Every 12-year-old’s nightmare.
Making it to the Little League World Series is the dream of any kid who ever picks up a baseball. You get to compete against the best players your age from around the world and most importantly you get to be on national television — ESPN.
Rob Carr / Getty
Of course, the downside of being on national television is the possibility of embarrassing yourself on NATIONAL TELEVISION. Something tells me this poor kid is never going to live this down.
It’s hard out here for a shortstop.
In the top of the 7th inning of Thursday's Astros-Athletics game, Oakland shortstop Eric Sogard caught a line drive, but was clipped by Chris Carter's broken bat as he was attempting to throw back to first base.
As you can tell, Sogard never even saw it coming.
That fucker came outta nowhere.
The entire Panthers secondary is at the orthopedic clinic this morning.
On the right of this picture is Drayton Florence, a cornerback for the Carolina Panthers. He's had a nice 10-year career in the NFL.
Jeff Siner / Charlotte Observer / MCT / Getty
Unfortunately, after last night he will be forced to retire, move to France, and never speak of football again. This is what Eagles running back LeSean "Shady" McCoy did to Florence last night:
Lol wtf omg bbq what? Let's get a closer look.
By my count that's a feint right, a feint left, a cut right, and another half-feint right while stutter-stepping into a second feint left and cut right. In literally a single second. Linebacker Thomas Davis, who looks like he's wearing concrete snowshoes, pursues the play doggedly only to get a groin-full of Drayton Florence.
No pain, no gain. But mostly pain.
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He’s adorable, he supports LGBT rights in Russia, AND HE HAS A RABBIT NAMED MORTIMER.
Julian Finney / Getty Images
Julian Finney / Getty Images
“Whether you’re gay, straight, black, white, we all deserve the same rights," he said.
Julian Finney / Getty Images
Adam Bouska / noh8campaign.com
There are fans, and then there are fans .
Good god.
And schadenfreude.
Getty/Andy Lyons/Staff
Getty/Jared Wickerham/Stringer
It’s not soccer, Yanks.
This is my favorite of this season's TV spots.
Beautifully shot, perfectly edited.
Funny print ads promoting The Sun's fantasy football league.
Well, this is one to try to get American "football" fans interested in FOOTBALL.
It won't work, but Jason Sudeikis, as fictitious new Spurs coach Ted Lasso, is quite funny.
There is nothing worse than the douchebag sideline parent.
Enter The FA's sideline robot enforcer.
Here are some of the athletes, advocates, and LGBT activists who will be part of the international conversation about sports and human rights.
Whether or not he actually skates in Sochi, Weir (a sixth-place finisher in Vancouver) plans to be a constant presence in and around the Olympic scene. He made that abundantly clear in a recent interview with Canadian television, and he, more than any other athlete in the world right now, has the chance to become the primary face and voice of the LGBT rights movement on the ground as the Games are in progress. He even went so far recently as saying he's willing to be arrested in Russia in order to make a point about his commitment to LGBT equality.
AP / LEHTIKUVA, Antti Almo-Kolvisto
Nikolai Alexeyev is arguably the most visible LGBT activist in Russia. He's led efforts for Moscow Pride since 2005 and has been beaten, harassed, and arrested several times as a result. In May 2012, Alexeyev became the first person to be arrested under St. Petersburg's anti-gay propaganda law after holding a sign that said “Homosexuality is not a perversion” in front of Smolny Institute. As of this week, he may soon face charges for tweeting about Russia's state-sanctioned homophobia.
Denis Tyrin / AP
A gold medalist in 2006 (3,000-meter speed skating) and 2010 (1,500-meter), Wüst is a national hero in her native Netherlands, where speed-skating is the most highly regarded sport of all. Wüst talked openly about her girlfriend, another Dutch speed-skater, in a 2009 TV interview, and she'll be gunning for gold in her third consecutive Olympics. And a dominant performance at the World Championships in Sochi this past March means she may be the favorite in both events for which she's previously won gold. That would mean lots of prime medal stand time for a show of support.
Grigory Dukor / Reuters
On Aug. 7, members of All Out, which Andre Banks co-founded, traveled to Switzerland to deliver a petition against Russia's anti-gay laws to the IOC. The petition had more than 300,000 signatures. Twenty-four hours later, Banks showed up at the front gate of the Russian consulate in New York City to give Vitaly Churkin, Russian's United Nations ambassador, a copy as well. As the executive director of All Out, which specifically focus on LGBT causes abroad and boats a membership of more than 1.8 million people in 190 countries, Andre Banks may well prove to be one of the loudest American voices in the outcry against Russia's anti-gay law.
Jorge Rivas
OK, he’s good.
Al Bello / Getty
David Seelig / Getty
Ezra Shaw / Getty
The best way to get on the International Olympic Committee is to have one of your ancestors kill a dragon.
