and Page 538 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Drop Shot Can Be The Smart Play Even When It Fails
Simple distinctions are easy to latch onto. The typical groundstroke looks different from a drop shot: fast and long vs. slow and shallow. A groundstroke is hit hard with topspin, and the intent is (generally) to hit the ball with pace and placement so it is difficult to retrieve. A drop shot is hit...
I Ask You Once Again: How Are The Cavs Like This?
What’s going on here? Just what the heck is this?...
Whose Face Is This On Brandi Chastain's Hall Of Fame Plaque?
American soccer legend Brandi Chastain was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame yesterday, where she was honored with an unveiling of a bronze plaque of her likeness. Only it wasn’t her face. It was Peter King’s!...
LeBron James Can Make Scoring 44 Points Look Ordinary
Probably the highest praise to give LeBron James is that his 44-point game tonight wasn’t even all that exhilarating, particularly when it didn’t come packaged with quite as many boards and assists (five and three) as his previous five 40-point outings this postseason. The Cavaliers’ 111-102 defeat...
Saquon Barkley Might Be Worth It, If The Giants Take A Page From The Patriots
We all had a good time dunking on Giants GM Dave Gettleman a few weeks back, after Gettleman didn’t hesitate to draft running back Saquon Barkley before shaking his cane at all the analytics eggheads who questioned the long-term value of selecting a running back with the No. 2 overall pick. It’s tru...
Rafael Nadal And The Rain Kept The Future Of Tennis In Check
What if the rain hadn’t come? Maybe Alexander Zverev would have gotten his third straight title, and the most significant win of his life: Rafael Nadal on clay in a final. That’s not an especially big “maybe,” either, just a medium-sized one....
Gabriel Benitez Slammed Humberto Bandenay Straight To Hell<em></em>
The UFC held its first event in Chile on Saturday, and while the only Chilean fighter on the card lost and the main event was a a real stinker, fans who arrived reasonably early at least got to see a spectacular finish. Gabriel Benitez met Humberto Bandenay in the fourth fight of the evening, and th...
LeBron In Full Must-Win Mode Is An Unsolvable Problem
The Cavs opened Game 3 with a huge 22-6 run, and that was more or less that. This was not a case of the winning team grabbing an early lead behind a fluky start and nursing it cautiously until the final buzzer—the Cavs were forceful and decisive early, and did some cool and different things to chall...
Worthless Jedi Absolutely Humiliated By Cunning Novice
Astros mascot Orbit, who is also apparently a Jedi, was challenged to a lightsaber duel by Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor on Friday. Gotta say, I am starting to believe more and more in Luke Skywalker’s bitter “actually the Jedi are busters” preachings:...
Petty-Ass Derek Jeter Yanks Credentials From Radio Host Who Tracked Down Marlins’ Overseas Corporate Office<em></em>
Last month Miami radio host Andy Slater joined Marlins Man on an investigative trip to the British Virgin Islands, where they learned that the corporate address of the Miami Marlins was a post office box, listed in order to establish the Marlins as a foreign company, for the most cynical of reasons....
Johnny Manziel Signs Contract To Play In Canadian Football League
Johnny Manziel, a prolific college quarterback whose career was put on hold for two years of mandatory service in the Cleveland Browns organization, will finally experience what it means to play for a professional football team: ...
Elfrid Payton's Hair Has Been Laid To Rest
Through all those tough years in Orlando to his current stint in Phoenix, the most notable feature of Elfrid Payton’s game has been his head. Not his “basketball IQ” or his “clutch mentality”—just that majestic drooping frond on top. Every season it protruded further past the point guard’s forehead....
Alex Honnold Wants To Save Our National Parks<em></em>
Naturally, Alex Honnold is in Yosemite right now. This should not surprise you, because if non-climbers know anything about Honnold, it’s that he climbed El Capitan without a rope a year ago, becoming the first person to free solo the legendary big wall. When I spoke to him yesterday, Honnold was en...
The Astros Can Pitch Now And Look Invincible
It took Justin Verlander just 2 hours and 36 minutes to dispatch the Angels on Wednesday night, striking out seven in a five-hit shutout. We’ve come to expect this sort of thing since Verlander was traded to Houston last August, but it was especially impressive given the team that was on the receivi...
It Appears The Kings, Who Always Screw Up, Can't Possibly Screw This Up
For what feels like the first time in recent franchise history, the Sacramento Kings got lucky. The Kings briefly held the reins in the NBA’s greatest-ever tank-off last season, but they were soundly out-tanked over the stretch run, and wound up finishing with the lottery’s seventh-best odds after e...
How Are The Cavs Like This?
The Cleveland Cavaliers, lifted by a huge first half from LeBron James, began the second half of Game 2 against the Celtics with a seven-point lead. This was a vast improvement over the circumstances they found themselves in during Game 1, when the Celtics had put the result out of reach by the end ...
Uh Oh, The Cavs Might Actually Be In Trouble<em></em>
An all-timer of a first quarter from LeBron James, in which he scored 21 of his team’s 27 points, and a 42-point triple-double for the entire game all went to waste in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, as the Boston Celtics took down the Cleveland LeBrons, 107-94....
Stephen Piscotty Homers In First At-Bat Since Returning From Bereavement List
Oakland A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty—who missed his team’s previous four games after his mother, Gretchen, died from ALS—smashed a dinger over the Green Monster tonight in his very first at-bat since returning to the team. The reaction to the homer was subdued, in part because it was hit on the r...
Ireland Lose U-17 Euros Match To Netherlands After Keeper Is Sent Off In Middle Of Shootout
Controversy struck at the U-17 Euros today as Irish keeper James Corcoran earned his second yellow card of the match during the penalty shootout of a match that finished full time tied 1-1, leading to the Netherlands to claim the win....