ja Page 173 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How is Justin Verlander still doing this?
Justin Verlander served notice to those sleeping on the Houston Astros and their 39-year-old ace: He’s all the way back. ...

Jaren Jackson Jr. is showing off his talent on a national stage against the Warriors because, for once, he’s fighting through his biggest weakness
For those who watched the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Memphis Grizzlies first-round series, their assessment might fall in line with how they feel about The Beatles’ Revolution No. 9. Some people think it’s one of the highest forms of entertainment that a person can consume, exquisite excellence in t...

Al Horford’s season-saving Game 4 was a reminder that he has been a rock
If the Boston Celtics go on to win an NBA championship, Al Horford’s Game 4 performance will live in Boston sports lore until the east coast breaks off into the Atlantic Ocean, or however climate change really sinks its teeth into this planet....

Why the Baltimore Ravens should be the team to look out for in 2022
The Baltimore Ravens were ravaged with injuries in 2021. So much so that PFF’s WAR-Adjusted Injuries Lost (WAIL) statistic indicates that the Ravens lost about 2.86 wins last season. That would’ve put the team in the playoffs with either a 10-7 or 11-6 record. They possibly would’ve been ahead of th...

Can we get a more bingeable NBA Playoffs, please?
As we near the halfway point of the NBA Playoffs, it’s a good time to take inventory of what’s working, and what’s driving viewers to dive for the mute button any time they hear Lizzo’s “Now here go!” at the top of that commercial for cruise ships. While I could do an entire post about how I’d rathe...

Mad Dog Russo went there
For Knicks fans born before 1990, Mike and the Mad Dog was a rite of passage for their fandom. The NYC afternoon radio show on WFAN ran from 1989 to 2008 and was a seminal source for New York Knicks talk. In addition, the show inspired many of the current Knicks YouTube creators, like Casey Powell, ...

Who in the world asked for more Tom Brady?
Very few sane fans tune into Sunday afternoon NFL broadcasts regularly to see or hear their favorite announcers — except for Cris Collinsworth’s slide-in intro. The allure for fans is the product on the field, which is why the Redzone Channel is so popular. It’s also the reasoning behind the NFL giv...

COVID-19 is still the biggest X-factor of the NBA playoffs
The fat lady may be singing, but the coronavirus and all of its variants are still dancing like the party just started....

The Celtics make you so tired
There is something so wonderfully juxtaposed about the Celtics-Bucks series. The only thing we need is for them to wear different colors. Shame they’re both based on green. But it’s a minor complaint....

Long live Nikola Jokić, the NBA’s Most VORPable Player
The impending news that Nikola Jokić will be awarded his second-consecutive MVP award has sent the NBA community into a border war formation between respect for analytics and the eye test. Jokic’s back-to-back wins is a resounding victory for the NBA’s mathlete contingency. This isn’t a diatribe aga...

Sacramento Kings may have dodged a bullet by choosing Mike Brown over Mark Jackson, yet they continued same failed hiring pattern
The Sacramento Kings chose their new head coach over the weekend. It came down to two finalists. In the end, the Kings are going with current Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown over former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. Neither name is all that exciting, but Sacramento made the right choi...

The NBA still hasn’t properly addressed fan behavior — don’t be mad when players take matters into their own hands
When the second edition of Malice at the Palace eventually occurs, I don’t want to see or hear from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver....

A look back at what 'Winning Time' accomplished
In the final episode of Winning Time, Season 1 quickly does away with the spectacle and gets straight to the facts. The series’ biggest conceit is as a series based on real-life, it can’t deviate from the truth. But, for all the defending creators Max Borenstein and Adam McKay have done for the seri...

Leafs and Lightning are playing the strangest series
In a playoff series, especially one between two very good teams which the Lightning and Maple Leafs are, you expect some swings. No one expected a short series, which means twists and turns as teams exchange wins. Momentum generally swings on the performance level of your goalie the next night, but ...

Big home win, hobbled star on opposing team — Golden State could get overconfident in Game 4, but they better not
The Golden State Warriors don’t always have to grind out a victory. They can press the right buttons on their good nights and have defenses whiffing on the wrong reads and getting lost on StephCurry/Klay Thompson/Jordan Poole relocations when Draymond Green is dealing....

The Dallas Stars, the piss in the cereal
The NHL playoffs haven’t had the most amount of drama so far. There’s only been two overtime games in the eight series combined, and not too many more that have been all that close or in doubt in the closing minutes of the third period. Some scores have been blown up by multiple empty-net goals, but...

Philly’s Joel Embiid, Dallas’ supporting cast help get their teams back into series
The last two NBA Finals losers, the Heat and Suns, are in very similar positions in the second round of the playoffs. Both took care of business at home, then went on the road Friday night and got smoked....

After much consideration, the Giants got the steal of the draft, and it’s not even close
The New York Giants haven’t just found their next Michael Strahan. As lofty as putting the former Oregon Ducks’ All-American into a threshold in the stratosphere, in Kayvon Thibodeaux they might have found a player better than the gap-toothed Hall of Famer. And perhaps Thibodeaux will end up hosting...

Phil Mickelson’s transformation into Shooter McGavin is almost complete
No wonder Phil Mickelson has been hiding out in Dagobah — or is it Elba? Golf’s second-biggest name, who has taken a self-imposed hiatus since his comments on working with a Saudi-backed golf league went viral for all the wrong reasons, is getting the unauthorized biography treatment from Alan Shipn...

Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis are the new Cap Rooney and Willie Beamen from ‘Any Given Sunday’
“Kid’s breathing down my neck.”...