Mark G. Renders / Getty
In the middle of the Sochi story, between the Russian officials who want to enforce the country's new anti-LGBT laws during the Winter Olympics and the activists who believe holding the Games in a human-rights-hostile atmosphere is immoral, are the 104 members of the International Olympic Committee. The members of the committee are the ones who chose Sochi as a location, and they're the ones responsible for the security of athletes and staff, the ones who suffer financially in the event of a boycott or sponsor pullouts. And so far, the IOC's reaction to events has been, at best, passive. The group said nothing publicly after the laws were passed and, when pressed in recent weeks, has said it's received assurances from the Russian government that the law won't affect the Games, a statement Russian officials then denied.
What is the IOC? Who are these people who have become so suddenly critical? Well, here are some of them:
More commonly known as Princess Anne. Chairs the Hat Committee.
WPA Pool / Getty
On the left; seated behind him are the Countess and Earl of Wessex. Classic night out with the Countess and Earl of Wessex taking place here.
Getty
The Palio di Siena lasts less than two minutes and has been run regularly for more than 350 years. Just watch those hooves.
Twice a summer, the 17 districts (or parishes, or contrade) of Siena, Italy, send forth their top riders in a bareback horse-riding competition called the Palio di Siena. Their prize? A silk banner depicting the Madonna and child — and all of the bragging rights.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Not all 17 parishes get to participate in the main event. Trial races are held the day before to whittle the field down to the actual 10 competitors. Here, Giovanni Atzeni, better known as Tittia to the crowds, rides as the representative of Onda (Wave) parish.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Tens of thousands of fans cram into the Piazza Del Campo on the day of the trials as well as the main event, but the horses still manage to find the quieter spaces. Here, Naike, the horse representing the Aquila (Eagle) parish, rests before a qualifier. (Notice the eagle-emblazoned flags lining the alley.)
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
It's a time when civic pride is at its peak. Here, a priest baptizes a baby into the Selva (Forest) parish the day before the race.
FABIO MUZZI / AFP / Getty Images
Emma Green-Tregaro’s rainbow fingernails were the first sign of the coming storm the International Olympic Committee will face in Sochi. The IOC needs to make clear the impact of its own rules on athletes who — like the IOC itself — support nondiscrimination.
Scanpix Sweden / Reuters
WASHINGTON — A key choice the International Olympic Committee will be facing in the coming months was painted all over Emma Green-Tregaro's fingernails last week.
The Swedish high-jumper's rainbow demand for LGBT rights in Russia brought to light an obscure question of interpretation that has emerged at the intersection of international athletic competition, human rights and self-expression. Exactly how similar protests play out at the planned Winter Olympics in Sochi will hinge on the way the IOC interprets Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.
Athletes are already on edge about Russia's ban on public speech or any other expression that "promotes" LGBT rights — called "non-traditional sexual relations" in the law. Green-Tregaro's demonstration led Russian pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva to speak out in favor of the law, calling Green-Tregaro disrespectful, which then prompted American runner Nick Symmonds to decry Isinbayeva's comments as out of touch.
Green-Tregaro repainted her nails within days, back to a more traditional red —because the Swedish team was informed that the high jumper was violating IAAF rules.
"We have been informally approached by the IAAF saying that this is by definition, a breach of the regulations. We have informed our athletes about this," Anders Albertsson of the Swedish athletic federation told the AFP. "The code of conduct clearly states the rules do not allow any commercial or political statements during the competition."
On top of the central question facing the Olympics — whether athletes and attendees at the Winter Olympics will be prosecuted for speaking out for LGBT rights and, more fundamentally, whether the games should be held in such a place — the International Olympic Committee is going to face similar questions as those faced by the IAAF this past week.
The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni called for supporters of LGBT rights to wave rainbow flags in Sochi — a call echoed by Sen. Chuck Schumer and others.
Like the IAAF, however, the IOC has a rule banning political propaganda at Olympic sites. The IOC also, however, has a rule mandating that it act to oppose any discrimination — a mandate that the IOC itself has said includes discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The attention the IAAF faced with Green-Tregaro's simple act, with little of the publicity the Olympics gets, was just a sliver of the questions that inevitably are going to be raised if the Olympics go forward in Sochi with the anti-LGBT propaganda law in place. The IOC now finds itself under growing pressure to be clear, ahead of the games, about what its rules are and how it will enforce them.
Scanpix Sweden / Reuters
THE OLYMPIC CHARTER: Rule 50 of the charter states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." The rule also bans "advertising or other publicity."
The question has been raised whether such "rainbow displays" would violate the rule, with some media reporting that the IOC has "forbid" such displays.
