Sean Salisbury Sues Deadspin for Defamation: Former NFL quarterback and ESPN broadcaster Sean Salisbury has sued the sports blog Deadspin for civil defamation, claiming the site has a "long-running smear campaign" against him that caused him to lose two jobs. "Unburdened by the truth or any pretense of journalistic standards, Deadspin ignored the facts and instead repeated the malicious lie that Mr. Salisbury 'allegedly' engaged in 'sexting,' which prompting his firing," the filing states. "Deadspin has continued to taunt Mr. Salisbury in emails from Deadspin contributors and has even mockingly asked Mr. Salisbury why he has not filed suit. Deadspin now has its answer."

posted by rcade to general at 03:07 PM - 14 comments

The Tormentor: Does every major sports city have another city that exists simply to torment them?

posted by TheQatarian to general at 10:24 PM - 4 comments

4-year-old performs Miracle speech: Josh Sacco has seen the movie Miracle nearly 150 times. Apparently, the movie has made quite an impression on the young fan.

posted by BoKnows to general at 10:58 PM - 0 comments

Arrest Made in Erin Andrews Stalking Case: The FBI has arrested a Chicago man on charges of surreptitiously filming ESPN reporter Erin Andrews in her hotel room and attempting to sell the videos to TMZ. Michael David Barrett, 48, faces federal charges of interstate stalking. FBI agents believe Barrett called many hotels to find out where she was staying and requested a hotel room next to hers, then filmed her through a modified door peephole with a cellphone camera.

posted by rcade to general at 09:42 AM - 11 comments

Judge: NCAA records on Fla. St. cheating public: A top official at the NCAA said a court ruling Thursday that documents dealing with cheating at Florida State are public records sets a precedent that will "rip the heart out of the NCAA" and its efforts to ensure competition is fair and equal.

posted by jemikeos to general at 11:25 PM - 5 comments

Bolt Wins 200 in World Record Time: Usain Bolt ran 19.19 to win the 200 meters at the IAAF Championships. Holy speedster, Batman!

posted by jjzucal to general at 03:12 PM - 12 comments

SEC Thinks It Can Ban Fans from Posting to Twitter, YouTube: Fresh off its $3 billion, 15-year television deal that is the richest in college football, the Southeastern Conference has issued a new media policy that forbids fans during games from posting to Twitter or posting photos or video on Facebook, YouTube or Flickr. "I would guess that they're realizing that anyone can be a reporter or a broadcaster these days," said Mike Masnick of Techdirt.

posted by rcade to general at 10:50 AM - 14 comments

New Cowboys Stadium Features World's Largest HDTV: Just got home from the new $1.15 billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where I saw Chelsea defeat Club America in the deciding game of the World Football Challenge. The stadium is wonder of the world huge, with the world's largest clear-span roof, an interior tall enough to hold the Statue of Liberty, the world's largest retractable roof and the world's largest HDTV, a 160-foot long, 72-foot tall behemoth that has to be seen to be believed. The TV, which showed the match as it happened live, deserves a name of its own. I dubbed it Telemanjaro.

posted by rcade to general at 12:06 AM - 21 comments

Ed O'Bannon Leads Class Action Suit by Former Athletes Against NCAA: Former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed for all current and former Division I-A football and men’s basketball athletes against the NCAA. The suit, sparked by O'Bannon's continued use in an EA Sports video game for which he gets no compensation, claims the NCAA "has illegally deprived former student-athletes" from revenue streams including DVDs, video games, memorabilia, photographs, television rebroadcasts and use in advertising. "When you’re in school you’re obligated to live up to your scholarship," said O'Bannon, now 36. "But once you're done, you physically, as well as your likeness, should leave the university and the NCAA."

posted by rcade to general at 10:10 PM - 15 comments

Stalker Tapes Erin Andrews, Releases Video on Web: The attorney for ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews has issued a statement confirming that she was "surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent" while alone in a hotel room and intends to pursue civil and criminal charges against the perpetrator and any entity that publishes the video.

posted by rcade to general at 11:32 AM - 43 comments

Radio Silence Causes Panic!: Team-to-Rider radios are being banned for two stages of this year's Tour. A welcome change for a dwindling number of traditionalists, a harbinger of disaster and controversy to the new generation. Radios or no radios? That is the question.

