champ Page 36 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The (likely) beginning of the end for Serena Williams
After losing to Naomi Osaka in the semifinals of the 2021 Australian Open, Serena Williams’ response to a reporter’s inquiry about whether her tearful exit was her subconsciously saying goodbye went somewhat unnoticed....
Wimbledon needs Serena Williams more than Serena Williams needs Wimbledon
The greatest tennis player of all time is returning to the sport’s most prestigious tournament. But this time around, one side needs the other more than ever. And Serena Williams isn’t the thirsty one....
Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James for an NBA title? It could happen in real life, just not quite the way you want it
It’s the 2043 NBA Finals. The erosion of the east coast is impossible to ignore, and it will be illegal to hold summer football activities outdoors because the average temperature in most places will be 115 degrees. But indoors, the matchup the world has been waiting for will finally take place. Tha...
Weatherman goes viral after clowning Dallas Cowboys
Rooting for the Dallas Cowboys has become an arduous task. Even mentioning the Cowboys and postseason success in the same sentence is oxymoronic in the 21st century. Mississippi weatherman and weekend anchor Ethan Bird knocked one out of the park when he inserted a Cowboys joke into his 10-day forec...
The Minnesota incubator is about to do it again
Since the Minneapolis Lakers won half of the league’s first 10 NBA titles and then shuffled off to Los Angeles where they won13 more, Minnesota has been an incubator for NBA championship parades–in other cities. After the Lakers’ relocated to L.A., the NBA didn’t return to Minnesota until 1989. The ...
Phil Mickelson tries to justify joining LIV tour (again), fails (again)
Phil Mickelson is facing the golf media in the lead-up to this weekend’s U.S. Open, and suffice it to say: it isn’t pretty. It’s not that the LIV press conferences have exactly gone easy on the defecting golfers, but the press has faced more moderation and censorship from people who have also been p...
MLS becomes the first to go full streaming
Well, someone was going to do it. ...
Jeff Hardy needs help
It’s undeniable at this point. Jeff Hardy must come to terms with how lucky he is that his reckless behavior has not seriously hurt anyone thus far. He’s repeatedly put himself in danger outside the squared circle after making his career with a high-flying, daredevil style. Hardy seeking professiona...
Whether he admits it or not, this is a different Andrew Wiggins in the NBA Finals
Stephen Curry was mesmerizing on Friday night. If the Golden State Warriors do go on to win their fourth NBA Championship in eight seasons, it will be one of the most memorable championship performances in league history. Curry, a generational talent and one of the NBA’s most popular players, respon...
The arms race between Manchester City and Liverpool has gone nuclear
The narrative between Liverpool and Manchester City has always been something like the A’s and Yankees from the early 2000s. The two powers of a league operating on completely different planes and through wildly different methods. The Big Bad with all the money that can buy their way out of anything...
Tony La Russa got the Matt Nagy treatment on Saturday, but at least he’ll only hear it at his home ballpark
Fortunately, for Tony La Russa, the chants for his firing won’t follow him everywhere around Chicago. Even if the Chicago Bulls were playing in the NBA Finals right now, there likely wouldn’t be enough White Sox fans at the game for the chant to ring out enough for a viral moment. Also, La Russa’s k...
Will LIV golfers be allowed at Augusta?
The LIV tour is live. The lines have been drawn and the hammers thrown down, and Charl Schwartzel has taken home the first ever LIV win in London, and yet with each declaration from a defecting golfer or a pissed-off PGA exec, more and more questions arise. The biggest one on everyone’s minds right ...
Pro Football Focus is just doing this to make people lose it
Let me give a disclaimer, so this doesn’t come off as a complete trashing of the analytics community. Yes, advanced stats and analytics have a place in the game of football and sports in general. But they are not…I repeat, NOT the end all be all....
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 ...
Long Live the LIV?
The LIV Invitational Golf Series has been a drag on a PGA Tour that was already flailing to find its next superstar. LIV, which is funded by blood money from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has sparked a mini-exodus of several PGA stars. By offering boatloads of cash for appearance fees, LIV ha...
The national anthem played on a saw? Now I’ve seen everything
Playing or singing the national anthem at a professional sporting event is an honor to several musicians. Not only is it an opportunity to showcase their tremendous talent, but it also provides validation to the artist, telling them, “Yes, your music is good. Would you do us the honor of starting ou...
The price was right: Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and other pros sell out to Saudi-backed LIV Golf
Just about everyone has a price tag. LIV Golf is trying to figure out what that price tag looks like for the biggest names in their sport. Greg Norman, the CEO of the new government-funded Saudi tour, claimed that LIV offered Tiger Woods a number in the “high nine figures” to come play for them, des...
It was good business for the Warriors to build a new arena in San Francisco, but they need to remember the passion for the team comes from the whole Bay Area
Obviously the new Chase Center is not going to be as loud as the roar in Oracle Arena the last time the Golden State Warriors were in the NBA Finals. Now that all of NBA media has noticed that fact after two games there, let’s try to move off of that point. The old arena is always louder, more fun, ...
LeBron James said he was going to be a billionaire and, well, damn, he pulled it off
“In the next 15 or 20 years, I hope I’ll be the richest man in the world,” LeBron James said to Tim Withers of the Associated Press in 2005. “That’s one of my goals. I want to be a billionaire. I want to get to a position where generation on generation don’t have to worry about nothing. I don’t want...
Rafael Nadal winning the French Open is still the most inevitable outcome in sports
Rafael Nadal’s dominance on clay courts is to be expected. When he enters Roland Garros, his path to the title is Jordanesque, Gretzky-like, Ruthian, or whichever GOAT athletes of the last century come to mind....