ball Page 62 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Amazon can't be happy with another episode of <i>Thursday Night Football</i> Comedy Hour
Thursday is upon us, which means the end of the work week is near. It also means another installment of Thursday Night Football featuring another lousy matchup. This one could be the trailer for a Hollywood comedy: Bad Backups. That’s the general consensus about tonight’s TNG game between the New En...

If NBA teams can raise division-title banners, they should be able to raise a banner for the In-Season Cup
The inaugural In-Season Tournament is nearing its conclusion, which can only mean one thing: How can we find a new way to dump on it? Fortunately, a contrived controversy has been delivered on cue. The winner of this weekend’s In-Season Tournament will have to navigate the thorny situation over how ...

Why is no one screaming about the NBA’s MVP race yet?
There’s one unquestioned upside to the NBA’s In-Season Tournament. The endless promos and exhausting exposure to promote Adam Silver’s baby — and debate over if it’s working or if it matters — has overshadowed the usual topic de jour as we hit the quarter-season mark: The MVP race....

At least 1 person thinks Joe Flacco should start for Cleveland
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has yet to name a starting quarterback for Cleveland’s upcoming game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. With Deshaun Watson sidelined for the season, the Browns have started three different signal-callers — rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, journeyman backup P.J. W...

As if Notre Dame wasn't annoying enough
Notre Dame football doesn’t plan on losing its independence anytime soon, in terms of a conference or its broadcasting deal with NBC....

How did Ron DeSantis get to be so weird?
If you thought Ron DeSantis stumbling around debate stages in what looked like a pair of high heels, attempting and failing to resemble a human being when he smiles, and being hyper-focused on other people’s genitals is weird, wait until you find out how DeSantis wants to spend a million dollars of ...

DeSean Jackson wants to be the next Magic Johnson
$91 million is a lot of money, but not enough for former NFL wide receiver DeSean Jackson....

Ms. 3,000: Iowa's Caitlin Clark in pursuit of Plum
Iowa basketball phenom Caitlin Clark continues to do things that will put her on the Mount Rushmore of women’s college basketball. ...

Why is Juan Soto such a burden?
Juan Soto might be the best hitter of his generation. In the past 53 years, only six players have accumulated more fWAR than Soto has before hitting age 25. They are Mike Trout, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey Jr, and Andruw Jones. All of them Hall of Famers except for Jones. And the othe...

Anthony Edwards is salty about being called an All-Star
The next time you’re out and about and happen to run into Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, don’t dare refer to him as an All-Star. Even though he is indeed a one-time All-Star “selection,” he won’t acknowledge this fact. He doesn’t count it since he wasn’t a first-choice selection to the...

Despite Deion Sanders' success, worthy HBCU coaches still aren't getting advancement opportunities
One year ago, Deion Sanders’ swift exit from Jackson State’s sideline brought a swell of attention to HBCU football that hadn’t existed in decades. What it didn’t bring were more opportunities for the coaches who are essentially lifers, no matter how much they’ve proven themselves. Before Sanders to...

Every trade ever made between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox
Amidst slow winter meetings, two of baseball’s biggest rivals broke the ice by making a rare trade. The New York Yankees acquired Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo in exchange for Richard Fitts, Greg Weissert, and Nicholas Judice. ...

LeBron James wants to win the NBA Cup because Michael Jordan didn't
The NBA Cup/In-Season Tournament finally concludes in Las Vegas this week. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Phoenix Suns in a scrappy game Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals. James put on a show against Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, scoring 31 points, dishing 11 dimes, ...

Go ahead Jerry Reinsdorf, make everyone’s day
As has often been stated on these pages, Jerry Reinsdorf hates Chicago White Sox fans. And White Sox fans hate him. That’s the only fundamental anyone has to understand to get what’s going on the Southside. Or in this case, Nashville (insert Steve Harvey voice, “Takin’ his punk ass to Nashville…”)...

Farewell to college football divisions, the nostalgic blight we all loved to hate
With next year’s conference realignment just around the corner, the PAC-12 isn’t the only college football institution that we’re losing. The SEC and Big 10 will do away with their East and West division format of deciding the participants in their conference championship games. ...

The Winter Meetings don’t work that way, Shohei
If you exist on a plane outside the insular world of sports Twitter (sports X?), you might not be aware that the world currently hinges on MLB free agent Shohei Ohtani picking a new baseball team. Until said team is chosen, those of us left behind in the bubble can do nothing but hit “refresh” on th...

Since 2013, 45 percent of Heisman finalists have been QBs of color. That’s progress
You know progress is taking place when things that used to be groundbreaking become the norm. Thankfully, it’s been a long time since Andre Ware was the only one....

Selling the Mavs is a Faustian bargain for Mark Cuban
What do Donald Trump, casinos, the Holocaust, and the Dallas Mavericks have in common? The answer can be found in a comic book. In Art Spiegelman’s seminal tome on his family’s survival of the Holocaust, the graphic novel Maus, the underground comix writer analyzes the cyclical effect of trauma, not...

Tyrese Haliburton has the Pacers skipping the NBA waiting line
There are three tiers of NBA existence: Teams stuck in the mud, teams trying to fit through a championship window and future contenders waiting their turn. Prior to Tyrese Haliburton’s first full season as a Pacer, Indiana was rudderless and stuck on a road to nowhere. Aside from Haliburton, there w...

Refs defend controversial LeBron timeout call
Officials from last night’s Los Angeles Lakers-Phoenix Suns game have confirmed the controversial timeout call that helped punch L.A.’s ticket to the In-Season Tournament semifinal....