Lakers Get Artest: Shaq can have LeBron. Ron Artest says he'll take Kobe. Artest, whose versatility and toughness have made him one of the most coveted and combustible players in the NBA, told CBSSports.com Thursday that he's signing with the Lakers. "I'm definitely going to L.A. -- to sign, yeah," Artest said in a phone interview. "Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I'm in L.A. right now." CBSSports.com

posted by Ron_Karate to basketball at 07:53 PM - 0 comments

Texas Rangers Owner Tom Hicks Can't Make Payroll: Major League Baseball has loaned as much as $15 million to the Texas Rangers after Owner Tom Hicks reportedly couldn't meet payroll, according to Yahoo News. "He won't be running the team much longer," a source told the site. "Major League Baseball is helping him through this until someone else can be put in place to run the club." Hicks, whose net worth was reported by Forbes as $1 billion, also owns the Dallas Stars and 50 percent of Liverpool FC.

posted by rcade to baseball at 06:20 PM - 2 comments

Olympic Swimmer Disqualified When Her Swimsuit Bursts Open: Italian Olympic swimmer Flavia Zoccari was disqualified from the finals of a Mediterranean Games event when her Jaked J01 swimsuit split open in the back. Warning: This link contains female dorsal nudity. Parental discretion advised.

posted by rcade to olympics at 02:42 PM - 5 comments

Cuban Lefthander Aroldis Chapman Defects: Aroldis Chapman, perhaps the "best left-handed pitching prospect in the world" has left the Cuban National Team hotel in the Netherlands."I walked out easily, right through the hotel door, and I hopped into a car and left," Chapman told cubaencuentro.com. "It was easy. Now the plan is to sign with a major league team." Chapman is 21 years old and has a fastball that has been clocked at 102 mph.

posted by Ufez Jones to baseball at 01:25 PM - 2 comments

Phil Mickelson hits backwards better than you hit forwards: Phil Mickelson demonstrates how much better at golf he is, compared to the rest of us.

posted by BoKnows to golf at 11:04 PM - 10 comments

Marian Hossa signs 12-year deal with Chicago: One year after taking a less-money shortterm contract in Detroit, Hossa signs a looong term deal with the Blackhawks, for even less average money...

posted by MeatSaber to hockey at 03:31 PM - 10 comments

Landon Donovan in New Book: David Beckham's a Bad Teammate: In an excerpt from Grant Wahl's new book The Beckham Experiment, Landon Donovan says that Beckham has been a bad teammate on the L.A. Galaxy. "Somewhere along the way -- and in my mind it coincides with [Coach] Ruud [Gillit] being let go -- he just flipped a switch and said, 'Uh-uh, I'm not doing it anymore,'" Donovan said. "I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good teammate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with [Beckham] I'd say no, he wasn't committed."

posted by rcade to soccer at 06:32 PM - 19 comments

16-Year-Old Baseball Phenom Leaving High School Early: Bryce Harper, the wunderkind Arizona catcher dubbed the Chosen One in a Sports Illustrated cover story earlier this month, is leaving high school two years early to speed his path to the Major League Baseball Draft. "I want to fail to live up to these enormous expectations as quickly as possible so I can start my life after baseball while I'm still young," said Harper, who actually said nothing of the kind. Earlier discussion.

posted by rcade to baseball at 04:12 PM - 12 comments

Detroit Pistons Fire Coach Michael Curry: The Detroit Pistons have bounced head coach Michael Curry after just one year in the job. Curry was 39-43 with the Pistons, who were swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The firing makes a liar of team president Joe Dumars, who said unequivocally in late April that Curry would return next season.

posted by rcade to basketball at 04:06 PM - 7 comments

Wimbledon Raises the Roof: After nearly 90 years of rain delays on Wimbledon's Center Court, which was built in 1922, at 5:19 p.m. Monday, Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo played the first point under the new retractable roof. "This is the first time ever at Wimbledon somebody is waiting for rain," said Ian Ritchie, the club's chief executive.

