il Page 535 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why there are roughing-the-passer penalties and why there aren't answers
It’s a belabored point by now. We’ve spent enough time covering it. But every time an NFL game turns into a farce when someone has to turn to a backup QB, or wonder in vain why they didn’t dress a third, we get back to it. We rant and yell when we watch our team on the ass end of a game-changing rou...

The Joseph Ossais are partially why we watch the NFL
Patrick Mahomes is a thief. On Sunday night, he slipped up in the pocket, darted for the first down, stepped out of bounds, and stole a win from the Cincinnati Bengals. He also put defensive end Joseph Ossai in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons....

Phoenix Suns need to get Jae Crowder deal done as NBA trade deadline approaches
Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder hasn’t participated in an NBA game since last postseason. He’s yet to suit up for the Suns this season and likely won’t, ever again. It was decided early on that it was in the best interest of all parties that he stays away from the team. Trade rumors have floated ar...

Not adding up: There are 2 Black QBs in the Super Bowl, but only 2 Black head coaches in the NFL
Marlin Briscoe is smiling in heaven. Doug Williams probably has a huge grin on his face. The first Black starting quarterback in NFL history — Briscoe — and the first Black quarterback to start and win Super Bowl MVP — Williams — are the giants whose shoulders Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Phila...

The NHL isn’t for you
Once the NHL let one through the door, it stood to reason that another would follow. After the Flyers’ Ivan Provorov refused to wear their Pride Night jerseys in warmups, and their coach John Tortorella refused to admonish him in any way (nor did the official partner of the NHL in these matters, the...

Did the Bengals really get screwed by the refs in the AFC Championship game?
There was no way Sunday’s duo of conference championship games was going to end without a smattering of controversy. It’s just how the NFL works. In high-pressure situations, flaws in the system of rules the league have procured come to the surface with every action having dream-realizing consequenc...

The best games on the NBA schedule this week — only one back-to-back
Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially w...

Mahomes and Hurts’ Black quarterback Super Bowl showdown has been decades in the making
With all due respect to the Salt Lake City NBA All-Star Weekend, Glendale, Arizona is 2023’s “Black Super Bowl.” A week before NBA superstars and celebs descend on Utah, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes will take the field as the first pair of black quarterbacks to start against one another in a Supe...

For once, the NFL being America’s most popular sport worked to the NBA’s advantage
The officiating crew from that Saturday night Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics matchup was let off the hook by the NFL playoffs. Chris Jones disrupted the Cincinnati Bengals far more than any mistakes from the officials on Sunday night, but any added difficulty is always burdensome when dealing wit...

The Eagles must be a tool of the devil
You don’t need me to tell you that the Philadelphia Eagles, and really anything from the city of Philadelphia as a whole, are evil. The loudest guy in your office? Almost certainly from Philly, or Delaware at best. That girl you know who has a habit of puking on your shoes? Grew up on the SEPTA, whe...

WWE hits the right notes, even if it can’t play the song
You’d be forgiven if you thought that WWE falls into its best long-term storytelling by accident, including in last night’s Royal Rumble. It’s so fixated on providing “moments,” where the crowd pops to a riotous level and (these days) social media starts spinning and buzzing like a slot machine. Wha...

Is Eric Bieniemy being held to an unrealistic standard?
Eric Bieniemy’s circuitous route to an NFL head coaching throne has taken him through at least 16 interviews, and the beat goes on. The coaching game of musical chairs is nearing its conclusion once again, and Bieniemy’s only coaching interview during this cycle has been with the Indianapolis Colts....

Don’t worry Philly, San Francisco brought their own beef
The San Francisco 49er faithful came prepared to Philadelphia, bringing more beef from the bay area than an authentic Philly cheesesteak sandwich. In the days leading up to this clash for the NFC title, Niners fans have trolled through the city of brotherly love spreading disrespect like funk in a g...

Joel Embiid wants all of Nikola Jokić’s smoke
Following a double OT loss to the lowly Houston Rockets on Dec. 5, the Philadelphia 76ers were a .500 ball club. Doc Rivers, Joel Embiid, and James Harden all had that sad, whiny look on their faces as if you just told a 3-year-old no. Skip ahead nearly two months and 24 games, and they’re 32-16 and...

Tua Tagovailoa is too close to stop now, right?
The people closest to Tua Tagovailoa might say they support him publicly, but there has to be some part of them that wants to scream, “Intervention! Intervention! Intervention!” The parents of the Miami Dolphins quarterback, Galu and Diane, both said their son “comes back,” and I can’t imagine them ...

Bettors believe Brock Purdy's feel-good story ends in Philly
No rookie quarterback has ever reached the Super Bowl. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is one win away from making history, and he’d do so as a seventh-round rookie most people paid no mind to on the final day of the draft. Still, despite the remarkable story, bettors seem to think histo...

A rising tide lift all boats and it's time we threw Jason Whitlock’s ilk overboard
Choosing between women’s and men’s sports is a false choice. If you’re a certain blogger for Glenn Beck’s conservative Blaze media, revisionist history can be a comfort zone that vilifies feminism in sports as your woke sports boogeyman, but makes you look like a headass instead. Jason Whitlock’s re...

How can the NWSL become misconduct-free?
There are two new names to add to the list of firings due to misconduct in the NWSL – Portland Thorns assistant coach Sophie Clough and head athletic trainer Pierre Soubrier. ...

NFL QB candidates for the Daniel Jones ‘Don’t give up on me just yet’ award
One of the biggest stories to come out of a very eventful New York Giants season was the emergence of Daniel Jones. Jones went from not having his option picked up to being nicknamed “Vanilla Vick” and the team most likely franchise tagging him. There are two narratives to come of this development. ...