posted by Spitztengle to general at 12:04 PM - 4 comments

Why the Cal Ripken of Sports Radio Callers Broke His Streak: It isn't every day that a caller to a sports talk radio station rates a feature story in the New York Times. But New York Mets fan Short Al from Brooklyn -- also known as Albert Kaufman, 81 -- called WFAN in the predawn hours regularly from 1987. Last year the calls stopped. The reason? "He can't call anymore," said WFAN host Moose Malusis. "His daughter won't let him."

posted by rcade to general at 08:58 PM - 3 comments

Delaware Supreme Court OKs Sports Betting: Delaware's new sports betting law is constitutional, the state Supreme Court has concluded in a ruling to be issued this morning, paving the way for bets on football games and other sports as early as September. Delaware may offer single-game bets using a point spread, over-under bets on the total number of points scored, and parlay games.

posted by rcade to general at 01:25 PM - 8 comments

Baseball Players Claim Milwaukee Hotel Haunted: The Pfister, a century-old downtown Milwaukee hotel that's often frequented by visiting pro sports teams, is haunted, according to some baseball players. "It was more like a moving light that kind of passed through the room," said Brendan Ryan of the St. Louis Cardinals of one incident. "It was very strange. The room got a little bit chillier. Strange things. Strange things."

posted by rcade to general at 12:16 PM - 5 comments

Why Are Rich People So Bad at Sports?: Does wealth = superb athletes? It used to. But now, having access to state-of-the-art training facilities and world-class coaches, is not always an advantage.

posted by BoKnows to general at 06:18 PM - 5 comments

The most unsporting moments in sport's history: A nice little collection of ten or so fine examples of sportsmanship at its worst and the consequences that followed. There are one or two that I would have changed but basically it is a pretty cool compilation.

posted by Athlexic to general at 03:40 AM - 9 comments

SI's list of best and worst owners.: Sports Illustrated has selected the five best and five worst owners for the top four professional American team sports. Among the criteria used to evaluate owners was the willingness to spend money to improve the team; the stability and capabilities of the front office and management; the amenities at the team's venue; and the club's culture and interactivity with fans. Of course, weighing heavily in the decision was the team's success or failure on the field. (via)

posted by Ufez Jones to general at 02:42 PM - 18 comments

Do you live in a miserable sports city?: Our purpose is to identify those cities that have historically led the sports world in the close-but-no-cigar category – good enough to tease their fans with lots of playoff appearances, including Super Bowls, World Series’, NBA finals or NHL finals, only to let them down in the end. (Top Ten slideshow - Forbes.com)

posted by BoKnows to general at 03:23 PM - 5 comments

How David Beats Goliath: Malcolm Gladwell uses a 7th grade girls basketball team, a computer-driven war games entrant, Lawrence of Arabia and David to illustrate that effort often trumps ability, if the underdogs refuse to play on Goliath's terms. In other words, why don't more bball teams use a full court press the entire game?

posted by billsaysthis to general at 06:27 PM - 9 comments

"We're being held up" : What do a black sports bra, a skateboard and a pair of sunglasses have in common? Tony knows, so does Richard. But Brandi was on vacation. None seem very happy.

posted by BoKnows to general at 10:18 PM - 4 comments

Let the Record Be Unbroken: Five opinions on what records will be difficult, or even impossible to break.

posted by justgary to general at 04:37 PM - 22 comments

It's Valentines Day: Six sporting love stories from The Guardian.

posted by owlhouse to general at 05:31 PM - 5 comments

Some companies sticking with Phelps: It's good to see some companies accepting Michael Phelps' apology and staying by him!

posted by jjzucal to general at 05:43 PM - 18 comments

Tming is Everything: Rather than bore you with a measly "Top 10" list, or a "Best of", I'll visually overload you with some of the most perfectly timed photographs in sports. And for your viewing pleasure, a few extra links to the funny, sexy, slutty, and most action packed photos taken in the recent past. Enjoy! (NSFW)

posted by BoKnows to general at 06:13 PM - 4 comments

Eagles Make Playoffs in 44-6 Rout of Cowboys: Philadelphia Eagle fans received a late Christmas miracle with a blowout of the Dallas Cowboys and losses by playoff hopefuls (Thank you, Al Davis!)

posted by jjzucal to general at 10:24 PM - 34 comments

I will break you! Part 2: Ouch! Evander Holyfield weighed in nearly 100 pounds lighter and will give up 8 to 9 inches on 7-footer Nikolai Valuev in their heavyweight title bout.

posted by jjzucal to general at 04:04 PM - 2 comments

I will break you!: Evander Holyfield, 46, will seek another heavyweight championship against the 7-foot Russian Nikolai Valuev.