posted by rcade to tennis at 06:27 PM - 6 comments

Should the World Cup Ban Those Horns?: The Confederations Cup was a tuneup for next year's World Cup, but the tune of the vuvezela horns -- plastic trumpets played incessantly during matches by South African fans -- are striking a sour note with some people. "One vuvuzela -- a loud, tuneless blast -- sounds something like a foghorn. But a stadium full of vuvuzelas, all tooting simultaneously, is either a most exhilarating and exciting sound or a noise so irritating that it borders on being painful, depending on the listener," writes the Los Angeles Times. "It's been compared to a deafening swarm of wasps. Or a herd of flatulent elephants." The horns originated with a Chinese women's basketball team, according to a manufacturer that proclaims, "You only hate them if you don't have one."

posted by rcade to soccer at 01:30 PM - 17 comments

US Loses 3-2 to Brazil in Confederations Cup Final: After taking a stunning 2-0 lead at halftime to Brazil on goals by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, the US were punished by FIFA's policy of playing two halves of soccer in its matches and were defeated 3-2. Brazilians scored all three goals for their country. Americans Dempsey and goalkeeper Tim Howard won individual awards for their play during the tournament. Dempsey cried all over his trophy at the end. I know how he feels.

posted by rcade to soccer at 05:50 PM - 41 comments

Mosley being "urged" to stand for re-election.: Just days after agreeing to step down as part of the FOTA/FIA agreement, Max Mosley, for at least the second time in his career of ruining motorsport, has done a u-turn and now says he's being urged to run again. (He actually hinted he would less than a day after the agreement.) Probably urged by the same mysterious people who "supported" him during the nazi whore scandal he should never have survived.

posted by Drood to auto racing at 04:38 PM - 14 comments

While Recovering, Rockies’ Francis Revels in Physics of Pitching : Elastic-band stretches brought thoughts of forces and harmonic motion. In the pool, he watched every exercise obey the fluid mechanics he learned in college. As his arms pushed down paddles and his body lurched forward, Francis uttered words to his trainer that, safe to say, he would not if his Colorado Rockies teammates were any closer than Los Angeles. “What number of Newton’s laws is that one, Scotty? You know?” No. “Third,” Francis beamed. “Third.”

posted by tommytrump to baseball at 11:30 AM - 5 comments

Shaq Challenges YouTube Trick-Shot God to Game of Horse: After seeing the YouTube video of Bruce Manley shooting trick shots, Shaquille O’Neal challenged him to a game of HORSE for $1,000. Manley accepted and they'll be playing in July. More Manley shooting.

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:12 PM - 7 comments

A stone-cold lock: The New York Islanders didn't shock anyone by picking OHL star John Tavares first overall on Friday night. In fact, most of the draft went pretty much according to the script. Second-round continues today with the rights to deal with Florida free agent Jay Boumeester swapped to Calgary.

posted by wfrazerjr to hockey at 10:33 AM - 2 comments

Orlando Magic Trade for Vince Carter: The Orlando Magic have traded Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie to the New Jersey Nets for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson. This is a homecoming for Carter, who grew up in Daytona Beach 45 minutes' drive from Orlando and won a state championship for Mainland High School. He was teaching at his basketball camp in Orlando when the news broke.

posted by rcade to basketball at 02:21 PM - 6 comments

Steven Wells: a few memories of a unique and acerbic voice: Steven Wells, the Guardian columnist whose biting British-observer-of-U.S.-sports-culture pieces provided fodder for some lively SportsFilter threads (see, for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) and has to be the most-linked author in SportsFilter history, passed away on Tuesday after a battle with cancer (the treatment of which is chronicled here).

posted by holden to other at 03:21 PM - 9 comments

Texas Rangers Player Buys Supplements from BALCO Founder: Marlon Byrd, an outfielder for the Texas Rangers, is a client of Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning, the company set up by Victor Conte after the demise of BALCO. "I tried everything over the counter," said Byrd, who buys Proglycosyn ("the ultimate post-workout recovery formula"), Physiobalm ("muscle and joint rejuvenator"), Aerobitine ("the ultimate anti-fatigue/fat loss formula"), Vitalyze ("the mental and physical performance enhancer"), ZMA ("rapid anabolic sleep enhancer") and Expandinutz ("the testicle reinflator"). He's photographed with Bonds and others on the company's customer gallery. (Only kidding about Expandinutz. There is no such product. Do not attempt to order.)

