The Mourning After Page 30 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
March Madness gets a head start as top six teams, seven of top 10 go down
If Saturday was a precursor to March Madness, then all of our brackets are more doomed than usual. Seven of the AP top 10 teams fell in a wild day of upsets, including every top six team. No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Kansas, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 9 Texas Tech all...
Washington D.C.’s most famous athlete is notably silent on Putin invading Ukraine
As far as approval ratings go, Alexander Ovechkin’s standing among Washington, D.C., natives is as high as it gets. He’s arguably the greatest professional athlete to call the District of Columbia home. He’s been there for 17 seasons. He’s a 12-time all-star. He led the Capitals to a Stanley Cup tit...
PGA commissioner cites complacent business plan as proof it isn’t complacent
Denying complacency is a telltale sign of complacency. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan did just that when he said the tour has “zero complacency” while addressing the rival Saudi golf league with the urgency of someone conducting business on the turn. ...
Tom Izzo needs a stiff handshake and an even stiffer drink
Perhaps Tom Izzo was testing the mettle of his players Tuesday when he called getting rid of the postgame handshake line “the biggest farce… of anything I’ve ever heard of” right before getting drubbed by Iowa. If the sound of his voice doesn’t give away his gruff stance, anyone who’s followed colle...
It’s not Obi Toppin’s fault the ASG dunk contest was lame
Saturday night was not that. But it was fine. Obi Toppin won, deserved to win, and deserved better than having to answer for the shoddy performance of his competition....
No one is prepared for the Florida Panthers to be this good
Mason Marchment had his first career hat trick Friday night, leading the Florida Panthers to a 6-2 rout of the Minnesota Wild in a game that could be a Stanley Cup Final preview....
It's hard to even care about the MLB lockout
It feels strange to say this, but it’s hard to get too into baseball’s labor negotiations right now, to try to read the tea leaves of a 15-minute meeting on Thursday, who might be willing to budge on which issues, any of it....
Jim Harbaugh can’t lose
Apparently, it’s possible to play poker, bet big on a hand, fold, and win anyway. At least, it’s possible if you’re Jim Harbaugh....
No Miracle on Ice, at least not for USA
So, about those Miracle on Ice comparisons for the United States men’s hockey team in Beijing…...
Novak Djokovic is still a selfish jackass
You would think that after watching Rafael Nadal become the first player to reach 21 grand slam wins, Novak Djokovic would have gained some sort of perspective, knowing that he himself had cost himself the chance to be the first one to do it, which he’ll never have again. That maybe, just maybe, he ...
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of Kyrie Irving’s own actions
This is what it’s come to for the Nets....
Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner’s gold is more than Super
Lindsey Jacobellis’ gold medal, 16 years after she stumbled to silver in Turin, and after three other Olympic disappointments, was a good enough story on its own, but now it’s even better....
Shaun White is gonna leave us alone now, right?
I know Shaun White never had a chance with me, even if he wasn’t an obnoxious, harassing tool. 20 years ago, snowboarding was forced into the Olympics so Americans could win an event for once. They mostly did, White did most of that, and he’s been bothering us ever since....
Nathan Chen brings figure skating to us dorks
I wouldn’t dare lie to you folks. I couldn’t get away with it if I tried. I know very little about figure skating. It comes into my consciousness every four years, probably like most people. I find the competitors to be incredible athletes, it can be a truly beautiful art, but also struggle with any...
NBC gets the story it wants
The mystery of why NBC ponies up most countries’ defense budgets for the right to broadcast the Olympics still evades me. I know what the answers are. The ratings are worth it, which means the ad rates make it worthwhile, and that those who tune in aren’t really interested in the results of various ...
MLB owners are truly desperate for the strangest things
We would hardly be the first to point out that if the MLB owners had spent as much time talking to the MLB Players Association as they have trying to swing the PR war, the regular season just might start on time (we’re only about two or three weeks from Opening Day being delayed, and there is more h...
The Beijing Olympics are everything you’d thought they’d be
At least we can say the Winter Olympics are practiced at holding their events in a communist dictatorship, as they’ve held two of the last three in one. We’re just about three or four days into the whole thing, and already the stories of athletes being held against their will, shitty facilities, unp...
Claude Giroux gets his due
Saturday might have been the day that put Claude Giroux’s eventual candidacy for the Hall of Fame over the top. That’s a strange thing for an All-Star Game MVP nod, but sometimes you need a cherry on the sundae to bring it home. ...
Little trouble in big China
The Olympics are underway, and China is showing the world that all that talk about totalitarianism and suppression of freedom is… uh… well, let’s check in with Sjoerd den Daas, the East Asia correspondent for the Dutch news network NOS....
MLB has tried nothing and it's all out of ideas
I guess that’s not completely fair. They have one idea. It’s a Hail Mary to try to reclaim the PR battle for themselves which the players union has had in their pocket ever since Rob Manfred started throwing all of his toys out of the crib about the reduced schedule of 2020. It’s half of an idea, ma...