Cheerleaders, Selfies and Fake Dead Girlfriends: The Big Lead 2013 Year in Review
By Ty Duffy
2013 was quite the sports year. The Big Lead covered its entirety. Here is a month by month look back at our best work and our most popular posts.
January 2013
Wes Welker’s Wife Shared Some Facebook Thoughts About Ray Lewis After The Patriots Lost
Arizona Cardinals Fullback Reagan Mauia Claimed He Met The Fake Dead Girlfriend of Manti Te’o
Katherine Webb and Dee Dee Bonner Sat Next To Each Other At the BCS Title Game, Brent Musburger Noticed
Shannon Sharpe Ripped Bill Belichick For Refusing To Be Interviewed After Patriots Loss
Ravens Fan Goes Crazy, Wife Puts it on Internet So He Can Be Properly Shamed
Stan “The Man” Musial Passed Away
February 2013
Jim Nantz Claimed Women’s Soccer Players Were Two Times More Likely To Get Concussions Than Football Players, Had No Proof
Darnell Dockett Wanted to Kick Former FSU QB Chris Rix’s Ass, After Rix Questioned His Sexual Orientation
LSU Student Newspaper Used “Cock Blocked” Headline After South Carolina Win
LeBron Made a Left-Handed Bank Shot From Three-Point Range Just For The Hell Of It
A Recruit Visiting Oregon Tweeted a Picture Of Himself With a Bong
A Historical Review of the “Elite Quarterback” Jason Lisk examines the dramatic rise in mentions of quarterbacks being “elite” and traces some responsibility to the Washington Post and Joe Theismann, of course.
Sean Farnham Is Moving Up The Only Way He Knows How Jason Lisk profiles the rising ESPN College Basketball analyst.
March 2013
Former Patriot Teddy Johnson Called Vince Wilfork’s Wife Ugly, Pissed Off Vince Wilfork
Nikki Sapp, a Former Heat Dancer, is Dating Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra
Elin Nordegren is Dating a Billionaire Coal Magnate, Who Has a Boat Nicer Than Your House
Renaldo Balkman Freaked Out, Pushing Referees and Coaches And Choking a Teammate During a Game
Florida Gulf Coast (Now USC) Coach Andy Enfield is Married to Amanda Marcum, a Former Maxim and Victoria’s Secret Model
April 2013
Former Packers QB Don Majkowski Is In Such Bad Shape He Can No Longer Coach His Son’s Football Team
Rays Reporter Kelly Nash Took The Best SFW Selfie You Will Ever See
Boston Fans Sang The National Anthem At The Bruins vs. Sabers Game Following the Marathon Attack
Rutgers Basketball Coach Mike Rice Assaulted Players, Threw Balls At Their Heads
A Woman With Shirt Unbuttoned And Her Boyfriend Really Wanted To Get On TV During Clippers vs. Lakers
Kevin Ware: Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones Jason Lisk, blissfully unaware of the Kevin Ware injury and firestorm after while enjoying Easter dinner, provides his perspective on drawing the line on sports images.
May 2013
A Miami Fan Gave Joakim Noah The Middle Finger, Turned Out To Be Widow of Dead Hedge Fund Manager
Former South Alabama Cheerleader Triplets Are Now Bikini Models
Otis Nixon Was Busted With a Crack Pipe, Had a Terrifying Mugshot
Tim Duncan’s Divorce Story Was Somewhat Bizarre
Juwan Howard Hung Out On The Beach With MSG Network’s Jill Martin
June 2013
Padres Announcer on Female Fans Wearing Hot Dog Hats: “I Crushed Those Two After The Game Last Night”
The Girl in Pink Rooting For UCLA Is All Anyone Was Talking About At The College World Series
Tennessee Has The Best Looking Girls in the SEC, According to Recruits
Bill Simmons vs. Doc Rivers Got Heated And Tense During NBA Draft
Flo Rida’s Manager Was Banned From NBA Finals Games 6 and 7 After Gregg Popovich Complained
Grantland at Two: What Has Bill Simmons Built? Ty Duffy takes an in-depth look at ESPN’s Grantland as the site hits its second birthday.
July 2013
Eric Decker and Jesse James Honeymooned On The Beach in Hawaii
Meghan Hardin From Big Break Atlantis Is Your New Favorite Golfer
Johnny Manziel Had Beer Poured On Him at Texas Frat Party, Was Asked To Leave
Mark May Ripped Johnny Manziel, Forgot About His Arrest At Pitt and Two DWIs in NFL
Ice Cube Said “Fuck Dwight Howard,” Referred To Him as “Dwight Coward”
The Hobby: The Rise and Fall of Upper Deck Sam Eifling writes a long-form piece about the famed trading card company.
Q&A With Kid Rock Tim Ryan had an audience with the American badass and discussed the Malice at the Palace, among other things.
