Brett Favre Mic'd Up: Damn Steven, what they got you in for?

posted by dusted to football at 04:29 PM - 6 comments

Antoine Walker broke, arrested for writing bad checks: Antoine Walker entered the NBA's maximum-contract financial elite in 1999, the year Boston signed him to a six-year, $71 million deal. As Rick Pitino, then the Celtics president and coach, put it, Walker "will never have to worry about money again in his life." Pitino's prediction, like so many things about his tenure with the Green, proved way off the mark.

posted by dusted to basketball at 06:15 PM - 31 comments

Brian Cashman: The Bad Lieutenant: Matt Taibbi rips Cashman as only Taibbi can: They all made a show of preferring some other situation before quietly, somberly almost, taking the big money and going to New York. Basically, Brian Cashman hired a team full of Brian Cashmans, i.e., guys who passed up the girl they really liked to marry the Boss's bucktoothed, cross-eyed daughter.

posted by dusted to baseball at 11:54 PM - 16 comments

Casino Host and Wingman to the All-Stars: Mr. Jones generally travels with a large group of friends as well as the athletes, and it frequently expands to 20 strong. Mr. Jones always elects one local friend to be his "chief of staff," charged with making sure everyone in the group is trustworthy and preventing stragglers from glomming on.

posted by dusted to culture at 11:37 PM - 1 comment

Dead athletes' brains show stunning damage: Researchers using new technology to study brain tissue from dead NFL athletes say they're surprised at how extensive the damage is from concussions. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage now has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Some of the symptoms include "...depression, sleep disorders and mental fatigue."

posted by dusted to football at 01:00 PM - 17 comments

Suns go from Run and Gun to Ground and Pound: Heat trade Shaquille O'Neal to Phoenix for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks, pending an MRI of Shaq's left hip.

posted by dusted to basketball at 09:04 AM - 28 comments

I Am Bill James and I Am Smarter Than You.: The only way to make your team succeed is to undergo a harsh rebuilding process where nearly each and every one of your core players is acquired through the draft. What if you can't draft, or afford the outrageous signing bonuses top picks get nowadays? Too bad bitch.

posted by dusted to baseball at 02:23 AM - 3 comments

I need a left-handed bat stretcher.: Nervous and excited to suddenly find himself in the major leagues, former New York Yankees batboy Matthew McGough recalls his adventures leading up to his job working for the Bronx Bombers in 1992.

posted by dusted to baseball at 10:38 PM - 3 comments

Joe Frazier is still fighting Ali, three decades later.:

Over the years, Frazier has lost a fortune through a combination of his own generosity and naïveté, his carousing, failed business opportunities and a deep hatred for his former chief boxing rival, Muhammad Ali. The other headliners from his fighting days — Ali, George Foreman and Larry Holmes — are millionaires. But while Ali has benefited from lucrative licensing agreements and remains one the world’s most recognized and celebrated athletes, Frazier lives alone in an apartment one staircase above the gym where he and others train young fighters in a run-down part of town.

“But I guess, in a way, I’m rich, too. I have my family and I have a sound mind and a sound body, and after all of those brutal fights, I’m lucky to still have my eyesight.”

posted by dusted to boxing at 12:32 PM - 13 comments

How long, on average, is a baseball actually in play during a ballgame?

posted by dusted to baseball at 11:25 AM - 51 comments

Two Years to the Beijing Olympics: Today marks the halfway point between Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008. Swimmer Michael Phelps is off his top conditioning, while others like Brendan Hansen are setting world records. Be sure to check out the updates at the bottom for track and field, basketball, gymnastics, soccer and wrestling.

posted by dusted to other at 03:31 PM - 9 comments

The Best Deal Ever: Thirty years ago when the ABA merged with the NBA, two of the six teams were not invited to join, but the merger required unanimous approval. The owner of the Kentucky Colonels gave his assent for $3.3 million. But the owners of the St. Louis Spirit - the Silnas brothers - wanted a little something more. They got $3m, plus a share of future TV revenues of the four merging teams. In perpetuity.

In the early years, the Silnas' share amounted to $300,000 per year. And then came the flood of media money, the Magic and Michael eras, and lo, the Silnas are sitting pretty. They've turned down every buyout offer and withstood every attempt by the NBA to break the contract, collecting $168m in the process. The current haul is $15m per year.

posted by dusted to basketball at 04:36 PM - 17 comments

Faith Day: After the Braves game Thursday, you can attend a Christian music concert and hear John Smoltz talking about his life-changing conversion to the Christian faith. And Atlanta is not the only team: the Arizona Diamondbacks are having their own Faith Day later this season, and the Marlins will have one next season.

posted by dusted to culture at 07:01 PM - 157 comments

Everyone loves a ritual.: A list of superstitious athletes. There are several funny stories, but Turk Wendell is my favorite: He chewed four pieces of black licorice when he pitched, spit them out after each inning, brushed his teeth in the dugout, and leaped (not stepped) over the baseline (described as a "kangaroo hop"). When he was on the mound, Wendell stood if the catcher was squatting, and squatted if the catcher was standing.

posted by dusted to general at 01:56 PM - 15 comments

Your favorite NBA player as a family.: Hilarious family portrait, if the entire family was Steve Nash or Yao Ming, Jeff Van Gundy, Greg Ostertag, Dirk Nowitzki... (more inside)

posted by dusted to basketball at 01:46 PM - 42 comments

3D live sporting events may come to movie theaters: It's already been done with baseball, NASCAR, MLS and the Tour de France, and at least one theater chain wants to make it a regular event. Via Yaysports.

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

Steve Nash spends endorsement cash on Paraguay hospital: The NBA guard bought a new intensive care post-operative pediatric cardiology ward in the city where his wife grew up.

posted by dusted to basketball at 12:32 PM - 36 comments

The NBA has a problem: And this problem is reflective of many issues the league, and the sport of basketball on the whole, faces: there is zero respect shown to refs.

posted by dusted to basketball at 02:43 PM - 16 comments

Dance of the Sugarplum Referee: Sending them off in style.

posted by dusted to soccer at 12:02 PM - 9 comments

Warriors fire PR manager over "Ghetto Prom" email: Eric Govan meant to send an interesting email to his wife, but accidentally sent it to the Warriors’ entire media distribution list. He was fired shortly after.

posted by dusted to culture at 11:57 AM - 55 comments

“Well, I’m seven-feet tall and Turkey’s got no rock and roll, so I guess I better learn myself a jumper.”: Fat Elvis, Bill Clinton, chest hair, double chins, sexuality, defense, a jump shot... and Mehmet Okur.

posted by dusted to basketball at 04:28 PM - 6 comments

Doug's Drop Kick: Doug Flutie completes the first drop kick since 1941, scoring an extra point.

posted by dusted to football at 06:56 PM - 41 comments

Grannie Basketball: Grannies in eastern Iowa have formed a basketball league of their own, reviving the game as it was played in the 1920s. They wear vintage uniforms and play by vintage rules: six-on-six ball with no running or jumping (no WNBA jokes, please).

posted by dusted to basketball at 03:47 PM - 15 comments

Sports Dignity: A collection of undignified moments in sports, most involving nudity.

posted by dusted to general at 06:22 PM - 22 comments

Longest touchdown in NFL history: Nathan Vasher returned a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown, the longest ever.

posted by dusted to football at 02:59 PM - 34 comments