ff Page 210 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Aaron Rodgers is still the best player in the NFL
Don’t look now, but Aaron Rodgers is the MVP of the NFL — again....
![Someone notify the Nobel Prize committee — this new Rooney Rule is racial equity perfected [sarcasm font]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/bdf0705824e606d94b927a96e8d1f56d.png)
Someone notify the Nobel Prize committee — this new Rooney Rule is racial equity perfected [sarcasm font]
The NFL is continuing its tradition of not doing enough to promote diversity by doubling the Rooney Rule requirement to interview at least two external minority general manager/executive/coordinator candidates. Head coaching slots were already under this rule, but now, along with GM roles, must incl...

NBA’s habitual foul seekers having a hard time finding fouls
If the world ended today (because that’s the only way the NBA season would end today, and I hate cliches, but this one is useful in this case), the NBA would finish with the fewest free throw attempts per game in the history of the league. Even though we’re only five games into the season and player...

The Nets miss Kyrie, but his absence isn’t the only reason for their slow start
Take two for Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Ky….well, the third member of Brooklyn’s big trio is on a leave of absence, and maybe that is part of the reason for the Nets’ struggles early on this season....

Perhaps it’s time for Barcelona to recognize what they are
It couldn’t end any other way, especially when you bone it and get zipped by Rayo Vallecano to fall to ninth in the La Liga table....

LSU, USC head coach candidate deniers auditioning for vacancies this weekend
I’m about as sick of the college football coaching carousel chatter as Mike Tomlin. I know reporters are obligated to ask these questions, but it’s like asking a child standing in front of a puddle of spilt milk, “Did you do this?” There needs to be a word for asking a question you know you’re not g...

Somehow the 'BuT-tHe-AmATeUR-MoDeL!' NCAA survived the beginning of NIL
We’re approaching the four-month mark since the NCAA officially approved name, image, and likeness rights for student-athletes and, somehow, the apocalypse has not come, the collegiate model has not collapsed, and Dabo Swinney is still coaching (to some extent, at least). As athletes, schools, spons...

In failing to properly protect John Doe’s identity, Chicago has allowed him to be victimized once more
A paltry $2 million fine for the franchise, less severe than the New Jersey Devils’ penalty for salary cap circumvention. Stan Bowman allowed to resign as general manager, rather than getting fired, with good odds that when hockey’s old boys network cranks up again, he’ll be a consultant or an assis...

MLB Rebuilding in 2021: Totally luck out, and just find a great international player
Where would the Braves be without Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr.? Where would the Padres be without Fernando Tatís Jr.? What about the Astros with Carlos Correa, José Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, and Yordan Álvarez?...

The Blackhawks are forced to face their reckoning, 11 years too late
The details are always worse than you can imagine, even if the overall arc of the story is exactly what we all expected. And so it proved as the Chicago Blackhawks released the findings of their internal investigation into how the organization handled accusations of sexual assault and harrassment by...

I dare you to ask Mike Tomlin about the USC job
On Monday, former USC quarterback Carson Palmer appeared on the Dan Patrick Show. At the end of the interview, Patrick threw in a question about Palmer’s role in USC’s coaching search and it turned into the highlight of the interview. He said that USC is looking at several coaches, and mentioned a n...

I was at the record-setting 9-OT game… and it was even worse in person
Saturday was my first game at Beaver Stadium since graduating from Penn State. I drove an hour and a half to my friend’s house in York, Pa., on Friday and then woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning to drive two hours to State College with his family and set up a tailgate in the cold and rain....

QTNA: Would you have given Tom Brady his 600th touchdown ball back?
As human beings trying to do good on Earth, life should not always be about money. We should be more concerned with how we treat others, and once we leave this place, when others are asked about us, they should be able to genuinely say that we were good instead of simply offering platitudes. However...

Burrow, Bengals bash Baltimore, Chiefs drop stink bomb on Titans, and Colts go 2021 NBA Playoffs on 49ers
Did you know yesterday was National Tight Ends Day? Of course you did, because no one shut up about it...

Week 7 NFL Powerless Rankings: The Chiefs keep falling, the Jets are real bad
We’re about halfway through the 2021 NFL season, and at this point, we can pretty much separate the serious contenders from the pretenders....

Patrick Mahomes takes a vicious hit to the head
Every week, it seems, something happens to remind us just how dangerous it is to play pro football. On Sunday night, it was the Seahawks’ Darren Taylor being back-boarded and carted off the field. This week, it was Patrick Mahomes, the face of the NFL, being helped off the field by his teammates....

Jared Goff has sweet-n-sour revenge on his mind heading back to Los Angeles
Anytime professional athletes are ushered out of town in favor of another player, the first meeting against their old team tends to bring out the best in the banished player. So, when Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions play the Rams in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon, you know Goff will be hell-bent on p...

Week 7 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser, and Prop Bets
It was only inevitable to endure our first below-.500 week of the campaign. The key is to put that behind us and move on....

Even without Ben Simmons, 76ers’ collapse shows why they need to trade Ben Simmons
The second game of the season is hardly time to panic, so the 76ers shouldn’t. They’ve got a really good team, the Ben Simmons drama will eventually work itself out with either a trade or a return to the lineup and eventual “but what about the playoffs?” storyline (that would grate on everyone until...

Hear me out: Relax… Melvin Gordon should <em>still</em> be a thing in Denver’s offense
The Denver Broncos got embarrassed last night. The Broncos — who started the season 3-0, might I remind you — lost to the Browns’ practice squad offense. Yeah, I know Cleveland’s defense is solid, but come on. Case Keenum? D’Ernest Johnson? Those guys beat you?...