mat Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Michigan State should not benefit from Mel Tucker, but it will
Secretly, the grossest thing about this Mel Tucker scandal — outside of all the unverifiable tips being sent to the Deadspin general email — is that Michigan State might actually benefit from its own incompetence. Tucker would be owed an $80 million buyout if he were fired for being an abhorrent foo...

The Atlanta machine just keeps rolling on
While Atlanta fans apparently are pretty touchy about any perceived criticism of their club, even we have to admit there’s something pretty baller about clinching the NL East one day after the Philadelphia Phillies broadcasters were bitching about the bravado Atlanta showed as they were kicking the ...

Josh Allen has to stop playing like Carson Wentz if the Bills are going to have a chance
Josh Allen’s trio of picks thrown to New York Jets safety Jordan Whitehead and his two fumbles on one play, were the kiss of death for the Buffalo Bills in their loss to a New York Jets team whose Super Bowl aspirations disappeared after Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles. However, being h...

We live in a world where Matt Olson has 51 homers
Perhaps it’s because the higher-ups at MLB have wanted to discount the Steroid Era for so long and so passionately, with the hopes that we might erase all the numbers from our memories. Back then 50 homers was pretty much a buy-in. Some pretty silly names got to the mark. My favorite is probably Bra...

Aaron Rodgers is done, so here's who the New York Jets could turn to at QB
In the wake of Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets career coming to a screeching halt after just four plays, Gang Green’s front office has some quick decisions to make. We now know Rodgers suffered an Achilles injury on Monday Night Football, so his season in NYC is over. Now, the Jets must scramble to dec...

Jets fans get a last meal before returning to hell
You’re already hearing it. New York Jets fans pointing out that, on a night when their “final piece” quarterback made it four plays before his decaying body snapped, and on a night where the Bills clanked a game-tying field goal off the post and in, the fact that they still pulled it out on an overt...

The Rams' redemption campaign is underway
The Los Angeles Rams were unwatchable last season. Injuries depleted the team, and after starting the 2022 campaign at 3-3, the Rams lost their next six games and were out of the division and playoff hunt by mid-November. Just one year after climbing to the NFL mountain top and winning Super Bowl LV...

Ever wonder what the worst team of NFL starters would look like? Here it is
On an individual level, NFL Top 100 Player Lists are what get people excited. We get it. Patrick Mahomes is number one and the most competitive race is the scrum for number two. However, half of NFL fandom is groaning about the weak links on each unit. There’s enough glowing coverage of the NFL out ...

Lionel Messi coming to MLS has had the effect you’d think
One of the bonuses for both MLS and Apple TV having an exclusive streaming deal is that they’re not forced to tell us how it’s going. Or they can decide what they want to say. Without usual ratings to gauge how the revolutionary deal is fairing, we’re usually left guessing. There were whispers that ...

Can the Detroit Lions live up to all the hype around them this season?
The Detroit Lions enter the 2023 NFL season on a wild hype train of high hopes and expectations after finishing strong last year, winning five of their final six games. Jared Goff looked like Detroit’s quarterback of the future, and Dan Campbell proved that he’s much more than a barbaric man who wan...

Mark Cuban is the hero America needs (on Xwitter)
Sometimes, in life, you don’t get the hero you want, but you get the hero you need. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks — an organization that has been embroiled in ongoing sexual misconduct allegations for the last several years — is best known for either his role on the wildly popular Shark ...

What do the Cleveland Guardians want to be?
To hear Larry Dolan tell it, the Cleveland Guardians are the poster child for the unfairness in MLB. They can’t run with the big boys of the American League, even though there are no big market teams in the AL Central, at least when the Tigers suck eggs (and the White Sox will never act like they pl...

College football on Labor Day has always been a sick joke
Labor Day Weekend serving as the official kickoff for college football is still the biggest oxymoron in sports. For decades, college football was the most abhorrent, openly accepted form of free labor. Unlike their basketball counterparts, NFL-caliber athletes are forced to push themselves through t...

Houston is getting the Oilers back ... for a day, at least
Unfortunately, there is no reason for the Houston Cougars to have an oil derrick on their helmet and trademark law wouldn’t permit it anyway. Still, the nostalgia was clear as a cloudless blue sky as the program elected to don the old Houston Oilers colors for its first game as a member of the Big 1...

It’s Georgia’s schedule vs. the field this college football season
It’s abnormally weird for the University of Georgia to be odds-on national title favorites. I’m not saying Kirby Smart’s group is unworthy — they won the past two College Football Playoffs, and appear to be every bit the juggernaut Vegas thinks they are. It simply takes a beat for perception to catc...

College football is back, and Nebraska is still gonna suck
The obsession with college football led to the creation of “Week 0” and it’s an American oxymoron to which no one will object. The tribalism compared to the NFL’s fandom spreading to every corner of the country that comes with having a longer season – that will only get longer next season with the e...

Behold the dumpster fire that is the Los Angeles Angels' front office
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Angels added another day of ignominy to their woeful franchise’s history under Arte Moreno by placing starting pitcher Lucas Giolito, relievers Matt Moore and Reynaldo López, plus outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Randal Grichuk on waivers. In a vacuum, they aren’t the big...

It’s OK to feel uneasy about Damar Hamlin’s return to football
Damar Hamlin’s return is almost complete. Bronny James is “doing extremely well” in his recovery. You’re not a bad person for wondering if playing again is the best idea for both of them....

Mac Jones operating without a net in New England
For the second consecutive season, the New England Patriots are taking an unconventional approach to their quarterback room. A year after letting Matt Patricia and Joe Judge do some on-the-job learning as co-offensive coordinators, the team cut backup quarterbacks Bailey Zappe and Malik Cunningham. ...

The Angels wave the white flag, and Gregg Berhalter doesn’t know how a phone works
It obviously hasn’t worked out for the Anaheim Angels. While their determination to try and make themselves worthy of Shohei Ohtani’s long-term commitment, or at this point even a short-term one after the season, was admirable and certainly unique to MLB these days, their immediate nosedive after ac...