21 Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Did Ryan Leaf just offer the best explanation for Russell Wilson's precipitous decline?
One of the biggest mysteries from the 2022 NFL season was “What the hell happened to Russell Wilson?” This was a conundrum that not even the Scooby Doo gang could solve. Danger-Russ was supposed to help the Denver Broncos compete with the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West, ...

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...

YouTuber wins NBA Dunk Contest
Nobody should be surprised that Mac McClung won the dunk contest. If you’re a hoops fan, McClung has been in the public eye for some time now because he can dunk well enough to go viral. Add in that he’s a 6-foot-2 white guy, and you have a recipe for internet fame....

Nick Bolton cements himself as the next great young NFL linebacker
Andy Reid broke into coaching in the college ranks, spending a decade on recruiting trails and visiting high schools around America hoping to find the next great offensive lineman. His final position in the collegiate ranks was at Missouri, which wasn’t a great team during Reid’s three seasons in Co...

Brooklyn Nets, we hardly knew ye
A pouting James Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets nearly two years ago to the day. Way back in January 2021, before the COVID vaccine card went mainstream, the newest super team was Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving. It is now Super Bowl week 2023. Some of you all have vaccine cards stampe...

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 ...

These are the worst Super Bowl matchups of all time
The epicenter of American sports is the Super Bowl. The biggest performance in music every year isn’t at the Grammys. It’s in between grown men in pads smashing into each other. Good luck Rihanna. And just because it’s two of the best teams in the NFL every year competing for a championship doesn’t ...

21 Jump(shot) Street: Virginia basketball coach suits up, impersonates 13-year-old JV player
Adult sensibilities don’t belong in youth sports. Grown people take sports way too seriously. Countless times overzealous parents, coaches, and spectators have tainted the purity of amateur sports. An assistant coach on the staff of the junior varsity basketball team in Portsmouth, Virginia recently...

Shannon Sharpe vs. the Grizzlies is why FIFA is still corrupt
The easiest thing to write at the time I’m sitting down to do this would be to launch into a rant about Shannon Sharpe versus the Memphis Grizzlies. I wouldn’t even really have to think about it. Sharpe starting a Twitter fight from his courtside seats says it all in the headline. However, I’m stuck...

How enticing are each of the offensive coordinator openings?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Leftwich just finished up his fourth season as Tampa’s OC, having reached the playoffs each of the last three seasons — or every season with Tom Brady at quarterback. However, despite the playoff berth, 2022 was hard to watch. The ...

There is no circumstance where Brian Daboll wins Coach of the Year
The biggest lies in human history are as follows: ...

Now we know why Naomi Osaka is stepping away from tennis for 2023
For those who had questions about why Naomi Osaka dropped out of the Australian Open, or if she still cares about being a professional tennis player, you just got your answer....

Under the Coaching Tree: Ranking the Top 10 Coaching Trees in NFL history
Ho ho ho, folks! Christmas is here, and good ol’ jolly St. Nick is heading down the chimney with exactly what you asked for. If you’re an NFL head coach though, that probably means he’s headed down the chimney with a talented assistant to put on your staff to make you look even better. Until they le...

Playoffs?! Yes, the Jets and Jags have a shot at them
The Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the New York Jets is one of those games you’d typically see on the Thursday night NFL schedule, and figure this could be skipped this late in the season. Coming into the season, having that game scheduled on Thursday Night Football in December seemed like a dud. Suddenly...

Week 15 NFL Takeaways: Gut punch losses made the playoff picture more clear
The last four weeks of the NFL regular season have a different meaning to different teams and fanbases. However, the one commonality that all teams share is that the end is nigh. Soon, 18 of the NFL’s 32 franchises will be in team-building mode until post-Labor Day 2023....

An 1800s outfielder is baseball’s most searched athlete… in Delaware
I spend a lot of time on Baseball-Reference. Apart from it being my job to do research and correctly relay player statistics to you, the readers, I enjoy looking back at old names from the late-90s and 2000s to see if they were as good as I remember them in my head. Casey Blake? Better than I rememb...

The New England Patriots won, but their problems remain the same
It’s easy to laugh when your team is up by two touchdowns. Jokes and giggles are plentiful when the Colt McCoy-led Arizona Cardinals — Kyler Murray left the game after suffering a non-contact injury — turn the ball over on consecutive possessions, the first of which was converted for a touchdown....

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

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....