john Page 24 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The 2023 WNBA season's juiciest stories to follow
Superteams, and new-look squads. Scandal-riven defending champs. A former political prisoner returns. Rule changes, a pressing need for league expansion, and more. The 2023 WNBA season is here, and these are some of the most riveting storylines to follow all season long....

Black magic is no match for perfection
It’s impossible to be neutral on Manchester City. If you support a club that has to compete with them in England or in Europe, it’s likely they are a symbol of all that’s wrong with the modern game, given their state ownership, and bottomless financial resources. If you don’t belong to one of those ...

After winning the Victor Wembanyama lottery, San Antonio’s work is only just beginning
The conventional thinking is that Victor Wembanyama will be in safe hands with Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. But there’s no guarantee that the Wembanyama era will be anywhere as fruitful as Pop’s last dynasty or that he’ll have the best career out of any prospect in this draft, but I wouldn’t bet a...

That’s not very California of you, Dodgers
And you thought it was only hockey that could water down its Pride Nights for the benefit of the slug-portion of their fanbase. ...

ESPN spent millions on Pat McAfee in the middle of company-wide layoffs
You have to spend money to make money. But you can’t save money if you keep spending — unless you’re ESPN....

This time for sure!
When I was growing up, it was understood that the Chicago Cubs would never have a third baseman. Or center fielder as well, but the third base gap was the more hallowed one because it followed Ron Santo. There was no universally beloved centerfielder whose legacy the team could never tread upon and ...

The Toronto Maple Leafs are about to do something stupid
The rest of the employees of the Springfield Power Plant gathering around the control center of Sector 7-G, with Lenny narrating for everyone the normal practice, “Get ready everyone, he’s about to do something stupid…” is what the NHL is now, gathering around The Six and wondering just what the Tor...

Sunday was yet another banner day for ESPN being morons
Perhaps ESPN spent Sunday tripping over its own dick simply to distract from all the people they’re firing. After all, make yourself look like a truly stupid and balloon-handed organization and the masses might feel that those you’ve let go are actually better off (believe me I know). That would be ...

Ja Morant can’t stop shooting himself in the foot
In response to a new video depicting Ja Morant showing off a firearm, the Memphis Grizzlies suspended their franchise point guard from all league activities until further notice. What a suspension means when he has the next four months off is unclear, but Morant is treading on dangerous ground. Not ...

Here’s a shovel, Mauricio Pochettino
If you’re a manager who loves to tell players to do one out of a club, especially as an example to the rest of the squad how things are going to work under your leadership, then boy is Chelsea the place for you. And as Mauricio Pochettino, now the new manager at Stamford Bridge, is known to wield on...

Dan Snyder’s perpetual sale of the Washington Commanders is <i>Hard Knocks</i> meets <i>Succession</i>
The saga of Dan Snyder’s selling the Washington Commanders has had more twists and turns than Waystar Royco in HBO’s Succession. It shouldn’t take this long to move one from one corrupt billionaire to another and yet, every few weeks, there’s another twist that’s giving these storylines new legs. Wh...

Craig Kimbrel joins 7 other relievers with 400 saves
Phillies reliever Craig Kimbrel is the second MLB closer this season — and eighth all-time — to reach the 400-save mark. He closed out Philadelphia’s 6-4 win over the Atlanta Braves....

West Virginia lets Bob Huggins off the hook too easily after anti-gay slur
West Virginia University basketball coach Bob Huggins will reportedly keep his job after uttering an anti-gay slur on a Cincinnati radio show. He will instead be penalized in the form of a $1 million reduction in salary, and will need to take sensitivity training....

Blood, sweat, and bodyslams: 10 moments that defined the Heat-Knicks playoff rivalry
The Miami Heat and New York Knicks have plenty of bad blood, dating back to the mid-90s. Even 30 years after Pat Riley left New York for Miami, storylines remain between the two teams. Riley is now the Heat’s president, while Tom Thibodeau, an assistant for Jeff Van Gundy, Riley’s successor in New Y...

The A’s keep using the word 'binding' — I do not think it means what they think it means
Geez, if you didn’t know any better, you might get the impression that John Fisher, and Dave Kaval don’t know what they’re doing. ...

Lakers-Warriors Game 4 doubled as a West Coast DJ set
It is a shame that TNT has the Eastern Conference Finals this season. I have enjoyed New Edition at halftime during the Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers second-round matchup, and once the Miami Heat finish off the New York Knicks I do want to hear all of the Slip and Slide and Rick Ross catalog...

Stop asking Yadier Molina to walk through that door
The St. Louis Cardinals have had a barely held-together beater vibe to them for a while. The only thing keeping the bumper attached is duct tape, two of the four-door handles work/are still attached, the windows are immovable, the muffler rusted off in a dorm parking lot years ago, and of course, th...

In the battle of COVID vs. sports, evil vs. entertainment, sports won
Now that COVID is officially over, and everyone can throw their masks in the trash, (Is that how this works?), it feels like a good time to declare that sports beat COVID. If you’re wondering who was keeping score, I was, and sports handily outlasted the virus — that killed very few, if any, athlete...

The Gang Enters The Soccer Tournament
This is a fever dream for soccer, or a fever nightmare depending on what team you root for. The Soccer Tournament, or TST for short, was announced this week as a 32-team showcase taking place in early June in North Carolina. Based on The Basketball Tournament, it’s a winner-take-all, 7-on-7, $1 mill...

ONE Championship wants United States expansion to start off with a bang
Chatri Sityodtong wants you to know there’s an alternative in the combat sports world. With the American fighting scene dominated by mixed martial arts, boxing, and professional wrestling, a new show in town needs to disrupt the market in order to plant its flag in the ground. Sityodtong, the founde...