champions Page 33 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

John Daly won’t be on the Saudi tour, but it’s not for a lack of trying
Before your Thursday gets worse, ask yourself if you’re really surprised that a self-indulgent huckster, the inspiration for Roy McAvoy’s storyline if “Tin Cup 2” ever happens, would be pro-Saudi tour. John Daly sets up HQ at a Hooters near Augusta every April, will sign anything from a cocktail nap...

A serene Tottenham Hotspur will take some getting used to
It’s pretty obvious a team has a habit, even a reputation or history, of being a fuckaround when its very name is used as a definition of that. “Spursinees” has been a term thrown around since just about the Premier League’s beginning, which makes it clear what everyone thinks of Tottenham. No matte...

How far can Brighton go?
The question almost every soccer fan gets from non-soccer fans, which is healthy, is, “So which team should I support?” You never mind hearing it, because it means your friend/acquaintance/bookie wants to become a fan, but it’s also an impossible question to answer. Your football club usually finds ...

Amanda Nunes made it clear that she is still as good as it gets in UFC
Julianna Peña is tough as nails. She took a beating for five rounds against Amanda Nunes last night. A brutal, bloody beating. Yet through the knockdowns and the elbows, Peña never took her foot off the gas pedal and was able to get Nunes in trouble (at times) on the ground later in the fight. Peña ...

Bill Russell, all-time NBA great and cultural icon, dead at 88
According to a statement released on social media, NBA legend Bill Russell died “peacefully” Sunday at the age of 88....

Mariners make splash in hopes of ending lengthy postseason drought
The Seattle Mariners are looking to make the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. Ichiro’s rookie season was the last time they played past 162 games. Heading into Saturday’s games, Seattle is only a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings, and it’s far from a guarantee the ...

The best sports calls of the 21st century
Is there anything that defines a moment in sports history quite like the announcers’ call over the sounds of a raucous crowd and a celebrating team (and your own sobs)? Do you believe in miracles, the band is on the field, the Giants win the pennant, pretty much anything Jack Buck ever said — they’r...

Moving to a 16-team College Football Playoff isn’t easy — but may very well happen
“Sixteen just seems to be out there,” Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director, said at the Big Ten media days. “You can’t ignore it.”...

The Dodgers will be buyers at the deadline — here’s who they should target
The Dodgers have a few glaring holes on their roster....

Does Tony Khan have a second gear for Ring Of Honor?
It’s pretty standard now, bordering on canon, that Tony Khan will spit out a great pay-per-view whenever he needs to. And now it’s with multiple companies. Last Saturday, it was Ring of Honor’s turn, with “Death Before Dishonor.” And by any measure, it was a banger. Not perfect — rarely is a show ev...

BIG Conference needs to ask itself some BIG questions before proceeding
College football is changing faster than it can handle. There are no playbooks or 100-level courses for what’s next in the sport. It feels like when I took a journalism business class after the Recession, and the professor was asking the students for suggestions. ...

What if the Saudis come for tennis next?
Let’s paint a picture for a moment. It’s two, maybe three years from now. The Saudi Golf League has taken off, gotten its sponsorships and TV deals, and superstar commitments. It’s expanded its tournaments, the majors are now allowing defectors to return, and — all in all, it’s a success....

You’re never going to guess who’s pushing the Yankees for AL supremacy
Hopefully, you’ve been watching enough baseball to know the answer to that headline isn’t the Red Sox. At 61-32, and now only 2.5 games behind New York for the best record in baseball — courtesy of a doubleheader sweep — the Houston Astros are in a position to make the second half interesting....

Jimmy Garoppolo is free to seek a trade — where does he fit best?
It’s been a wild ride for Jimmy Garoppolo in San Francisco, to say the least. He’s been nothing short of a savior for the franchise, returning them to their status as a powerhouse in the NFC. But all good things must come to an end, and that time has officially come....

Look out 'Bama and Ohio State, this Pac-12 power is back and looking championship-worthy
USC football is back. ...

America’s addiction to gun violence caused Florida QB Anthony Richardson to drop his ‘AR-15’ nickname
Certain types of quarterbacks used to be referred to as “gunslingers.” That moniker isn’t cool anymore. ...

Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis would be spectacular, but it takes more than a good matchup for fights to materialize
There are few things more overwhelming than the tornado that forms when two pugilists circle each other for months, and even years, before finally engaging each other in the ring. Right now, between King Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teófimo López, Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, Ryan Garcia, and Gervonta Davi...

We fixed the college conferences... you're welcome
The irony of all the bellyaching about constant player movement and the free market from the NCAA and its institutions is that they aren’t even loyal to their conference partners. Those same athletic programs get a buck dangled in front of them and dive into a national conference transfer portal of ...

You can’t run from yourself and beat Novak Djokovic
We’ll never know what Nick Kyrgios really thinks, late at night when he’s all alone and there’s no one to impress or deflect to (and he may have a lot of those nights to himself soon). Maybe he genuinely doesn’t care that he lost his first Grand Slam final, considering the way that most people have ...

Tiger has the 150th Open Championship 'circled' on his calendar
The British Open, the final major golf championship of the year, doesn’t tee off until Thursday, but it’s already dominating the sports headlines this weekend as 2022’s Tiger Woods comeback and Saudi drama come to a head....