map Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Say what you want about the NBA, it still values its titans
For all the misguided complaints about the melodrama that can be the NBA at times, or the claims that its “wokeness” will be its ruin, or how the league beats itself up over load management or whatever else, it still offers something that none of the other three non-NFL leagues can. And that’s regul...

Why are hockey 'tough' guys always the biggest cheap-shot crybabies?
For a sport that really loves to tout how tough its players are, hockey players don’t seem to have much tolerance for anything that makes them feel bad in the slightest. At least on the ice. Morgan Rielly of Toronto was just the latest to wet himself when an opponent reminded him just a little too m...

The NBA trade deadline was a bit of a dud, but here's a look at who won and who flopped horribly
After last year’s insane trade deadline, which featured Kevin Durant being dealt to the Phoenix Suns, this year brought a bunch of smaller, shrewd moves that moved teams into contention. We have tracked the trades and broken them down by time-tested winners and losers rubric to track how the day wen...

Keeping track of all the NBA trades before the deadline ends
The NBA Trade Deadline is officially upon us. While the deadline may not be as exciting as years past with big stars going on the move, it’s a deadline that’s as important as any in recent memory. Both conferences are up for grabs, with no real contender running away with it. Can someone make a move...

Baseball Prospectus' 2024 projections have fan bases losing their minds
It’s easy to tell when there will be leather popping and maple and ash cracking on some distant Florida or Arizona field. No, it’s not the fact that it doesn’t quite get dark at 4 pm anymore. Not even Valentine’s Day or President’s Day. Nope, spring training is always around the corner when the PECO...

Pacers acquire Pascal Siakam, last piece of Raptors' 2019 championship squad
The Raptors’ fire sale continues. The Indiana Pacers are finalizing a trade to acquire Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Woj, the Pacers will send Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round picks in the deal. The New Orlea...

The Maple Leafs have their problems, but paying their good players isn’t one of them
The free-agent apocalypse that was going to arrive in Toronto next summer has apparently disappeared. Before last summer, Auston Matthews and William Nylander were a season away from unrestricted free agency, and John Tavares and Mitch Marner were two years away. The latter two are still in that spo...

NHL contenders have something of a goalie crisis
The NHL is almost certainly delighted that it’s seen an uptick in scoring the past three seasons (though down a skosh this season from last). It probably should pull a muscle patting itself on the back for the crackdown on goalie equipment leading to lower average save percentages across the Origina...

John Fisher might not have the money to move the A’s to Vegas
There’s generally little hope for fans when it’s already been announced that their team will move to another city. That hope evaporates more when a league approves it, as MLB has done with the A’s move to Vegas. And yet, there’s always a sliver of light that can’t be extinguished when an owner is so...

Raptors may countersue Knicks for defamation
The Toronto Raptors are exploring the possibility of countersuing the New York Knicks, according to The Athletic. ...

Darko Rajakovic using food as Raptors' motivator
Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic is getting creative to attempt to create a winning streak– by offering to buy the team dinner if they beat the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. ...

The Maple Leafs are in their own heads
The Toronto Maple Leafs fixated on the wrong things? I know, it’s a crazy time and we’ll have to get through it together, with intellect and a savoir-faire. ...

When did the New York Knicks become a franchise worth stealing ideas from?
Is the NBA truly a copycat league? And if so, what would the Toronto Raptors want with New York Knicks intel?...

World Cup Final: What if the managers switched brains?
There’s some lesson to be learned that Spain won the World Cup with a manager they reviled, while the USWNT faceplanted in the round of 16 with a manager who got hired mostly because all the players loved him. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it probably has to do with what really matters is the...

World Cup Day 22: Spain overcome Sweden to reach their first Final
This is truly the business end of the World Cup, as we decide who will get to play for the whole Chimichanga. The first semifinal is in the books, and it was a true styles-makes-fights clash (as opposed to the staring contest England-Australia quite likely will be). Spain’s technical ability vs. Swe...

World Cup Day 20: The yappy Dutch are finally silenced
The last eight, usually the best part of any tournament if only because it’s the last time you get multiple matches in one day (or night as the case may be this time), didn’t disappoint at World Cup 2023. The darlings of everyone are out, and Spain are learning quickly. Let’s spin this right round b...

Building and destroying men: The Greater Toronto Hockey League's assault on childhood
Scott Fraser inhales deeply. “I got way too many things in the vault, brother.”...

The Leafs sign Ryan Reaves, solving a problem they don't have
At least the Toronto Maple Leafs never disappoint. At least anyone who isn’t a Maple Leafs fan, that is....

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...

The Toronto Maple Leafs disappoint their fans by winning
No one does a post-mortem like the Toronto Maple Leafs. For the past six years, it’s been an April tradition. The Leafs spit up all over themselves in the playoffs, and then the next week the rest of the playoffs are drowned out by the wailing from southern Ontario about who needs to be traded, who ...