johnson Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...
Charles Oakley tells Isiah Thomas: MJ doesn't 'want to be your friend'
Former NBA star Charles Oakley has never been one to bite his tongue. After all, he played in the Association during a time when basketball was much different, and it wasn’t uncommon for teams to have multiple enforcers. In fact, while playing in Chicago with Michael Jordan, some would call Oakley M...
Top Masters storylines for people who don’t give a fuck about the Masters
Much like politics and elections, we can’t really change them because they still cater to old white people, who also happen to have all the money, we can’t really ignore golf either, no matter how much of an anachronism it might be. That’s why they employ Steph Curry to try and make it into a hip ga...
Better sports villains: LIV golfers at Augusta or Russians at Wimbledon?
It’s time to break out your finest polos and bone up on the latest stock market trends because we’re going to the country clubbing. The Masters are next week, and Wimbledon is in a few months, but we have news from both, and I don’t want to write two separate stories, so we’re going to combine and t...
The Great Debates tournament: GOATs galore in the final
It’s time to crown a champion — or at least pretend like we don’t know who is going to win this tournament. Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James is the question of our times, like when West Coast vs. East Coast was the fulcrum point of the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. If I could bottle whatever it is that lead...
Trio of UConn players will compete in the Final Four and maybe eat before the game
UConn men’s basketball looks like the favorite heading into this weekend’s Final Four in Houston. Not only are the Huskies the highest seed remaining of the quartet, they’ve looked dominant in every March Madness game. Turns out UConn’s 15-point second-round victory over St. Mary’s was its closest m...
With NFL players being allowed to wear 0, here are my favorite athletes to don the number
Look at the NFL trying to be looser as an organization. First, it relaxed restrictions on player numbers in 2021, and the league has decided that in 2023 a forbidden number will be allowed. Certain players will be allowed to wear the No. 0....
Which NFL team has the most on the line in the Draft?
The NFL Draft is under a month away and how those three days go for teams will have a big say in how the 2023 season will play out. While many cornerstone pieces are set for almost every team, the depth needed for backups and special teams is critical in completing any franchise’s draft haul. Some t...
The Great Debates tournament: Final Four
The Final Four is here, with a bunch of heavy hitters and a No. 8 seed that, technically, is a heavy hitter as well. Jordan-LeBron, cats-dogs, Biggie-2Pac, and The Rock-Stone Cold are the last debates left standing, and we’re going to lose at least one more 1 seed, and possibly two if The People’s C...
Don't call Florida Atlantic a 'Cinderella'
Don’t fall for the Cinderella trap. That’s the general consensus from Florida Atlantic superfans, boosters, and radio-play-by-play announcers celebrating the Owls’ East regional title at the Time Square Marriott Marquis well after midnight. Given the trend in this NCAA Tournament beginning with Furm...
The Great Debates tournament: Elite 8
We have arrived at the Elite 8, and this round is going to be a good old-fashioned slobber knocker....
Markquis Nowell authored the quintessential point Guard-en Party to vanquish Michigan State
NEW YORK — The last time an East Regional was held in Madison Square Garden, diminutive UConn point guard, Shabazz Napier led the Huskies to an unexpected Final Four and a national title. Flash forward nine years and Kansas State’s 5-foot-8 floor general, Markquis Nowell, staked his claim as New Yor...
It's always sunny in the Motor City?
The early returns of NFL free agency are here, and the clear winner is the Detroit Lions — at least according to the media’s reaction. Everybody’s favorite dysfunctional franchise finished 2022 strong after an abominable start and barely missed the playoffs. Some would say they were the best team t...
The Great Debates tournament: Sweet 16
It’s Sweet 16 time. The primaries are over and it is time for the general election. In real-life debates, this is about the time when candidates would be making disingenuous retorts about each other’s bad-faith arguments....
The WNBA head coaching situation, in Black and white
When the WNBA tips off the 2023 season on May 19, it will be with two Black women head coaches on the sidelines of courts on which 79 percent* of the league’s players are Black women and other women of color. (This figure is accurate as of March 2023, when six of the WNBA’s 12 teams had more than 12...
Damian Lillard sounds like he’s threatening to Barry Sanders his career
Damian Lillard was in the news Wednesday for sounding like an old head during an appearance on J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast. From saying young players were entitled, to worrying about the direction of the league, and all the championship tropes that have followed him in between, i...
The NFL news you might have missed this week
In case you’ve been out of the loop — or just need a reminder — here are some of the noteworthy NFL-related news nuggets from this week....
Fred VanVleet’s expletive-laden remarks cost him $30,000 and put him in a special group
Fred VanVleet is now immortal. Hitting nearly every 3-pointer you attempt for two playoff rounds and winning a championship is great. However, only Toronto Raptors’ fans and non-causal NBA watchers remember that. The narrative in the 2019 NBA Finals was Kevin Durant’s injury and Kawhi Leonard playin...
The best father-son duos to ever play in the NBA
It is an insurmountable stroke of luck to make the NBA. So when a former NBA player can watch his son make the league as well, it is an act of poetry. As the all-time leading scorer, LeBron James is set to be the first NBA player to play in the league simultaneously with his son, Bronny James. We lo...
These are the athletes that could reasonably fight in the next <i>Creed</i> movie
The Creed and Rocky franchises have not only felt like an expanding cloth weaving through the sports zeitgeist for nearly 50 years. Beyond its cultural footprint, its nine installments have launched or sunk the burgeoning acting careers of several retired and active athletes. From former Raiders lin...