ff Page 168 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Ranking the 12 NFL head coaches hired straight from the Power 5 college ranks since 2000
Dear NFL GMs and owners, you may want to think twice about hiring a head coach straight outta the college ranks. While there have been success stories — Jimmy Johnson going from the U to Big D being the best example — that really hasn’t been the case in this millennium. Matt Rhule is the latest flop...

‘How to lose an all-star before his rookie extension’: A Charlotte Hornets production
This year was supposed to be Zion Williamson season. Not Zion Williamson’s season. Zion Williamson season in the same fashion that it’s duck or rabbit season. Prior to missing all of 2021-22 to rehab a foot injury, the discussion heading into the year was “Will Zion forgo his max rookie extension to...

Lions need to fire Dan Campbell — because were he Black, he’d be gone already
It’s been said that the greatest trick that’s ever been pulled off is when the devil convinced people he didn’t exist. That honor should belong to the editors at HBO, because Hard Knocks had y’all fooled....

NFL Week 5 Takeaways: The NFC East, for once, is nowhere near the least — except for Washington of course
Most people who pay close attention to the NFL knew that 2022 was going to be a down year for the NFC. The conference with Kyler Murray, Matthew Stafford, and the aging greats — Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady — as its best quarterbacks has a clear lower level of talent at the position than what is in t...

It hasn’t been all smiles and sunshine for the Rams, but it also wasn’t for the last back-to-back champions — the Patriots
Saying the Rams have had a rough start to the season would be an understatement. Although they are 2-2, the offense has struggled and has become one-dimensional. It’s Cooper Kupp or bust and let the defense bail ‘em out if they can. Now the Dallas Cowboys are visiting in Week 5, bringing one of the ...

For its next trick, the Mariners will juggle orcas while unicycling over a volcano
It takes a lot for the sporting public to notice a Saturday highlight other than a football one in early October. It has to be especially good on a weekend when Alabama staves off an upset, but my god what the Seattle Mariners are doing is beyond good. ...

The Pelicans have finally taken flight
Bourbon Street in New Orleans exists in a loop. Every night the street clicks back into a state of debauchery, repeated with perverse precision. Lonely men drift in and out of red neon strip clubs holding cans of Natty Light. Police on horses stroll between sleeping bums, screaming preachers, pools ...

There’s a reason Mike Leach’s quarterbacks have never cost him his job
The next time a pundit says “Missing on such-and-such QB cost coach X his job” will be my next visit to the psych ward. You know why Spencer Rattler didn’t cost Lincoln Riley his job, and Paul Chryst couldn’t survive Graham Mertz? One looks at a chalkboard as a place to draw plays, and the other see...

There’s something magical about bad football
Remember, Amazon pays $1 billion per season for this. That means that Thursday’s Colts-Broncos hobo ho-down cost Jeff Bezos somewhere around $62.5 million. In the words of Axl Rose, “You get what you pay for, and life is real high priced.”...

These are the top 10 unbeaten college football teams through Week 6
Week 5 of the College Football season brought chaos. Three matchups between unbeaten teams lived up to the hype, and left us with just 16 perfect teams....

Old school football is making its return to the NFL in 2022
Ever since the NFL listened to the Indianapolis Colts’ complaints about the contact from the New England Patriots’ defensive backs in the mid-aughts, it has felt like passing in the league went to a new level. No longer was a 25-touchdown season with a 60 percent completion percentage good enough. A...

Kawhi Leonard’s return puts the Clippers back in the Western Conference hunt
It’d been nearly 16 months since LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard played an NBA game before Tuesday night’s preseason win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Leonard finished with 11 points in 16 minutes but, more importantly, looked to be fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in game four of ...

The 10 most proficient cheaters in the history of sports
There are many forms of cheaters in sports, and often the dumbest of them get the press because they’re as close to dumb criminals as one gets — and everybody loves a dumb criminal. The 2000 Spanish Paralympic basketball team that won gold despite only two of the 12 players actually having a mental ...

Why don’t teams run more QB sneaks?
About a week ago, Jason and Travis Kelce were discussing goal-to-go short-yardage plays on their podcast, “New Heights.” Travis, a pass-catching tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, seemed to think a pass play was the way to go. “I’m running some type of rollout,” said the younger brother. Jason, t...

Bobby Wagner joined an elite group on Monday: The ‘athletes who have pounced on fans for invading the field’ club
Several memorable plays were made during the San Francisco 49ers’ 24-9 victory against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. There was Deebo Samuel’s back shoulder catch that he turned into a 50-plus yard touchdown, as well as Jeff Wilson Jr.’s touchdown run that first gave the 49ers the lead....

These 10 modern-day players’ primes were squandered by inept teams
Mike Trout is the tree that falls in the forest every September. He might as well exist in the cold, vacuum of space. If there’s any evidence that sports are raw and unscripted, it’s Trout’s annual storyline. His slow fade from public consciousness as the playoffs creep closer is in stark contrast t...

Micah Parsons declares Dallas Cowboys’ ‘Doomsday Defense’ is back
The Dallas Cowboys are playing the best defensive football we’ve seen from them in quite some time. Last year the defense was good at creating turnovers, but this season they’re barely giving up anything to opposing offenses. Comparisons to past Cowboys defenses are beginning to emerge, and one pers...

FTR is so good Tony Khan can’t book them
FTR — Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler — are the best wrestlers in the world....

Aaron Judge has to hit No. 62, right? Right?
The anticipation has been simmering for weeks, bursting at the seams to see the record-breaking home run off the bat of Aaron Judge. The euphoric release from Yankees fans will be palpable if No. 62 occurs over the next 36 hours, cementing Judge’s place in baseball’s history with one stroke through ...
