balls Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The NBA is walking a fine line with new foul rules, but Draymond is into it
The NBA finally listened to the outcry and decided to turn back the clock on the game and make things more balanced where foul calls are concerned. The league is walking a fine line and must be careful not to reel the game back too far. Some of the more prolific scorers in the league have already be...
NBA’s habitual foul seekers having a hard time finding fouls
If the world ended today (because that’s the only way the NBA season would end today, and I hate cliches, but this one is useful in this case), the NBA would finish with the fewest free throw attempts per game in the history of the league. Even though we’re only five games into the season and player...
SEE IT: Caleb Williams converts on 4th down on unprecedented 'strip' of own player
With Oklahoma up just five in the fourth quarter, coach Lincoln Riley decided to play aggressively, keeping the offense on the field for a 4th-and-1 on OU’s 46-yard line. The Sooners’ defense had been pecked apart (buh-dum-tss) in the second half, and the Jayhawks’ last drive prior to this play saw ...
Pitt is a three-point favorite against Clemson this weekend… how did it come to this?
Yep, you read that right. The University of Pittsburgh is favored Saturday against the formerly formidable Clemson Tigers — the same team that made appearances in six College Football Playoffs in a span of six years, winning two championships along the way. With the way Dabo Swinney’s team is playin...
This year’s Wild-Card Game matchups are the best ever
“Get your popcorn ready,” ...
Lighten up, Wainwright
I understand that every team in every sport is desperate to make the “only the guys in this room believed in us” the rallying cry of their team. It’s easier to think you’re the underdog, and when you’re a professional athlete you need anything and everything to drive through an interminable season. ...
MVP debates make my ass weary
I’ve come to the conclusion that a big part of being a member of the baseball media is just justifying your existence. Which is why they spend most of the time turning stuff into a debate that isn’t really a debate. Nothing is worse than individual awards, where distilling what “valuable” means has ...
Consolation prize for Marcus Semien's non-MVP season: Rare iron man feat
There’s two weeks left in the major league season, and we all know the big dramatic storylines unfolding. The American League wild card race changes daily, Atlanta and San Francisco are trying to hang on to win division titles, and the home run race between Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Salvador Perez, and...
MLB gets something right for a change with Clemente’s No. 21 jersey policy
Every year when Roberto Clemente Day rolls around, the refrain comes back around that the legend’s No. 21 should be retired by Major League Baseball, the same honor given to Jackie Robinson and No. 42....
Why don’t more players bunt against the shift?
This era of Major League Baseball can be defined by a multitude of things: the increased usage of analytics, or perhaps the enormous surge in both home runs and strikeouts. However this era eventually gets defined, one thing is for certain, the bunt is a thing of the past....
Georgia’s defense makes Clemson’s offense look like Bishop Sycamore
The game last night between Georgia and Clemson was the epitome of a throwback....
I’ve got a problem with Trevor Bauer’s latest Twitter rant
I’ve almost always been a Trevor Bauer defender. I don’t approve of his online harassment of women. No one should. It’s awful. However, I have taken Bauer’s side in other moments of his career. Baseball old-heads bashed him when he threw a gameball over the center field fence in a fit of rage. I was...
NBA needs to reevaluate these flagrant-foul rules
The NBA must reconsider the definitions of these fouls. ...
Stephen A. Smith and baseball, always an incredible combination
Just over a quarter of the way into the MLB season, it’s pretty safe to say that Shohei Ohtani has been insane. Ohtani currently leads Major League Baseball in home runs. He’s 3rd in slugging percentage, 15th in OPS, 18th in wOBA, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, he’s also been pretty damn good a...
Pitchers are even less afraid these days
We didn’t need Spencer Turnbull’s no-hitter last night to know that pitchers have smothered baseball these days (and that the Mariners have had all their bats replaced with Play-Doh). It’s the fifth no-hitter of the year, and we’re barely a quarter through the season....
Kris Bryant is Kris Bryant again, just in time to be shipped out
If you don’t live on the North Side of Chicago, or carry those emotions, then like most of the baseball world you’ve probably forgotten about Kris Bryant at some point in the last few years. Even a good portion of those who do pass through the Addison Red Line stop had written him off or made him so...
Albert Pujols’ career wasn’t supposed to end like this
Albert Pujols’ lifetime numbers are utterly staggering. He has 667 home runs, that’s more than Willie Mays. 3,253 hits, more than all but 14 players, more than hitting machines like Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn and George Brett. More than some guy named Napoleon Lajoie, who played 120 fucking years ago and...
What are the Giants doing here?
The baseball world was all gaga over the seven-game rumble the Padres and Dodgers put together in the season’s opening weeks. The part of the story that got lost and ignored is that they’re currently 2nd and 3rd place teams. It seems while they were eyeballing each other, the San Francisco Giants we...
Can’t anybody here hit in this league?
In the ninth inning at Wrigley Field on Thursday night, Kris Bryant led off with a single against Mets closer Edwin Diaz. After looking at a 99 mph fastball outside for ball one, Rizzo fouled off the next three pitches, falling behind in the count, 1-2....
SEE IT: Villanova QB tosses a real-life NCAA Football glitch TD pass
When a player is on a real hot streak, it’s not uncommon to hear an announcer say “he’s like a cheat code right now.”...