and Page 262 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Which MLB hot starts through Memorial Day are here to stay?
We’ve reached Memorial Day, the first real milestone of the MLB season. The first seven weeks or so don’t decide who makes the playoffs, but it gives us a pretty good barometer. But which (at least somewhat surprising) starts are here to stay?...

Jon Gruden embarks on 12-step process to be an NFL head coach again
Remember when an NFL team had to pay Jon Gruden $100 million to lure him outside of the booth? There was a time when front offices watched Monday Night Football, and were impressed by Gruden’s QB camp. Cam Newton or Andrew Luck or Patrick Mahomes would wander into a film room, and sit through Chucky...

The Arizona Cardinals cut DeAndre Hopkins, so where does he end up?
With a rebuild well underway for the Arizona Cardinals, the expected move of moving on from star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins finally happened Friday, with the franchise officially announcing his release. Hopkins’ future in Arizona had been heavily speculated since the end of last season, mainly du...

Aaron Boone wants to yell at real people, not robots
Aaron Boone has a knack for early showers. You can blame it on a short temper or having the pinky-up attitude of being the Yankees’ manager. Whatever the case, no one has spent less time helming his team from the dugout in Major League Baseball than Boone this season, or since the start of the 2018 ...

MLB scheduling change making it easier for American League East to assert its dominance
Six months or so after the NFC East was the best division in football, the American League East has overtaken MLB. No team is below .500 as of Friday morning/early afternoon, and the fives clubs are a combined 105-56 against opponents outside the division. The Tampa Bay Rays (37-15) and Baltimore Or...

Life after greatness: What happens when a sport loses its GOAT?
There’s no denying that GOATs are great for a sport when they’re still active. Michael Jordan, Tony Hawk, and other best-to-ever-do-its pushed their sports to popularity not seen since, but led to fans coming down off a trip so perfect that they were left fiending for the next fix of greatness perso...

Justin Jefferson among the 25 best NFL players under 25 years old
The NFL is stocked with young talent. The number of players who are still relatively fresh in the league, but who are also among the best players in their position is growing, and it’s only fair to take stock of those players by ranking the top 25 players under the age of 25. Only players who are un...

Dwight Howard turns troll and targets LeBron James
Apparently, former NBA star Dwight Howard has decided to troll his way back into the association, and now he’s going at the biggest dog in the yard. While he’s no longer the player he once was, LeBron James is still a major figure with tons of pull around the league. It might not be the wisest move ...

CM Punk will lead the penal colony that is AEW Collision
In the end, there’s just too much money to be made and too many things for AEW to accomplish without the bounce that CM Punk provides....

Aaron Rodgers is a Swiftie
Aaron Rodgers won’t just be playing home football games at MetLife Stadium —he’ll also be in attendance for Taylor Swift’s Memorial Day Weekend show at the East Rutherford, N.J. venue....

The Florida Panthers changing their narrative is the story of the NHL playoffs
The Florida Panthers were written off. Down three games to a lowly one to the Boston Bruins, the most dominant regular-season team of all time, needing two wins in their barn to even get out of the first round. Since that 6-2 loss at home to the B’s, the Panthers are 11-1. Three straight over the Br...

AI-generated hot takes are scarier than deepfaked podcasts
Sports media is the most cavernous of echo chambers. The takes write themselves, and the only catch is finding a stooge willing to scream some dumb shit. Most people hesitate to get all Skip Bayless-y because rational humans view trading their morals to become a walking Twitter troll as a bad thing....

Is Doc Rivers about to squeeze his way into another primo job with the Phoenix Suns?
Anytime an upper-echelon NBA team is in need of fixing, you can always bet there will be a basketball exec standing over their roster bellowing for a Doc in the house. He’ll give your team a tracheotomy when you were just choking on a bone, but for the umpteenth time, Doc Rivers is in a position to ...

Believe in fun, believe in the Diamondbacks
There was always hope that a young, funky team would finally not just get the best of the Dodgers, but signal the end of the now decade long run of the Dodgers running roughshod over the NL West. Yes, the Giants got them once, in a season where the Dodgers still won 106 games. And we know what happe...

Slow News Day: Dom Toretto is one of the greatest (fictional) athletes of our generation
Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto lives his life a quarter-century at a time. That’s almost how long the Fast and Furious franchise has been snaking its way into the sports-entertainment lexicon. You heard me right. In my personal headcanon, the Fast Saga is a quintessential sports franchise, and it should ...

USWNT's striker depth will be put to the test at World Cup
The U.S. Women’s National Team’s spoils at forward have always been in excess. Most countries’ talent pools over 50 years don’t go as deep at striker as America’s would for one World Cup cycle. That depth is being put to the test this summer as a second potent goal-scorer won’t be traveling with the...

Lakers' front office competence helped turn slow start into Western Conference Finals appearance
Remember that Baxter Holmes’ ESPN report about the Los Angeles Lakers from four years ago? News of it has been floating around for months before its publication. Holmes made an appearance on Zach Lowe’s podcast in the aftermath of the world reading what he uncovered about Magic Johnson, the Rambis a...

Here comes Newcastle… maybe
As Manchester City have bulldozed their way through the second half of the season that gives off the feeling that they’re simply strolling to a Treble, if bulldozing, and strolling can be the same thing, there’s been a question of what anyone can do to stop them in the years to come. Sadly, for ever...
