joe Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The NBA 'superstar' landscape has shifted
There is no greater conduit for NBA hyperbole than the conversation around “superstars.” To have a rational, substantive debate, there must first be basic groundwork for what constitutes superstar status. First, the bad news: former Finals MVPs Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kawhi Leona...
C.J. Stroud and every rookie QB to win an NFL playoff game
C.J. Stroud became the latest rookie QB to win a playoff game for his team. The Houston Texans shellacked the Cleveland Browns, 45-14, and the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft looked terrific....
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need a two-man game
The best duo in the NBA put on a show against the best team in the East on Friday night. Denver’s 102-100 win over Boston snapped the Celtics’ perfect mark at TD Garden this season, and 27-game home-winning streak overall. Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray combined for 69 points, 20 rebounds and 14 assi...
Blame Michael Jordan for Krause widow disgrace; Rudy Gobert trade finally paying off; Lakers need Zach LaVine
Michael Jordan won a widow getting booed. My colleague Stephen Knox covered this yesterday, the booing of Jerry Krause’s widow Thelma during the Chicago Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremony on Friday, and he isn’t wrong. It’s another “feather” in the “cap” of Jerry Reinsdorf, though he wouldn’t have been i...
Who's the best at each position in the NBA? We have answers
Before you jump down our throat for ranking by position in a positionless NBA, take a deep breath. It’s fun. So, let it happen, and let’s talk hoops. The rest of the world is catching up to America’s basketball dominance. Out of the five positions, four of our picks are not from America. On the flip...
This year’s Australian Open is drunk
The Australian Open is already kind of geared for weirdos, at least on these shores, given that you have to sacrifice sleep and any usefulness the next day to enjoy it. But this year’s edition has been off the rails, making it even more worth it for those of us who are prepared to throw ourselves of...
Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff joined some elite company
After the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff have etched their names in history, joining a short list of quarterbacks to win a postseason game with two different teams....
Just when it looked like Boston area was free of King Sourpuss, Joe Mazzulla says, 'Hold my beer'
In the void left behind by Bill Belichick, Joe Mazzulla’s introverted-ness has risen to the occasion. And no, I’m not talking about the Boston Celtics giving the New England area a front-runner they desperately need. Mazzulla is the boorish head coach of a major professional franchise that the affab...
Deandre Ayton’s ice capades the latest embarrassment in Portland’s rebuild
The NBA trade market is open for business and one team in particular would like you to know that it is jarringly open to offers. The Portland Trail Blazers might not have issued a news release saying as much, yet when your starting center misses a game due to too much ice, the telltale signs of rebu...
In college coaching, it’s better to have a <i>Succession</i> plan than deal with a surprise retirement
So much about sports is often about who’s next. But ironically, over the last few years, we’ve seen how multiple team’s inability to look to the future in one certain area has hurt more than it’s helped. From Nick Saban and Jay Wright to what Tom Izzo has recently shared, it’s clear that focusing on...
Sean McDermott, Josh Allen need to finally finish off Patrick Mahomes while they have the chance
The Buffalo Bills are the greatest what-if franchise in NFL history. They’ve repeatedly brushed up against greatness without it rubbing off on them. Next month, Buffalo is approaching the 30th anniversary of Marv Levy’s K-Gun Bills’ fourth Super Bowl loss. ...
Pascal Siakam makes the Pacers good at what they’re bad at, excellent at what they do best
The calendar has not yet reached February, but the Indiana Pacers have decided to kick the trade deadline into high gear. The No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference made a win-now move with darkhorse MVP candidate Tyrese Haliburton currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnaro...
Yes, the Ravens look strong, but the numbers say 'buyer beware'
The Baltimore Ravens will play their first playoff game of the season this coming weekend after securing a bye due to being the AFC’s top seed. They finished the season 13-4, and despite not having key players like tight end Mark Andrews or wide receiver Devin Duvernay, they trampled almost everyone...
Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee are proof that ESPN only wanted Black talent to ‘stick to sports’
“It’s not what you say, but how you say it,” is a wise adage. But at ESPN, it’s always felt like who said it was more important than what was said. Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee haven’t been sticking to sports for a while now, which was, and still is, a privilege that former and current Black employe...
The Bills and Josh Allen will try to exorcise the ghosts of Kansas City
The Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs will meet in the postseason for the third time in four years on Sunday. It is the first time in the Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen era that the playoff game is not at Arrowhead, which could prove to make all the difference. ...
All the remaining NFL playoff teams, ranked
Anything can happen in the playoffs, and I mean anything. In just the wild-card round alone, we saw:...
Tua Tagovailoa’s charlatan season sets Miami up for a difficult choice this offseason
Miami is the nexus of cult phenomenons. Heat Culture, cryptocurrency, crash diets. Over the last year and a half, Tua Tagavailoa has also become a South Beach cult favorite. Tuanon is the most prominent group of devoted believers in the Dolphins quarterback. When the Tuanon founder died last year, T...
Kansas City won, Cleveland lost, and you should’ve bet the stereotypes
Coming into Wild-Card Weekend, there were different narratives about the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns than usual. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid spent the second half of the season trying to convince us that something was off — then Kansas City rolled Miami, 26-7. The other game featured a...
NFL teams ripe for an upset; Aaron Rodgers is still a dolt; So is Jameis Winston; All the coaches & GMs who got axed
After 18 weeks of grueling NFL action, we’ve made it to Wild-Card Weekend and the first round of the postseason. We often hear the term “must-win” during the regular season, but once a team makes it this deep into January, every game is truly a must-win scenario. Like any other week, there’s always ...
These are the biggest flops of the 2023 NFL season
The NFL is a small-sample league. Before you can even blink, 18 games have flown by and we’re left trying to make sense of everything that happened. It means that luck can play a massive part in whether a team succeeds or fails, with a few bounces of the ball defining the entire story for an entire ...