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History has its eyes on Carlos Alcaraz and his early quest to become tennis’ GOAT
Tennis is undergoing its Steph Curry moment. The way Carlos Alcaraz controls the country club sport through his racket is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Nearly a decade after Curry’s rise to superstardom, every high school sophomore thinks swishing a 40-footer is routine. It’s not, and every air...

Craig Kimbrel joins 7 other relievers with 400 saves
Phillies reliever Craig Kimbrel is the second MLB closer this season — and eighth all-time — to reach the 400-save mark. He closed out Philadelphia’s 6-4 win over the Atlanta Braves....

The NBA playoff ratings have been FANtastic
Well, Phil Jackson, it turns out that the NBA has not woked itself out of the American television landscape. Some news that you won’t find on the disingenuous provocateur in Nashville’s timeline is that the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs was a smash hit. ...

The NBA has a Charles Barkley problem — again
TNT’s flagship show Inside The NBA is at its best this time of the year, as fans tune in multiple times per week to watch Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal do their thing. But what happens when the star of the NBA’s biggest and best studio show gets on TV to tell fans...

The Isiah Thomas-Michael Jordan beef still going strong decades later
I guess if Michael Jordan gets to remain bitter about events from 40 years ago then everyone else from that time should be granted the same courtesy. In 2021 it was Scottie Pippen — promoting his bourbon and book — who was publicly critical of Jordan. Since the NBA 75 Greatest Team gathered at the 2...

UConn is the top men’s basketball program of the last 25 years
Of course there have been both more highly anticipated and better-played NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship games than the one that took place on Monday night. It didn’t take long to realize that Connecticut was going to defeat San Diego State, thereby winning the championship in the most dominating...

The NBA has a ratings problem — Exhibit A: The All-Star Game
There was a time during the midst of 2020 in which Adam Silver and the NBA owned the world. The combination of an amazing All-Star Game in Chicago with a new dramatic ending, the sad and tragic death of Kobe Bryant, and the league’s decision to shut things down — becoming the first warning that this...

Some MLB owners are ready to pick a fight with other MLB owners that they’ll take out on the players and fans
For as much worship as billionaires seem to get around here, and the runway they receive to shape our society to benefit them more and more, they are a cranky bunch. There’s always more money to be made, money they’ll never know what to do with, there’s always someone else to fuck over, and as it se...

LeBron really did it, he passed Kareem
LeBron James is the king of the mountain – statistically speaking, argue amongst yourselves about who is the best all-time NBA player. James broke a record that most followers of the NBA thought was impossible to reach, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar’s total regular-season points scored mark....

Wide Right: The biggest missed kicks in NFL playoff history
About halfway through the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Wild Card game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars, Chargers’ kicker Cameron Dicker missed a seemingly insignificant field goal wide left. No matter though. The Chargers were up 10, and with so little time, three points wou...

Don't discount the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are back in the postseason
Jacksonville clinched their first postseason appearance and AFC South title since 2017 in dramatic fashion on Saturday night with a 20-16 win over Tennessee. The Jaguars also accomplished a feat only four other teams have done since the AFL-NFL merger, which is going from worst to first in the divis...

When it comes to MLB rumors, why isn’t it ever anyone new?
Right before I sat down (or stood up as it were, as I’m one of those brain geniuses who works standing up. I’m ever so svelte!), news broke that the San Diego Padres had signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal. Bogaerts kicks Fernando Tatis Jr. to the outfield or DH spot for a season...

The NBA’s newest award is a better fit for MLB teams
It’s bad enough that there have been 16 NBA playoff spots since 1984. At that time there were only 23 teams in the league. It’s 2022, and still more than half of the league gets into the playoffs, and that’s not even counting the highly entertaining Play-in Tournament. Sure the New Orleans Pelicans ...

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...

DeAndre Yedlin is USMNT’s only bridge to last World Cup appearance
Before we can truly look forward, we must go back in time, to a marvelous place where the United States men’s national team missing the World Cup was such an afterthought, it would be equal to falling into the abyss. Yeah, a few CONCACAF rivals like Panama and Costa Rica were rapidly improving and b...

Dejounte Murray has been better than advertised to start the season
Following last season’s disappointing journey and final destination, the Atlanta Hawks are off to a blazing start to this season. They are 7-3 and not only look like the clear best team in the Southeast division, but also like one of the better squads in the Eastern Conference....

Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...

HBO picked the right time to take a look back at Jeremy Lin’s 15 minutes of fame
The NBA lockout season of 2011-12 was really 11 years ago....

Once again, the Cowboys have to find a way without Tyron Smith
After receiving good news about Michael Gallup’s health, what happened to Tyron Smith puts the Dallas Cowboys’ season in jeopardy many days before Week 1....

Stop comparing viewership numbers for the NFL and NBA
Viewership for the 2022 NBA Finals is up 37 percent from last year and its ratings are the highest they’ve been since the last time the Warriors were in the Finals in 2019. That said, there are some worrisome figures. For one, while viewership is up from 2020 and 2021, Game 1 of these Finals were th...