west Page 75 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How Would An NCAA Union Actually Work? A Guide For Perplexed Pundits
The real triumph of the decades-long propaganda war against organized labor isn't best seen in the ever-declining rate of unionization, or ever-increasing income inequality, or even the way the word "union" functionally works as an epithet. It's seen, instead, in the fact that so many otherwise smar...

Northwestern Players Win First Step Toward Union Recognition
The director of the National Labor Relations Board's Chicago district ruled today that Northwestern football players do qualify as employees, and as such are entitled to form a union. This is as big as it sounds, but there is a ways to go before amateurism as we know it is ended....
![Russell Westbrook Knocked Out Of Game With Knee Injury [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/Image_Not_Found_1x_qjofp8.png)
Russell Westbrook Knocked Out Of Game With Knee Injury [UPDATE]
Russell Westbrook, whose knee injury kept him out of most of last year's NBA playoffs as well as numerous games this season, had to be helped off the court tonight in Toronto after suffering what the Thunder are calling a knee sprain. ...

San Diego Legend Ted Leitner Melts Down On-Air Over Suitcase Incident
Ted Leitner's best known as the voice of the San Diego Padres, but the longtime broadcaster also serves as the play-by-play man for San Diego State athletics. With just over a minute remaining in the Aztecs' thriller against New Mexico today at the Mountain West Conference title game in Las Vegas, a...

Why I Thought About Murdering My NBA Coach (And Why I Didn't Do It)
Spencer Haywood, aka Weedie, aka Driftwood, had one of the most significant and controversial careers in professional basketball history, with a landmark Supreme Court victory at one end and a druggy, nearly violent washout at the other. His legacy is still very much in dispute. Last year, Haywood w...

Russell Westbrook And Patrick Beverley Still Don't Like Each Other
Russell Westbrook still despises Patrick Beverley, as was made clear early in tonight's Rockets-Thunder game....

WVU Upsets Kansas; Fans Storm Court With Giant Richie Incognito Face
The Mountaineers upset No. 8 Kansas this afternoon 92-86 and the students stormed the court in celebration. One fan also brought along an enormous Richie Incognito face. What is the rule for storming the court with a giant Richie Incognito face? ...

Russell Westbrook Needed Only 21 Minutes To Get A Triple-Double
Yes, it was against what is essentially a D-League team, but Russell Westbrook's 21-minute bludgeoning of the 76ers is worth being excited about. 13 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes isn't something that just happens to a guy coming off his second knee surgery of the year. 13 points...

What It Was Like Being The Only Virgin On Magic's Hypersexed Lakers
The following is excerpted from Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, which is available now on Amazon....

How A Hockey Fight Goes From Routine To Scary In One Punch
Kevin Westgarth and Luke Gazdic fought last night during the Flames-Oilers game, and it was a rather even match. Just as the commentators observed the length of the brawl, Gazdic knocked Westgarth out with one final punch. Westgarth bounced his head hard off of the ice and didn't return to the game....

Michael Sam Gets A Standing Ovation At Mizzou Basketball Game
On Saturday, Michael Sam made his first public appearance on the Mizzou campus since coming out as gay. At halftime of the Tennessee-Missouri basketball game, Sam came onto the court to accept the 2014 Cotton Bowl championship trophy. He received an outpouring of support from the fans in attendance...

Best In Show Winner Gets Frisky With The <i>Good Morning America</i> Crew
That's Sky, the five-year-old wire fox terrier that won best in show at Westminster last night, getting right to the point with George Stephanopoulos on the set of Good Morning America. ...

Kung Fu Fight Breaks Out In Iowa State-West Virginia Blowout
Eleventh-ranked Iowa State suffered its worst loss of the year tonight in Morgantown, as WVU trounced the Cyclones 102-77. But it's a wild sequence of events late that left both teams charged with flagrant fouls after ISU's Dustin Hogue delivered a flying kick to an opponent while the Mountaineers' ...

A Blueprint For Unionizing College Sports
On Tuesday, we learned that the Northwestern football team had filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board in an attempt to unionize and officially become classified as university employees. Thomas Frampton, an attorney and co-author of A Union of Amateurs: A Legal Blueprint to Reshape B...

The NCAA Should Pray That Players Are Able To Form A Union
Originally published in Bloomberg View....

The West Is OKC's Until Kevin Durant Says Otherwise
In the four weeks since Russell Westbrook's arthroscopic surgery, the Oklahoma City Thunder has fallen from 23-5 (.821) to 33-10 (.767) — that is, the team has racked up half its losses during just 15 games. Westbrook's major stats this season (21.4 points, 6.0 boards, 7.0 assists, 1.8 steals) all t...

Northwestern To Wear Stupid Custom Uniforms Yet Again
On Sunday, Northwestern, aka the Billy Zabka Finishing School for the Villains of John Hughes Movies, will take the floor against Illinois wearing the disastrous uniform you see above. This basketball uni isn't nearly as bad as the "Wounded Warrior" getup that the school's football team wore earlier...

Russell Westbrook Is Out Until After The All-Star Break
Russell Westbrook underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today, and will be out until after the All-Star break, reports Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. ...

Kanye's Latest Tour Freestyle Has Him Lamenting MJ's Bulls Exit
Kanye West was in Chicago on tour a couple days ago, so of course he took time out of his set to sing/rap/talk about Michael Jordan whom he considers to be "one of the most influential people in our civilization." Yes, it was as glorious as it sounds....

You Can Totally See Tim Duncan In These Clouds From The Yeezus Tour
A reader, who is not at all crazy and is totally onto something here, just sent us the following email with the above picture attached:...