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:05 PM - 3 comments

The Perils of Climbing Yosemite's Half Dome: Although it looks in pictures like something any hiker could do, climbing Half Dome at Yosemite National Park is a lot different when you're halfway up the 425-foot sheer granite dome. "On June 13, 2009, a hiker climbing up the Half Dome cables in Yosemite National Park fell to his death," writes R.L. Miller in a diary on Daily Kos. "I climbed Half Dome for my 40th birthday. I've hiked all over the West in all sorts of conditions, and I believed that I had no fear of heights. ... if you fall to your right, you die, and if you fall to your left, you die. About a third of the way up, I realized -- I can't do this!"

posted by rcade to extreme at 11:33 AM - 6 comments

Shaq traded to Cavs on eve of draft: In exchange for the 37-year-old, 15-time All-Star, the Suns will get about $10 million in savings by acquiring Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic and then releasing Pavlovic, who has only $1.5 million of his $4.95 million salary guaranteed. Phoenix also gets the 46th pick in Thursday night's draft and $500,000. Phoenix and Cleveland have discussed an O'Neal deal since before the February trade deadline. O'Neal was a third-team All-NBA pick this year after playing in 75 games and averaging 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds with career-best 60.9 percent shooting.

posted by tommytrump to basketball at 01:26 AM - 9 comments

U.S. Stuns Spain in Confederations Cup: At the Confederations Cup in South Africa Wednesday, the United States beat top-ranked Spain 2-0 on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, advancing to their first-ever men's final at a FIFA competition. "We're not used to losing," said coach Vicente Del Bosque of Spain, which had won 15 international matches in a row.

posted by rcade to soccer at 06:36 PM - 9 comments

Iowa High School Football Legend Killed in Weight Room by Former Player: Ed Thomas--football coach at Aplington-Parkersburg, 2005 NFL High School Coach of the Year, mentor to four current NFL linemen--was shot and killed today while supervising players during summer weightlifting. ESPN profiled A-P and Thomas last year after a tornado destroyed the school, Thomas's house, and most of the town.

posted by Uncle Toby to football at 04:46 PM - 3 comments

FOTA and FIA put toys back in pram. : In what can only be described as an astounding upset, common sense has actually prevailed in Formula One. The eight FOTA teams will not start their own series, and Max Mosley will not stand for re-election later this year. The latter seems to be a key part of the former. Now shut up and race.

posted by Drood to auto racing at 02:55 PM - 13 comments

"Essentially, this site is what I'd have been doing when I was 12 years old had the Internet and Photoshop been available to me in the eighties.": Baseball + Infographics = Flip Flop Fly Ball.
[via Cafe Hayek & my dad]

posted by yerfatma to baseball at 02:44 PM - 8 comments

Jimmy Fallon Challenges Tiger Woods to Wii Golf: Tiger Woods will play golf against late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon Thursday in Times Square -- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on the Nintendo Wii. Fallon, who gives videogames frequent coverage on his show, tweeted that "it's the only way i have a chance."

posted by rcade to golf at 01:25 PM - 2 comments

Sports Illustrated Football Prognosticator Dr. Z Recovering from Strokes: In his Monday column, Peter King reveals something that was news to me: Legendary football writer Paul Zimmerman, better known as Dr. Z, suffered three strokes since November and has lost the ability to read or write. "He's still rehabbing hard, concentrating on his speech, studying the morning papers and trying to decipher them, and planning a trip for concentrated therapy later this year," King writes. Dr. Z's most recent Super Bowl prediction was one of his best: He said the heavy underdog New York Giants would beat the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl 0x2A.

posted by rcade to football at 08:05 PM - 4 comments

The Captain, the Golden Brett, 'Lucky' Luc, and , well, Brian Leetch are the 2009 HHOF inductees.: Don't think there was a doubt on any of them making it. All are first-ballot HOFers. But names like Bure, Ciccarelli, and Gartner have to wait again to be called...and it could be longer for some...

posted by MeatSaber to hockey at 07:54 PM - 5 comments

The San Antonio Spurs send three players to Milwaukee, get Richard Jefferson in return.: The Bucks receive Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas, all of whom are entering the final year of their contracts.

posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 03:43 PM - 11 comments

One Area Where Hockey Has It Right: The NBA Draft should take a page from the NHL, says New York Daily News writer Elliot Olshansky.

