12 Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Josh Gordon bouncing back (again) in the XFL
Josh Gordon is thriving again, and this time it’s for the XFL. The league created by Vincent Kennedy McMahon, now run by The Rock, is back, providing an alternative for fans and another opportunity for NFL hopefuls and former players to grab a check for playing the game they love. While some XFLers ...

If you think Klay Thompson is washed, think again
While the West Coast has been experiencing a cold front like never before, Klay Thompson has been as hot as fish grease the last two months. He began to heat up around the holidays and hasn’t slowed down despite all talk about him being “washed.” If this version of Thompson is washed, throw me in th...

Darvin Ham says Lakers' goal is playoffs — but the team faces a post-All-Star break gaunlet
The Los Angeles Lakers are entering a critical time in their schedule after the All-Star break. With just 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers are five games under .500 (27-32) and have a seven-game stretch where they’ll play all Western Conference foes, starting with the Golden Stat...

The SEC gaining Texas and Oklahoma a year early only makes it stronger
The 14-team Southeastern Conference has one more year on the open circuit. The baker’s dozen plus one number of full-time members lasted 12 years, when Texas A&M and Missouri departed the Big 12 for the SEC. Old habits are hard to break and instead of poaching schools that already felt like outsider...

Kyrie trade losers are the real winners
Kyrie Irving is a basketball monkey paw. His hardwood alchemy can grant your ephemeral wishes on the court, but with dire side effects on your long-term team chemistry. Stick with him long enough and he’ll deliver a plague to your franchise and refuse to get vaccinated afterward. If basketball were ...

Tom Brady's not the only star who couldn't quit the spotlight
For the second straight Feb. 1, Tom Brady retired from the National Football League. His first retirement lasted all of 40 days, coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minutes after the NCAA Tournament field was chosen on Selection Sunday. He’s now retired “for good” and the entire sports world kno...

Should Brian Kelly have to give $1 million back to LSU over a clerical mistake?
Louisiana State University (LSU) reset the college football coaching market in 2021 when they signed former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly to a 10-year, $95 million contract. Kelly responded by winning 10 games in his first season in Baton Rouge highlighted by a home win over Alabama and an appea...

The NFC Championship is actually Jalen Hurts vs. Brock Purdy II
I doubt a college football game from 2019 will be used as scouting tape for an NFC Championship Game, especially when Brock Purdy was only a sophomore and that was the sole season that Jalen Hurts played in Lincoln Riley’s offense at Oklahoma. ...

Wrestle Kingdom puts NJPW back on track, maybe on some new ones too
The biggest event for weirdos and insomniacs, other than maybe the Australian Open, got back to normal service last night. And that’s New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom (bell time, 3 a.m. EST). Not only did it mark the return of actually cheering crowds for NJPW sho...

Austin Reaves is young, but his steady presence has been crucial for the Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers have turned their season around....

All hail Hypnotoad: TCU is still in
Legal disclaimer: This article is for the express written purpose of helping my Dad, whose worldview is so obscured by his SEC bias that he can’t see his hand waving inches in front of his face. I’m writing this as a service to him and others like him who need to be de-brainwashed like liberated cul...

The first post-Lincoln Riley season at Oklahoma couldn’t have gone worse
While Ohio State fans hold the most recent grudge against Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams, and USC, the fanbase that’s still the most upset about the Trojans’ success this year resides in Norman. Williams was supposed to be the third Heisman winner in crimson and cream under Riley, and it’s OU that sh...

Come home, Kevin Durant
The NBA’s greatest epics have been built around a meteoric star crash landing in a small market, galvanizing the city around their greatness in hopes of delivering glory. Think LeBron James in Cleveland, Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, Tim Duncan in San Antonio, Isiah Thomas in Detroit, Hakeem Olajuwon in ...

Who had TCU as the first Texas program to (possibly) make the College Football Playoff?
I hate to give Texas credit for anything because the state already takes credit for everything. However, of all the supposed football-obsessed hubs, the Lone Star State tops them all. Mostly because of how unhealthy the population’s dedication to the sport is — I’m sure there are Texans who got wher...

The NBA's worst owners
When Robert Sarver announced he was selling the Phoenix Suns, the NBA team he had owned since 2006, after a lengthy investigation by the NBA for workplace malfeasance and offenses, I barely shrugged. How awful could it have been, I thought to myself. My concept of the workplace was poisoned by an ei...
![UVA cancels final home football game on day shooter is due in court [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/a63d571d9436f85e0c9e823ad06fabdb.jpg)
UVA cancels final home football game on day shooter is due in court [Updated]
Three days after an on-campus shooting took the lives of three Virginia football players, the university canceled the Cavaliers’ final home game of the season, which would’ve been Saturday against nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina. Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry, and Devin Chandler were the three ki...

The UVA shooting, and why sports can’t be America’s savior while also being a target
The University of Virginia’s athletic department shouldn’t be dominating headlines for something like this....

Three University of Virginia football players shot and killed on campus
Three members of the University of Virginia football team were gunned down on the Charlottesville campus late Sunday night and two more were injured, according to police and university officials....

Coming off the bench has brought back some semblance of vintage Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook’s first season in L.A. was an unmitigated failure. He was plugged into a lineup of non-shooters including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and a confusing mix of ill-fitting pieces. Of Rob Pelinka’s misfit toys, though, nobody took last season’s debacle harder on the chin than Westbroo...

Jacob deGrom and Bruce Bochy are a match made in heaven
The MLB hot stove is not officially underway, but it’s warming up, and arguably the biggest name on the pitching market is two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. Earlier this week, deGrom officially opted out of his Mets’ contract — a decision most people saw coming — and almost immediately th...