ap Page 1213 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

If it’s not the Leafs this season, which teams have the best (worst?) shot at passing the Rangers 54-year Cup futility?
The New York Rangers are the historic gold standard for futility in the NHL, having gone 54 years without winning the Stanley Cup until finally getting the job done in 1994 (see Mark Messier with the Cup above) — after decades of being taunted with “1940” chants in enemy arenas....

Kristaps Porzingis needs to remember who he is
It’s time for Kristaps Porzingis to start being the guy the Mavs thought he was....

Seems like old times, eh Leafs?
By now you know the key points. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, haven’t been to the Final since then either, haven’t beaten the Canadiens in a series since their ’67 title clash, won their first division title since 2000 this season (thanks to being in the all-Canadia...

Does MLB even have a marketing department?
Last weekend, when writing about José Godoy becoming the 20,000th player in Major League Baseball history, I brought up the story of Bob Watson being the man who scored MLB’s one-millionth run, and all the hoopla around that in 1975....

Last night was an anomaly, but it still shows Nets need more than their big three
If you told me that the James Harden-Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving trio would combine for 96 points, opposite 50 from Jayson Tatum and only 6 from Kemba Walker, I would’ve thought the Nets won that game by double figures. ...

It's 1, 2, 3 balls, you're on!
It’s not quite Javier Báez stealing a run for the Cubs by going backward, but Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela also did something you probably haven’t seen before on Friday night in Detroit....

The ol’ ‘It’s tough to win when all but one of your stars sucks’ nights for Knicks
Julius Randle was 2-for-15 shooting, R.J. Barrett went 2-for-9, and Reggie Bullock shot 3-for-8. Even the Knicks’ instant-offense bench guys, Alec Burks and Immanuel Quickley, each struggled to 2-for-8 nights. ...

Hats off to a great deal in Vegas
The Golden Knights traded a couple of draft choices to get Mattias Janmark from Chicago in April, and whatever those picks turn out to be, Vegas can rest easy that it was worth it....

Nuggets/Blazers is so much more than just Jokić vs. Lillard
Nikola Jokić and Damian Lillard are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do....

NFL’s all-time scoring leader packs up his legendary cleats
Kickers are people too, and Adam Vinatieri is the greatest kicker of all time. Put some damn respect on his name. The 48-year old veteran, who is the all-time leading scorer in NFL history, announced his retirement yesterday on the Pat McAfee Show....

NFL salary cap jacked up to over $208M per team — and here comes the spending blitz
The salary cap, like it or not, is not going anywhere. With the intention of giving all teams a level playing field in free agency, roster construction, and the ability to retain/acquire talent, it has become an ideology synonymous with American professional sports. I mean, it’s kinda bullshit, but ...

It’s the patented Antonio Conte finisher once again
“Antonio Conte is getting that look in his eye! He motions to the crowd! Is it that time?! Are we gonna see it?! YES! Here it comes! No one has ever kicked out of it! It’s the CONTE TAIL LIGHTS!”...

The Clippers can’t afford to do this, and yet, they’re doing it
Are the Clippers really going to do this?...

At this point, the Olympic flame might as well be a dumpster fire
Welcome to the latest installment of “things are totally fine in Japan ahead of the Olympics.” Not....

All the bad days
Women in sports are tired. Frankly, we’re exhausted....

What does Major League Baseball have against the Rays?
I swear, the Tampa Bay Rays are the Rodney Dangerfield of Major League Baseball — they get no respect. And I don’t get it. I just don’t. What do the Rays have to do in order to earn some praise for what they’ve done? Win an AL pennant? Nope, not good enough. MLB gave the Rays just an 18.6 percent ch...

Run the NBA play-in tournament as a series of high-stakes gauntlet matches
The NBA wants to have an in-season tournament, and a lot of the reaction to this idea is that it’s terrible, that it’s basketball trying to be soccer, that it’s a huge waste of time....

NBA, WNBA, MLS players urge Senate to pass George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
Here’s another way to take a stand one year after George Floyd’s killing, NFL....

CDC warns against travel to Japan, where COVID is surging and nobody wants the Olympics
The pandemic Olympics continue to be one smooth operation....

Julio Jones sure looks like he got ambushed on national television
Julio Jones may have just been ambushed with questions about his possible trade without knowing he was live on television. Shannon Sharpe called Julio Jones from his cell phone live on FS1’s “Undisputed” this morning. Without telling Jones they were live, he asked “do you want to go to the Cowboys, ...