ESPN EMBRACES DETRACTOR BUT BRISTOL STILL BURNING: How much have things changed at ESPN? Will Leitch of DEADSPIN guested on ESPN Radio last Friday, with Scott Van Pelt hosting the interview (audio link). This is the same network which circulated a memo last year banning Leitch from appearing on any ESPN outlet.

DEADSPIN of course is […]

• Paging Doug Llewelyn: THE WIZARD OF ODDS opens the chambers to Round 2 of Charlie Weis’ malpractice suit:

• SIGNAL TO NOISE is colored confused by Gary Sheffield’s recent comments that Derek Jeter “ain’t all the way black.”
• Paging Jenny Craig: RUMORS AND RANTS reports that Oscar de la Hoya plans to move back to […]

UFC MAINSTREAM? ASK THE FINE PEOPLE OF MONROE, WA: While Chuck Liddell was the talk of the town during his UFC title run, the current champ seems to have less of a stranglehold on the sports public.

On the SHERDOG message boards, poster pudgelarson36 writes about meeting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at a racing event in the […]

JUST USE YOUR HEAD, AND THE TOOTH WILL SET YOU FREE: An Australian rugby player recently had an opponent’s tooth removed from his forehead - after it unknowingly sat there for 15 weeks:

Ben Czislowski was in a collision with another player, resulting in a head gash requiring stitches. A few months later, Ben was […]

FRENCH JUMPER JOLTED BY JAVELIN JAB TO THE KIDNEYS: A long jumper was recently skewered by a javelin during an athletic meet in Rome:

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Salim Sdiri of France was speared by a wayward throw from Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki during the Golden League games. The javelin penetrated 4 inches (over 10 cm) into Sdiri’s […]

NEW BALANCE IN THE NEXT PLOTLINE OF CSI NEW YORK? We always count on Darren Rovell to keep us abreast of the latest sports marketing trends, and he doesn’t disappoint with this print ad for Pearl Izumi running shoes (we think):

Rovell: “I read the thing four or five times and wasn’t quite sure what the […]

EA SPORTS INVENTS YET ANOTHER WAY TO NEVER GET LAID: Videogame maker EA Sports and Jostens today made the inevitable reality today, rolling out rings based on a player’s “Madden NFL 08″ level of skill.

Sadly, we now know that “rings can be customized to match a player’s advancement through five levels of the game. When […]