ick Page 201 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

These are the types of decisions that destroy offenses
I’m firmly in the corner of you should never pay a running back for all the cliche arguments that go along with it. But there are exceptions to every rule, like when a running back is more receiver than Derrick Henry. Quarterbacks love having outlet guys on their team, and like you could argue that ...

Deadspin presents: The Great Debates tournament
Welcome to the Great Debates bracket, where we’re trying to find out what is life’s greatest argument. The queries below have stumped philosophers, presidents, priests, and peasants alike. They’ve inspired books, memes, Twitter threads, and even entire fields of study....

Please stop belittling the onside kick
Every time the XFL or USFL tries to make a comeback, they debut a bunch of wrinkles to make the game more exciting. The epitome was the WWE’s XFL getting rid of fair catches in an attempt to spread the CTE around to all of its workforce. The latest fad is a rule in the spirit of make-it, take-it whe...

OBJ reportedly wants $20M pay day — good luck with that
Odell Beckham Jr. is back on the field and reportedly expecting to cash in big time with a new contract in free agency. After winning a ring with the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI, Beckham missed all of last season recovering from an injured ACL he suffered in that game. He’s finally able to wo...

One in six NFL fans believe the league is rigged
Hollywood’s award season came to a close Sunday night with Everything Everywhere All at Once winning nearly every major-category Oscar and giving us an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade reunion we never knew we needed. That does mean plenty of Tinseltown’s best script writers can now shift their wo...

Does the US have anyone who would stand up like Gary Lineker?
The farcical idea that sports and politics don’t mix has once again been shaken to its cardboard foundation with what’s been going on in the UK with Gary Lineker and the BBC (every time I hear or see “BBC” I can’t help but shout it like Austin Powers during the end credits of the first film, but tha...

The top 18 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the NCAA tournament
We’re less than a week away from the start of the NCAA Tournament and several of the stars that will shine during March Madness will end their college careers during the showcase. While the lose-o-rama for Victor Wembanyama, the projected No. 1 overall pick, has been underway for several months now,...

Ranking all 64 NCAA Tournament teams
No more bubbles. No more first four in or out. No more teams wondering if they made the most exclusive group in college basketball. Only 68 teams of the 350+ Division-I squads have a chance to become national champions now. Before the First Four begins on Tuesday, we’ve ranked every team that hopes ...

What does Adam Thielen have left to offer?
One of the best stories in the NFL, Adam Thielen’s improbable run with his hometown Minnesota Vikings came to an end this morning as the team released him. At 32 years old, Thielen proved he still had some gas left in the tank in 2022, posting 70 receptions for 716 yards and six touchdowns. Accordin...

Fred VanVleet’s expletive-laden remarks cost him $30,000 and put him in a special group
Fred VanVleet is now immortal. Hitting nearly every 3-pointer you attempt for two playoff rounds and winning a championship is great. However, only Toronto Raptors’ fans and non-causal NBA watchers remember that. The narrative in the 2019 NBA Finals was Kevin Durant’s injury and Kawhi Leonard playin...

This NFL wide receiver is Gargoyle on <i>The Masked Singer</i>
On Wednesday afternoon, FOX’s hit show The Masked Singer released footage from its new episode that aired last night. It’s of someone with a rather large and athletic build singing “One Call Away” by Charlie Puth. The tone sounded like a professional singer and I had some preliminary guesses of Ne-Y...

The best NBA action you missed last night
Mavs v. Pelicans: The Mavericks mounted a furious comeback against the Pelicans, to try and overcome a 25-point fourth-quarter comeback but fell just short. They went 10-18 from the 3-point line but still ended up losing the game 113-106. The Mavericks’ performance behind the arc explains how they g...

It’d take the lengthiest of zone defenses to cover Jim Boeheim’s career
Jim Boeheim’s tenure reflects a coach whose career almost spanned half a century at Syracuse. From bringing his alma mater a national championship in 2003, to winning the second most games of any college basketball coach, to ushering in and out the Big East Conference (as we knew and loved it) to hi...

Baltimore Ravens could've avoided the Lamar Jackson contract drama 2 years ago
In August 2021, the Buffalo Bills guaranteed Josh Allen $150 million. He played at a draft-bust level as a rookie, slightly improved in his second season, and after the Bills signed Stefon Diggs, Allen took off in season three. Lamar Jackson was selected in that same draft and in his first full seas...

George Karl tried to stick up for JJ Redick and should have sat this one out
George Karl picked the wrong day to go after Kendrick Perkins. On the Tuesday episode of First Take, JJ Redick and Perkins had a discussion about the NBA MVP that was loud, animated, and eventually went viral on social media. Perkins is not one to back off of his opinions so after the episode, he pa...

JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins are becoming ESPN’s new debate-show circus
JJ Redick looks like he’d rather be receiving a colonoscopy than embracing the debate on First Take. Redick joined ESPN after retirement, riding the success of his podcast The Old Man and the Three, and initially seemed like an odd fit for First Take. However, the more he strikes a nerve with his co...

Nobody in the NBA ever told Giannis about Ricky Davis?
Giannis Antetokounmpo was nine years old in Greece in March 2003, so it’s likely that he didn’t watch too many Cleveland Cavaliers games before the Franchise selected LeBron James with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft that June. Still, a veteran should have told him the story about Ricky Davi...

Young people make mistakes, but Ja Morant had better learn quickly from his latest one
I’m not here to psychoanalyze Ja Morant, ask if he has any gang affiliations, or question the influence that his parents are playing in his life. I will say, however, that if Morant was trying to emulate mid-2000s Michael Vick by having an illicit business on the side we probably would have heard ab...

NBA Disarray Rankings: Ja Morant and Russell Westbrook are the captains of their teams’ demises
This is the juncture in the seesawing NBA season when champions begin raising their games and pretenders plummet into sinkholes. Disarray isn’t a permanent status. Over the course of an 82-game season, lulls, injuries, suspensions and a lack of focus can derail even the steadiest contenders. However...

NBA Schedule: Make some time to watch the Knicks
Bing-bong, bang-bang, pick whatever onomatopoeia you desire to properly emphasize the 2022-23 New York Knicks, as long as you acknowledge that this team is for real. They have won nine games in a row and are 4.5 games ahead of a play-in tournament appearance....