....

BREAKING: If That's Wrong, We Don't Want To Be Right!
This just in: You really don't want to mess with Carl Monday....