ick Page 134 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

With Russell Wilson gone, Sean Payton can’t point the finger at anyone but himself
Now that the Denver Broncos have made their decision about moving on from the Russel Wilson era, it’s time for head coach Sean Payton to get serious. There’s a lot at stake here and Payton can’t whiff on this quarterback selection. Whether it be via free agency or the draft, Payton is only going to ...

Nick Saban retired, so why is he acting like he was forced out?
For those of us who hoped Nick Saban retiring would be the end of Nick Saban, this idle/jilted version of him might be even more insufferable. In an ESPN story about how Alabama pivoted from Saban to Kalen Deboer in 49 hours, the seven-time title winner revealed that “player attitudes” and the NIL e...

15 NBA players we wish competed in the Slam Dunk Contest
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is on life support. The G-League’s Mac McClung has won the contest for a second year in a row. Despite Boston’s Jaylen Brown attempting to bring stars back to the iconic event, his dunks were relatively unimpressive. ...

Daryl Morey is Oppenheimer for the NBA’s nuclear offensive age
It’s Oscars Week, which feels like as good a time as any to draw up the NBA storylines and characters which could double as Oscar nominees. ...

Do the Thunder have a Josh Giddey problem?
Need any more evidence that Gilbert Arenas’ bellyaching about Europeans and foreigners ruining basketball with their sweet outside strokes is all hot air? I’ll give you one: Josh Giddey. Now that his legal woes appear to be in the rearview mirror, the whispers about his liabilities in the Oklahoma C...

Kneeling is a quiet gesture. Bob Melvin’s decision to make the Giants stand for the national anthem is a loud one
After making it known that he wants players to have “a voice” in a volatile Election Year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell still had six months before preseason games started in which he didn’t have to worry about any potential on-field demonstrations. But thanks to new San Francisco Giants skipper B...

The Penguins lasted longer than they were supposed to
In the salary-cap era of the NHL, no team gets to go out on their shield, really. The Datsyuk-and-Zetterberg era of the Wings fled to the Eastern Conference, took a couple first-round beatdowns, and then slipped into the playoff-less ooze that the organization only might just be emerging from. Ovech...

Gilbert Arenas xenophobic NBA rant is the nonsense JJ Reddick warned us about
Why anyone listens to former Memphis Grizzlies guard Gilbert Arenas is beyond me. He could be an entertaining listen if he had the self-awareness to realize where the limits of his sense of humor are. Or he could regale his listeners with stories of what it was like to share the floor with former De...

Every No. 1 NFL Draft pick since 2000
The NFL Scouting Combine is the first sign for everyone to get serious about draft talk. It gives football fans just under two months to prepare for a new name to walk across the stage as Roger Goodell says, “With the first overall pick…” Will they become the new face of the league? Or will they fla...

We present to you February 2024's Idiots of the Month
Welcome to the first edition of Idiots of the Month for 2024 (we may have been overwhelmed with idiocy in January, and declined to choose five from the nominees — or we may have been distracted by the Super Bowl). Luckily for us, February brought us a fresh, new crop of idiots, and one idiot who is ...

Is Dan Orlovsky right about Jerry Jones and the Cowboys <i>wanting</i> to be mediocre?
Former NFL quarterback, Dan Orlovsky, has become one of the better analysts on ESPN programming over the past few years. Despite not having the best NFL career he knows the game and can break it down in a way that’s easily digestible for viewers. Orlovsky sounded off on Jerry Jones and the Dallas Co...

An ode to the enigma that was Paul Pogba
With the news that Paul Pogba has been suspended for four years (pending appeal), it almost certainly ends his career. Should he have to serve the full four seasons, he’ll be 35 and not have played in forever. The question of whether he’s a legend or left far too much on the table would depend on wh...

Please do not glorify Mattress Mack’s gambling addiction
Reporting on Mattress Mack McIngvale’s gambling addiction is akin to covering those competitive vaping contests featuring Gen Zers trying to see who can blow the biggest cloud/contract lymphoma the quickest. I guess there’s a human-interest angle, but it also glorifies sports betting to a disgusting...

Raheem Morris said the Falcons want a QB that’s the ‘best fit’ for Atlanta — he means Black
Quarterback is the most important position in all of sports. The Falcons are on the hunt for a new one. And not only does their next signal-caller need to be a perfect match for the team, but for the city. Atlanta is Black as hell, which means their next starting quarterback probably will be, too....

The Patriots sure put the F in family
The New England Patriots are not a family-friendly organization. Color me surprised. ...

Here are increasingly radical solutions to combat the NBA’s overpowered offenses
Scoring in the NBA has ticked up at an exponential rate in the last decade. It doesn’t take Hercule Poirot to figure out what killed NBA defenses. This is a shooter’s league now....

Remember the Chiefs superfan who was on the run? He pleaded guilty to bank robbery
Xavier Babudar, better known by his wolf-themed Kansas City Chiefs superfan alias “ChiefsAholic,” pled guilty to one count of bank robbery, one count of money laundering, and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines on Wednesday. ...

Non-working showers, tiny locker rooms, and having to play for Josh McDaniels: NFLPA releases team report cards
If the NFL Players Association’s annual team report card, which is voted on by the players from each franchise, is any indication, playing for Cincinnati Bengals’ owner Mike Brown is only a few steps divorced from suiting up for fictional Cleveland MLB owner Rachel Phelps — complete with non-working...

You probably forgot these NBA players were on these teams
The NBA has a whole lot of movement. Even Michael Jordan couldn’t finish his career with the Chicago Bulls. Even the most iconic multi-team NBA players have a short stint on a team you would swear they never played for. Here are some iconic NBA players in weird places. ...

Roger Goodell wants NFL players to have a ‘voice’ in volatile Election Year. Don’t believe him
In football, the line of scrimmage is where the “rubber meets the road.” In politics, it occurs inside the voting booth. Roger Goodell’s recent comments on politics and sports are proof that the league could be on the verge of repeating the same mistakes it did during the Colin Kaepernick era, as th...