ben Page 24 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How else are you supposed to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame?
Baseball and tradition go hand in hand, like the Fourth of July and fireworks. The teams must line up on the foul lines during the national anthem. Players should never step on the foul line when running onto the field. You don’t talk about a perfect game while it’s going on. You sign Take Me Out to...

Which players have played on the most teams in each sport?
Adjusting to the environment around you is key to success in any sport. Even with NBA rosters having the smallest maximum roster size of the big four North American leagues with 15 players, there are personnel changes all the time. Imagine having to deal with that in new cities with new teammates an...

Don’t blame the Brooklyn Nets
Faulting the Nets would be too easy. Worse, it would be unjust....

Where will Kevin Durant go?
Just when you thought the 2022 free agency period was going to be an Ambien pill, the Brooklyn Nets soap opera returned to inject an adrenaline needle to the vein....

Best destinations for Deandre Ayton if he exits Phoenix
Now that we’ve moved past the NBA draft, it’s time for the free agency signing period to commence. And this year, one of the most talked-about names that could be on the move is Deandre Ayton. The 23-year-old center believes he’s earned a max contract. It’s just too bad the Phoenix Suns don’t seem t...

Tua is the most aggressive quarterback in the league? Next Gen Stats, explain yourself<em></em>
I love advanced analytics. At the same time, I know the results that come from analytics can lead people down some pretty insane rabbit holes and toward some pretty hot takes. One stat leads to another, which leads to another, and all of a sudden you’re saying that C.J. Beathard deserves another sho...

If I’m Victor Wembanyama, I’m all good on being called a unicorn
Now that Aleksej Pokuševski and Franz Wagner have understudies and Jabari Smith Jr. has a couple more guards who won’t pass him the ball, it’s time to peek inside the 2023 NBA Draft. And if you’ve done that, you’ve no doubt come across the name Victor Wembanyama. The French big man has a frame simil...

Kyrie probably figured out no one wanted his wormhole-brained ass
It was one of the shorter turnarounds in the recent history of NBA free agency becoming the world’s biggest soap opera (the dawn of which is probably “taking my talents to South Beach”). Sometime yesterday, rumors broke that Kyrie Irving and the Nets could see eye-to-eye with Irving heading into a p...

Kevin Durant’s destiny is to complete 2010 Point Guard Bingo with Dame Lillard
Kevin Durant is under contract for one more year with the Brooklyn Nets, but based on the bevy of reports and leaks on the extremely fluid Kyrie melodrama and its potential fallout, his employment is volatile. That uncertainty has spawned a multitude of options for Durant, but only the Portland Trai...

A Flair for the geriatric
Ric Flair’s self-descriptors are outdated. Jet-flying, kiss-stealing needs to be the AARP-promoting, Werther’s Original-loving, slow-moving son of a gun! There’s no discounting the now-73-year-old Flair as the greatest American professional wrestler ever. His combination of entertainment and athleti...

Jolly St. Perk, fashion faux pas, and more from NBA Draft night
I had the ESPN broadcast of last night’s NBA Draft on while cooking dinner, and even with my hands occupied by a pot of mac and a large spoon instead of my phone and internet, I knew Kendrick Perkins was going to get broiled over hot Twitter embers....

The 2022 NBA Draft’s top five picks felt like a sidekick draft
The 2022 NBA Draft’s starting lineup is exactly what we thought it would be with a zesty twist.Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Jaden Ivey, and Keegan Murray flew off the shelf to kick off the evening. After reports emerged earlier in the day that the Orlando Magic were sinking their hoo...

The Pistons won the draft and the last two days
There might be some fans at the gigantic Little Caesars arena, because the Detroit Pistons took some serious steps towards solidifying a young nucleus for the future of their franchise....

Is Jaden Ivey going to Sacramento or the dentist?
On the list of things NBA players don’t want to do, playing in Sacramento has to be close to No. 1, right? When Ben Simmons presented Philly with his platter of preferred trade destinations, an exec said he wanted to go to one of the three California teams, which was either an oversight because ther...

If 'We Own This City' was any indication, Baltimoreans still very much love the Orioles
During a recent vacation, I binged HBO’s We Own This City, which plays out like an epilogue to The Wire. I could go into the plot points and actor Jon Bernthal’s exquisite performance as corrupt supercop Wayne Jenkins, but all you really need to know, as it pertains to this piece is, god damn, the O...

The JaMarcus Russell story is much more complicated than you think
JaMarcus Russell really does feel like one word. That’s the way that it goes for athletes like him, Tony Mandrich, Ryan Leaf, Anthony Bennett, and Trent Richardson. The reason for that, only one word comes to mind at the thought of them: Bust....

So this passes as content in the MMA world?
Considering your subject is always good advice for a journalist. If the person was recently on a noteworthy podcast spouting off gross conspiracy theories, maybe steer the conversation away from subjects like, I don’t know, the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers ...

Jerry Reinsdorf is holding White Sox fans hostage
I have tried to explain the weirdness that encompasses, and in some way constitutes, the Chicago White Sox. They are a unique entity, both on the field and off, and in the stands and on the airwaves and in the bars....

Marcus Smart is the player Draymond Green used to be
The Draymond Green brand is still strong enough that LeBron James openly fantasizes about playing with him and his podcast is a hot topic even while the Warriors fall into a 2-1 hole against the Boston Celtics. Green, now 32, still benefits the Golden State Warriors in many ways. He sets bone-crushi...

Richard Jefferson’s rant on shortening the season is off-base
Professional sports is not the easiest way to earn a living. That was part of what Richard Jefferson was trying to get at during his viral rant after Adam Silver dained to consider the idea of shortening the NBA season. Jefferson was drafted in 2001 and to his credit, the first 10 seasons of his 17 ...