Education Secretary Wants No Post-Season Play for Low-Graduation Schools: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has proposed to the NCAA that schools with graduation rates of less than 40% should be banned from postseason collegiate play. If such a rule was in place today, the following basketball teams wouldn't be in the NCAA basketball tournament: Arkansas-Pine Bluff (graduation rate 29%), Baylor (36%), California (20%), Clemson (37%), Georgia Tech (38%), Kentucky (31%), Louisville (38%), Maryland (8%), Missouri (36%), New Mexico State (36%), Tennessee (30%) and Washington (29%). Duncan asks, "If you can't graduate two out of five of your student-athletes, how serious are you about the academic part of your mission?"

posted by rcade to general at 12:23 PM - 13 comments

ESPN Suspends Tony Kornheiser: ESPN has suspended Tony Kornheiser for comments he made on Pardon the Interruption last week about network anchor Hannah Storm dressing like a teenager on the air. Kornheiser said, "Hannah Storm in a horrifying, horrifying outfit today. She's got on red go-go boots and a catholic school plaid skirt ... way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now. She's got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body ... I know she's very good, and I'm not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won't ... but Hannah Storm ... come on now! Stop! What are you doing? ... She's what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point."

posted by rcade to general at 02:42 PM - 45 comments

Christopher Hitchens: Sports Bring Out the Worst in Humanity: "Whether it's the exacerbation of national rivalries that you want -- as in Africa this year -- or the exhibition of the most depressing traits of the human personality (guns in locker rooms, golf clubs wielded in the home, dogs maimed and tortured at stars' homes to make them fight, dope and steroids everywhere), you need only look to the wide world of sports for the most rank and vivid examples," writes Christopher Hitchens. "As George Orwell wrote in his 1945 essay The Sporting Spirit, after yet another outbreak of combined mayhem and chauvinism on the international soccer field, "sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will."

posted by rcade to general at 05:54 PM - 34 comments

The virtues of big-time college sports:: According to columnist David Brooks at the New York Times.

posted by cjets to general at 01:51 PM - 4 comments

Sports Greatest Innovations: The top ten inventions that changed sport forever.

posted by owlhouse to general at 06:39 PM - 23 comments

Is the rise of the super-athlete ruining sport?: From Usain Bolt to Rafa Nadal, top sports stars are fitter, faster and stronger than ever. But how long will it be before the pursuit of perfection takes all the drama out of sport?

posted by rumple to general at 03:41 PM - 4 comments

ESPN Launching First 3D Sports Channel: On June 11, the World Cup opening match between Mexico and South Africa will be the first event broadcast on ESPN 3D, a new 3-D channel that will air at least 85 events during its first year -- including 25 World Cup matches, the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, college basketball and football, and the Summer X Games. Viewers will require glasses, a 3-D ready television and possibly another set-top box. An EnGadget item from October offers more details on 3-D TV.

posted by rcade to general at 11:34 AM - 10 comments

The Guardian's Sport Quiz of the Year: a fairly British-centric 100-question sport quiz from the Guardian. Answers will appear on the same link on New Year's Eve.

posted by JJ to general at 07:55 AM - 4 comments

Cheating Sportswriter: 'I Am Tiger Woods': Longtime sportswriter Mike Wise has written a highly personal response to the Tiger Woods imbroglio in today's Washington Post. "I am Tiger Woods," he writes. "The reason I have yet to write about the biggest sports story of the year in these pages is because Woods' plea to one of his many mistresses brought up old, awful feelings of shame, guilt and humiliation. ... Tiger Woods has an emotional void in his life. This void must be huge. For him to be where he is today, this deep emptiness must have consumed him, must be something he has been living with for a long time."

posted by rcade to general at 11:53 AM - 45 comments

RIP George Michael: So long, king of the Sports Machine. Though his approach was a bit heavy handed at times and did not win the hearts of everyone, there was no doubting his genuine enthusiasm for and love of sports and the individual athletes he portrayed on his program. His was an upbeat but not overexcited voice, and he believed in redemption, as evidenced by the major feature he once ran on Dexter Manley. George Michael felt that warts and all, sports was a positive, beneficial force in the world, and worthy of our attention and interest.

