joe Page 9 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The College Football Playoff semifinals felt like the glory days of the sport
From the moment that Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Joey Galloway breathed a sigh of relief after Rece Davis said “naysayers” on College Gameday, the College Football Playoff semifinals were off and running. With Michigan taking on Alabama and Washington going up against Texas, there were great expe...

Where will Russell Wilson go now that Denver cut him?
Updated March 4: The Denver Broncos will release Russell Wilson, as had been speculated. The team will be hit with a record $85 million dead salary cap charge for cutting the veteran QB. ...

The Packers have much bigger problems than Jaire Alexander calling a coin toss
I kind of like the idea of NFL players getting to be honorary captains in their hometowns. It would be a nice touch. The hometown kid done good can receive some love from his people. I am pretty sure, though, that is not currently standard NFL procedure. For Jaire Alexander to stroll out to midfield...

The Broncos have money problems with Russell Wilson, but at least they’re not the Browns
In case I did not make myself clear on Tuesday, the Deshaun Watson contract is never happening again. In the future, no NFL player will ever receive a fully guaranteed contract. For one thing, Patrick Mahomes is not going to push the Kansas City Chiefs for that type of deal. Two, when the Denver Bro...

Reminder: Joe Flacco was Nick Foles before Nick Foles
The Cleveland Browns have officially hit “Riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” status. As long as they have a quarterback with some name recognition — be it Deshaun Watson or Joe Flacco — the team plays with the confidence of a much more dangerous organization. Kevin Stefanski’s club could ...

Brian Daboll kept his QB change from Pam Oliver — it’s fair to wonder if this is the Charissa Thompson-Erin Andrews effect
There’s never been a sports journalist who enjoys “coach speak.” That annoyance can become anger if another journalist is the reason “coach speak” is what you get whenever you ask a question. We’ll never know if that’s what happened when New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll didn’t tell Pam Oliver...

Lamar Jackson might win MVP, yet no other teams wanted him during the offseason?
It was about nine months ago when Lamar Jackson wanted to be traded from the Baltimore Ravens. The best quarterback in the history of two forever-linked franchises — the Ravens and the Cleveland Browns — was on the open market. Jackson is the only player besides Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes to ...

The San Francisco 49ers need to take an improv class
When rolling, the San Francisco 49ers look like they’re never going to lose again. Until Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Niners were undefeated this season when Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffery, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are healthy. And it looked as if that trend might continu...

This week in the NHL: Sidney Crosby is having a moment; Devon Toews is not happy; the Flyers, well, they're the Flyers
It hasn’t worked in Pittsburgh. While the Penguins made perhaps the offseason’s splashiest move by trading for Erik Karlsson, pairing another surefire Hall of Famer with the three they already had, they’re still only being propped up in the Metro Division by the pointless Blue Jackets. They’re only ...

Zion Williamson is losing money for not losing weight
One of the league’s best young players may have his career slip away before our eyes. ...

The NFL and NCAA football have a coaching-carousel problem
Raise your hand if you weren’t surprised that a Matt Patricia-coordinated defense caved during the waning minute of the Eagles-Seahawks game Monday. Now, keep them raised if you’re not shocked that Matt Nagy and Nathaniel Hackett are struggling to get their respective offenses in rhythm. Alright, to...

The Flyers are good right now, but having faith in them might be like believing in Santa Claus
For the past 10 years or so, the Flyers have just muddled. There has never been any particular direction. Sometimes they’ve been kinda good, but nowhere near good enough to do anything that mattered. Sometimes they’ve been kinda bad, occasionally really bad, but never by design with their sights set...

Halfway point for the Premier League can only mean a couple (or a million) things
We’re now into the Premier League fan’s favorite time of year and it’s symmetrical that it lines up with a child’s favorite time of year, given both’s penchant for inexplicable screaming and crying. It’s holiday time, which means children and fans alike don’t have to do anything but sit around, neve...

The Los Angeles Chargers epitomize the frustrations of Black coaches in the NFL
A Black coach was fired at the beginning of 2021. But instead of the team with the Offensive Rookie of the Year hiring the hottest offensive coordinator in the league, who was Black, they chose a white coach. After two and a half seasons, that white coach was fired because he was worse than the Blac...

It's time to take a hard look at who deserves to win NFL MVP
We have three Sundays left. Three more Sundays until that IV is ripped out of our arms and we are forced to trudge through the subsequent eight months not being able to start the week with at least 10 NFL games. With the holidays on the way to provide a bit of a distraction from that fate, let’s tal...

We’re being held hostage by bad or pointless football
The first two games of the NFL’s Saturday football lineup featured four backup quarterbacks. Instead of Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, Anthony Richardson and Kenny Pickett, we got Jake Browning, Nick Mullens, Gardner Minshew and Mitch Trubisky. Thank god for Jared Goff and Russell Wilson in the night gam...

This week in the basketball: Illinois St. coach in n-word flap; Giannis Antetokuonmpo still hasn't found his ball
What a typical response to racism from the head coach of Illinois State men’s basketball. During a home game on Saturday, Ryan Pedon got in an altercation with Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones. A situation that was none of Pedon’s business, because Jones was not even talking in the direction of...

This week in football: Chiefs' act is getting so old; No Supe for Al Michaels; Tommy DeVito's stupid situation with the Giants
Full disclosure, I’ve never been on board with the Kansas City Chiefs. Sure, they were, for a while, the best team in America, with a young and exciting generational talent under center and a head coach who never had to answer for anything because he wears Hawaiian shirts, has a funny mustache, and ...

Can we please find a way to fire Dean Spanos, too?
With the Chargers season officially over, the team finally removed the tumor that was its coach and general manager, firing coach Brandon Staley and GM Tom Telesco. After another dismal showing, amid a depressing season that caps a now discontinued and pitiful tenure, the Chargers’ fortunes are sure...

Brandon Staley, Chargers GM fired after historic, embarrassing loss
Following a historic loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Los Angeles Chargers fired head coach Brandon Staley and GM Tom Telesco, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter....