yo Page 722 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

New Zealand Hockey Initiation Is, Uh, Special
In these days of summer swelter, the thought of going for a Crocodile Mile-type slide to cool me down is enticing. That doesn't make viewing these pictures or the video after the jump of what appears to be a standard initiation rite in New Zealand hockey: stripping down to your skivvies and sliding...

Downward Facing Dog FTW!
Because National Public Radio is into recherche subjects like competitive yoga, one of their correspondents filed a story from a yoga dojo (yeah, I know that's not the right term, they're actually yoga studios *sniffs own fart* but that's froufrou) in Oregon that is at the leading edge of competiti...

Ladies Still Swarm The Swami
Busted Coverage got their bra-unfastening hand on a few photos of Chris Berman hugging up on some lovelies at the U.S. Open. The girl in the fuchsia (that is what that color is, right?) shirt would seem to be getting a little personal, until I tell you Berman had one of those glowing arc reactors ...

Sir Sidney Gives Up No Runs; Probably Ate Them All
Sidney Ponson made his unceremonious (only to Ponson, as ceremonious occasions usually have bacon gravy) return to the Yankees in the second half of a two-ballpark doubleheader yesterday with the cross-Gotham Mets. And he laid into them like they were an Aruban judge, tossing six shutout innings in ...

Say Hello To A-Rod's New Friends
A pretty outstanding tidbit that was missed in all the madness yesterday: You remember when the Brewers ended up staying at the same hotel as a Furries convention? Well, that happened again this week, in Pittsburgh, and guess what team ended up in the Pittsburgh hotel this time?...

Here Kid, Have A Mercedes
So there's this occupation in European soccer called boot boy, which is a kind of apprenticeship in which a young player does chores around the clubhouse (so I'm told). The pay is low, but I hear the tips are fabulous. This item is a couple of weeks old, but it's the first I've heard of it: Birmingh...

Jason Giambi Has Become A '70s Porn King
Jason Giambi has dyed his mustache. That made this happen. Heavens to Betsy....

SuperYid Youkilis Drubs The Hardly Punchless RedBirds
Slate's Robert Weintraub, like many of us, loves the old purple prose of early 1900s sportswriting, the Grantland Rices, the men who painted epic tales of warriors, grizzled combatants and lardywarks too manly to wear gloves. In an occasional series, Weintraub writes about the week's best baseball g...

Youth Golfers Get Blindsided By Boob-Infested Golf Outing
A golf team of pre-teen youngsters got a little more than they expected when they showed up for their junior club golf outing on Monday. Due to a scheduling "miscommunication" the lucky kids got to share the clubhouse with the annual Shotgun Willie's Charity Golf Tournament, an event sponsored by a ...

Much Excitement In The Area Where The Allegheny And Monongahela Converge To Form The Ohio River
Wouldn't it be ironic — in a fun, cosmic sort of way — if the turning point for the Pittsburgh Pirates' franchise came on Tuesday night? It was the first time since 1960 that the New York Yankees had played in Pittsburgh, when, as you surely recall, Bill Mazeroski won Game 7 of the World Series with...

To Watch Tonight
What to watch while wondering why it's always Ohio... • MLB: Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs. I'm told they're not fond of each other, and with good reason. [ESPN] • NBC: Olympics: U.S. Olympic Qualifying, Women's Gymnastics. Make.It.Stop. • Show: Weeds, in case you missed Monday's season premier....

For Your Sunday Afternoon Viewing Pleasure
• 12:15 — Documentary: Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed. Don't worry, it's only an hour and fifteen minutes, and it's tremendous. [HBO] • 1:30 — MLB: St. Louis Cardinals at Boston Red Sox. [TBS] • 1:30 — Formula One: Grand Prix of France. There will be cheese; BYOW. [FOX] • 1:30 — IndyCar Racing: ...

Olympic Qualifying Is Intense
In case you weren't aware, Olympic qualifying is underway, and the resulting pictures are quite a bit more entertaining than the trials themselves. Continue after the jump for four more faces of agony from yesterday's diving and gymnastics events....

When Jelly Wrestling Gets Ugly
Normally I wouldn't deign to write about such a mindless activity as collegiate jelly wrestling, but this story is way too good to pass up. The Daily Mail (via Unprofessional Foul) comes the story of a Cambridge lass who took a match of jelly wrestling a bit too seriously....

Why Didn't Anyone Try This On Donaghy?
The New Castle County soccer league of Delaware might not be home to the kind of grace and skill we've seen from Euro 2008, but their games sure as hell sound entertaining. Ranord A. "Not Pacman" Jones disagreed with a referee's call, so the player reacted as any of us would, by taking a chunk out ...

New Yankee Stadium Determined To Rid Itself Of That Offensive "Hallowed Ground" Moniker
For those worried that the new Yankee Stadium scheduled to open next season will undermine the legacy of its storied predecessor, well, you're probably right. It appears the shiny new Bronx ballpark is poised to be more mallpark than ballpark, given some of the amenities it will have inside. Like, y...


Yankees Officially The Hottest Team In Baseball. Discuss
Joba Chamberlain pitched well, but didn't get the decision. Alex Rodriguez singled in the go-ahead run. Derek Jeter, his pillow wet from tears, was 2-for-3 with a run scored. The Yankees beat the Padres 2-1 on Thursday for their seventh straight win — New York's longest winning streak of the season...

Bloggers Are Half Joe Camel, A Third Fonzarelli
The Boston Phoenix ran a story this week — complete with Simmons quotes! — about that whole mainstream sports reporters vs. bloggers business that we are extremely looking forward to being over. There has already been a ton of discussion about it, but we're not going to get into that this morning b...

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Day
ESPN scoured its message boards this morning to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comment, and chose this one above all others ......