ing Page 361 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A playoff game for the top pick in the NFL Draft sounds good — until you remember that human beings would be participating in it
Professional athletes play sports for two reasons: They play to make money and to win games. There is no other incentive necessary, or that would even work, to get the maximum effort out of players. And what would certainly be a terrible idea, is adding a “playoff game,” in which the result is the w...

C.J. Stroud and every rookie QB to win an NFL playoff game
C.J. Stroud became the latest rookie QB to win a playoff game for his team. The Houston Texans shellacked the Cleveland Browns, 45-14, and the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft looked terrific....

Blame Michael Jordan for Krause widow disgrace; Rudy Gobert trade finally paying off; Lakers need Zach LaVine
Michael Jordan won a widow getting booed. My colleague Stephen Knox covered this yesterday, the booing of Jerry Krause’s widow Thelma during the Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony on Friday, and he isn’t wrong. It’s another “feather” in the “cap” of Jerry Reinsdorf, though he wouldn’t have been i...

Kelce retires; Pete Carroll isn't having it; Dan Quinn gets dunked; Jerry Jones keeps on Jerry Jonesing
When it was announced last week that the Seattle Seahawks were moving in a different direction at head coach, the news caught many by surprise. It was framed as though Pete Carroll and the organization had mutually agreed that Carroll would step out of the way and into an advisor’s role. But now wit...

Who's the best at each position in the NBA? We have answers
Before you jump down our throat for ranking by position in a positionless NBA, take a deep breath. It’s fun. So, let it happen, and let’s talk hoops. The rest of the world is catching up to America’s basketball dominance. Out of the five positions, four of our picks are not from America. On the flip...

This year’s Australian Open is drunk
The Australian Open is already kind of geared for weirdos, at least on these shores, given that you have to sacrifice sleep and any usefulness the next day to enjoy it. But this year’s edition has been off the rails, making it even more worth it for those of us who are prepared to throw ourselves of...

Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff joined some elite company
After the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff have etched their names in history, joining a short list of quarterbacks to win a postseason game with two different teams....

The Lakers would be crazy not to trade for Zach LaVine
The word from ESPN insiders is that there is no chance Zach LaVine will be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. There have been issues with him and the Chicago Bulls dating back to early last season. Last week on NBA Today, Brian Windhorst said that if the Bulls could trade LaVine in a moment’s notice...

Kliff Kingsbury could be calling Chicago home real soon
Somebody once said, “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.” But in the case of former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, his potential return to the NFL might be an unexpected return soon. As reported by Adam Schefter on Thursday, the Chicago Bears are interested in Kingsbur...

Bill Belichick could sure use Tom Brady’s advice finding a final stop
The path back to winning for Bill Belichick is as easy as parroting Tom Brady’s search for a contending roster following his departure from the New England Patriots. Like Brady at 42, the 71-year-old Belichick doesn’t have too many of his best years left either, which is why the QB targeted Tampa Ba...

The NHL Eastern Conference playoff race is a mess
We’re halfway through the NHL season, which is now meant as a device to make everyone look stupid. Or really, to make me look stupid, which isn’t all that hard, because I’m stupid. After 41 games, we should have an idea of who is what and who’s going where. But in the Eastern Conference, we really d...

Deandre Ayton’s ice capades the latest embarrassment in Portland’s rebuild
The NBA trade market is open for business and one team in particular would like you to know that it is jarringly open to offers. The Portland Trail Blazers might not have issued a news release saying as much, yet when your starting center misses a game due to too much ice, the telltale signs of rebu...

In college coaching, it’s better to have a <i>Succession</i> plan than deal with a surprise retirement
So much about sports is often about who’s next. But ironically, over the last few years, we’ve seen how multiple team’s inability to look to the future in one certain area has hurt more than it’s helped. From Nick Saban and Jay Wright to what Tom Izzo has recently shared, it’s clear that focusing on...

Pascal Siakam makes the Pacers good at what they’re bad at, excellent at what they do best
The calendar has not yet reached February, but the Indiana Pacers have decided to kick the trade deadline into high gear. The No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference made a win-now move with darkhorse MVP candidate Tyrese Haliburton currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnaro...

The Blue Jays need to be built on fact instead of myth
In a lot of ways, feverishly watching the flight route of a plane that wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be is a pretty nice metaphor for the Toronto Blue Jays’ offseason and outlook. The Jays knew Shohei Ohtani wasn’t on that flight, but their fans certainly didn’t. That doesn’t mean that the ...

Alabama should be applauded for defying historical trends by hiring Kalen Deboer
In response to Nick Saban’s sudden retirement, the Crimson Tide hired Washington’s Kalen Deboer and averted the mistake that’s plagued program after program over the last half-century. Bravo to Alabama for expanding beyond their horizons....

Isn't it about time the NBA forces James Dolan to sell the Knicks?
I did not know what I was getting into when I became a Knicks fan. I got into it to find a bond between my father and me. He grew up as a New York street ball legend who listened to the Knicks on transistor radios with his buddies, huddled around a car drinking tallboys and sharing a joint. As a chu...

The Washington Commanders are this offseason’s most intriguing team
The Washington Commanders have new ownership and a new GM, with a new coach and quarterback presumably on the way as well. Like a dog who finally catches the mailman, fans in the DMV pined for Dan Snyder’s removal with such fervor that I’m not sure they know what to do now that it’s happened. It’s r...

Is Pat McAfee doing some kind of bizarre performance art?
A week after Pat McAfee failed spectacularly in his quest to “CHECK!” noted anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Aaron Rodgers, announced that “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays” were done for the year, and then had Rodgers back on the show the very next day, I have begun to ask myself if what McAfee is doing i...

The Pistons should be sending thank you cards to the Lions
Midway through January of 2024, Detroit exists at the cross-section of grief and euphoria. Grief for the terminally ill Detroit Pistons and euphoria towards the Detroit Lions reanimating. Nothing encapsulates the circle of life and sports quite like the present-day 313. There’s even a dash of relief...