posted by jjzucal to general at 07:56 PM - 10 comments

This Page is Illegal in Argentina, Thanks to Diego Maradona: Diego Maradona and more than 100 other public figures in Argentina have secured court orders blocking the Argentine versions of Google and Yahoo from all search results for their names except for those on major media sites. "Without the link in Google or Yahoo, nobody would even know these [other] sites exist," said Martin Leguizamon, attorney for Maradona and other celebs.

posted by rcade to general at 06:46 AM - 5 comments

The Costliest Injuries In Sports: Remember when $2.3 million was a hefty annual salary for a player? That's what $28 million man Alex Rodriguez got for his one stint on the 15-day disabled list in May.

posted by m8nsman to general at 09:59 AM - 0 comments

Gridiron Guarantee.: If you feel you haven't received your "entertainment value" from your season ticket (average price: $130), Stanford will refund your money.

posted by BoKnows to general at 11:52 PM - 1 comment

Athletes Jawing About Performance-Enhancing Mouthguard: Pure Power Edge is one of the more unusual strength boosters to be offered to pro athletes -- a $1,700 custom mouthguard. "The key to the PPE lies in neuromuscular dentistry and the belief that jaw alignment can have a major effect on the rest of the body," reports today's Florida Times-Union, "... by finding the ideal jaw position and locking it in place with a fitted mouthguard, strength is released to the rest of the body because the brain can focus more on core muscles."

posted by rcade to general at 09:11 AM - 3 comments

The Hot Hand in Sports.: Here at the Hot Hand page, we try to get an idea of how unlikely something is, through either a statistical or historical lens.
This site has been around for a shade over two years now. Looks like I'm not getting anything done today.

posted by NoMich to general at 02:13 PM - 1 comment

First round KO: Philly's first "Flyin Hawaiian" knocks out Jose Canseco in the first round of a celebrity-charity boxing match. He treated him like the Giants goal-post in 1992, making Canseco look even more ridiculous then he already has made himself. Sikahema was asked if there were any surprises. "That it didn't finish in the first 30 seconds," he said.

posted by GoBirds to general at 05:07 PM - 10 comments

The Day Cool Died: Phil Taylor's essay on the demise of Cool in sports.

posted by cjets to general at 02:52 PM - 35 comments

Christian News Site Turns Athlete Homosexual: OneNewsNow, an online news service owned by the American Family Association, has been editing AP stories to automatically replace the word "gay" with "homosexual," filing numerous stories about the American sprinter Tyson Homosexual and the NBA player Rudy Homosexual. One story still online: "Memphis Grizzlies backers hit the hay hoping that Kevin Love would open things up for Rudy Homosexual in the frontcourt."

posted by rcade to general at 09:20 AM - 42 comments

Bench Warmers: “It’s called dead money,” says industry consultant Marc Ganis of Sports Corp. Limited. “It’s the single most illogical part of the signing of players.” And while it’s tough to figure a precise number – how much of the $126 million the Giants spent on pitcher Barry Zito, who was banished to the bullpen after a string of weak performances, would be considered dead money, exactly? – there is “far more” of it lining unproductive players’ pockets than there used to be, according to Ganis

posted by BoKnows to general at 12:27 AM - 1 comment

The World's Greatest Athlete?: The Journal sought to identify the world's greatest athlete with an approach that, while not completely scientific, took a number of measures into account. A panel of five sports scientists and exercise physiologists was given a list drawn up by the Journal of 79 male athletes. Candidates had to be active in their sport and among the all-time best.

posted by BoKnows to general at 11:47 AM - 17 comments

Sports Broadcasting Legend Jim McKay Dies: Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport. . McKay, longtime host of ABC Wide World of Sports, RIP.

posted by geekyguy to general at 12:16 PM - 24 comments

The LA84 Foundation Library: is "engaged in an ambitious project to convert selected scholarly journals, proceedings and series publications, as well as non-scholarly sports magazines and reviews from paper to digital format." You can search their archives or browse through their list of journals. Never complain that you have nothing to read anymore ;)
via Open Access News

posted by Fence to general at 04:22 AM - 2 comments

Some Athletes’ Genes Help Outwit Doping Test.: Studies suggest that about 2/3 of Asian men and nearly 10 percent of Caucasians lack both copies of a gene used to convert the testosterone into a form that dissolves in urine, calling into question the efficacy of certain drug tests.

posted by holden to general at 02:30 PM - 5 comments