Ryan Leaf's story is never one that's regarded with much empathy, given how cantankerous and bitchy he was throughout his brief, spectacularly awful NFL tenure. He's main accomplishments as an NFL quarterback are being consistently ranked in the top three of all-time draft busts or the top three all-time locker room freak-outs. A couple of years ago when Leaf took jobs at West Texas A &M as both head golf coach and assistant football coach, ...

Well, this is unfortunate. But it appears pseudonymous website proprietor "Nik Richie" of TheDirty.com was nabbed for a DUI last January and The Smoking Gun has the wince-worthy police report from the night of his arrest. Nik Richie is actually 29-year-old Hooman Karamian and, well, Jesus, let's go to some of the highlights: While being processed by police, Karamian remarked that the cop "did not know the things he did for the community, and that ...

• Chad Johnson has left the planet: Apparently, this is for real. "I just called the Broward County (Fla.) Court Clerk and Chad Johnson is no longer. Officially, legally, yesterday, his name was changed to Chad Ocho Cinco." [LOTD] • Stupid hurricanes: "The LSU Appalachian State football game is now scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, LSU and governor’s office officials decided today." [AppFan] • What about Ben?: The fate of Chicago Bulls' guard Ben Gordon ...

ESPN's resident wayward loudmouth Stephen A. Smith hunt-and-pecked his way through another magazine column this week, and took on fantasy football and its overwhelming whiteness. Miraculously, SAS does manage to dig up an MIT sociological study (actually it's a Fantasy Sports Trade Association's "study") which found that 93% of all fantasy sports participants are, in fact, white. This is not surprising to SAS, who wasted no time insinuating his marginalizing viewpoint with his usual graceful ...

If there is any more question about Jay Mariotti's awfulness and how actively despised he is by most people at the Chicago Sun-Times, look no further than this internal letter being circulated around, oh, everywhere in Chicago's news rooms penned by Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert. The man sure knows how to unleash a withering screed. Titled : "An open letter to sports columnist Jay Mariotti, who resigned from the Sun-Times and lashed out during ...

There are many reasons as to why I shouldn't link to an Onion article titled, "Stu Scott's Left Eye Moves To Fox", but the reasons why I should link to it somewhat outweigh them. I think. Not sure. But what harm could possibly come from linking to someone else's cruel satirical sports writing if it's not your own? It is the Onion. It's not like it's an Onion knock-off. The messenger should be spared in ...

Mariotti going to Boston, as rumored, would just be excellent. They deserve each other.

As predicted in this Michael Phelps post at the end of his medal run, Michael Phelps will, in fact, be making an appearance on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on Sept. 13th. What I didn't expect was that NBC would force him to warble through a hokey monologue and host the damn thing. Given Phelps' less-than-polished on-air persona this is an interesting choice. You would have a better chance of Fred Armisen medaling ...

Remember a little more than a year ago when George Steinbrenner, inflated with patriotic fervor, imposed a laughable rule that instructed security officials to ban anyone from "excessive movement" during the 7th inning rendition of "God Bless America." Granted, most New Yorkers seemingly abide by it, but sometimes the system must be tested by one man's agnosticism and patriotic indifference. Oh, and he had to piss. Meet Bradford Campeau-Laurion, a 29-year-old man from Astoria, Queens, ...

Remember a little more than a year ago when George Steinbrenner, inflated with patriotic fervor, imposed a laughable rule that instructed security officials to ban anyone from "excessive movement" during the 7th inning rendition of "God Bless America." Granted, most New Yorkers seemingly abide by it, but sometimes the system must be tested by one man's agnosticism and patriotic indifference. Oh, and he had to piss. Meet Bradford Campeau-Laurion, a 29-year-old man from Astoria, Queens, ...

Wow. Based on the enormous amount of emails flooding Deadspin's inbox, you would've thought that there was an assassination of a beloved sports figure or a towering inferno at Yankee Stadium. Nope. The reason for the deluge was because Jay Mariotti, after 17 years of vituperative hackdom, has decided to turn in his leaky pen and Remington portable and is leaving the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune caught up with Mariotti after he'd sent his ...

The Olympics have mercifully ended and they were in China. And we are proud to welcome back our Deadspin Beijing Bureau, our own trio of correspondents living in China and reporting on everything they see, Olympics related and otherwise. They are winding down their coverage, obviously. The day after the Olympics officially ended, the Bureau found ourselves at Silk Street Market off of Jianguomen Wai in Beijing’s CBD. Silk Street is a massive 6-floor market ...

This has absolutely no real sports affiliation whatsoever, but it is suitable for a late Monday DUAN! post. (Possibly.) The above photo is of Iowa State Community College President Robert Paxton whose questionable decision to spend the 4th of July weekend partying with his 19-year-old son and some various bikini-clad young women on Lake Okojobi has not gone over well in his community.The Des Moines Register is a news organization hellbent on demanding answers about ...

Given all the insensitivity issues that have come up during Olympic basketball, it probably wasn't a good idea for ESPN.com to use "Chink In The Armor?" as their Redeem Team story hed at 4 p.m. today. Well, it's changed now. That's the beauty of online publishing; your sins can be vanquished in an instant. Unless, of course, one person like Krister Johnson immediately screen-grabs it and sends it over to Deadspin. We're sure ESPN didn't ...

Just as things started looking up for Shaquille O'Neal (a rejuvenation of his NBA career in Phoenix, a rejuvenation of his rap career, making up with his estranged wife) he might be in store for some troubling times due to the allegations of one Atlanta-based lady who claims The Diesel is "stalking her." A judge found her claims legitimate and granted a restraining order against the big guy. Judge Richard Hicks granted Alexis Miller’s request ...

The Olympics are in full-swing and they're in China, so, you know, it should be a rather fascinating world event, if you're into fascinating world events. And we are proud to welcome back our Deadspin Beijing Bureau, our own trio of correspondents living in China and reporting on everything they see, Olympics related and otherwise. We check a number of Chinese publications and blogs each day from which we steal stories receive inspiration. China Daily ...

This is how you run a fantasy football draft: "We are looking for height-challenged female(s) (as in midget, dwarf, munchkin, little person, just don’t know the correct non-offensive terminology) to help run our fantasy football draft. We will be 10 males in a suite at the Mandalay Bay drafting for four hours on August 23th starting sometime in the late afternoon..." [Craig's List]

This is how you run a fantasy football draft: "We are looking for height-challenged female(s) (as in midget, dwarf, munchkin, little person, just don’t know the correct non-offensive terminology) to help run our fantasy football draft. We will be 10 males in a suite at the Mandalay Bay drafting for four hours on August 23th starting sometime in the late afternoon..." [Craig's List]

It appears the U.S. women's gymnastics team may actually get their coveted gold medals if an IOC investigation into the ages of the Chinese gymnastics team proves the little demons weren't all 16 years of age. After initially dodging all the questions, the findings of one U.S.-based blogger named Stryde Hax, has apparently prompted the IOC to respond, according to the Times of London. An IOC official told The Times that because of "discrepancies" that ...

• When complaining on the message boards isn't enough: The fans of the Cincinnati Bengals have spoken...with signage. This billboard was spotted just off of I-75, perhaps so Henry could see it himself as he drives away by in a stolen/borrowed rental car. [The Sporting Blog] • Maybe If you spent less time on your hair and more time practicing...: Paraguayan javelin thrower Leryn Franco finished...second to last. [With Leather] • Can't a couple of ...