espn Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

If you ever wanted to be an NFL player, this was your year
Tuf Borland, Mac McCain, Luther Kirk, Paul Quessenberry, and Pooka Williams all joined an elite group this year. Not many people can say that they have played in an NFL game, but these five men all did exactly that this season....

You’ll never believe this, but U.S. Soccer is actually considering going backwards
If ever there was an organization that embodied “one step forward, slip in your own vomit and fall back,” it’s U.S. Soccer as it can’t ever seem to keep everything flowing smoothly at the same time....

There’s no getting around it, the NFL despises women
There was a time in my life when nothing was as exciting as the start of the NFL season, the Bears season, here in Chicagoland....

Kirk Herbstreit is going to blow a gasket over Caleb Williams' decision to enter the transfer portal
Between the transfer portal, NIL, and the evolution of athletes realizing that they’re the most important aspect of sports – which is a business – it’s starting to become quite clear where people stand on this issue. There’s no question where Kirk Herbstreit’s loyalty lies – and isn’t with the playe...

Changing the World Cup to every two years could (but won’t) help soccer’s have-nots
Changing the World Cup to a biennial event is an awful idea. That’s not the most groundbreaking statement, but I wanted to put it bluntly because that’s the point I want you to remember from the rest of this. And if FIFA president Gianni Infantino is to be believed, and the move has a majority backi...

Let there be mayonnaise
Well, there it was in all its glory. The much-anticipated mess of viscous white goop rained down upon the cap of South Carolina’s head coach, Shane Beamer, following his victory over North Carolina in what commentators called “the highest stakes bowl game outside of the college football playoff.” Th...

All this fun and you get paid, too!
I’ll level with you. I didn’t really think that much of John Madden as an analyst, at least for most of my experience listening to him. That doesn’t mean I didn’t think his personality or presence didn’t warrant his standing at the top of the broadcasting game. They very much did. And perhaps I’m ju...

Malik Monk’s cryptic tweet is absolutely about him still being in health-and-safety protocol, right?
Los Angeles Lakers guard Malik Monk is still in health-and-safety protocol and appears to be a bit bored. Monk has not has not played in a game since Dec. 12. He had reportedly tested out of health-and-safety protocol last Thursday, and would’ve only missed one game, but then there was a change in p...

After three years and two seasons of BIG3 dominance, Iso Joe is back in the NBA
It’s been kind of a drag watching the NBA for the past two weeks. In the last nine days, seven games have been cancelled. For the teams that have been able to play some have been forced to get through games with less than optimal lineups. The Brooklyn Nets haven’t played since Saturday and in that g...

The Coach Prime Predicament: Why Deion Sanders’ success at Jackson State is a slippery slope for HBCUs
Being a controversial figure that evicts strong emotions on both sides of the coin is what Deion Sanders has always been the best at — outside of shutting down your favorite wide receiver. From his playing days to his past and current job as a coach/leader of young athletes, Sanders’ resume shows a ...

YouTube TV cuts off game feed on Lakers
Cord-cutting Lakers fans enjoyed one of their better moments of the season Friday night as YouTube TV cut off ESPN and all the other Disney-owned channels at midnight Eastern amid that bane of streamers and cable customers alike, a carriage dispute....

Of course the Blazers say Damian Lillard is untouchable
There are a couple of ways to parse the report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe that the Trail Blazers are not willing to discuss trading Damian Lillard, “one of the Sixers’ top targets” in a potential Ben Simmons deal....

Former Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas dies at age 33
Former Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas died in his home Thursday at 33 years old. ESPN reports that his family believes his cause of death to have been a seizure. Thomas played at Georgia Tech and was picked in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played in the league for nine yea...

5 totally realistic trade destinations for Damian Lillard
Any rational Trail Blazers fan would avoid watching the team right now. Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and Anfernee Simons are all injured. ESPN.com’s promotion for its Portland-Golden State matchup Wednesday is a “Top five Lillard trades they’d love to see” article, and a clip of Stephen A. Smith s...

Tampering so egregious the NBA couldn’t ignore it
It appears that the going rate for tampering punishments in the NBA is a second round draft pick. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the NBA has concluded its tampering investigations into the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat for sign and trades during the 2021 offseason. Both teams were punish...

Welcome to the Paolo Banchero Show
To call Friday night’s matchup between Duke and Gonzaga a “game” would be doing a disservice to what really happened in Las Vegas at an hour that no sporting event should ever be starting. Despite my moral qualms with a 10:30 EST tip-off, I stayed up to watch the game that was more than a game — it ...

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is my college football team to be good
The idea of getting back to a previous, dominant form is antithetical to moving forward. By looking back and chasing past eras, schools like USC, Miami, Nebraska and others are envisioning levels of dominance that are extremely rare and difficult to replicate — or in some cases *cough* Texas *cough*...

Why is it still so hard to find coverage of women’s sports?
Sedona Prince started it this year with an uncomfortable truth. The Oregon basketball player, famous for a TikTok video earlier this year that pointed out the discrepancy between the workout palace provided at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the meager triangle of dumbbells for the women, h...

Luke Walton is out in Sacramento, but Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé should be ousted for not having a clue
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Sacramento Kings handed Luke Walton his walking papers on Sunday, just 17 games into year three of his tenure as head coach. I wouldn’t call Walton a great coach, but he certainly isn’t the reason for the ineptitude displayed by this Kings franchise for t...

NBA GMs are apparently feeling unfairly maligned
NBA general managers are circling the wagons. ...