ap Page 1151 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
James Harden actually rose to the occasion with Joel Embiid out
James Harden deserved to take a bow on Monday night, even if he decided to wait until he put back on his enormous pants to do so. In a game in which the Philadelphia 76ers were undermanned with their MVP candidate dealing an injury more serious than what was first made public knowledge, Harden was t...
Completely blowing it in the first round is good for business, history says
The loyalists in the overpriced seats at Boston’s TD Garden for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first-round should’ve-been shellacking between the hometown Bruins and barely made it into the postseason Florida Panthers went from agitated, to full-on bittah in booing the 135-point getters in the reg...
How the NBA provides injury updates shows a lack of regard for fans
NBA injury reports have turned into politician media availability. Expect everything except for a straight answer. The Philadelphia 76ers reportedly ran an MRI on Joel Embiid’s knee 10 days ago. He was expected to be able to play early last week if necessary and most certainly be available for the s...
Lakers and Warriors have been getting old without getting older
Fending off the advance of time is an impossible feat. The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors both spent their first-round series successfully keeping the sand in their hourglasses from pouring out. Both the Warriors and LeBron James have aged gracefully over the years, but in the next rou...
Weston McKennie is not having a good time
Soccer moves fast, and it moves faster in the January transfer window. All the things Weston McKennie had to consider when a move to Leeds United from Juventus was probably thrown at him in a matter of days, if not hours. Questions of role, money, future, and the allure of moving to a country where ...
Watch this rugby coach throw the worst slap of all time
Rugby is a sport all about physicality. Never mind the uncontested conversion kicks, which only occur after all the scrums and tackling leading to the 5-point score. And nothing says you played a barbaric and physically demanding sport like proving your toughness in a fight. Enter Pote Human, head c...
Examining the 2023 NFL Draft’s most polarizing war rooms
Drafting is an inexact science. If it were an exact one, teams wouldn’t rely on so much vacuous football speak during the evaluation period. That uncertainty is what makes the draft an annual crapshoot. The 2023 edition is no different. After the top two picks, the draft pivoted into unpredictable t...
Steph Curry, Playoff Jimmy, and the NBA players who willed their teams to Round 2
The first round of the NBA playoffs is over, and it was quite the show. From coast to coast, great players across the league made their presence felt in the least important round of the playoffs. Normally, the first round results in chalk, but many of the best teams of the 2022-23 NBA season have be...
Credit the Warriors for their resilience as much as their shooting
Stephen Curry signed his rookie contract extension with the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 30, 2012. That day was the start of the 2012-13 NBA Regular Season. At that time Curry had never been named an NBA All-Star or to an All-NBA Team. The Warriors went on to make the playoffs for the first time si...
Playoff hockey is stupid anyway
The NHL Playoffs gets its jollies from defying logic or explanation, and reveling in its unpredictability. That doesn’t mean it’s always a free-for-all, as hockey and its fans would have you believe. But it delves into the chaos and silliness more often than its brethren, that’s for sure....
This week in bad omens: Aaron Judge injures hip on 31st birthday
Unfortunately, the ethical standards of journalism prevent me from accepting any contributions, or gifts as a thank you for my work, so for those of you looking to Venmo me some beer money for my part in the New York Yankees overpaying Aaron Judge, all I ask is that you make a donation to a charity ...
The Detroit Lions are going for it — and why not?
When you have as many picks in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft as the Detroit Lions did — six in all — it’s easy to wager them like house money. Reach on a second-round running back at No. 12? Sure. Take a linebacker who wasn’t predicted in the first round of any of the 38,000 mock drafts? S...
Black QBs make NFL Draft history while white QB sits in green room
What happened to Kentucky quarterback Will Levis wasn’t funny. It felt cruel watching someone experience their most humiliating moment on the night in which their dreams were supposed to come true. But for African-Americans — or at least for myself — it was impossible to ignore the irony. For decade...
The Lamar Jackson, Ravens contract drama is over
After months of back and forth, the Ravens finally paid their man, signing star quarterback Lamar Jackson to a reported five-year, $260 million contract extension. The deal makes the former MVP the highest-paid player in league history, eclipsing Jalen Hurts’ new deal with the Eagles. Josina Anders...
Which Jimmy Butler are the Knicks getting?
Jimmy Butler is the validation I needed that NBA playoff basketball is America’s fifth major professional sports league among the “Big Four.” From the pace to the way games are scheduled as a series to the effort, it’s almost a parallel Association. Golden State has been historically bad on the road...
When David beats Goliath in the playoffs
The Miami Heat became the NBA’s sixth No. 8 seed to topple their conference’s top seed in the playoffs after beating Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks....
The NFL Draft will win the day, but the NBA has already won the week
Thursday night will be one of those evenings when sports fans show their appreciation for the inventor of the “previous channel” button. Round One of the 2023 NFL Draft will be on ABC, while Game 6 of the First Round matchup between the No. 2 Boston Celtics and the No. 7 Atlanta Hawks (Boston leads ...
Chris Sale is cooked
The Boston Red Sox are going to have to have a sale at the MLB trade deadline, which could include a pitcher (Chris) with that surname....
Best landing spots for Bryce Young, other top QBs in the 2023 draft class
The 2023 NFL Draft is just a day away and, per the norm, the quarterbacks in the class are the main talking point. The hope for the quarterback-needy teams in the NFL is that they can land one of the top guys in the draft and lock in a franchise cornerstone for the next half-decade, at the very leas...
Is the 1983 NFL Draft Class the best ever?
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the 1983 NFL Draft, which produced eight Hall of Famers at six different positions. These players ended up winning a combined seven Super Bowls and shit ton of awards....