posted by TheQatarian to basketball at 10:25 AM - 4 comments

Donald Fehr Retiring from Baseball Player's Union: Donald Fehr, 61, is retiring as head of the baseball players' association after more than a quarter-century in charge -- though it may occur as late as next March. Fehr took over in 1983 and presided over three strikes, including the one that killed the World Series in 1994-95. The average player salary was $289,000 when he took office and is $2.9 million today.

posted by rcade to baseball at 04:53 PM - 12 comments

Drunks Heckle Tiger Woods, Fred Funk at US Open: During a long day of golf due to rain, drunk fans heckled Tiger Woods, Fred Funk and other golfers as the action at Bethpage Black came to a close Sunday. "Suck it up, you've got your own video game!" one fan yelled at Woods as he waited to play under an umbrella.

posted by rcade to golf at 12:09 PM - 24 comments

Very special Father's Day for Falcons' Nicholas : Stephen Nicholas' arms were wrapped around his infant son, somewhat loosely because he didn't want to bump the tubes that had kept the child alive the past four months. Wife Irene sat nearby and the doctor began talking. The doctor said the tubes were going to come out that afternoon. Stephen and Irene looked at each other and started crying as both minds registered the same two thoughts. Stephen Nicholas Jr. had been in Children's Hospital Boston since last summer, waiting for a heart suitable to transplant into his little body. "That was the doctor's way of saying there was a heart coming in,'' Stephen said. Stephen Jr. was going to get a shot at life with a new heart. Tears of joy for a few seconds. Then, tears of sadness. "The most bittersweet moment you can imagine,'' Irene said. "Our baby was going to get a new heart. But then you realize the heart had to come from someone his age and his size.'' Somewhere, someone else had lost a baby.

posted by gfinsf to football at 09:17 AM - 4 comments

Gillett reaches deal to sell Habs to Molson family: The Molson family has emerged as the winner in the bidding war for the Montreal Canadiens. The two sides are to hold a news conference to announce the sale as soon as the deal is finalized. They didn't reveal the sale price or any other details, but reports said Gillett's 80.1-per-cent interest in the team and 100 per cent stake in its arena, the Bell Centre, and event promotion company Gillett Entertainment Group should exceed $500 million and could even top $600 million. Gillet paid $275 million for that package in 2001 and has built it into one of the NHL's most profitable clubs. He is also co-owner of soccer giant Liverpool FC with Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 08:40 PM - 1 comment

The Madness of Temporary Ski Jumps: Some great black & white vintage photography for your weekend viewing pleasure. (via)

posted by Ufez Jones to other at 07:55 PM - 2 comments

Brothers Pitch Against Each Other in Tonight's Dodgers/Angels Game: Brothers Jeff and Jared Weaver, who grew up in Simi Valley not far from Anaheim, will be pitching against each other there tonight when Jeff's Los Angeles Dodgers face Jered's Los Angeles Angels. It's the 21st time siblings have started against each other in the bigs, and the first since Andy and Alan Benes faced off in 2002. MLB.Com runs down the last 15 such games.

posted by rcade to baseball at 02:54 PM - 1 comment

Scutaro steals second base after Base on Balls: Blue Jay Marco Scutaro catches the Phillies middle infield napping, and takes second after drawing a walk. As one of the commentators says, it reminds him of little league. Video here.

posted by MeatSaber to baseball at 02:01 PM - 8 comments

Carlos Tevez Leaving Manchester United: Carlos Tevez has told Manchester United he's leaving the club, despite being offered 25.5 million pounds in a five-year deal to stay. He's likely to end up in Chelsea or Manchester City, reports the BBC. With the departures of Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, Man U is completely out of talented players -- and lacks the financial resources to acquire more -- so the team will sadly be facing a relegation battle next season.

posted by rcade to soccer at 01:53 PM - 4 comments

Formula One's major players announce they will create their own series: "The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship," said a statement issued by the new Formula One Teams' Association.

posted by The_Special_Juan to auto racing at 09:10 PM - 19 comments

Onion: Gymnast Put to Sleep After Breaking Leg: In an entirely fake video segment produced by The Onion, the fake parents of real gymnast Shawn Johnson described how she suffered a fake leg injury and had to be euthanized. Note: This story is fake. "At this time there will be no comment from Shawn or her parents about the video," her real publicist responded.

posted by rcade to olympics at 03:00 PM - 40 comments