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Baker Mayfield propaganda is back in full effect for 2023
We haven’t heard much from Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield this summer. After signing a one-year deal with the Bucs in March, it’s been relatively quiet on the home front for Mayfield, which is unusual. His name hasn’t been mentioned much this offseason outside of Tampa. Now that tra...

World Cup Day 1: It’s their party and they’ll win if they want to
And we’re off. World Cup 2023 finally kicked into gear, and while it’s a bit disorienting to watch an event on a cold winter night from a summer morning locale as the sun comes up, we here tend to do our best work when we’re disoriented. Both hosts started the tournament, and both exited the day wit...

The Seahawks are taking a trip back to 90s this season with a brief uniform change
Unlike the orange popsicle colored uniforms in Tampa Bay, the Seattle Seahawks have a throwback jersey worthy of throwing back to. The Kingdome may be long gone, but the royal blue home jerseys have returned. Rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba was featured in 90s inspired promo for the old jerseys, and there...

World Cup Group H Preview: Why can’t there be more like Morocco?
The women’s World Cup should be, and still is in a lot of ways, a celebration of how far the game has come from where it was even just four years ago. The attention is more, the players, and teams are better, the quality of play keeps rising, the anticipation grows, as does the appreciation when it ...

Cupcakes aren't just reserved for American football
We see it in American sports every year. Usually in the first few college football games of the season, powerhouses take on an FCS team to inspire confidence and have the entire roster see the field and get in-game experience. Oddly enough, that matchup for Alabama takes place as the penultimate gam...

Trade James Harden for Grade-A role players, you coward!
When Daryl Morey says he’s not going to be irrational with a James Harden trade, he is to be trusted. We saw what happened with Ben Simmons, and the plain-clothes staring contest that resulted in Harden becoming a Philadelphia 76er. It was an arduous ordeal that festered until mid-February 2022, and...

Is Sam Howell the next great Tank Commander or Kirk Cousins redux?
Renewed hope for the Washington Commanders is on the menu in 2023. New ownership will have an opportunity to leave their imprint on the organization eventually. But for now, the direction of the Commies 2023 season rests in the relatively small hands of its anointed Tank Commander Sam Howell. Tank c...

Le’Veon Bell speaks out on state of NFL running back position
The deadline for franchise-tagged players and their teams to come to an agreement has come and gone, and neither Saquon Barkley nor Josh Jacobs got the long-term extension they were seeking. Of course, everyone has an opinion on the situation NFL running backs find themselves in frequently. There mi...

Josh Donaldson's Yankee tenure is over — here are the 'highlights'
UPDATED Aug. 29: The New York Yankees have released Josh Donaldson....

Las Vegas Aces are the solution to the Oppenheimer-Barbie conundrum
The WNBA’s All-Star Break provided the Las Vegas Ace’s “Core 4” with a showcase for 80 percent of a historically stacked starting lineup to strut their stuff in an exhibition. On the downside, it also cracked open a conduit for the cranks to spew their usual bile. ...

Ain’t no love in the heart of NFL ownership for running backs
On the field, running backs have an offensive line to protect them. Off of the field, all they have is each other. The position with the shortest career span in the NFL has become the one that comes with the hardest fight to receive a contract that properly compensates their contributions. The deadl...

Stop knocking over Tour de France riders
Selfies are already a narcissistic activity. People taking pictures of themselves and then posting them on social media, and this self-absorbed activity is rewarded with likes, comments, and gifs. At least if a selfie is being taken at the Washington Monument or the last standing Blockbuster no harm...

'Vacating' wins is the dumbest punishment of all time — do better, NCAA
The kids might not realize it, but in 1997 the movie of the summer was Men In Black. In the ‘90s, Will Smith was the king of summer blockbusters, especially if they opened July 4th weekend — or included aliens. One of the best parts of the MiB franchise was the Neuralyzers, a device that was used to...

Joel Embiid sends warning shot to Sixers management
The Philadelphia 76ers have advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals in five of the last six postseasons. During the Joel Embiid era, that has been their ceiling chasing that ever-elusive Eastern Conference Finals appearance, which the franchise hasn’t been featured in since 2001. Pressure cont...

Lionel Messi went to Publix, and if you know, you know
There are seminal moments in the lives of humans: First sexual experience, drink, cigarette, joint, child, marriage, family death, trip to Publix, among others. Once you’ve been through each, your world view changes, and ideally it’s accompanied by a boost in wisdom; for those who’ve never been insi...

Brent Venables (pot) takes a shot at Miami (kettle)
This time last year, no college football writer had Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, or Miami skipper Mario Cristobal on their annual hot seat list. And for good reason as both coaches were in the first season of their respective contracts. Well a year and 14 losses combined later, any realistic fan o...

The NFL’s leading rusher seems like an afterthought during the offseason
Running backs have been devalued for some time in the NFL. Top RB paydays pale compared to quarterbacks and wide receivers around the league. NFL offenses once coveted backs who could carry the rock 20-plus times each game and were willing to pay them accordingly. Now all that’s out there for the le...

Northwestern’s decision to keep Pat Fitzgerald’s assistants is proof that Northwestern isn’t a serious place
The “intellectual elite” are failing in Evanston. In the same week in which we discovered that Northwestern’s head football coach Pat Fitzgerald’s laughable two-week suspension should have led to his eventual firing for running a program that’s “allegedly” allowed hazing and racism to run rampant fo...

World Cup Group D Preview: Can England complete the set?
The question in all sports has been that once you break through and win, does winning again become easier? Is the mental block gone? Or does the pressure simply build even more, as triumphs go from hoped for to expected? This is only one of the few things that England will be wrestling with at the W...

The Gold Cup was never about lifting another trophy for the US
The reinforcements won’t be coming from this group. Outside of goalkeeper Matt Turner — whose status as the unquestioned No. 1 goalkeeper for the United States men’s national team didn’t change after five games in this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup — what player from this American squad that only defeate...