cc Page 47 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, and the NFL players facing a make-or-break year
One thing we love about the NFL is all the storylines that carry over from one season to the next and those that are created during the offseason. Whether we’re asking if this is the year Dak Prescott finally gets Dallas over the hump or if Jordan Love has what it takes to make Green Bay forget abou...

Vlatko Andonovski was bad at a very tough job
If one didn’t want to kick dirt on Vlatko Andonovski as he recedes from the USWNT manager job, and kicking dirt is kind of what we do around here, it would be wise to point out the size of the task he was faced with. He took over a team that had won two World Cups on the spin, so there was really no...

To understand the RICO allegations against Team Trump, look to FIFA
After four indictments, the mental gymnastics required to equivocate for Trump requires advanced parkour skills. As of now, the former president faces 91 charges — between Miami, New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta — which are enough to fill out an entire regional tournament bracket. It can be da...

A non-USWNT World Cup Final is still good for the game
As tough as it is not to have the U.S. Women’s National Team in the FIFA Women’s World Cup final after winning the last two tournaments, the Spain-England final on Sunday is arguably better for the overall health of the game worldwide....

The continuing adventures of Angel Hernandez, Leo Messi is doing that thing again, and charter flights in women’s sports rears its ugly head
If you haven’t been following the touring artist exhibition that is Angel Hernandez attempting to call balls and strikes, or simply trying to disprove the utility of rules and conventions in society at all, in various Major League parks this summer, you’re missing one of the truly great examples of ...

Does it matter that 3 of the AP top 5 teams haven’t named a starting QB?
AP’s college football top 25 poll debuted Monday, and there aren’t too many surprises. Texas (11) is overrated as usual, but everything else appears to be above board. The typical formula for misguided hype includes some combination of a new coach, unproven quarterback, prestigious program, schedule...

After the ESPN shakeup, we still have Hubie Brown to keep teaching us basketball
Following its highest-rated NBA Playoff in two decades, ESPN decided to take a hatchet to its game coverage of the league. Gone from the network entirely are Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. Replacing them on the No. 1 commentator team alongside Mike Breen are Doris Burke and Doc Rivers. Ryan Ruocco...

Juan Soto provides the perfect metaphor for the Padres season, and Neymar ends up where he was always meant to be
The San Diego Padres are running out of time. They seemed to know it, as Juan Soto blew up at them last week after another dispiriting loss. It’s clear that something is amiss below the surface for San Diego, and Soto was doing his best to try and get everyone focused on what really matters, closing...

Premier League Round 1 Review: Chelsea and Liverpool play a pretty silly match after a very silly week
If it feels like Chelsea and Liverpool haven’t been able to escape each other for about 20 years, that’s probably because they haven’t. It can be traced back all the way to 2004, when Steven Gerrard was thisclose to joining Chelsea from Liverpool, and then months later they met in the League Cup Fin...

Niners could be in for a bumpy ride on their QB carousel
Championship urgency is more real in the NFL than in any other sport. When that window is open, teams have to climb up the ladder and jump in like Sam in Clarissa Explains it All. Any hesitation and soon that hard salary cap will not allow a contending team to satisfy every talented player who deser...

World Cup Day 21: This tournament will be remembered for how far the women’s game has come
We have our final four. When you get this deep into a tournament, anyone who’s not seen as chalk has done something grand, like Morocco’s men’s team last year and Colombia’s women’s team would’ve been this year. The South Americans entered as the lone surprise to make the quarterfinals. They benefit...

The power brokers of the ACC (and NC State) are against their own self-interest?
At first glance, the ACC leaning against adding Cal and Stanford is one of logic and tradition. Four brave institutions are standing tall, spitting in the face of realignment, and shouting “We’re not for sale!” Then you look at who those four schools are — Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, and...

Saudi League soccer and Fox Sports: A match made in apathy
There are several analogies that could be used to illustrate the hubris of Fox Sports partnering with the Saudi Pro League, and as easy as it would be to use the retirement tours of big name soccer stars, and the marginal effect they’ve had on MLS here in the states, Lionel Messi is on a barnstormin...

World Cup Day 20: The yappy Dutch are finally silenced
The last eight, usually the best part of any tournament if only because it’s the last time you get multiple matches in one day (or night as the case may be this time), didn’t disappoint at World Cup 2023. The darlings of everyone are out, and Spain are learning quickly. Let’s spin this right round b...

It shouldn’t be horrible for the next American to suit up with Chelsea
How American soccer players are treated in the Premier League has always been an interesting conundrum. Unless you’re a goalkeeper or somehow wind up at Fulham, heightened levels of scrutiny are at your doorstep that don’t appear in other top leagues around the world. There have been a few other saf...

Who’s up for a non-NBA pro athlete slam dunk contest?
Everyone loves a good slam dunk contest. It doesn’t matter if it involves NBA players, college athletes, or dudes from the neighborhood. If those involved are talented, creative highflyers, folks will gather around to enjoy the festivities. Obviously, the NBA owns the crown when it comes to spectacu...

USWNT’s treatment is the latest example of right-wing hatred for ‘nasty women’
Indigenous Americans were almost eradicated. Black people were enslaved. Asians are mistreated. Millions still want to “build a wall.” People of color have been oppressed for centuries, and each group has its own plight. But misogyny has stood the test of time. The overturning of Roe v. Wade, the re...

The Tampa Bay Rays are running out of dudes, and ESPN somehow becomes more of a farce
The Rays might be the best developmental organization in baseball, staying on top of an AL East where they’re constantly outspent by factors of three by their competitors by consistently bringing dudes through their system and onto the MLB roster. Or they toast other organizations in trades and turn...

Trask and Mayfield for the Bucs could be this generation’s Jackson and Germaine for Ohio State
The names Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine mean nothing to many of you football fans out there. For those who fall into that category, you all missed out on a glorious time in the sport when Ohio State was a national championship contender and started two quarterbacks. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may n...

No, ESPN, Trent Dilfer isn't, and won't be, a coaching genius
Do you enjoy football? Are you looking to play it in college? How do you feel about buzz phrases like “Take the cheese”? Well, the University of Alabama Birmingham is looking for highly motivated high school football players willing to work for free, and learn the intricacies of the modern game unde...