SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 1 comment

Should athletic scholarships come with a 4-year guarantee?: If you buy that star athletes are compensated with a valuable education, consider this complicating fact: An athletic scholarship is not a four-year educational guarantee. What few college sports fans—and not enough college recruits—realize is that a university can yank that scholarship after one, two, or three years without cause. Coach doesn’t like you? He’s free to cut you loose. Sitting the bench? You could lose your free ride to a new recruit. From Slate.com

posted by tahoemoj to culture at 03:13 PM - 4 comments

Rockies Eject Visiting Fan for Throwing Homer Back: Arizona Diamondbacks fan Joshua Pickett was ejected from a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field Thursday for throwing a Rockies home run back onto the field. "The guy told me I had a prize, then told me I'm getting thrown out," Pickett said. "I didn't think I did anything wrong. I've seen it all the time."

posted by rcade to baseball at 09:27 AM - 12 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 15 comments

scha·den·freu·de: "Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune."

posted by yerfatma to culture at 06:47 PM - 14 comments

Jose Molina makes batters very angry.:
A quick article and a collection of (small) animated gifs that show how lots of batter complaints from umps seem to be when Molina is behind the plate. His "framing pitches" is a continuous display of artistry.

posted by grum@work to baseball at 01:31 PM - 12 comments

Surviving life after the NFL: Former NFL linebacker George Koonce recently submitted to Marquette University a doctoral dissertation on transitioning from life outside the game. This column represents his personal experience, as told to NFC West blogger Mike Sando.

posted by apoch to football at 10:51 AM - 19 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 12 comments

High and Tight:: High and Tight: Our Rock & Roll Baseball Experts Pick the Best and Worst Big League Stadiums

posted by NoMich to baseball at 07:47 PM - 0 comments

Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed: Destroy it. Annihilate it. Collapse it with the sort of charges that put the Sands Hotel out of its misery in Vegas. Implosion or explosion, get rid of it. That pile of quaintness has to go. Not merely the structure, but the ground on which it stands.

posted by justgary to baseball at 08:33 AM - 30 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 15 comments

Where Are the Champions?: "An interactive map of every championship in the history of MLB, the NBA, the NHL, and the NFL."

posted by kirkaracha to general at 04:20 PM - 1 comment

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 8 comments

The next round of college football realignments may be under way: thanks to a rumor that bounced around about Florida State looking waaay westward to the Big 12. Just before the annual ACC meetings kicked off this weekend, the chairman of FSU's Board of Trustees came out in favor of exploring the possibility of jumping. Coach Jimbo Fisher came out in support of at least the possibility, forcing FSU President Eric Barron (a former Dean at the University of Texas, the biggest force in the Big 12) to deliver a smackdown memo detailing that there are no negotiations whatsoever and why the rumors need to stop. Which is, of course, going to have that exact effect, right?

posted by Etrigan to football at 08:01 PM - 18 comments

MLB Fires Arbitrator Who Unpunished Braun: Major League Baseball management has fired Shyam Das, the arbitrator who overturned Ryan Braun's drug suspension in February. Das served in the job for 13 years and could have been removed at any time with written notice by either the league or the player's association. "He served the parties with professionalism and distinction," union head Michael Weiner said.

posted by rcade to baseball at 07:41 PM - 9 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 12 comments

Manchester City Wins Premier League: With the first top-level championship in 44 years slipping from their grasp, Manchester City scored two goals in added time over QPR, winning the match 3-2 and snatching the Premier League crown from Manchester United. Sub Edin Dzeko scored the equalizer in the 92nd minute and Sergio Aguero rocketed the winner past goalie Paddy Kenny with under two minutes left. "City had played with their supporters' nerves to the point of brutality," writes Daniel Taylor for The Guardian.

posted by rcade to soccer at 12:46 PM - 17 comments

Lakers Win Game 7 Over Nuggets: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 96-87, in game 7 of their playoff series Saturday. Leading the Lakers, Pao Gasol had 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocked shots. Metta World Peace returned from suspension to score 15. L.A. has not lost a game 7 at home since the 1969 NBA Finals, when they were beaten by the heavy underdog Boston Celtics.

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:07 AM - 2 comments

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 0 comments

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 15 comments

AP: LeBron James Wins 3rd MVP in 4 Seasons: LeBron James will be announced Saturday as the NBA's MVP, an unnamed league source told AP. This would be the third time he's hoisted the Maurice in four seasons. Only four players have more: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan and Bill Russell (5) and Wilt Chamberlain (4).

posted by rcade to basketball at 09:59 PM - 2 comments

Nebraska Assistant Under Fire for Anti-Gay Beliefs: Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown is facing calls for his dismissal after he addressed the Omaha City Council in March to oppose a measure adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the city's anti-discrimination policy. "The question that I have for you all is, like Pontius Pilate, what are you going to do with Jesus?" Brown, a born-again Christian and preacher, asked the council. "You will be held to great accountability for the decision that you make." Omaha passed that measure. Brown wrote a letter to the local paper Sunday opposing a similar measure in Lincoln but did not appear before the council, possibly under pressure from university officials. He wrote that he would not discriminate against a gay athlete: "I have and will embrace every player I coach, gay or straight ... but I won't embrace a legal policy that supports a lifestyle that God calls sin."

posted by rcade to football at 03:38 PM - 26 comments

'I Touched the Ball Before It Went Out, Coach': Remember when the Bears were going to win the high school basketball championship over the Eagles, but our star player Alex blew it with his honesty? A video from the the Foundation for a Better Life.

