ball Page 553 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Report: Mike Trout Getting So Much Goddamn Money To Remain An Angel Forever

ESPN’s Jeff Passan is reporting that the Los Angeles Angels and Mike Trout are finalizing a contract extension worth $430 million over 12 years. This deal would become the richest in American pro sports history....

The Bortles Has Landed

In Los Angeles! After five extremely eventful seasons in Jacksonville, Blake Bortles will be a Ram. He’s reportedly finalizing a one-year deal to be L.A.’s backup. That means that one year after opening the season as defending AFC runners-up, Bortles will start this year with the defending NFC champ...

Here's A Cool Play The Trail Blazers Use To Ambush Unsuspecting Opponents

In the second quarter of an eventual home win over the Pacers, Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts dialed up a delicious little inbounds play to get reserve center Enes Kanter a point-blank look at the basket. The play involves very little movement and trickery, and mostly relies on two tall dudes...

Steph Curry Busts Out Of A Slump With A Damn 60-Footer

Steph Curry opened up Monday night’s road game in San Antonio freezing cold, by his standards. He missed seven of his first eight shots, including all four of his three-point attempts. He blew a point-blank layup, and had another slapped off the glass, and bricked a wide open three from the top of t...

How Not To Write About Kobe Bryant

SLAM magazine has a cover story about Kobe Bryant out today titled “MAMBA 101: Welcome to Kobe Bryant’s Next Chapter [book emoji].” Tzvi Twersky’s profile is half sycophantic run-through of Bryant’s new projects as a self-appointed visionary-style filmmaker and storyteller and half soft-focus look ...

Zion Williamson—And I Can't Stress This Enough—Could Rebound Me Off The Back Iron And Dunk Me Through The Floorboards

The rate of improvement seems frankly unsustainable. But Zion Williamson, who was once known for his comically improbable high school basketball highlight reels, is now cutting similarly ridiculous ones at the damn ACC Tournament. Can he just keep scaling up to new plateaus of competition? It’s hard...

ESPN Apologizes For Releasing The Women’s NCAA Tournament Bracket Hours Too Early [Update]

If you tuned in to ESPNU this afternoon for a show called Bracketology, you apparently got an added bonus: A reveal of most of the bracket for this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament!...

Giannis And Embiid, Just A Couple Of Giant Space Monsters Smashing Everyone Else Into Hell

The Bucks played the 76ers yesterday, in Milwaukee. The game had an outcome; the outcome had no effect on the standings. I am here to call to your attention the two giant space monsters, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid, who combined for 92 points and 31 rebounds in the game and made everybody ...

LeBron James Suffers Latest Humiliation At The Hands Of Mario Hezonja

It was all set up for LeBron James, nearing the end of a crappy first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, to have another one of his moments. He loves to craft highlights on the Knicks’ home floor, and to talk afterwards about how much “the Mecca” means to him as—as a student of basketball history o...

Carlos Santana Smashed A TV With A Bat Because The Phillies Were Playing <i>Fortnite </i>During Games

Over at ESPN, Jeff Passan has a breakdown of the clubhouse issues the Philadelphia Phillies faced in the first season of Gabe Kapler’s management last year, and it turns out they might be more relatable than you thought—when their jobs got pointless and shitty, the Phillies slacked off and played vi...

Let's Check In To See How Some MLB Teams Are Treating Their Minor-League Players 

A report from Emily Waldon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic states that the Toronto Blue Jays have taken the novel approach of paying some of their employees fairer wages. Players in all eight of the team’s minor-league affiliates will receive a pay increase worth anywhere from 40 to 56 percent, as...

Mike Scott Enjoys Overpriced Cocktail In Between Possessions

Late in the first quarter against the Bucks, Sixers forward Mike Scott fell into the crowd while chasing after a rebound he was trying to save for his team. Without looking where to throw it, Scott somehow got the ball to T.J. McConnell who immediately made the midrange shot he attempted. Scott, cl...

It's Big Ball Chunky Time

CFL Flameout Signs AAF Contract

Johnny Manziel, who has been exiled from two football leagues in two different countries, will be joining the Memphis Express in the Alliance of American Football, the league announced on Friday night....

The Pelicans Gave The Suns A Masterclass On The Dumbest Possible Way To Lose A Basketball Game

With 7.6 seconds to go in overtime, down 136-133, Suns guard Devin Booker tried to hit a game-tying three but airballed the shot completely and gave possession back to his opponents. The Pelicans then used their final timeout—keep that in mind—to advance the ball for an inbounds play that would at l...

This Weird Zion Williamson Three-Pointer Somehow Makes Sense

It doesn’t take a whole lot of intelligence to notice a strong correlation between Zion Williamson’s presence on the floor and the likelihood of Duke winning a basketball game. It certainly helps that he’s stronger and faster than every one of his opponents, but he’s also a smart enough player that...

Good Lord, Florida Got Screwed

With 6.2 seconds left in the game, No. 22 Auburn’s Jared Harper missed an important free throw that would have killed any chance at a Florida comeback. Instead, it left enough time for the Gators to get something up to try and tie this game up, down just 65-62....

High School Playoff Game Ends With Rare Double Court Storming After Officials Wave Off Presumed Buzzer-Beater

Minnesota high schools Albany and Melrose faced off on Friday with a section championship and a spot in the state tournament on the line. Albany had only 2.3 seconds left in the game to get up a game-winning shot after Melrose had just put themselves up by one point. Albany inbounded the ball to And...

Bradley University Reduced A Beat Writer's Access To The Men's Basketball Team Because He Didn't Promote The School's "Brand" Enough [Update]

The Bradley University men’s basketball team is heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years after winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday against Northern Iowa. The automatic bid should have made the Braves a mid-major sweetheart, but some recent actions mi...

Reports: Cops Investigating Tyreek Hill For Allegedly Breaking Three-Year-Old Son's Arm

According to multiple reports, Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill is under investigation for battery by the Overland Park police and the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office after Hill’s fiancee, Crystal Espinal, filed multiple police reports listing their three-year-old son as the victim. Hill has no...