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Sports blotter: In the rough

Did Johan Santana go out of bounds? Plus, LT's self-abuse defense falls short.
Another day, another New York sports icon fends off a rape allegation.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 30, 2010

While Boston chilled, LA burned. What makes fans in some cities go wild — win or lose?
On the morning that the Celtics and the Lakers readied for Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, framing one of the most storied and intense rivalries in pro sports, the police departments of Boston and Los Angeles geared up for the worst.
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 28, 2010

Sports Blotter: Dead Duck

Oregon's Masoli finally stalls out; plus, a World Cup ambush, and Florida strikes back
The saga of the University of Oregon football team grows sadder and sadder.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 24, 2010

Freaks, Geeks, and Faux Bono

Boston-area subcultures keep the Bay State comfortably kooky this summer
As Bay Staters, we recognize that our European ancestors sure knew how to roll: scarlet letters, sticks up asses, if-she-drowns-she's-not-a-witch-if-she-floats-she's-a-witch-so-let's-kill-her legal applications.
By ALEXIS HAUK | June 20, 2010

Tugboats and bugboats

Balls, Pucks & Monster Trucks
As I write this, the Celtics are one win away from their 18th NBA title, but that is not our focus.
By RICK WORMWOOD | June 16, 2010

Cardinal sin

Drunken golf-cart fun at Stanford; plus, an aspiring NHL goon takes his show off the ice
Here's one you don't hear every day. J.J. Hones, a point guard on the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team, has been dismissed from the squad for a DUI. No big deal, right? Happens all the time in college sports.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 16, 2010

Bandwagon fans gear up

Benchwarmers
Only after buying a "Beat L.A." T-shirt, methodically checking ESPN for World Cup updates, and watching every installment of the NBA Finals with a religious fanaticism, has the hard truth settled in: I am a bandwagon fan.
By ANDREW STEINBEISER | June 16, 2010

Bust busted

Keith McCants mccan't stay out of trouble; plus, another Clockwork Orange homage
Bring up the topic of biggest NFL draft busts of all time and most people come up with the same short list of notorious names, all of them quarterbacks.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 10, 2010

Phillip Merling: Oh, baby

A Dolphin gets flagged for illegal hands to face; plus, Zach Randolph resurfaces
This week's foul NFL news emanates from down South, where Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Phillip Merling was busted for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 02, 2010

White losers rejoice: Fletch celebrates 25 years

Thrill of the Chase Dept.
This holiday weekend marks the 25th anniversary of Fletch , the uneven but wildly enduring 1985 Chevy Chase comedy about a wisecracking reporter embroiled in a potboiler mystery.
By PETER HYMAN | June 03, 2010

Parental advisory

The pros take a back seat to their misbehaving moms and dads
An exceedingly bizarre sequence of events transpired this past week — the parents of two different playoff-competing NBA players were arrested in separate incidents, one on each coast.
By MATT TAIBBI | May 26, 2010

Spring fever

LT’s self-abuse defense, a bag job at Notre Dame, and heading back to school in Texas
The Lawrence Taylor case is progressing, and as expected, each passing day upchucks new sordid details into the gossip-o-sphere.
By MATT TAIBBI | May 24, 2010

Sacked

NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor takes another hit
We always knew Lawrence Taylor was a good bet to get in trouble.
By MATT TAIBBI | May 17, 2010

Review: Just Wright

Bench this fairy tale
As glossy as you might expect, the film double-dribbles with its familiar story of the ugly duckling who wins the swan.
By BRETT MICHEL | May 12, 2010

Facebook fracas

Clinton Hart has one too many friends; plus, a pack of ’Dawgs starts chasing the Ducks
Sooner or later, Facebook had to figure into the sports-crime scene. There are at least two cases now of pro football players getting arrested for assault in fights resulting from their wives looking at their Facebook friends lists.
By MATT TAIBBI | May 05, 2010

Ledge Lessons

We love you, stressed-out college kids! So relax, and remember how good you have it.
As advocates of higher education and living as long as medically possible, we were sad to read that, according to new-media-powerhouse Web site the Daily Beast, Greater Boston is home to not one but five of the most stressful colleges in the United States.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 28, 2010

