Nearly a half century separates Joey Logano from Morgan Shepherd. On Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, daylight didn’t even separate the pair. Logano, in second place on Sunday, saw his hopes to win, place, or show dashed when he
WORCESTER, MA–It’s about two hours after the Germans have captured their fourth World Cup and first without a divisive geographic prefix. The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra transitions into “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” Musicians, like comics, possess a good sense of
When an elbow injury forced Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka to the disabled list, thoughts raced to Tommy John surgery. But the Japanese phenom opted for rehabilitation. That’s becoming increasingly unusual. Jose Fernandez, Bronson Arroyo, Patrick Corbin, and 21 other major
This time, like the last time, LeBron drags out the decision. But it’s the enormous ego of Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, not that of the best basketball player on the planet, that prolongs the drama. “If it wasn’t for
Floyd Mayweather has announced his next opponent. It’s his last opponent. The welterweight champion will take on Marcos Maidana on September 13. Mayweather won a memorable majority decision victory over the Argentine brawler on May 3. Maidana gave Mayweather one
The sun also rises. So does Bill Hillmann. The 32-year-old Hillmann, who co-authored Fiesta: How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona, did just that yesterday. The Chicago bull-running enthusiast, dressed in customary white, encountered the biggest bovine in the lot
A short time from now in a state far, far away from most of the others, a baseball team will don Chewbacca uniforms. The world has waited 37 years for this moment. @PhilHecken Portland Sea Dogs (AA Red Sox affiliate)
It rarely ends well when you get a tattoo on your face. Richard Magnan sports many of them. The one on his forehead announcing “F— the World” may just emerge as the prosecution’s exhibit A in his upcoming trial. Perhaps
Luis Suarez, meet Mike Tyson. The retired 50-6 boxer commented Tuesday on the Uruguayan striker suspended from the World Cup, and all soccer-related activity for the next four months, for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in front of an audience of
The UFC flunks math–and vocabulary. The UFC announced on Tuesday the derailment of UFC 176, the Staples Center card scheduled for August 2 featuring Hanford High School graduate and Cal Poly product Chad Mendes fighting in front of fellow Californians
How did Donald Sterling do on the witness stand? It depends on who you ask at ESPN. Sterling talking in circles, doesn’t understand questions, challenging Fields to ”stand up and be a man”…no longer funny, just sad — Bill Plaschke
A liberal blogger and campaign manager for Democratic candidates has resigned his position as blogger for the Washington Redskins less than two weeks after his hiring. Ben Tribbett had come under attack from former political allies for his job defending
What Dark Lord Sauron snatched Jim Brown’s NFL championship ring? Lelands auction house lists the three-time Associated Press NFL MVP’s 1964 Cleveland Browns championship ring on its website. But the football and lacrosse Hall of Famer maintains he never sold
Bronson Arroyo may have more free time to pick up a guitar over the next year. He won’t be able to pick up a baseball anytime soon. Arroyo, one of the most durable pitchers in the major leagues over the
You can’t be umpire and fan, no matter how much the latter tries. At Target Field, you can be bartender and drinker. ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports that the four-year-old field has unveiled self-serving beer stands just in time for the
B.J. Penn, one of two–along with Randy Couture–two-division UFC champions, retired from mixed-martial arts (MMA) on Sunday night. The MMA legend called it a career after taking a beating from Frankie Edgar in their featherweight fight. Penn retires with
Madonna may have moved on from a Midwestern accent to adopt a British one. But her recent donation to help save Detroit’s Downtown Youth Boxing Gym shows she still has love in her heart for Michigan. Boxing in Detroit, like
How do you solve the defensive riddle that is Lyoto Machida? How do you stop the diverse and potent offensive arsenal that is Chris Weidman? The fighter that correctly answers the question about his opponent leaves the octagon as UFC
Ronda Rousey puts the “art” in mixed-martial arts. The Olympic bronze-medal-winning judoka, who takes on Canadian Alexis Davis tonight at UFC 175, infuses a sport of savage strikes and bone-splintering contortions with beautiful throws. Fight fans habituated to punches, kicks,
They booed “The All-American” on the Fourth of July. UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman and challenger Lyoto Machida weighed in Friday night for their UFC 175 scrap. The Brazilian looked especially cut and thin at 184.5 pounds. The champion, who
For Americans searching for a patriot this Fourth of July, they needn’t look back to 1776. This week will do. On Wednesday, Louis Zamperini, U.S. Olympic track star and World War II hero, died at 97. It wasn’t the first
Even Tim Howard couldn’t save this conversation. “Man, I just wanted to call and say you did us proud,” President Barack Obama told the goalie and his teammate Clint Dempsey in an Oval Office phone call. The president said that,
Americans hear a familiar refrain: this World Cup will finally conquer America for soccer. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, old enough to remember Pele’s 1970s swansong with the New York Cosmos sparking such bold declarations, isn’t buying it. In an article at Time,
Mario “Il Falco” Ferri wasn’t as daring as Fan Man or as visually arresting as Morganna. But for putting the spectacle in spectator sport, he deserves the praise of the planet. In his latest stunt, Ferri raced onto the field uninvited
What’s in a name? More than $5 million for Jimmy Graham. An NFL arbitrator ruled that the Saints stud plays as a tight end and not a wide receiver today. By applying the franchise tag on the lanky hybrid as
