jam Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

LeBron James, wife and 2 associates named in federal PED investigation
There hasn’t been a performance-enhancing drugs scandal in basketball. At least, not to the level of, say, the likes of BALCO and Major League Baseball. As close as we came was when the NBA started testing players for HGH before the beginning of the 2015-16 season. The trendy thing to do online at t...

LeBron James is Team USA’s shadow GM and possibly its next director
LeBron James is back to doing what he does best, flexing those roster construction muscles as the league’s greatest shadow GM. According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon’s report in The Athletic, an effort to recruit Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum and Draymond Green, is being...

Mel Tucker was the highest-paid Black coach in college football history — he blew it because he’s a creep
Two years ago, Mel Tucker blazed a trail for Black head coaches. One day ago, Mel Tucker set them back....
![Cincinnati Bengals take care of their franchise QB, but won't retain one of his top targets [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/ecb00f7342943ac5112c91c3e9bc0591.jpg)
Cincinnati Bengals take care of their franchise QB, but won't retain one of his top targets [Updated]
Well that was easy, and Joe Burrow didn’t even have to pull the old fake injury/shadow holdout move. According to reports, the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback agreed to a five-year, $275 million contract extension with the team. The deal comes with $219 million guaranteed, making Burrow the highest ...

USA’s FIBA World Cup loss to Germany proves something needs to change before the 2024 Olympics
The Americans will leave this year’s FIBA World Cup without a title....

The Los Angeles Lakers' offseason moves are 2 years too late
The Los Angeles Lakers were able to successfully pivot away from Russell Westbrook, because this roster never really needed Russ. While the intention was right in looking for a third star, the only way adding one would’ve helped is if the team didn’t have to give up a bunch to get one, or if that pl...

Salute to Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, the show that sports fans needed
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has been on the air for 29 seasons. Unfortunately, it will not make it to 30. Gumbel has decided to step away from the show and there will be no replacement. According to the Los Angeles Times, HBO has decided to end Real Sports, and no reason was provided....

No man is an island, unless his name is James Harden
James Harden is a walking tragedy. He should be celebrated for his ball-handling alchemy, his mentalist-grade ability to draw fouls from reluctant defenders, and of course, the bird’s nest he’s cultivated for the past decade. Instead, he’s spent most of his career getting in his own way. ...

Arsenal are the Premier League’s new chaos masters and Chelsea can’t buy goals
It used to be Jürgen Klopp’s first Liverpool teams, and possibly the current one, that were considered the most raucous chaos merchants in the Premier League. They were equally capable of the most destructive football, going in both directions, equally capable of howitzer-ing their opponents or thei...

Ben Simmons is dreaming of taking his street clothes back to Philly
It’s that time of year when we get these Ben Simmons workout videos where he’s in the gym shooting baskets, lifting weights, knocking down three-point shots, and performing like an actual NBA star. But once the regular season rolls around (if he even plays), he morphs back into the guy who can’t see...

It’s OK to feel uneasy about Damar Hamlin’s return to football
Damar Hamlin’s return is almost complete. Bronny James is “doing extremely well” in his recovery. You’re not a bad person for wondering if playing again is the best idea for both of them....

If Noah Lyles is confused about NBA superiority, he should buy a ticket to the Rondae Hollis-Jefferson show
You would think Team USA gold medalists would stick together. Instead, the newly crowned fastest man in the world, Noah Lyles wasted his coronation at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest by dumping on the NBA. More specifically, he took aim at the National Basketball Association taking the...

On its biggest stage ever at Wembley, AEW was its AEW-est
AEW took its big shot Sunday, putting on their first-ever stadium show and their first show in the UK at Wembley Stadium. It’s impossible to define what success would be for the show, other than selling a ton of tickets, which they did. Overall, the show was great, while also being everything else A...

Newcastle keeps being Newcastle, which isn't quite good enough
What Newcastle’s “problems” are depend on what their own expectations are. While they’ve certainly cemented themselves as one of the land’s biggest clubs, they’ve rarely, if ever, been touted as potential title challengers this season. Certainly none of that noise is coming from within. It appears t...

Atlanta high school football coach gets cuffs slapped on after punching player
“Thou shalt not assault players” is one of the most stringently enforced coaching commandments there is. You’d think that legendary Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes getting yeeted up out of Columbus would serve as a warning for all future generations to abide by. And yet, on Sunday, this video of a Benjam...

There is a reason Lionel Messi is tearing apart MLS
It might be hard for most to believe, but Lionel Messi played in his first MLS game Saturday night. I know, I know, you’ve been seeing the highlights and stats before now, but his first steps into the North American game have come in the Leagues Cup, a tournament invented by MLS and Liga MX this yea...

Bronny James’ cardiac arrest caused by heart defect, family says
When Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest about a month ago, the conspiracy theories were treated with so much legitimacy that some pundits used the opportunity to enter new tin-foil hat theories into the conversation. The story became not “Is Bronny OK?” but rather “Did the COVID vaccine have som...

Giannis Antetokounmpo sounds more excited to play in Saudi Arabia than Milwaukee
Giannis Antetokoumpo is already the savior of pro basketball in Milwaukee. Bucks ownership was threatening to relocate to Seattle while the city hedged on providing the funding for a stadium upgrade before The Greek Freak singlehandedly yanked them out of basketball purgatory. Nearly a decade later,...

Baker Mayfield’s whiteness keeps getting him NFL starting QB jobs
Baker Mayfield didn’t do anything wrong. The crime that keeps getting committed is done by the owners, general managers, and coaches who keep giving him endless opportunities. If Mayfield can keep being named a starter in the NFL, then Nathan Peterman will always have a shot at being on a team’s pay...

When did the New York Knicks become a franchise worth stealing ideas from?
Is the NBA truly a copycat league? And if so, what would the Toronto Raptors want with New York Knicks intel?...