champ Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Women’s World Cup Day 23: It’s (probably) coming home to England
Sam Kerr got her first start of the World Cup. Possibly the best striker on Earth still wasn’t fully fit, but the Chelsea starlet at 80 percent is better than most in prime form. The Australian juggernaut scored one of the best goals of the tournament in the 63rd minute with her club teammate, Milli...
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...
The 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame class represents 40 years of growth in the sport
The way that the NBA game is currently played — the spacing, position fluidity, the resting of stars during the regular season — all of that and more has been in the works for 20 years. Prioritizing 3-point shooting to maximize room for drivers and post players did not start and end with Mike D’Anto...
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...
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...
The Bengals had better hope Joe Burrow doesn’t have one of those NBA strains
Super Bowl Championship expectations are rare for the Cincinnati Bengals. Before Ja’Marr Chase was drafted they hadn’t won a playoff game since Bo Jackson played football. In 2023, the sports books have the Bengals as one of the top-five favorites to win the Super Bowl. However, they are currently d...
Whoa! The Premier League starts this weekend!
Most of the attention of the soccer world is fixed on the Women’s World Cup. And whatever’s left over is on Lionel Messi’s daily brace. But the world of soccer never stops, and in that fashion, the Premier League returns this weekend (so does La Liga but we can hold off on yet another discussion of ...
Nikola Jokić might be the most boring top-rated player ever in <em>NBA 2K24</em>
The player most deserving of the highest rating in NBA 2K24 is Nikola Jokić. Whether he is actually the best player in the NBA is irrelevant to him earning that distinction. The way that he bulldozed his opposition while leading the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA Championship, no other player sho...
Everyone agrees Patrick Mahomes figured out that two-high safety look
Unfortunately, most of us didn’t get to watch the NFL top 100 program this year. The NFL’s two minute warning that the season is about to begin was shown only on NFL+, which is still not a strong enough reason to add $79.99 to my yearly expenses. The result of the paywall restricted program this yea...
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass, Ronda Rousey
It all started so well, which is generally how things go for Ronda Rousey. ...
Don’t sleep on the men’s team that America is sending to the FIBA World Cup
Since NBA players have been permitted to play in international competition, the United States has never sent over a unit like the one they are sending to Asia later this month for the FIBA World Cup. Not a single player on this roster has made an All-NBA team — a first since American pros were allow...
Dodgers, Chelsea FC owner might be the uniting force to save women's hockey
There are two famous rivalries in North American women’s hockey: Canada vs. the USA, and the PWHPA versus the PHF. One rivalry will continue in perpetuity at every World Championship and Olympic Games, while the other is dead....
Feel free to use the NFL's Hall of Fame Game as background noise
Aaron Rodgers will be making his national television debut in New York Jets colors on Thursday, but not in an actual uniform. NBC will surely keep its cameras on him throughout the Hall of Fame Game, but his only physical interaction with the Cleveland Browns will be his post-game dap with Deshaun W...
Can the benefactor of nepotism also be a victim of it?
By now, you’ve probably seen the viral video of 20-year-old Somalian Nasra Abukar finishing beyond dead last in the 100-meter race at the World University Games in China. If you laughed or snickered at the absurdity of it all, you’re not alone, because it was ridiculous. Abukar didn’t even know how ...
Dallas Cowboys didn't pay Trevon Diggs $100M to call Dak Prescott a 'bitch-ass,' but he did it anyway
Trevon Diggs is feeling himself after signing his new contract. Just over a week after his financial future has been secured with the Dallas Cowboys, he has no problem going after Dak Prescott — the face on the field of the most profitable sports franchise in the world. ...
Enjoy Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney before reality comes for Wrexham
The main reason Ted Lasso should call it a series is because every run comes to an end; players age, rosters get turned over, and somebody ends up being the bad guy. The show was so averse to conflict that its most compelling heel turn was retconned almost immediately in order to avoid any ambiguity...