x Page 732 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Undead And Uptight: <em>World War Z</em>, Reviewed.
1. At this point, the zombie movie has gone through just about every permutation possible, from its low-budget schlock horror roots all the way into the world of comedy, faux-documentary, Western, even romance. The one thing we haven't seen yet from the zombie genre, at least until the release of W...
Bitter and Beat by the Heat
Eliot Asinof is most famous for writing Eight Men Out. (He is less famous for once being married to Marlon Brando’s sister.) Asinof played minor league ball in the Phillies system for three years before World War II. His first book Man on Spikes was published in 1955 and to my mind is one of the bes...
Twins Ballboy Makes Nifty Leaping Catch
As the announcers watched the replay of this, one of them said, "You've got to have some skills to be a ballboy." So what skills are required of the ballboys (or ballgirls!) who work along the foul lines? Let's list 'em:...
Brawling And Boozing With The Rats Of Yankee Stadium
Lasting Yankee Stadium Memories, edited by yours truly, is out in paperback now. To celebrate, here's an essay from the late George Kimball. It's about Yankee Stadium II, Billy Martin, finks and phonies, brawling, and, of course, drinking with Bill "Spaceman" Lee....
The Fan Who Wasn't There
Ten years ago I interviewed my former employer Ethan Coen about baseball. As a man of few words it was a terse but revealing conversation. ...
Johnny Manziel Was All Pissed Off Because Of A Parking Ticket
When Johnny Manziel said something something on Twitter something something bullshit something something he can't wait to leave College Station something something, the world wanted to know what was bugging him before he deleted his words....
Texas A&M Initially Suspended Johnny Manziel After His 2012 Arrest
The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel faced a season-long suspension after a June 2012 arrest for a role in a barroom brawl, and had the suspension been upheld, Manziel would have transferred from College Station....
Entourage
From SI back in April of 1988, here's Gary Smith: "Ali and His Entourage":...
Tuesday Night Fights: UFC Fans Brawlin' At Buffalo Wild Wings
Welcome to Tuesday Night Fights, a weekly celebration and analysis of street-fight videos found on YouTube. Tonight's fisticuffs: "Huge Brawl at Buffalo Wild Wings." Tonight's commentator: A response from corporate. (Coming next week: A high-point in street-fight cinematography history.)...
Pixar Inches Back On Track: <em>Monsters University</em>, Reviewed.
Monsters University isn't amazing. Yet it is bright, shiny, amusing, and charming, and after the disappointing Cars 2 and Brave, it's a relief to leave a Pixar movie feeling properly entertained. It wasn't always that way; the animation studio once delivered gems on a consistent basis. But Pixar spo...
What's The Proper Way To Seat Two Couples At A Sporting Event?
I've been traveling a lot lately, and since I'm Mister Big Fancypants Author Person, I've been put up in nice hotels—the kind of boutique hotels where, if my parents were staying there, they wouldn't be able to figure out how to turn the lights on and shit. And the remarkable thing about these hotel...
Who Shot Battling Siki? The Life And Murder Of A Prizefighter
Originally published in 1949 in The New Yorker and anthologized in The World of John Lardner. Reprinted with permission of Susan Lardner. For more on John Lardner, read Alex Belth's introduction to a new Lardner collection, Southwest Passage....
A Sportswriter Goes To War: John Lardner In The Pacific Theater
From my introduction to Southwest Passage: The Yanks in the Pacific. ...
LeBron's New Shoe Refers To Him As A Two-Time Champion
This here is a picture of the sockliner of the new LeBron X shoe, which boasts a fancy floral colorway. It's kind of weird that it says "2-time champion" because, you know, LeBron is just a one-time champion right now, and he will continue to be one for the foreseeable future if the Heat lose to the...
The Real McCoy
Another classic from Lardner, "The Life and Loves of the Real McCoy":...
Lede Time
Michael MacCambridge does us all a mitzvah with his "Director's Cut" series over at Grantland. Earlier this year he blessed us with one of Lardner's best profiles, "Down Great Purple Valleys," which is most famous for its first sentence:...
Johnny Manziel Sounds Unhappy At Texas A&M
Thanks to the few tipsters who passed along this since-deleted tweet from Johnny Football early Sunday morning. Don't sweat it though, Johnny, whatever the bullshit was, it sounds like it was straight up bullshit. Still, don't be so quick to get out, you're the king of the world in college....
Alex Cobb Struck In Head By Line Drive (UPDATE)
During today's Rays-Royals game, pitcher Alex Cobb was hit in the head by a line drive that came off of Eric Hosmer's bat. He left the field on a stretcher....