The Mourning After Page 42 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Basketball returns home
Even as just a casual basketball fan, I have not missed out on the schadenfreude of the New York Knicks the past decade. It’s always affirming when a place that considers itself essential to a sport, perhaps to the world through that sport, is rendered irrelevant. Watching the Knicks’ sense of self ...
Blazers-Nuggets briefly bumped to ESPN2, still a far cry from tape-delayed 1981 Finals
The start of Trail Blazers-Nuggets was bumped to ESPN2 as Jose Ramírez and Josh Taylor fought for the undisputed junior welterweight title on ESPN, which is barely fathomable in 2021. Taylor won by unanimous decision, and ESPN switched over to the action in Denver with 6:40 left in the first quarter...
I dunno, maybe try a little harder to get the ball to the world’s best shooter?
Stephen Curry scored 39 points on Friday night, shooting 13-for-28 from the field with six three-pointers… and it wasn’t enough....
Hockey is the dumbest sport
It’s funny (but not), and fitting, that in a week where we’ve spent a great deal of time talking about baseball’s old, drunk, incontinent demons still plaguing the youthful and logical, hockey strolls into the saloon, hitches up its belt, and says, “Oh, you think you’re stupid? I’ll show you stupid....
LeBron cements the continued existence of a game he hates
Look, the Play-in Tournament is stupid. Everyone pretty much knows it. The players certainly hate it, and even the ones who get to participate in it probably don’t like it much more. It’s manufactured drama. We’ve had 72 games this year, and in normal times we’ll have 82, and if you’re not in playof...
Tony La Russa sold out his own player, and for what?
This Tony La Russa sociology experiment on the South Side of Chicago is going exactly as anyone familiar with the White Sox team and La Russa figured it would. And really, the only thing bailing La Russa out is that this roster was so turn-key when he took it over that even the injuries to Luis Robe...
Columbus Crew fans reject name change, and win
Perhaps it’s not on the level of preventing a team from moving away from your city, but fans of the Columbus Crew once again took on ownership of the club and once again came out on top. ...
The NHL Playoffs are back and it’s fans-tastic
Look, if there’s an opening to make a Cinderella reference, I’m gonna take it. Just deal with it, and let me have what little I can get. ...
The obvious case for Connor McDavid as unanimous MVP
The Stanley Cup playoffs started on Saturday, which is weird because the NHL regular season continued on Saturday, as the Canucks handed the Oilers a 4-1 loss that was notable only because Connor McDavid picked up his league-best 72nd assist, which also wrapped up the scoring title for the presumpti...
Tim Tebow is REALLY competitive, y'all... So what?
Urban Meyer says Tim Tebow is “the most competitive maniac you’re ever going to talk to.”...
Udonis Haslem joins the greats
Udonis Haslem might have authored one of the best send-offs in team sports history last night....
Mike Polisky stepping down as Northwestern AD is something we can all celebrate
It’s still a week where some states’ proposals to “placate” athletes’ desire to be compensated for their work and likeness still involve schools poaching 75 percent of said athletes’ income from such things. But still, it’s fun and satisfying to mark when a school has to take a step back, admit it w...
Rob Manfred isn’t even trying to hide his sniveling evil anymore
I guess it’s something of progress that the news of the Oakland A’s doing the ol’ “starting to look around” thing to get their partner to pay more attention to them was met with a basic shrug by most everyone. Because it’s so familiar, so predictable, all part of the cycle. Whenever a team is lookin...
What does Russell Westbrook’s trip-dub record mean?
The trouble for most sports is that their records just aren’t going to mean as much as baseball’s. However broken it may be now, the country’s sporting landscape was shaped by baseball, because it really was the only sport anyone cared about for so long. That will change more and more, but those are...
So who are these Olympics for?
Not that the question needs answering. We all know. They haven’t been about the athletes for long before we were born. And now it couldn’t be clearer that they’re not for fans either....
Westbrook joins Robertson atop triple doubles list, gives thanks to Big O
For more than half a century, Oscar Robertson stood alone in NBA history, his 1961-62 campaign representing the only time anyone averaged a triple-double for a full season....
NBA will respond to Zion injury in way NHL has yet to learn
David Griffin can expect to find himself writing a check to the NBA after the Pelicans executive blasted the league over the lack of calls for Zion Williamson in the paint, now that the star big man will be out indefinitely with a broken finger....
Astros can’t handle the truth
It’s not like the Astros could have been surprised. And if they were, that’s on them. But then again, the Astros haven’t really stopped bitching since they got caught doing whatever it was they did for two or three years. They told you it wasn’t that big of a deal, after they told you that they didn...
T.J. Oshie is the flower rising amongst the manure
There’s plenty to say about the utter detritus that was the Capitals-Rangers Falls Count Anywhere affair on Wednesday night. But I’m tired of the whole thing, and we’ll save that for another spillage of my psychosis. I want to start with T.J. Oshie....
When fans care more about cheats than abusers
The Houston Astros missed out on all the fun last year. They still might not get the full brunt of it this term. And by the time baseball stadiums are full again, which might not be until 2022, maybe it will have blown over to a degree....