August 2013
Oregon State’s Chainsaw Created a New Low For College Football Songs And Dances
Hugh Douglas Threatened To Beat Up ESPN Colleague Michael Smith, Shouted Racial Slurs At Him
Jason Whitlock Left Fox Sports To Return To ESPN
Kevin Durant and Tyson Chandler Were Chillin With a Shirtless Justin Bieber
Jenny Dell Had Water Thrown On Her After Red Sox Ninth-Inning Walk Off Win
Tebow Mania: The Rise of Sports’ First Social Media Superstar Ty Duffy charts the role Social Media played in the rise of Tim Tebow.
September 2013
A Broncos Cheerleader Gave NBC’s Cameraman An Angle America Would Not Forget
Terry Bradshaw Dropped an F-Bomb on Fox Football Daily
Andre Drummond Was Dating Jennette McCurdy From Nickelodeon’s I Carly, They Met On Twitter
A Stripper Named “Sweet Pea” Hit The Ravens’ Jacoby Jones With a Champagne Bottle
Blake Griffin Had a Kid With Matt Leinart’s Baby Mama Brynn Cameron
Prince Fielder Snacked on a Fan’s Nachos After Missing a Foul Ball
Buster Olney is Obviously Biased Against Your Favorite Team Says Twitter
“You Don’t Mess With a Guy Who’s Lived in a Dumpster.” A Night at MLB Network Mike Cardillo spent a day at MLB Network, writing about how baseball is consumed in real-time every night of the season.
Revemewemng the Case for Kerry Rhodes Beemng Blacklemsted Jason Lemsk revemews the claemms of demscremmemnatemon agaemnst Kerry Rhodes over the gay rumors, by examemnemng the numbers beemng used to bolster how good he ems, and the agemng curve and attemtudes toward safetemes emn general.
October 2013
A Female Streaker Invaded The Golf Course At The Presidents’ Cup
Ole Miss Party Girl Is The Greatest SEC Fan Ever, And It’s Not Even Close
Christian and Samantha Ponder Went as Wendy Peffercorn And Squints For Halloween
Trevor Plouffe Went Hiking With His Wife, Took a Picture Of The Beautiful View
Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux Went as Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke For Halloween
Panama Newspaper Provides the Year’s Best, Most Honest Headline Following Loss to Mexico
Prince Fielder: Belly Flop is a GIF for the Ages
Koji Uehara’s Son Gave An Unforgettable Interview with Erin Andrews
Tony Romo’s Career Day and the Merchant of Venice Jason Lisk goes Shakespeare in looking at Romo, the man who puts up great numbers and plays really well, only to play his role in another defeat.
Eric Wynalda Doesn’t Hold Back, Swings on American Soccer Coaches, Says “No Way” Qatar World Cup Happens Mike Cardillo interviewed Eric Wynalda, who had plenty of controversial things to say about U.S. Soccer.
November 2013
A Bills Fan Fell From The 300-level to the 200-level of Ralph Wilson Stadium, And Survived
Tony Picard is a 6’4″ 400-Pound High School Running Back
Anthony Davis Was Stripped Naked and Spanked In Kentucky Locker Room
Rihanna Attended The Lakers Game, Spent Night Flirting With Lucky Fan
Florida Players Blocking Each Other Against Georgia Southern Summarized Their 2013 Season
Fade Into the Red Zone: A Look at Hot and Cold Pass Plays Near the End Zone Jason Lisk and Michael Shamburger collaborate in examining where, and on what types of plays, teams have the most and least success when inside the 10 yard line.
Rob Stone, a Jack of All Trades at Fox Sports 1 Mike Cardillo spoke with Fox Sports host Rob Stone and some of the challenges of working at a new network trying to take on ESPN.
Robert Gremffemn III: Why Aren’t Hems Lemneman Helpemng Hemm Up? and a comparemson to Andrew Luck, Russell Wemlson, and Ryan Tannehemll Jason Lemsk and Memchael Shamburger compare Gremffemn to other contemporaremes.
December 2013
Alex Morgan is Engaged to Servando Carrasco, Male Hearts Everywhere Are Broken
Mack Brown Replacements: 11 Names That Could Be On Texas’ Wishlist
Tim Tebow Bidding War Brewing Between Three TV Networks
Indiana Fan Strips in Carrier Dome, Watches Hoosiers Lose In Her Underwear
Ronda Rousey Swore During an ESPN Sportscenter Interview
Danny Woodhead Won a Tip Drill, Kicked Up his Heels and Left a Giants Staffer Shaking His Head
Vincent Kompany’s Spectacular Own Goal vs. Fulham Left Him Bleeding Tears
Kids’ Cereal, Naughty Signs, and a Shirtless David Pollack: A Weekend With ESPN’s College Football GameDay Ty Duffy went behind the scenes with ESPN’s College GameDay crew before the Auburn vs. Alabama Game.
The 24-Second News Cycle: How Twitter Altered Baseball’s Hot Stove Season and the Winter Meetings Forever Mike Cardillo wrote about how Twitter has changed baseball reporting during the Hot Stove Season.