Mirror, mirror

Smashing up cars in South Alabama; Plus, it's that frisky NFL draft time of year
Virtually every year, like clockwork, a college-football player is arrested for getting blasted and then running around town vandalizing cars — a crime that almost always involves ripping multiple side mirrors off of multiple automobiles.
By MATT TAIBBI | April 28, 2010

QB freak

No charges for Roethlisberger, but Big Ben’s reputation might be sacked
Trying to parse the situation with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his sexual-assault allegations, one comes to some interesting conclusions. The strategy pursued by law enforcement in this case speaks volumes.
By MATT TAIBBI | April 22, 2010

Cookie monster

Senseless tragedy at FIU; plus, late-night fun at Marshall and some Oregon fallout
The Florida International University football program was rocked recently when running back Kendall Berry was stabbed to death in front of eight witnesses — allegedly by an ex–FIU teammate.
By MATT TAIBBI | April 14, 2010

The dumbass chronicles

Shaun Rogers flunks out; plus, fun at the clubs with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Right about now, every football fan in America is asking him- or herself the same question: if Shaun Rogers is dumb enough to bring a gun to an airport, what did the guy score on the Wonderlic?
By MATT TAIBBI | April 08, 2010

Number two blues

Ryan Leaf’s sad story continues; plus, Ronnie Brown driving wild in Atlanta
As we approach NFL draft season, it’s fun to look back at those great draft prospects of yore, the workout warriors and combine heroes who titillated coordinators, coaches, and fans leading up to the big selection day in New York.
By MATT TAIBBI | April 01, 2010

Pirates' ransom

The fun in Oregon is over, as east-coast athletes go on a kidnapping spree
Well, enough of the funny stuff with the Oregon Ducks’ recent crime wave. This week, we’re back into the world of straight-out, nasty, pointless, idiotic violence, committed by young athletes with everything to lose and only a few bucks to gain.
By MATT TAIBBI | March 24, 2010

Rebounding

More than two decades after Kevin Mackey pulled off the then-biggest upset in NCAA Tourney history, he made it to the NBA.
When March Madness tips off tonight, Kevin Mackey will be in the stands taking notes. As a professional-basketball scout, he's looking for tomorrow's NBA stars.
By JON HART | March 17, 2010

Kelly's zeroes

Oregon Football makes the leap and pays the price; plus, taser fun on the Bayou
Like Bob Beamon's long-jump record or Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, it was once thought that no organized sports team would ever approach the string of arrests racked up by the infamous Portland Jail Blazers club of the early 2000s.
By MATT TAIBBI | March 17, 2010

What the Duck?

Oregon, again; plus, all the news that's fit to steal, and home invasions at the Citadel
The burgeoning crime wave wracking the University of Oregon Ducks football team — reporters out there are calling it the "bird flu" — has now spread in an unexpectedly hilarious direction.
By MATT TAIBBI | March 10, 2010

Lame Ducks

Oregon football closes in on infamy; plus, a Villanova Wildcat needs litter training
Wow, it sure has been a nasty couple of weeks for the University of Oregon and football coach Chip Kelly.
By MATT TAIBBI | March 03, 2010

Oregon fail

With no one to hit on the field, underclassmen take to the streets
This is the time of year when you start seeing a lot of arrests involving non-draft-eligible college-football players — underclassmen, mainly.
By MATT TAIBBI | February 24, 2010

Rocky pot

It's murder time in Tennessee; Plus, Warren Sapp gets flagged for hands to the face
Late last May, a goofy-looking guy named Charles Austin Corn — a student at the University of Tennessee — was shot in South Knoxville in what looked like an attempt to rob his stash. He was unable to communicate with police after the shooting and died five days later.
By MATT TAIBBI | February 17, 2010

Texas stranger

A Dallas fullback plays cowboys and valets; Plus, the Laird brothers learn from their elders
Gilbert Arenas, you might've started something.
By MATT TAIBBI | February 10, 2010

Slam Dunk Season

How the Red Claws took Portland by storm
Back in the fall of 2008, WJAB sports guy Chris Sedenka hosted Red Claws bigwigs Jon Jennings and Bill Ryan Jr. on his afternoon radio show. They were solidifying their plan to bring an NBA development league basketball team to Portland, Maine, a scheme that — in other circumstances, under others' supervision — had been previously unsuccessful.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 03, 2010