champions Page 27 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

USMNT’s Christian Pulisic finally gets his chance
The embarrassment of the United States men’s national team missing the 2018 World Cup had several layers. One of the most understated at the time, and one that luckily has been forgotten about over time for fans of the Stars and Stripes, is how the adorned future of American soccer would always be a...

Multiple CFP candidates messed around on Saturday, but only one got dealt with
It took 12 weeks for fuck around week to arrive in college football, and it announced itself with a bang. From the get-go, Michigan and TCU showed up expecting to be handed a W simply because the spread dictated it so. Maryland had the ball against Ohio State with enough time to steal a W, and Georg...

Elon Musk is doing his best impression of some of sports' most epic flameouts
No one strives for failure....

It’s no less a referendum on Neymar — World Cup 2022 Group G preview
This World Cup is setting up as either a treatise or a coronation for Lionel Messi. He recently collected his first major trophy with Argentina — 2021’s Copa America — but still needs the World Cup to stand on the same pedestal as Diego Maradona in most’s eyes. He’s coming to Qatar with unquestionab...

World Cup 2022 Preview - Group E: They got the bread but not the butter, let’s be big on Japan
Let’s be brave. For most, it’s a foregone conclusion that Germany and Spain are going to come out of this group. Except neither’s recent World Cup history is all that glossy. Yeah, Germany won the tournament just two editions ago. They were also rightly kicked into the trash in the group stage last ...

The 49ers don't need Jimmy G to throw TDs to win
The Jimmy Garoppolo experience, a ride with far fewer thrills than the Michael Vick one from the Nike commercial. Riding with Jimmy Garoppolo has gotten the San Francisco 49ers to the doorstep of the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl Championship, but he hasn’t been able to get them inside the building....

The casual American soccer fan's guide to the best international players ahead of the World Cup
For the fair-weather soccer fan, and let’s be real, that’s 99 percent or more of American sports fans, the World Cup is the one event taking place over multiple weeks where general interest is at a high. The United States men’s national team didn’t make the world’s best 32 in 2018, and a huge chunk ...

Drake may have lost a couple of big bets on Saturday
At the start of the fifth round UFC 281’s main event, the rapper with the Instagram handle @champagnepapi might have been ready to go get a ridiculously overpriced bottle. His $2 million bet on Israel Adesanya looked certain to be a winner....

Why are the Warriors looking so shaky this year?
The Golden State Warriors are far from the only team in the NBA that’s surprisingly struggling. Hell, there are surprises all over the league. The Utah Jazz gutted their team and have the best record in the Western Conference....

Anyone can play Qatar — World Cup 2022 Group A Preview: Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar
It’s still hard to believe that for a team with the history of The Netherlands — three-time World Cup finalist, Euro ‘88 champion — that their recent history doesn’t even include qualification as an automatic. They missed the last World Cup, and 2016’s Euros. The latter was the first European Champi...

He's finally healthy, so here are seven places Odell Beckham Jr. could wind up
For those teams, and there are many, who need some help at wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr.’s services are available....

Even after 100,000 passing yards, Tom Brady really needed a win on Sunday
After the thrilling early games in Week 9, what a dud for the big late-afternoon game to be the Los Angeles Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Two teams with roster deficiencies that haven’t been enjoyable to watch at all this season....

We were foolish to think any SEC game could steal the show from Alabama-LSU
While Saturday’s Georgia-Tennessee game was the biggest contest in the history of that matchup and the de facto headliner for Week 10, it was the SEC rivalry that has defined the conference for most of this century that once again stole the limelight. In his first time helming LSU against Alabama, c...

First-look CFP rankings: Rocky Top on top while Big Blue is singing the blues
The initial College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday, and as usual, a few fanbases came away upset. However, one long-struggling group of orange-clad supporters walked away ecstatic. The Tennessee Volunteers saw their name atop the heap, and in the history of the CFP, only one team ra...

World Series X-Factors: Who needs to step up for Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies to win the title?
The World Series kicks off tomorrow night between two teams with wildly different expectations heading into the postseason. On one hand, the Astros were the top seed in the American League. Houston reached the World Series in three of the last five seasons and reached the ALCS in all five. Everyone ...

Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...

Eagles looking to open championship window as wide as possible
The Philadelphia Eagles don’t have a lot of flaws, and if they do, we haven’t seen them. The only undefeated team in the NFL has barely trailed at all this season, with first-quarter deficits to the Lions and Jaguars being the only times thus far that they’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreline....

Atletico Madrid kick themselves in the ass to death
Let’s give a round of applause to Atletico Madrid, for the most batshit exit from the Champions League, as well as for signaling the end of an era for their club....