posted by beaverboard to general at 08:01 PM - 6 comments

Worst Ideas of the Decade: the Endless Sports Season: One of the Washington Post's worst ideas of the decade: the expansion of the seasons in baseball, college football, college basketball and other sports. "Seasons are starting earlier, running later, overlapping more often and generally sucking more of our time than ever," writes Tracee Hamilton.

posted by rcade to general at 04:02 PM - 5 comments

Tennis Player Serena Williams AP's Female Athlete of the Year: For the second time, Serena Williams has been named AP's female athlete of the year. Williams won Wimbledon, the Australian Open and $6.5 million in prize money -- a new record. Williams used the opportunity to make the argument that her violent threat against a line judge was good for the sport because it "got a lot more people excited about tennis." AP's second-place finisher was the horse Zenyatta, which become the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.

posted by rcade to general at 12:53 PM - 23 comments

NASCAR Driver Jimmie Johnson AP's Male Athlete of the Year: Jimmie Johnson has become the first race car driver to be named AP's athlete of the year. Johnson's year included his fourth consecutive NASCAR championship -- a historic first -- and seven race wins. Johnson used the opportunity to make the argument that drivers are athletes. "I've looked at other sports, particularly baseball, and I've seen plenty of out-of-shape, fat players," he said. "So to anyone who wants to go head-to-head with me in athletic ability, let's go."

posted by rcade to general at 04:29 PM - 34 comments

Sports + Twitter = Spitter: Some veterans of Rivals.com and Scout.com have launched Spitter, a microblogging service for sports fans. They bought the domain from a dentist who thought it might be useful for his business.

posted by rcade to general at 03:55 PM - 7 comments

AP Names Tiger Woods Athlete of the Decade: Associated Press voters have chosen Tiger Woods as athlete of the decade, a decision that would have met with no controversy at all one month ago. Woods won 12 majors and 52 other golf tournaments during the past 10 years. He finished ahead of cyclist Lance Armstrong, tennis player Roger Federer, swimmer Michael Phelps, NFL quarterback Tom Brady and sprinter Usain Bolt. Who is your athlete of the decade?

posted by rcade to general at 11:22 AM - 78 comments

John Swansburg: Why I Stopped Being a Sports Fan: "Several months ago, I gave up sports," Slate culture editor John Swansburg wrote Monday. "The games are relentless, the experience of them too often ephemeral. ... What's the point of devoting all of my free time to something so fleeting?"

posted by rcade to general at 11:59 AM - 15 comments

Don't Bet Against Legal Online Gambling in the U.S.: An article in the Village Voice on the rise and fall of Internet bookie James Giordano provides a comprehensive look at the strange state of online gambling in the U.S., where it continues to be illegal despite state-run lotteries, off-track betting, Indian casinos and many other forms of legal wagering. A law against Internet gambling is on hold for six months while a bill by Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) to legalize all online gambling except on sports has dozens of sponsors. "The switch is waiting to be flipped," said Giordano's attorney Sandy Becher.

posted by rcade to general at 01:49 PM - 1 comment

Sioux Sue to Save North Dakota's Mascot: After the board of regents decided to drop the Fighting Sioux name and mascot at the University of North Dakota, some members of the Spirit Lake Tribe have sued to save them. "They are putting us up on a pinnacle," said tribal member Frank Black Cloud. There are 400 American Indian students at the school. One, Frank Sage, said the name is hurtful. "To do what they're doing, you're more or less selling out," he said of the litigants. The New York Times has put together a slide show of changes made since the NCAA announced that schools with these mascots could not host its championships in any sport. The only holdouts keeping their names with a tribe's approval are the Florida State Seminoles, Utah Utes, Central Michigan Chippewas and the Catawba Indians. The Alcorn State Braves are keeping their name in spite of losing championship events.

posted by rcade to general at 08:30 AM - 53 comments

Transsexual Sportswriter Mike Penner Dies: Mike Penner, the Los Angeles Times sportswriter who wrote two years ago about changing sexes to become Christine Daniels and received an outpouring of public support, has died in an apparent suicide at age 52. Penner dropped the name Daniels and returned to his old byline in 2008.

posted by rcade to general at 12:45 AM - 3 comments

Showcase: The Sports of Photography: A look at some of the greatest photos of and the relationship between Neil Liefer and Walter Iooss, the two greatest sports photographers of the last half-century

posted by spira to general at 10:36 AM - 3 comments

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