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:22 PM - 8 comments

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 12 comments

CBS Golf Writer Mocks Overweight Players Championship Fan: While covering the first round of the Players Championship Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl., CBS Sports golf columnist Steve Elling calls a fan following Tiger Woods around "300 pounds of cottage cheese stuffed into a 200-pound sack" and posts seven more insulting comments about her on Twitter. Is this acceptable?

posted by rcade to golf at 06:09 PM - 22 comments

Terrelle Pryor: I Sold Uniform to Help Mother: Former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, punished by the NCAA for selling his uniform pants for $3,000, said he did it to help his mother pay her bills. "The reason why I did it was to pay my mother's gas bill and some of her rent," he told Sports Illustrated. "She was four months behind in rent. ... It was freezing cold in November, December, and she's using the oven as heat. ... Whenever I write my book, the proof will be in there, the receipt that the money I gave my mother was to pay the electric and heat bill. That's what I did as a kid. I was telling the NCAA, 'Please, anything that you can do. I gave my mother this so my sister wouldn't be cold, so my mother wouldn't be cold.' They didn't have any sympathy for me."

posted by rcade to football at 10:30 AM - 15 comments

High and Tight: : Our Rock & Roll Baseball Experts Discuss Uniforms – the Good, the Bad and the Fugly.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 07:04 AM - 7 comments

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 10 comments

NFL: Ex-Players Live Longer Than the Guys Who Watched Them: A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has found that pro football players outlive other American men. The NFL sent a newsletter to 3,200 retired players on Tuesday outlining the findings. Players in the study played for at least five seasons between 1959 and 1988, and were found to have lower rates of cancer (possibly due to lower smoking rates, which the study did not address) and heart disease (except for larger players, particularly defensive linemen). The NIOSH is currently studying neurological causes of death.

posted by Etrigan to football at 03:41 PM - 0 comments

NFL Player Quits Over Concussion Risk: After eight seasons in the NFL, offensive lineman Jacob Bell is retiring from the NFL at age 31 because of the sport's concussion risks. "I've been thinking about some different things, thinking about health, thinking about the future of my family having to deal with some kind of crazy disease that nobody even knows about, where people want their brains studied after they're dead," Bell said. "Donating their brains to research. It's just crazy to see how someone like Junior Seau took his own life over -- God knows what he was really struggling and dealing with. But you have to believe it came from the game of football. I want to get out before the game makes me get out, where I can get out on my own terms, and I can limit the amount of stress and negative impact that the game would leave on me."

posted by rcade to football at 02:36 PM - 9 comments

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 8 comments

Josh Hamilton Has 4-Homer Game in Baltimore: Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton hit four home runs Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles, going 5-for-5 with 8 RBI (the fifth hit was a double). Hamilton becomes the 16th player in big league history to hit four homers in a game and the first since Carlos Delgado in 2003.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:33 PM - 6 comments

The Eck: if you're getting paid to sit in front of a computer today, waste ten minutes with this. Then steal some paperclips.

posted by yerfatma to baseball at 09:27 PM - 3 comments

The Watchdog: a profile of Roger Goodell.

posted by yerfatma to football at 01:36 PM - 2 comments

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 30 comments

Cole Hamels Admits Hitting Bryce Harper on Purpose: Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels intentionally hit Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper with the first pitch he threw to him in the first inning of Sunday's game. "I was trying to hit him. I'm not going to deny it," Hamels said. "I'm just trying to continue the old baseball. ... It's just, 'Welcome to the big leagues.'" Harper stole home on Hamels that inning and Nats pitcher Jordan Zimmerman hit Hamels with a pitch. The Phillies won 9-3.

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:38 AM - 37 comments

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

posted by huddle to general at 06:00 AM - 22 comments

How to go 0-8 and still win the ballgame: if your DH isn't getting it done as a DH, pretend there's no such thing as a DH rule and make him pitch.

posted by lil_brown_bat to baseball at 09:27 PM - 9 comments

Bob Ryan: 'Football is Inherently Unsafe': Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan: "I am a lifelong fan of football. I am well-versed in its history. I revel in the collegiate pageantry. I like my NFL Sundays as much as the next guy. ... I rate the 2001 Snow Game for the AFC championship as one of the top five sporting events I have ever covered. But you knew there was going to be a but -- the basic mentality of the game has troubled me for a long, long time."

posted by rcade to football at 03:36 PM - 15 comments

Chelsea Beats Liverpool 2-1 to Win FA Cup: Chelsea defeated Liverpool 2-1 Saturday in England's FA Cup final. Didier Drogba's goal, which made him the first player to score in four finals, proved decisive. Second-half substitute Andy Carroll scored one goal for Liverpool and was centimeters from another, a screaming header that Chelsea goalie Peter Cech kept from fully crossing the line. Chelsea's road to victory in the oldest competition in club football went through Portsmouth, QPR, Birmingham City, Leicester, Tottenham Hotspur and finally Liverpool.

posted by rcade to soccer at 12:48 PM - 9 comments