et Page 598 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Napoli are Showtime
While Arsenal have gobbled up most of the world’s oxygen in the “came from nowhere to lead the league” category, there’s another team in Europe that’s outside the usual cast of characters that is destroying the competition. And while Arsenal may be a joy to watch, they’ve got nothing on S.S.C. Napol...

Injuries to Russell Gage, Damar Hamlin on Monday Night Football are why the NFL needs guaranteed contracts
When Tampa Bay wide receiver Russell Gage went down late in the fourth quarter of the Buccaneers’ Wild Card matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, everybody in the stadium and everyone watching on television held their breaths — again. For the second consecutive broadcast, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were ca...

Dallas put Tom Brady out of his misery
There isn’t much the Dallas Cowboys haven’t accomplished in their storied history. Despite not reaching the mountaintop in nearly three decades, Dallas has achieved more than most NFL franchises can imagine. The Cowboys had never beaten Tom Brady before Monday night’s wildcard game with Tampa Bay. B...

Who gets 'the yips' and why?
Monday night, Dallas Cowboys’ kicker Brett Maher, a man who has made more 60-yard field goals than anyone in NFL history, went one for five on extra points. Because Tampa Bay basically had their asses handed to them by Dallas, (despite the ESPN crew’s insistence that “you can never count Tom Brady o...

Sunday's NFL losers explain their various terrible decisions
Hey, what a SUPER Wild Card Weekend, am I right? We might not have seen great NFL football, or great officiating, or even great decision-making from players and coaches alike, but we did see plenty of chaos. And, as we all know, chaos is where the real fun begins — unless your team is the one fumbli...

Brock Purdy’s debut made him into the new apex predator of rookie playoff QBs
Brock Purdy’s NFL playoff debut was a tour-de-force performance that shattered the paradigm for rookie NFL quarterbacks. In one game, the San Francisco 49ers’ virtuoso logged more playoff touchdowns than Jimmy Garoppolo has in his entire Niners career....

The Chargers blowing a 27-0 lead to the Jaguars was something, but it wasn’t art
There are levels to collapses. There’s the March Madness telegraphed loss, where one group of 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds gets tight, and the other group gets hot. Obviously, we’ve seen golfers do it, and there’s not a lot funnier than a guy going from the 17th tee box to the beer tent. And then ther...

It's not just football fans who are tired of bad officiating
Poor officiating during a Week 18 game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks has NFL referees under scrutiny....

We’ve reached the Ringling Bros. part of the NBA schedule
You know we’re nearing peak NBA midseason slog when teams resort to parlor tricks to attract fans and viewers. Case and point: The San Antonio Spurs hosted a game at the Alamodome on Friday that broke the NBA attendance record. ...

NFL Playoffs: The 2 NFC teams on upset alert are overshadowing the 1 that’s not
There’s been a ton of chatter this week about who’s on upset alert, and most of that talk has surrounded two NFC teams prone to losing in the most extravagant ways possible when it comes to the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings are 2.5- and 3-point favorites, respectively, in ma...

Could bluebloods Kentucky and North Carolina both wind up in the NIT?
Both North Carolina’s and Kentucky’s men’s basketball teams have already lost six games this season. Two of the college basketball’s blueblood programs are struggling, and the NCAA Tournament might not be in the cards for them — but it’s not like this hasn’t happened before....

Umpires will definitely handle being challenged well
Automatic strike zones, or ABS, or Robo-umps, have been the Valhalla for a certain section of baseball fans (one I happen to be a part of). Watching Angel Hernandez or Doug Eddings try and guess where the strike zone is today and then acting like the world’s biggest ass-boil when anyone points out t...

Nic Claxton is a major reason why the Brooklyn Nets have played so well lately
Thursday night’s playoff rematch between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets will be like many big-time NBA regular-season matchups — incomplete....

What is Derek Carr's legacy with the Raiders?
So, it looks, feels, and now sounds like Derek Carr is officially done with the Raiders organization. Carr has been a big part of Raider Nation since entering the NFL in 2014. Carr was benched to end the season, and just days after the 2022 campaign ended, he posted what can only be categorized as a...

Slow start or bad investment? NFL’s TNF ratings drop after move to Amazon
Is it at all surprising that a more difficult entry point for Thursday Night Football games led to a drop in ratings? With the news that Amazon had to compensate advertisers because it didn’t meet the expected viewership numbers, it might be time to ask: How suitable is the streaming model for live ...

Do ex-ESPN employees suing Disney over 2021 vaccine mandates have a legit case?
Two former ESPN employees, reporter Allison Williams and producer Beth Faber, are suing the Worldwide Leader. Usually, when something like this happens, there’s some salacious accusation at its core. However, some lawsuits are so frivolous they’re clearly a cry for attention....

Sportsbooks will find a way to avoid paying out, won't they?
You know what’s more impressive than surpassing your season expectations? How about surpassing them with one fewer game than the rest of the league? Prior to the current NFL season, most sportsbooks listed the Bengals projected win total at 9.5, while the Bills were listed at 11.5. They ended the se...

The sports figures we lost in 2023
Here is where we look at some of the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2023. That list includes football legends Jim Brown, and Dick Butkus, basketball HoFer Willis Reed, former men’s college basketball coach Bob Knight, hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ch...
