ill Page 276 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Lakers playing on opening night is the best choice, despite complaints
It was a reasonable argument last February to want the Los Angeles Lakers off what seemed to be every other NBA nationally televised broadcast. Their season was unpleasant almost from the start, and Anthony Davis missed 42 games. His longest stretch was when he went down with an ankle injury just be...
The AP preseason poll is in! College football is almost here
People, we are less than two weeks away from real football. In 12 days, games will be on television, and will be played in various parts of America — not just Birmingham — and I assume players can keep their scholarships if they don’t want to eat chicken salad at the hotel....
Is it time to worry about the Yankees?
Well no, not for you and me. Chances are, unless you’re in the tri-state area or grew up there, you could give a flying fuck whether the Yankees’ six-week stretch of “meh” really means anything. But considering how the world works, you almost certainly know someone from the tri-state area who, at so...
The 49ers’ offense is going to look a lot more explosive this season
People around the San Francisco 49ers have to be thrilled with what they saw from Trey Lance in the preseason opener....
What are the odds an offensive lineman wins Rookie of the Year?
An offensive lineman has never won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Is that a tragedy? Or does it make sense? Offensive linemen rarely ever score touchdowns, pick up yards, or do the Griddy (although a few have tried). ...
Hope your Friday night was better than Zach Wilson’s
Zach Wilson may have avoided serious disaster after leaving Friday’s preseason game with a pronounced limp from a non-contact injury. Head coach Robert Saleh said the franchise’s young quarterback will undergo an MRI today, but sources are saying he reinjured his PCL and could miss only a few weeks....
Predicting college football’s New Year’s Six teams
College football starts in a little more than two weeks. And for 135 days, the jostling to become a national champion will be ongoing. Obviously, only four teams will compete in the College Football Playoff but a dozen teams will be selected to the most lucrative bowls, otherwise known as the New Ye...
Losing is preferable to this, Cleveland
The Cleveland Browns have relentlessly embarrassed its fanbase for going on nearly a quarter century. Most of the reason the Dawg Pound has been shrouded in masks made of paper bags and jerseys listing dozens of failed starting QBs as if they were KIA is the putrid on-field product. While the franch...
Retiring Russell’s jersey number should have happened a long time ago
Shame on the NBA....
The Ravens’ WR room has practically zero experience
The Baltimore Ravens released their first official depth chart for 2022 five days ago. It lists 12 wide receivers. Together, those dozen receivers have combined for 1,227 career receiving yards. Congratulations! That total would make the full careers of the entire Ravens’ 2022 wide receiver room the...
The NBA retires Bill Russell’s number
The NBA retired its first number ever Thursday, and Bill Russell’s No. 6 couldn’t be a better choice — if it’s not the only choice. A transcendent figure as a player, as a coach, and as a civil rights leader, Russell’s legacy takes dictionaries’ to define. Of the four major professional sports in Am...
Let’s not crown the Dodgers just yet — but let’s sure as hell enjoy the excellence
The 2022 Dodgers may be the most dominant regular-season team we’ve ever seen. And they have a chance to solidify it....
The only thing worse than the owners are their kids
Were you in the mood for a world-class bus-tossing? Did you want to start your day with the sound of an express pulverizing an unsuspecting individual DJ Jazzy Jeff’d into its path? Does the morning need a kickstart with a thunderous “THWACK?” Friendo, you’re in luck:...
Welcome to Blah-gust, the worst time of the sporting calendar
Mark it down: 9:35 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10. We’ve reached the peak (nadir?) of sports’ slow season. You know it’s the doggiest of dog days when ESPN is killing time with Little League World Series coverage. No disrespect to the youth, but I’m not going to subject myself to watching children’s athlet...
This 'Hard Knocks'<em> </em>season premiere was good, but Lions coach Dan Campbell needs to drink that strong-ass coffee on camera soon
At some point during the time that the Detroit Lions are on “Hard Knocks,” we had better get to see Dan Campbell at Starbucks....
Serena Williams calls it a career
One of the greatest athletes ever has signaled the end of her playing career. Serena Williams will hang up the racket after the US Open, tennis’ final major of the calendar year, she confirmed to Vogue Magazine in a personalized essay. Williams, 41, has one final chance to tie Margaret Court’s all-t...
Analyzing Jimmy Garoppolo’s next-team odds
Most people thought Jimmy Garoppolo would be traded long ago. Yet, with barely more than a month until the start of the NFL regular season, Garoppolo is still a 49er. At this point, it’d be easy to assume that Garoppolo will remain on the team for at least a few weeks of the season. Some sportsbooks...
I’d wreck my Subaru to be on the Patriots, too
In the barren wasteland that is sports in August, there are only baseball and speculative NFL stories to write about. And since we just wrote about Aaron Judge and he didn’t hit a dinger Friday night, we’ve got football chatter for you. Today’s anecdote comes from former New England Patriot offensiv...