02 Page 45 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Gregg Berhalter deserves a lot of credit… and the exit door
At the top, we should refresh the list of things Gregg Berhalter can’t help. Everyone knows this list by now, but it deserves reinforcing. He can’t help that the US doesn’t have a genuine striker. He’s hardly the only international manager affected by such a thing. They’re just not that common. Spai...
Week 12 NFL Takeaways: Big W for team analytics
You remember that silly cheer from high school, “Be aggressive, B.E. aggressive?” In football, that only applies to the players. Please defensive end, bull rush right through the offensive tackle’s heart. But for the coaches the rules are different....
5 surprising NBA rookies you need to know about
As Paolo Banchero begins to run away with the Rookie of the Year award, there are still hidden gems and surprise showings by first-year players selected outside the top 10. We have highlighted which ones have been the biggest surprises thus far and project comps for their young career....
Did Qatar even want the World Cup?
The small Middle Eastern country — known for its poor human rights record — is the World Cup host, but did Qatar actually WANT it to begin with? Whichever government officials were responsible for bringing the world’s biggest sporting event to their country must’ve wanted it enough to take the initi...
The biggest World Cup upsets of all time
As Saudi Arabia shocked the globe by defeating Lionel Messi and World Cup favorites Argentina on Tuesday, it provided the most recent example of a tremendous upset victory at the quadrennial showcase. Argentina was No. 3 in the FIFA rankings and Saudi Arabia was the second-lowest ranked team to play...
Hell no, keep Carlos Beltran out of Cooperstown
The 2023 MLB Hall of Fame ballots were sent out yesterday....
Week 11 NFL Powerless Ranking: The champ is here!
It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. We’re halfway through the 2022 NFL season, and much of it has been unpredictable, but there are always a few teams we expect to disappoint their fanbases. Now let’s get into the powerless ranking for Week 11....
Lotta goals in the desert — World Cup Diary Day 2: Oh right, this isn’t fun
After eight years you forget what it’s like in the deep end of the pool, and all the things you imagined since the USMNT qualified actually play out on the field. And the feeling that you could kiss anyone in front of you swinging wildly to being able to take a human life in an instant. No one watch...
Only one player can save this season for the Lakers, that player is Anthony Davis
There is a reason that the Los Angeles Lakers have so little draft capital. ...
Jaylen Brown confusing Black Hebrew Israelites for Omega Psi Phi is a bigger issue than he realizes
There’s an old African-American proverb that perfectly describes Jaylen Brown, it goes like this: “You all in the Kool-Aid and you don’t even know what flavor it is.”...
A few thoughts on the start of 2022 World Cup
While the World Cup started yesterday, it doesn’t really kick off until today. The World Cup, for fans, is about the NCAA tournament-type feel of multiple games every day, and there are three today and four per for the next couple of weeks. That’s the real tournament. If we didn’t all feel weird eno...
Zach LaVine is grumbling — and so are Bulls fans
The contemporary NBA has conditioned basketball fans to seek out unhappy All-Stars like lions stalk the most vulnerable wildebeest. The Chicago Bulls dropped to 6-10 on the season after a one-point home loss to a Paolo Banchero-less Orlando Magic on Friday, and Zach LaVine set off some alerts....
World sporting events are becoming a different kind of guilty pleasure
While this World Cup is unlike any other due to the start time and Middle East location, there is a recent world competition that comes to mind. Think about it. Climate unfit to host the event, haphazard accommodations, stories of government overreach, and sportswashing. That sounds like the Beijing...
Walker Zimmerman ready to test himself ‘against anyone’ at 2022 World Cup
Has anyone done more to improve his stock with the United States men’s national team over the last 18 months than Walker Zimmerman? There’s no one clearly above him. The Nashville SC stalwart was in and out of the Yanks’ lineup for years before asserting himself as the captain of the 2021 Gold Cup s...
Are Twitter and sports headed for a crash?
In 2008 when I started covering the New York Jets, I also joined Twitter. It was a great way to break news, see what your competition knew, and hear from regular fans....
World Cup 2022 — Group H preview: Yes, Portugal can win this and no, it won’t be pleasant if they do
Let’s get the main reason out of the way. No one outside of Portugal wants to see giant pain in the ass, huffing his own farts, twice-accused rapist Cristiano Ronaldo — who has denied the allegations — hoist the trophy. It was bad enough in 2016 when he left the final injured that he made sure every...
It’s no less a referendum on Neymar — World Cup 2022 Group G preview
This World Cup is setting up as either a treatise or a coronation for Lionel Messi. He recently collected his first major trophy with Argentina — 2021’s Copa America — but still needs the World Cup to stand on the same pedestal as Diego Maradona in most’s eyes. He’s coming to Qatar with unquestionab...
Your 2022 World Cup safe bets
While every World Cup is unique in its own way, and this one especially, there are certain happenings you can count on. They come about every tournament. The pressure, the coverage, the overall oeuvre of the whole thing just drives people into the same patterns. Over the next month, you can look for...
World Cup 2022 Preview — Group F: Old man take a look at my defense, I’m a lot like you
“BELGIUM’S LAST CHANCE!” You’ve heard or seen this already. They are Europe’s big waste of the last decade. There has been no bigger collection of talent than what Belgium has sported for the last four major tournaments, and a 3rd place in Russia is all they’ve had to show for it. Either this is whe...
Give Brian Robinson Jr. his props for the Washington Commanders’ upset victory
Yes, the officiating was questionable. Both teams have cause to complain, and also, the Philadelphia Eagles caught the shorter end of the stick. That being said, they still had every opportunity to extend their record to 9-0 against a below .500 division rival that they demolished on the road seven ...