ball Page 197 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tom Brady and the infinite sadness
Thursday Night Football is usually a pretty sad occasion as ritual, given the mess that it tends to be with the short rest and everyone still very much sore from the game they played just four days prior, and the lack of practice time dulling any sharpness. But last night was particularly acute. ...

I could play this New York Times umpire game for hours
I love umpires. I don’t love to hate them like other baseball fans do, though. I’ve always leaned in the direction of leniency. I know that officiating in any sport is difficult, thankless, and downright hazardous to your health in some situations. Umpires get it the worst though, perhaps because th...

A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...

Gisele lays down the law
Tom Brady made his name in the NFL as a pocket passer, handing the ball off to a teammate or staying behind his offensive line and trying to connect with his receivers downfield. His on-the-fly decision-making has made him one of the greatest of all time on the gridiron. That isn’t the scenario Brad...

World Series X-Factors: Who needs to step up for Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies to win the title?
The World Series kicks off tomorrow night between two teams with wildly different expectations heading into the postseason. On one hand, the Astros were the top seed in the American League. Houston reached the World Series in three of the last five seasons and reached the ALCS in all five. Everyone ...

Westbrook definitely needs to be traded, but he’s far from the only reason Lakers are losing
Russell Westbrook was out Wednesday night with a hamstring injury as the Lakers were soundly defeated on the road against a Denver Nuggets squad missing Michael Porter Jr. and featuring a sub-100 percent Jamal Murray. Truthfully, the Lakers could have used Westbrook’s energy. Someone needed to stand...

This World Series is a beautiful juxtaposition
If styles make fights, then this World Series is for you. While the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies have their similarities (like green mascots), they also occupy opposing poles in a lot of ways. And also the perception of them is actually opposite to reality in some ways as well. There are...

Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...

Eagles looking to open championship window as wide as possible
The Philadelphia Eagles don’t have a lot of flaws, and if they do, we haven’t seen them. The only undefeated team in the NFL has barely trailed at all this season, with first-quarter deficits to the Lions and Jaguars being the only times thus far that they’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreline....

Three playmaking wide receivers the Cowboys need to have their scope on
The Dallas Cowboys are currently in a position to make the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since the beginning of the Tony Romo era in 2006 and 2007. They’ve been good thus far, standing 5-2 after seven games, but if they wish to do more than make the playoffs, they’ll need to ma...

Early returns for NBA stars… returning
While it’s too early to define the theme of this NBA season, the first week-plus has showcased stars returning from serious injuries. Damian Lillard, Zion Williamson, Jamal Murray, and Kawhi Leonard all saw their first action after lengthy absences, and the reviews have been all over the place....

Atletico Madrid kick themselves in the ass to death
Let’s give a round of applause to Atletico Madrid, for the most batshit exit from the Champions League, as well as for signaling the end of an era for their club....

Vance Joseph deserves another head coaching gig
A forgotten head coach from a forgotten time in Denver Broncos’ history, Vance Joseph is most well known for being the man Sergio Dipp was talking about during the greatest sideline report of all time....

Did you know Manhattan College canned its coach less than two weeks before the start of the season?
The Manhattan Jaspers start the 2022 college basketball season in a dozen days. Sounds like a great time to fire your head coach. And that’s exactly what happened in The Bronx (yes, Manhattan College is in The Bronx, get over it), as Steve Masiello was dismissed from the program just short of starti...

Isn't Mike Evans giving a referee his digits far worse than an autograph? Asking for everyone
The NFL’s investigation into Mike Evans’ autograph imbroglio came to a screeching halt with a press release that gave off “forget it, it’s Chinatown” vibes. One day into the league’s inquiry, into Evans’ infamous scribble for game officials Tripp Sutter and Jeff Lamberth following the Buccaneers’ 21...

Russell Wilson needs to turn heel
He has to be in on the joke at this point. Russell Wilson is playing with our feeble little minds. That’s the only explanation for the Denver Broncos quarterback to keep leaning into this personality that feels straight out of a “How to Act Like a Quarterback for Dummies” book. ...

The rumored MLS Playoff changes are almost there
Apparently, taking a good hard look at the fairness of your playoff format is contagious these days. ...

Has Aaron Judge played his last game in pinstripes and a look at some notable 2023 MLB free agents
MLB wants everyone to focus on the World Series right now. The organization wants the baseball world’s focus on the matchup between Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper; the Aaron Nola vs. Yordan Alvarez showdown; and the fact that it’s a 1-seed going ag...

Will have some more of this, thank you
Tuesday night was Klay Thompson’s 651st regular-season game as a Golden State Warrior. When you add the 145 playoff games, Thompson’s been a part of 796 games in his career, and he’d never been ejected from one — until Tuesday night in Phoenix. ...
