west Page 80 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A Skeptic's Guide To The 2012 Heisman Trophy
Remember the lullaby afternoons of September, when we all figured we'd see a Heisman winner who merited the award? Maybe a Geno Smith, slinging the ball all over the yard, or even a Matt Barkley, who despite being named after Big Bird's dog had the right pedigree and weaponry (Robert Woods and Marqu...

Five Players Ejected From Marshall-WVU Game As Kick To The Balls Turns "Friends Of Coal" Game Unfriendly
The intrastate rivalry between West Virginia and Marshall has been nasty of late both on the football field and basketball court, and the annual Capital Classic game (featuring a massive, full-court logo from "Friends of Coal") turned ugly again tonight in Charleston as the Herd's Robert Goff deli...

West Virginia Won't Let Its Mascot Kill Things With His School-Issued Musket Anymore
Yesterday we brought you West Virginia, in video form: the WVU mascot killing a black bear with his musket, while the fight song played and the hunters whooped and hollered....

West Virginia Student Mascot Shoots A Bear; Bear Falls Out Of A Tree; Everyone Hollers
According to the YouTube description, this is Jonathan Kimble, the senior who's spending this year as the Mountaineer, WVU's (human) mascot. The costume includes coonskin cap, buckskin jacket, and a usually-unloaded musket. It's black bear season and Kimble proved, at the expense of a bear driven ...

College ShameDay: Who Embarrassed Themselves In 2012? (Besides USC, Iowa, And The Tom Selleck Impersonator At Boston College)?
Our weekly college football shame index. ...

Soccer Player Wipes Ass With Money, Brits Lose Their Shit
West Bromwich defender Liam Ridgewell won a bet with a friend about eight months ago and took the picture you see to the right as a way of gloating. He didn't tweet it or post it to his facebook account by accident, but somehow someone got a hold of it and sent it to the tabloids. You won't find a ...

Reports: The Big Ten Wants Maryland And Rutgers
Pat Forde and ESPN are reporting that serious talks are afoot to fold Maryland and Rutgers into the Big Ten. Not only would that create a 14-member conference that'd surely be the biggest Ten in the world, it would reopen the scabby wound of major conference realignment. The ACC, the Terps' current ...

You Probably Shouldn't Trust SportsNation About Sports Betting
So the Old Spice Classic hasn't happened yet. It starts on Nov. 22, Thanksgiving, with West Virginia, Gonzaga, Davidson, Clemson, Marist, UTEP, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt battling to win all the deodorant. ESPN polled its loyal subjects, and they like West Virginia to win. But why, oh, why?...

Late Contender For Most Infantilizing Headline Of The Year: "Dez Bryant Stays Out Past Midnight"
That's sitting atop this piece on ESPN-it's on ESPN's frontpage headline feed as "Cowboys' Bryant gets permission to be out late"-about Dez Bryant's 24th birthday, which is tomorrow. Dez has been living under strict rules, enforced by Cowboys employees and personal advisers, ever since he assaulted...

Delonte West Tweeted His Résumé For NBA Teams, And He Cited Bleacher Report As A Reference
Let's see now. Uh huh. Right, right, right. Eight years in the NBA with, uh, four teams. And you know, I just loved that Saint Joe's team you played for. What year was that, ‘04? And who was it, John Lucas who made that shot that kept you guys out of the Final Four? That had to just … yeah, yeah, so...

Report: OKC Has Traded James Harden To Houston
Everyone's favorite out-of-town NBA team just got approximately 40 percent less cool if Y! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski's reporting is accurate:...

College ShameDay: Who Embarrassed Themselves On Saturday (Besides West Virginia And Steve Spurrier)?
Our weekly college football shame index. ...

Al Capone Once Got A Motorcade Escort Into The Northwestern-Nebraska Game
Today Nebraska and Northwestern play their sixth game in a rivalry that began in 1902. As the Huskers are a recent refugee to the Big Ten, this will be the first trip for Nebraska to Evanston since October 1931. Among the spectators in that game, according to this delightful clipping the Northwester...
![If You Haven't Been Paying Attention, West Virginia's Geno Smith Is Having An Insane Year [UPDATE: Now With Geno Smith Ineptitude GIF]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/182xyfmaie6rwjpg.jpg)
If You Haven't Been Paying Attention, West Virginia's Geno Smith Is Having An Insane Year [UPDATE: Now With Geno Smith Ineptitude GIF]
Geno Smith leads the FBS in quarterback rating by more than twenty points. He's third in passing yards total (and, as of this afternoon, has played in a game less than either of those ahead of him, who he'll surely surpass), and his completion percentage leads the FBS by four points, despite throwin...

Here's How Tavon Austin Dominated The First Quarter With Just Six Touches
It's not too often you get to see a player that doesn't line up in the backfield dominate a game over a stretch of time, but it happened for a quarter tonight. Mountaineers wide receiver and kick returner Tavon Austin finished the first quarter of tonight's WVU-Texas game with 166 all-purpose yard...

Happy Valley Happy, NU Grads Less So, As Matt McGloin And The Nittany Lions Upset Northwestern
Penn State's football program may be on its way to the cathartic comeback predicted here and there at the beginning of the season. After starting the year with consecutive losses to a very good Ohio University team and a pretty bad UVA team, Bill O'Brien's squad has won four straight, including its ...

Sign Of The Apocalypse: Mass Child Lead Poisoning
For nearly two decades, Sports Illustrated has stirred the tea leaves to discern a weekly Sign of the Apocalypse. Deadspin salutes the magazine's ongoing effort to cover the end of times but declines to cede the scoop on the biggest event in world history....

Deadspin's College Football Top 25 Or So: Mountain Fastness
It's time for a new installment of Deadspin's college football rankings. As always, the teams are ranked according to the logic and values of college football, no matter how bizarre or contradictory they may be. ...

Damien Echols Of The West Memphis Three Is Here To Answer Your Questions
Earlier today, we ran an excerpt from Damien Echols's new book, Life After Death, about his time on death row following his wrongful conviction in the murder of three 8-year-old boys. If you haven't yet, be sure to give it a read. The book is available on Amazon....