In a discussion with Gay Star News, an IOC spokeswoman said that "the IOC has a clear rule laid out in the Olympic Charter (Rule 50) which states that the venues of the Olympic Games are not a place for proactive political or religious demonstration." She added, however, "In any case, the IOC would treat each case individually and take a sensible approach depending on what was said or done."
Gay Star News went on to editorialize, "The message is clear, athletes, coaches and others who step out of line – for example by wearing rainbow pins – would not just risk arrest from Russians, but also punishment from the IOC." This led The Advocate to declare in a news article that the IOC "Forbids Athletes to Speak Against Russian Antigay Laws."
The bylaws to Rule 50 show that its primary focus is the advertising element, with only two even marginally applying to the "propaganda" rule. The one states, "No form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise, may appear on persons, on sportswear, accessories or, more generally, on any article of clothing or equipment whatsoever worn or used by the athletes or other participants in the Olympic Games ...."
The other applicable bylaw notes that "all participants and all other persons accredited at the Olympic Games and all other persons or parties concerned shall comply with the manuals, guides, or guidelines, and all other instructions of the IOC Executive Board, in respect of all matters subject to Rule 50 ...."
The Washington Blade followed up, seeking additional information from the IOC about the rule, resulting in an IOC statement that claimed Rule 50 "aims to separate sport from politics" and drew attention to the first of those bylaws as the applicable rule.
"By its nature, the Olympic games cannot become a platform for any kind of demonstration and the IOC will not accept any proactive gesture that could harm their spirit and jeopardize their future," the statement continued.
However, Rule 2 of the Olympic Charter has not been a part of the IOC statements or news stories addressing the issue thus far.
"The mission of the IOC is to promote Olympism throughout the world and to lead the Olympic Movement. The IOC's role is ... to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement," part of Rule 2 states.
In regards to questions about the enforcement of Russia's anti-LGBT propaganda law against athletes or attendees of the Sochi Olympics, the IOC's statement included notice that, "The International Olympic Committee is clear that sport is a human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation." The IOC clearly views Russia's anti-LGBT law as potentially affecting the Olympic movement, by its own statements.
Neither the IOC nor reports about the upcoming Olympics, however, have addressed the basic question of whether opposition to discrimination — an Olympic rule and part of the IOC's role — should even be considered "political propaganda" subject to the confines of Rule 50.
Shocking unless you’ve ever heard about anything the NCAA has ever done before.
Update - Aug. 19, 5:40 p.m., EDT: The NCAA has declared that Rhodes may play immediately and maintain all four years of his eligibility.
Steven Rhodes joined the Marines a year after graduating high school; after serving for five years he's now a student at Middle Tennessee State University, where he's an aerospace major. He walked on to the school's football team this fall. But as the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal reports, NCAA rules prohibit Rhodes from playing this year because he participated in "organized" football — recreational games — during his time in the military.
Murfreesboro Daily News Journal
After a Middle Tennessee appeal, the NCAA ruled that Rhodes (crouched at right above) can retain all four years of his eligibility to play — but that he'll still have to sit out this season, as he would if he were, say, transferring to MTSU from another college football program. Rather than from being in the Marines and playing intramurals during his breaks from defending the cause of justice and freedom.
Murfreesboro Daily News Journal
After a wave of outrage swept 'cross the mighty internet when this story broke yesterday, the NCAA said in a statement that a "final decision has not been made" on Rhodes' case and that their judgment that Rhodes would have to sit out the season was only "an initial review." So perhaps common sense will win out at NCAA headquarters — pictured above — after all.
Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty
A-Rod gets one in the back then hits a home run.
In the top of the 2nd inning of Sunday night's Yankees-Red Sox game, Boston pitcher Ryan Dempster fired three straight inside pitches to Alex Rodriguez.
Make that four.
The home plate umpire warned both clubs that any further shenanigans would result in ejection.
Wait. What? A warning? Dempster didn't get ejected for throwing four straight pitches at a guy who's known to be extremely unpopular among fellow players? Yankees manager Joe Girardi, what do you have to say about that?
Digestive issues, flying bat shards, managers’ flailing fists — Brian O’Nora always under assault.
Via wapc.mlb.com
Via wapc.mlb.com
WARNING: this post contains incredibly cute dogs. And attractive humans.
Yesterday, golf's most photogenic couple got engaged. Dustin Johnson proposed to Paulina Gretzky with a diamond the size of a hockey puck.
So I took the opportunity to congratulate the happy couple with a post dedicated to what they do best... play golf.
Poor Pam Oliver. She barely saw it coming.
Michael Conroy / AP
The former GQ model is long gone.
Duane Burleson / AP
Paul Sancya / AP
Paul Sancya / AP
Jeff Zelevansky / Getty
The Black Mamba is coming back.
Mark J. Terrill, File / AP
Mark J. Terrill / AP
Via sports.yahoo.com
