john Page 80 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Seems like old times, eh Leafs?
By now you know the key points. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, haven’t been to the Final since then either, haven’t beaten the Canadiens in a series since their ’67 title clash, won their first division title since 2000 this season (thanks to being in the all-Canadia...
The Penguins tried to game the system and lost big
One of the many catchphrases that Eddie Olczyk has been trying to “fetch” for more than a decade is “Goaltending: If you don’t have it, you got no chance.” Like most of the things Eddie O says, it probably sounds way cooler and more clever in his head. It’s not a play on words, it doesn’t rhyme, it’...
Positively Metsian twist to Mets’ many injury woes: Noah Syndergaard done till at least August
“Ah, shit. Here we go again.”...
At this point, the Olympic flame might as well be a dumpster fire
Welcome to the latest installment of “things are totally fine in Japan ahead of the Olympics.” Not....
VAR isn’t the problem, the people using it are
The return of supporters to various terraces last week in the Premier League brought back some rites of soccer that we didn’t even realize how much we missed and cherished. The mocking of a shot well over or wide of the goal. The vitriol for a ref after a foul. The applause after a relatively simple...
John Cena has to apologize for being right about Taiwan — OK, sure
There’s an old George Carlin bit — I guess they’re all old now (sigh) — about The Big Club. Still rings true today, even though it’s some 25 years old now or more. And while that “Big Club” may not be owned by China, it’s certainly still a slave to the money that China can provide them. Which is jus...
CDC warns against travel to Japan, where COVID is surging and nobody wants the Olympics
The pandemic Olympics continue to be one smooth operation....
Leicester found a new way to blow it, and their fans probably won’t care
The warping of European soccer and its priorities make judging Leicester City’s last week of the season decidedly foggy. Twenty years ago or so it would be easy. Win the FA Cup, finish fifth, that’s an unqualified success. But that’s not the world we live in anymore, and that’s what makes it so uncl...
Obligatory 'Is This It For The Capitals?' post
In a sport as random and silly, and at times downright stupid, as hockey, it’s oxymoronic to try and weave some overarching narrative from a playoff exit. Games and series are decided on a few bounces and deflections most of the time. Change any one variable, and you can get a completely different r...
Knicks lose playoff game at Madison Square Garden, water is wet
On Sunday, almost eight years to the day since the last time it happened — May 16, 2013 — the Knicks had a chance to win a playoff game inside Madison Square Garden. As usual, they didn’t. And shockingly enough, Knicks fans are dumbfounded about how this happened, as if this isn’t a franchise that h...
Five pitchers whose Cy Young-caliber seasons are going unnoticed
Baseball has gone through an entire “repressed Catholic kid going into their freshman year of college”-type transformation over the past several years. With baseball moving ever closer to a “three true outcomes” game, several pitchers have revitalized their careers and several more have just started...
Position player pitching alert gone awry: Wilmer Difo ignominiously and historically lit up
Wilmer Difo has played second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions during his career with the Nationals and Pirates, and now he can add pitching to his resume....
Baseball America’s Top 50 names in college baseball is missing some Sharts and a Hug
Baseball America has ranked this year’s top 50 names in college baseball, and it’s a good list....
Hockey is the dumbest sport
It’s funny (but not), and fitting, that in a week where we’ve spent a great deal of time talking about baseball’s old, drunk, incontinent demons still plaguing the youthful and logical, hockey strolls into the saloon, hitches up its belt, and says, “Oh, you think you’re stupid? I’ll show you stupid....
Which team would most benefit from adding Julio Jones?
Quintorris Lopez Jones — more commonly known as Julio Jones — has been an Atlanta Falcon his entire Hall of Fame career. But with new weapons in town, team money problems, and 32 candles on his birthday cake this year, Jones and the Falcons may be parting ways before the start of 2021....
Jeremy Lin, who might’ve retired last night, should give himself more credit
During the Play-In games, Jeremy Lin was probably so bored that he felt it was the most appropriate time to hint at retirement on a post from his official Twitter. ...
Santa Claus arrives at PGA Championship dressed to the nines
Red shirt and a pair of olive shorts. No, not the color, like, olives on the shorts. That’s what John Daly wore during a round at Kiawah Island Golf Resort — the site of this week’s PGA Championship. And would you expect anything less from the golfer who bends the game’s dress code pretty much every...
Cam Heyward thinks 2021 first-round pick Najee Harris has legs of steel
When a team drafts a running back in the first round of the NFL Draft, everyone expects him to carry a heavy workload for his new team (especially when his legs look like tree trunks), but Pittsburgh’s Cam Heyward might be expecting a little bit too much out of his new teammate, Najee Harris. ...
Warriors-Lakers shows just how much fans miss Warriors-Cavs
The NBA’s first-ever play-in tournament starts tomorrow — eight teams, six games, four playoff spots up for grabs. But if you turned on SportsCenter at any point in the last two days, you’d think only one game was happening tomorrow — Warriors at Lakers. ...