hi Page 541 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

NBC gets the story it wants
The mystery of why NBC ponies up most countries’ defense budgets for the right to broadcast the Olympics still evades me. I know what the answers are. The ratings are worth it, which means the ad rates make it worthwhile, and that those who tune in aren’t really interested in the results of various ...

Kings doing what they do
Over time, certain franchises take on personality archetypes. The perennially moribund Sacramento Kings are a chaotic compulsive gambler swinging wildly between winning big at the slots and squandering their winnings on shell games outside the casino. Sacramento dumping the 6-foot-5 Tyrese Haliburto...

College players sue to be classified as school employees
Out west, the students are taking matters into their own hands, pushing college athletics another step further into its new athlete-empowered era — and they may be making things a lot more complicated for the NCAA....

If you didn’t already know Caitlin Clark’s name, you'd best learn it
Steph Curry is arguably the most exciting player to watch in the NBA right now. His ability to expand the floor with the range of an ICBM can make stone-faced humbugs raise an eyebrow and crack a smile in astonishment and awe. Women’s basketball hasn’t had anything like that in recent memory, that i...

Nathan Chen deserves every second of the Olympic spotlight he’s about to get
The Winter Olympics are always sports’ most unique event. For the most part, it’s a collection of niche sports getting international attention all at once. Exceptions have existed with men’s ice hockey, with five straight Olympiads allowing the NHL’s stars to participate for their countries, last ta...

I know just the coach for Auburn
The writing is on the wall for Bryan Harsin at Auburn, to the point where Paul Finebaum is openly speculating about Hugh Freeze coming in from Liberty — after five years of SEC exile — to take the Tigers job....

The Senior Bowl ceased public weigh-ins that resemble slave auctions the same week Brian Flores filed his lawsuit against the NFL
Back in the era of slavery — which wasn’t as long ago as racists, conservatives, and the GOP would like you to believe — Black bodies would be stripped naked, or close to it, and put on the auction block where they were sold to the highest white bidders. Their height, weight, skin color, sexual orga...

The Bengals are in the Super Bowl, but don’t expect them to pick up a check in L.A.
The Cincinnati Bengals have overcome quite a bit of adversity to get to Super Bowl LVI. They had to claw their way to an AFC North championship after some bad regular-season losses, including the infamous 400-yard Mike White game against the New York Jets, followed by getting smoked by Cleveland Bro...

Odell Beckham Jr. to the New England Patriots, that was nearly a thing
There was no force on earth that would’ve stopped the Buffalo Bills from dragging the New England Patriots up and down the field during that 47-17 Wild-Card beatdown. But maybe that’s not the Patriots’ first-round opponent if they were able to land Odell Beckham Jr. after he was released by the Clev...

Brooklyn is facing a tough decision with James Harden, but they do have options
So, the cat seems to have entirely escaped the bag at this point. James Harden allegedly wants out of Brooklyn barely one calendar year into his stint with the team. It sounds like it’s more than just the part-time status of teammate Kyrie Irving that’s bugging Harden. Although the Nets, losers of e...

Even a lockout can't prevent the Cubs from being greedy and stupid
It’s still worth it, every so often, to consider how impressive it is that the Ricketts family pissed all over the glow of being the ownership group that brought the first World Series title to the Northside of Chicago in 100 years to being universally hated in less than five....

Former players like Tiki Barber have hindered racial equality with unconditional support for wrongdoing owners
Tiki Barber isn’t the only one, just the most recent one....

An old beef classic has returned: Stephen A. Smith versus Kevin Durant
It all started with Stephen A. Smith’s Thursday appearance on NBA Today, which included a searing hot take about Kevin Durant. The Brooklyn Nets at the time were on a six-game losing streak that on Friday extended to seven. They are currently on a five-game Western Conference road trip that ends fol...

Olivier Giroud continues to just do the work
It is hard to look at Olivier Giroud and think “grafter.” Because it’s not hard to look at Giroud at all. Ask Leslie Jones. It would be silly to suggest that people don’t make conclusions based on how a player looks. It’s hard to reconcile him as a pure, old-school center forward. Strong, holds up t...

America’s Olympic biathlon podium drought continues
The US came extremely close to a podium spot in the only Winter Olympic discipline they’ve never medaled in: The biathlon. I’m not an expert on the sport, I’m only pretending to be after watching a couple hours of competition, but when I heard the announcers say we’ve never even medaled in the biath...

Claude Giroux gets his due
Saturday might have been the day that put Claude Giroux’s eventual candidacy for the Hall of Fame over the top. That’s a strange thing for an All-Star Game MVP nod, but sometimes you need a cherry on the sundae to bring it home. ...

Did Micah Parsons just beat Tyreek Hill in a footrace?
We never got to see Micah “The Lion” Parsons run an official 40-yard dash. When the 2021 NFL combine was canceled due to COVID concerns, we were robbed of an opportunity to see several strong prospects like Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Ja’Marr Chase, Patrick Surtain II, and Micah Parsons strut thei...

Fan-on-fan violence was always out of hand, we just didn’t see it
Fans fighting each other is nothing new. It’s so prevalent in soccer that they made a movie about it. While I wouldn’t recommend “Green Street Hooligans” because Elijah Wood playing a Harvard dropout-turned-soccer hooligan is as ridiculous as it sounds, I have been guilty of sharing fan fight videos...

Auburn's winter of discontent
Most Power Five Conference college football programs take as much of a deep breath as they can after the traditional National Signing Day, taking place the first Wednesday of every February. Teams’ rosters are as set as possible in the transfer-portal era of the sport after inking the final parts of...

Jim Harbaugh came crawling back to Michigan… leave his ass on the porch
Michigan has taken back the unfaithful Jim Harbaugh with open arms and tear-filled eyes. It’s not that he cheated on them, but it’s also not for lack of effort. It is almost a little more embarrassing that way for both parties — come on, guys, stand up for yourselves a little! He tried to leave you!...