Your morning roundup for Jan. 26, the day somebody finally tried to do something about all that cannibalism out there. Photo via Mocksession. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors.
What we watched: Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers. With 1.1 seconds remaining and the game out of reach for the Clippers, Pau Gasol patted Chris Paul's head after some words were exchanged. Because you just don't touch another man's hair, Paul swatted Gasol's hand away and proceeded to ensure his non-combable hair was properly in place. We may just have a rivalry on our hands, folks.
What we're watching (all times EST, unless noted): North Carolina State at North Carolina (ESPN), Florida at Mississippi (ESPN2), and Nebraska at Iowa in men's college basketball at 7 (ESPNU). Baylor at Oklahoma in women's college basketball at 8 (Fox Sports Net). Boston at Orlando in NBA basketball at 8 (TNT). All-Star Game Draft for the NHL All-Star Game at 8 (NBCSN). Winter X Games at 9 (ESPN). Indiana at Wisconsin (ESPN2) and Boston College at Virginia (ESPNU) in men's college basketball at 9. Washington State at Arizona in men's college basketball at 10:30 (Fox Sports Net). Memphis at Los Angeles Clippers in NBA basketball at 10:30 (TNT). Gonzaga at Portland in men's college basketball at 11 (ESPN2). Australian Open, men's semifinals at 3:30 a.m. (ESPN2).
Read Me
Luc Sante on Patti Smith? Yes, please: "Meanwhile, the club was becoming the epicenter of a phenomenon that before year's end had come to be called 'punk,' in reference to the primitive teenage rock and roll of the mid-1960s, which had been surveyed in a 1972 anthology, Nuggets, compiled by Kaye. The house aesthetic matched the simplicity and directness of that music, and virtually every one of the bands that played CBGB covered the classics of the genre, often at the beginning of sets as ritual invocation and starting gun. The Ramones played the Rivieras' 'California Sun'; Talking Heads played Question Mark and the Mysterians' '96 Tears'; Television played the Count Five's 'Psychotic Reaction.' Smith and her group yoked her poem 'Oath' ('Jesus died for somebody's sins…') to 'Gloria,' a 1964 standard by Them. The poem declares her transfer of allegiance from dogma to flesh ('So Christ/I'm giving you the good-bye/firing you tonight'), but the song manifests it, moving from recitation to singing, from the abstract to the concrete, from inwardly directed argument to outwardly directed lust." [New York Review of Books]
This Date In Deadspin History
Jan 26, 2009: The Stanford Tree Is Officially Out Of Control
Elsewhere
White Sox, red pinstripes: "The White Sox will wear red pinstripes for home Sunday games in 2012, replicas of uniforms they sported in the early 1970s when franchise icons Dick Allen, Wilbur Wood and Bill Melton ruled the South Side of Chicago. From 1971-1975, the White Sox hit on a sharp look that combined their iconic ‘Sox' logo and a red pinstripe color scheme, rarely used at that time in Major League Baseball. So what if it looked like something the Boston Red Sox might wear at Fenway Park?! It was better than what came next." [Big League Stew]
Kobe's still really rich: "Bryant's following has allowed him to amass an endorsement portfolio of global brands including Nike, Smart Car, Panini and Turkish Airlines that pay him $28 million annually. Factor in his league leading $25.2 million salary from the Lakers and Bryant is the NBA's top-earning athlete at $53.2 million. Bryant's Lakers salary is $3 million greater than any other NBA player thanks to the idiosyncrasies of the NBA's maximum salary rules on individual players. Under the old collective bargaining agreement, 10-year veterans could sign deals for 35% of the salary cap which was $58 million last season. Yet players can sign deals worth 105% of their previous salary even if it exceeds the salary ceiling." [Forbes, via Ball Don't Lie]
Your China's Got Talent/Michael Jackson Interlude:
The Pro Bowl just got sort of interesting: "‘BREAKING: NFL will allow players to in-game tweet during Sunday's Pro Bowl. There will be 1 designated area per sideline." [@darrenrovell]
Best way yo bounce back from a loss, ever: "These are the types of games that takes years off of coaches' lives. The Detroit Red Wings absolutely sleepwalked through a 7-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Mike Babcock was predictably displeased, as you can see from these two comments via Dave Stubbs: ‘I'm not going to study video of this,' Babcock said. ‘I'm going for a drink.'"[@habsinsideout1, via Pro Hockey Talk]
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