ap Page 1201 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Week 6 Powerless Rankings: A win for the Jags, a bad week to be a Lions fan
The 2021 NFL season is starting to pick up and we’re finally starting to get a clear picture of which teams are about that action and which teams are not. We can talk another day about the teams that are actually for real. This is about the teams that are not. As we do each week, let’s take a look a...

The WNBA just finished a legendary season — now they have to address the drama the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury created
What if I told you that a hometown kid would come home and help deliver a championship to their city — for a franchise that has never won a championship — against the very same team that prevented that hometown team from winning a title seven years ago?...

2021 NBA Central Division Preview: Woe is the Cleveland Cavaliers
This is a hard division to diagnose. But I believe of all the possible letdowns in the Central, the Cavaliers are most likely to disappoint....

Christian McCaffrey’s injuries drastically change Panthers' offense
Here we go again for Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. For the second consecutive year, McCaffrey will miss significant time on the field due to an injury. The Panthers have placed their All-Pro running back on injured reserve with a strained hamstring, and he won’t be eligible to ...

Can the Mavs count on Kristaps Porziņģis?
This is going to be a huge year for the Dallas Mavericks, for a couple of big reasons. According to many experts, this is the year Luka Dončić completely breaks through and wins his first of many MVP awards. But more importantly, it’s finally time for the Mavs to find out if they can count on Krista...

Mohamed Salah is on one
I suppose being as analytic-minded as I can get that I’m going to be hypocritical here. It doesn’t help (or hurt, depending on your point of view) that I love Mohamed Salah in every sense of the word, to an extent that my vulnerability is teetering on “highly damaging.” So take that as you will....

Tennessee fans act like toddlers, get away with it
Tennessee fans were so out of control on Saturday night, that they were warned if their behavior continued, the Volunteers would forfeit. ...

Good not being good enough is the Cardinal Way, apparently
Is the Cardinals’ “philosophy” hiring underwhelming coaching staffs?...

The Dodgers are pulling a page out of Tampa Bay’s playbook — opting for an opener in Game 5
With both the Giants and Dodgers facing elimination tonight, both teams need to put their best foot forward. The Giants are throwing Logan Webb, who also started Game 1 of this series, going 7.2 innings allowing just five hits, walking none, and striking out 10 (tied for his season high). Webb is 7-...

If Giannis did what I think he just did, the rest of the NBA is in trouble, with or without Kyrie
When we last left two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo he was ordering a cheat meal fit for a champion: 50 (not 51, not 49) chicken minis from Chick-Fil-A, with a large Sprite/lemonade. This was a month after narrowly defeating the Brooklyn Nets while we all complained about his jump shot holding ...

Dominique Wilkins is owed an apology and the only asterisk I’ll accept in sports
Dominique Wilkins is owed apologies from a lot of you people. ...

Bucs remove Gruden from Ring of Honor, yet leave Antonio Brown in Ring of Huddle
If you’re looking for hypocrites of the week, may I present the Tampa Bay Buccaneers....

The NHL returned to ESPN, so here’s what it lacked
The NHL returned to ESPN on Tuesday night, with the self-proclaimed World Wide Leader celebrating itself and especially the old ESPN hockey theme....

There is no escape from the Astros
The longer the Astros stick around, the more baseball fans complain and bring out the tired jokes about their cheating. Maybe more opponents get suspicious, as Chisox pitcher Ryan Tepera did after Game 3. This is obviously the price the Astros have to pay for 2017’s scandal, and the only price they...

Nets do the right thing — your move, Kyrie
This weekend, I went to a fall craft show with my mom in rural northern Illinois. Is this a good idea during a pandemic? No, it is not, but the organizers promoted the event as being “masks mandatory,” and it was outside (kinda), and my mom really wanted to go, so off I went. ...

32 teams need to hear this: There is no pitching formula for the playoffs
Many years ago now, baseball pundits and fans tried to come up with a “secret sauce” for success in the playoffs. It can be pretty infuriating to simply accept that the sport’s biggest prize is handed out at the conclusion of a tournament that is essentially random. There had to be a reason these th...

Stop venerating men who care about nothing but football
Back in 2016, Bleacher Report wrote this in a profile of former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden:...

2021 NHL Previews: Fifty-four years between Cups for Toronto, going on 55
The Toronto Maple Leafs have now crossed the Rangers Line. The most famous Stanley Cup drought in history belonged to New York, which for years had to hear “1940” chants until Mark Messier, Mike Richter, and company finally broke the hex in 1994....

100-win Rays come up short again, which is where this is all heading
The Red Sox kneecapped the Rays, 6-5, in the bottom of the ninth last night — another walkoff — and the ending of a series usually launches a 1,000 ships carrying annoying narratives. The big one from this one is that the Rays’ way of doing things, with their positionless pitching staff, essentially...

How can I root for Dusty Baker, and not these Ass-tros?
MLB America has a real dilemma....