il Page 482 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Julie Ertz, the USWNT’s most irreplaceable player, retires
I’m a sucker for a midfielder. Especially one like Julie Ertz. It’s not that I played there or anything. It’s just something about a player who sees all the angles on both sides of the ball before being anywhere near it that gets me, I think. Xabi Alonso is my favorite Liverpool player of all time. ...

Houston is getting the Oilers back ... for a day, at least
Unfortunately, there is no reason for the Houston Cougars to have an oil derrick on their helmet and trademark law wouldn’t permit it anyway. Still, the nostalgia was clear as a cloudless blue sky as the program elected to don the old Houston Oilers colors for its first game as a member of the Big 1...

It’s Georgia’s schedule vs. the field this college football season
It’s abnormally weird for the University of Georgia to be odds-on national title favorites. I’m not saying Kirby Smart’s group is unworthy — they won the past two College Football Playoffs, and appear to be every bit the juggernaut Vegas thinks they are. It simply takes a beat for perception to catc...

College football is back, and Nebraska is still gonna suck
The obsession with college football led to the creation of “Week 0” and it’s an American oxymoron to which no one will object. The tribalism compared to the NFL’s fandom spreading to every corner of the country that comes with having a longer season – that will only get longer next season with the e...

Behold the dumpster fire that is the Los Angeles Angels' front office
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Angels added another day of ignominy to their woeful franchise’s history under Arte Moreno by placing starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, relievers Matt Moore and Reynaldo López, plus outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers. In a vacuum, they aren’t the big...

The Nebraska football sellout streak is a lie
One of the biggest farces running in sports is Nebraska football’s sellout streak. The Big Red has been a shadow of its former self for going on two decades, but the streak, currently at 389 games, persists because this is all Nebraska football fans have left, and the seats get bought solely to keep...

It’s OK to feel uneasy about Damar Hamlin’s return to football
Damar Hamlin’s return is almost complete. Bronny James is “doing extremely well” in his recovery. You’re not a bad person for wondering if playing again is the best idea for both of them....

After 30 years (!!), it is finally time for Venus Williams to call it a career
Unlike at this time last year, the central figure of the US Open isn’t a Williams sister. Serena’s matches were all appointment television, maybe because of the known stakes, being one of tennis’ all-time great’s last event. And Flushing lost its luster after Serena’s third-round exit, until the sta...

Bill Peters is why hockey players grow up to be douchebags
Hockey’s culture problem is easily explained. One, the sport doesn’t have much interest in changing, because it’s always been, and is happiest, when it’s insular. Say anything about it, and the response will automatically be, “You just don’t get it because you’ve never been in the room.” Two, that i...

Mac Jones operating without a net in New England
For the second consecutive season, the New England Patriots are taking an unconventional approach to their quarterback room. A year after letting Matt Patricia and Joe Judge do some on-the-job learning as co-offensive coordinators, the team cut backup quarterbacks Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham. ...

Like him or not, Jim Harbaugh is doing the right thing
Sherrone Moore is weeks away from getting his shot — which is all an assistant coach can ask for....

The Angels wave the white flag, and Gregg Berhalter doesn’t know how a phone works
It obviously hasn’t worked out for the Anaheim Angels. While their determination to try and make themselves worthy of Shohei Ohtani’s long-term commitment, or at this point even a short-term one after the season, was admirable and certainly unique to MLB these days, their immediate nosedive after ac...

<i>Hard Knocks Episode 4</i>: Finally, something other than Aaron Rodgers
I would estimate that more than half of the fourth episode of Hard Knocks had nothing to do with Aaron Rodgers. Outside of an extended practice sequence that portrayed him as a conquering hero for turning the offense around after a poor drive, his lecture to Zach Wilson about Bluetooth EMF waves, an...

Jonathan Taylor is still stuck in No Man’s Land
If you were hoping the NFL would deliver a satisfying conclusion to the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor debacle before the regular season, think again. After all the reports and swirling rumors, it turns out the Dolphins and Colts couldn’t get beyond small talk. On Tuesday, Adam Schefter reported that the di...

Mookie Betts, not Ronald Acuña Jr., is the NL MVP
We’d all be better off if every MVP award was simply renamed, “Player Of The Year,” as it would save us a very annoying and tiresome debate about what “valuable” means. It gets doubly so in baseball, where we still haven’t quite escaped what numbers people should pay attention to, and what is overbl...

Maybe being cut by the Cleveland Browns is cause for celebration
The Cleveland Browns are a team that can’t ever seem to get everyone on the same page. Whether on or off the field, there’s always something that isn’t quite right in Cleveland. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the field, in the front office, or on social media. Whenever there’s a chance for something t...

Luis Rubiales can't tarnish Spain's World Cup victory
It’s been a disgusting turtle race, as we all knew where this would end and just had to watch a lumbering body make its way there painfully slowly and stupidly (please do not email me with corrections about how smart turtles are). After attempting everything from outright denial to victim-blaming to...

If Noah Lyles is confused about NBA superiority, he should buy a ticket to the Rondae Hollis-Jefferson show
You would think Team USA gold medalists would stick together. Instead, the newly crowned fastest man in the world, Noah Lyles wasted his coronation at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest by dumping on the NBA. More specifically, he took aim at the National Basketball Association taking the...

On its biggest stage ever at Wembley, AEW was its AEW-est
AEW took its big shot Sunday, putting on their first-ever stadium show and their first show in the UK at Wembley Stadium. It’s impossible to define what success would be for the show, other than selling a ton of tickets, which they did. Overall, the show was great, while also being everything else A...
