ja Page 208 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

IOC makes it clear what it is
The case of tennis player Peng Shuai gets scarier by the day. Jane McManus covered the first steps a couple days ago. Since then, the Chinese government, through their propaganda channels, released a statement that Peng is safe, except no one believes the evidence it produced. Which is what any reas...

Is Enes Kanter being punished?
Ime Udoka’s rookie season as head coach of the Boston Celtics hasn’t been a smooth one. A couple of weeks ago, one of his role players felt the need to publicly call out the team’s stars following a bad 128-114 loss to the Chicago Bulls. Now Udoka finds himself the focal point of a Twitter rant comp...

The NL MVP has most likely already been revealed
I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper to win the National League MVP this year. I didn’t think his hot streak would last as long as it did, and I certainly didn’t think Harper’s incredible OPS figure halfway through August would be enough to overcome his home run and RBI number...

HBO filmed Colts’ Nyheim Hines fanboying out on Tavon Austin and it’s very sweet
I had no idea that Tavon Austin was playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Nine years ago he was the most explosive player in college football at West Virginia, and arguably one of the most dynamic players in the history of the sport. At 5-foot-8 and under 180 pounds, he was still the No. 8 overall p...

Mel Tucker's potential $95 million deal is redemption for every Black coach who's ever blown a whistle
Jay-Z once asked, “Would you rather be underpaid or overrated?” For Black coaches, that option has rarely presented itself, as most times they’re both underpaid and underrated. Mel Tucker and Michigan State are about to change that....

<em>Thursday Night Football</em>, Week 11: Rhamondre Stevenson has the tools to be a feature back in the NFL
New England is one of the biggest surprises of the NFL season. While there was certainly skepticism surrounding rookie QB Mac Jones, most doubters had their sights set on the lack of talent at the Patriots’ offensive skill positions....

The Rays keep on winning due to their financial situation, not despite it
The most fascinating aspect about the Tampa Bay Rays competing and winning in the AL East — Kevin Cash repeated as AL manager of the year, and Randy Arozarena took home rookie of the year honors this week — is how they do it not despite their financial shortfalls but almost with the help of them....

Will the knuckleball ever make a comeback?
The knuckleball might not be dead, but it’s certainly on life support. There are only two active players who’ve primarily used a knuckleball at the Major League level: Steven Wright, who is currently a free agent and hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2019 and Mickey Jannis, who is also a free agent...

Stephen A. Smith got it right in his rant against the Brooklyn Nets
Welp, that’s it. It’s time to shut down the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Stephen A. Smith is done and never going back after the Nets’ lackluster performance Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors....

A review of this week’s <em>Man in the Arena: Tom Brady</em> coming up as soon as I find literally anything else to watch
I don’t know how TV critics (like Alan Sepinwall) do their jobs when they’re forced to watch awful shows. How many spinoffs of rich people behaving poorly can you honestly consume before low-brow insults from high-class people lose their effect?...

If an athlete buys an ownership stake in a team and no one knows it, does it make a sound?
What’s the point of owning a sports franchise if you can’t make irresponsible trades, overpay role players, furtively watch from a dimly lit owner’s box or make Roger Goodell eat shit?...

Every player can’t be the MVP, so let’s stop chanting it at everybody
There’s a growing trend that’s gained too much momentum lately in arenas around the NBA. Fans chanting “MVP” for any player that gives even a halfway decent performance on a given night. This isn’t meant to discourage fans from chanting, but I’m only asking if we can think of something more suited f...

Marcus Stroman cuts the Yankees instead of his hair
The Yankees’ policy on personal appearance has long been worthy of mockery, and mockery it has received, for decades, going back to Don Mattingly’s appearance on The Simpsons, when Montgomery Burns kept telling the first baseman to cut his sideburns....

Giannis may seem like body armor dunking a basketball, but he has some of the same mental health issues as others
That singular focus on greatness, nothing else matters, no price is too steep, and there is always more sweat to be poured into the workspace... it turns out is not healthy. For one, where does an obsession like that even come from? For Giannis Antetokounmpo it came from a place of fear....

Adam Silver doing his best Vince McMahon impression in NBA’s new deal with UAE
I’m not sure what’s more obvious: A media outlet taking the NBA to task for a multiyear partnership with the United Arab Emirates, or the inevitable controversy that will come of it. It doesn’t take long to unearth copious amounts of dirt about the UAE’s record and ongoing pursuit of human rights vi...

The NBA future is... WOWZA!
The NBA has never felt younger and more reliant on up-and-coming stars than it does today. Teams are beginning to utilize the draft more and more. We’ve seen plenty of tank-a-thons by teams in the last five years, and these efforts have panned out to varying degrees. For some, it has materialized in...

Someone had to take this job
Our long national nightmare is over, as we don’t have to hear about the New York Mets’ GM search anymore. After every good candidate either turned the Mets down or threw their phone into the nearest lake, and then every out-of-the-box candidate went full Lou Brown and told Sandy Alderson they had so...

Teddy Bridgewater doesn’t need to apologize for anything
I realize that having to contemplate how much Teddy Bridgewater means to your team is just north of dreadful. I understand if Broncos fans don’t really care if he gets hurt or not, feeling that a ship steered by Drew Lock is headed for the sirens’ rocks just as quickly and hamfistedly. But everythin...

Kyle Kuzma, the latest NBA player to beef with Cleveland
Kyle Kuzma is feeling himself a bit with the Washington Wizards’ hot start to the 2021-22 season. The Wizards are surprisingly tied atop the Eastern Conference with the Brooklyn Nets. Falling into a good situation after being traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, Kuzma was not in the mood to take any ...

The Los Angeles Rams have the stars, now let’s see what the show meets the high expectations
Hollywood’s newest release will premiere tonight at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. — the post-trade deadline Los Angeles Rams. They dealt for former All-Pro Denver Broncos pass rusher Von Miller, who did not play in their loss to the Tennessee Titans immediately following the deadline, and the ...