james Page 39 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Yankees deserved this
“New York Yankees” and “inferiority complex” are two combinations of words that have probably never met in a sentence for over 100 years or so. This is the New York Yankees, the absolute biggest symbol of American exceptionalism, even when it’s a sport that no other place plays. They’re the Yankees,...
Every James Bond villain’s sports owner counterpart
It’s a struggle to get billionaire owners to see themselves as the public views them. When you’re heavily isolated and surrounded by yes men, it’s easy to think your plan for league domination is flawless, and your various exploits are on the level and wouldn’t get any person without an army of lawy...
France may be without their spine at the World Cup, and they won’t be alone
Crowbarring a World Cup into the middle of the club season in winter was always a dumb idea, probably equal to the idea that the tournament ever could have been held in the summer in Qatar, which is what the country and FIFA were originally selling when they awarded it to Qatar (and it was literally...
It’s impossible to be completely miserable (or happy) during the sports equinox
There are 17 gazillion things happening in sports right now, and as much as I’d like to update you on all the happenings of the opening weeks of the NBA and NHL, the World Series-deciding MLB rounds, College Football Playoff-ramification slates, and every NFL, EPL, MMA, boxing match, game, contest, ...
Chris Paul has another NBA rule change to get used to
At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and James Harden were just a few stars to sound off about the changes, but as the season ...
The NBA has a load management problem that Commissioner Adam Silver has done nothing about
The battle of La La land renews Thursday night when the Clippers take on the Lakers for the first time this season. This has recently been a critical matchup in the NBA, especially in Los Angeles. But reports have already surfaced that Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who’s returning from an ACL tear th...
I hope Evan Mobley is as true as he is in my dreams
While often depicted, lamented, and sanctified as liberating, hope can also be a virus. It can rot rationality from the inside. It can lead to danger, injury, and death. As Ellis Boyd Redding, best known by his friends and fellow convicts at Shawshank State Prison as Red, once said… “Hope is a dange...
Wouldn’t you know it, Cristiano Ronaldo is being a whiny turd again
If one were interested in fairness when it comes to Cristiano Ronaldo — and I’m not for a host of reasons, including the big glaring one (actually two) — one would have to concede that being a professional athlete requires an absurd amount of defiance. At some point in our childhood, we’re all told ...
Athletes-turned-broadcasters have too many conflicts of interest to be fully trusted
J.J. Redick is Exhibit A why you can’t trust most former athletes to tell you the truth....
LeBron James has something in common with Tom Brady this season
While talking to the media following the Lakers’ 123-109 loss to the defending champion Warriors, LeBron James was measured. When asked about the Lakers’ shooting problems, he spoke matter-of-factly, about how the 3-pointer is not a team strength....
Hey James Harden, you've got airmail
James Harden’s most iconic sequences are so identical they blur together. Jab step, dribble, dribble again, dribble behind the back, dribble between the legs, dribble one more time… I check my phone… he stutter-steps — oh wait — one more dribble, crossover dribble, crossover dribble, step-back. The ...
On NBA opening night Golden State looked ready to repeat while the Lakers chucked up bricks all night
The Golden State Warriors collected their NBA championship rings on opening night before smashing the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-109. After watching this game, it looks like we could experience déjà vu this time next year. It’s only one game, but there isn’t a team in the NBA that can contain this offe...
Bombs win in the playoffs, plain and simple
It’s not underground baseball science to say that home runs are the determining factor this time of year. Everyone has known it, and yet every so often someone tries to fool themselves into thinking that there can be another way. Generally, it’s someone clinging to the past, “the way baseball used t...
For NBA MVP, the value bet is Zion, but who will actually win is obvious
It’s easily forgotten that NBA is actually an acronym that stands for National Basketball Association. For a casual observer that follows the league’s personalities and news breakers on social media, the league can be viewed as a multiplatform action/drama that sparks the audience’s adrenaline with ...
Catching up with the soap opera drama of the NBA
The NBA is one of the longest-running unscripted nighttime soaps on television. Even outside of tip-offs and the final buzzer, its headliners are some of the most accessible figures in professional sports. The rosters are smaller, their faces aren’t obstructed, their games air nightly for at least h...
2022 NFL rookie wide receiver ranking Week 6: The battle of attrition is kicking in
Last season we did our weekly rookie quarterback tracker, but with only one taken in the first round of 2022, we’ve moved onto another highly coveted position. For 2022 we’ll keep track of all six first-round wide receivers and their progress throughout the year. Some of our first-round rookies are ...
10 NBA preseason takeaways that provide insight into the regular season
The NBA will give everyone their first real look at the league’s rapidly transforming landscape and its latest rookie class when the regular season tips off on Tuesday, but the preseason is a window into what to expect from certain teams. Wins and losses are mostly meaningless, so don’t read into th...
Attention NBA teams with no desire to win: Call the Lakers because Russell Westbrook already looks checked out
Calling all tankers. Calling all tankers. If you are desperate to improve your chances at drafting Victor Wembanyama, there is a disgruntled guard on the Los Angeles Lakers who is on an expiring contract, and not as athletic as he used to be....
And the nominees for this NBA season’s only-great-in-video-games teams are …
There’s a rage-inducing aspect of NBA 2K every year that makes me feel like I need to take those seminars to avoid turning into my dad. A few crazy-talented teams become fan favorites and get overused to the point of exhaustion due to sheer star power despite being middling to garbage in real life. ...
Sticky substances are back in fashion for the postseason, it seems
In a little over a year since MLB enabled umpires to routinely check pitchers for illegal foreign substances, there have been a few ejections, pitchers making scenes by stripping to their undergarments, and above all else, there’s been a drastic drop in some pitchers’ spin rates....