champions Page 44 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Jimmy G keeps on stinking but the 49ers keep on winning
Somehow the San Francisco 49ers did it again. They’ve gone on the road in the playoffs and come out the victor twice, despite subpar quarterback play from Jimmy Garoppolo. The Niners have shown that the dreaded “game manager” can still take a team deep into the postseason. For the second time in thr...

I don’t care if it’s loser talk
Generally as a fandom, when all you have is to delight in the follies of your rival, it means you have nothing of your own. The actual act is an admission of defeat, a lesser position. You’ve been beaten, humiliated, rendered to the sidelines, and all you can do is just watch and hope that the team(...

In the win-now bowl, the loser faces a fast-approaching, not-so-bright future
For the past two years, the Rams and Bucs have been operating like they’re LeBron James and they just got to L.A. While the Bucs signed their big-name QB, the Rams took out another mortgage on their future, trading quite a bit for Matthew Stafford....

Welcome to A.B.B.
Strange as it may seem, you get the feeling that many this weekend will be rooting for a certified underachiever over the most accomplished quarterback in NFL history....

Three years later and nothing has changed, the Lakers are still a mess
Looking back at the Russell Westbrook trade, it makes sense what they were trying to do. The Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020-21 season was cut at the kneecaps by injury. It was the second time that had happened in three seasons. They needed a third star so that if they lost LeBron James or Anthony Davis or...

Aaron Rodgers is about to give it one more try against the team that owns <em>him</em>, the 49ers
The Green Bay Packers have advanced to the playoffs 11 times since Aaron Rodgers became their starting quarterback. The only years that they didn’t make the playoffs were his first year as a starter in 2008, 2017 when injury cost him more than half the season, and in 2018 when he battled through a k...

Want to know who’s going to win this weekend? Just look at each team’s last game against the Bears
Sports betting is becoming more and more prevalent in the average sports fan’s life. In 2021, DraftKings saw a 60 percent increase in third-quarter revenue from a year prior. Compared to other countries with more mature gambling systems already in place like the UK, only four percent of gross gaming...

WWE veered a little close to Nazism last night
Bemoaning the impact of Vince McMahon and Bruce Pritchard on NXT has been done in many places, including this one. For some, it is truly sad to see what was once a unique and massively enjoyable product become yet another base for the boring, uncreative, and rote choices McMahon and Pritchard make w...

So this Romelu Lukaku thing is a problem, just not in the way we thought
Back in August, I wrote this. And it sure seemed that way, as Chelsea utterly destroyed Arsenal, spearheaded by Romelu Lukaku. These were the defending European champions, who had just added the best striker from Italy in Lukaku the previous season, and he seemed like the final piece for Chelsea to ...

The Steelers and Mike Tomlin may be done this year, but they aren’t going anywhere
Before the Steelers got run out of Kansas City like everyone predicted (including their quarterback), Pittsburgh was up 7-0 five minutes into the second quarter. I thought that maybe they had a chance because all this team has done with a problematic corpse or Mason Rudolph playing QB over the past ...

Mike Zimmer may have left the Vikings quietly, but he let them know how he felt while he was there
Black Monday was last week in the NFL and with a slew of coaches receiving their pink slips, it was time for another tradition in pro sports: Teams anonymously skewering their recently-axed coach, especially if the firing came as any sort of surprise....

Which team could use Calvin Ridley most?
Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been the subject of much criticism this year. His decision to step away from his team in the middle of the season was admirable, but not exempt from the criticism of NFL “fans.” Even when he was playing, Ridley underwhelmed. After finishing tied for f...

Man City is running away with the Premier League title, so what can the rest of the EPL teams still win?
Slow starts, midseason swoons, and collapses are ways soccer clubs can blow a title race, but if you’re Man City, those don’t happen. Pep Guardiola’s team beat Chelsea for the second time Saturday, 1-0, and are now 13 points clear of the second place Blues and 14 points clear of third place Liverpoo...

Remember all those people that said they'd never watch the NFL again because Black players kneeled? The data proves they lied
You had to be there – 2016, 2017, and 2018, I mean....

The most dangerous weapon in these NFL playoffs might be Deebo Samuel
There are non-quarterbacks who have had tremendous impacts on their teams in the NFL this season....

Are you pumped for a docuseries about golf??
If you’ve been waiting your whole life to get a behind-the-scenes look at the riveting world of golf, your wait is over. Netflix has announced that they’ll be producing a PGA Tour docuseries in the style of the popular Formula One: Drive to Survive reality show that premiered in 2019....

A Cowboys-49ers playoff game means so much more than just another wild-card game
January 10, 1982, is the day it all started. Most longtime Niners and Cowboys fans will point to this day as the start of a rivalry that lasted the better part of two decades. The 1981 NFC championship game at Candlestick Park between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys was the beginning of a...

Za’Darius Smith is back for the Pack, and it couldn’t come at a better time
There was a welcome sight at practice for the Green Bay Packers today....

Three straight deep shots with a national championship on the line? Explain yourself
Up until the final minute, last night’s college football national championship saw Alabama and Georgia within one score of one another for the entirety of the game. Even when Brock Bowers waltzed into the endzone with 3:33 left on the clock, the extra point only made it an eight-point game....

Nick Saban and Kirby Smart are totally concerned about the little guy
The NIL contracts for “student-athletes” have been an overwhelming success, according to many people, including us. They give an unpaid workforce access to a revenue stream, make for great stories when used right, and end this ruse that college athletics should be an altruistic endeavor because kids...