mat Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Hopefully, the death of the running back takes fantasy football along with it
It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not talking about this being the week to bone up on your player rankings, figure out a draft or auction strategy, and get ready for another rousing rendition of fantasy football, but whether to do that at all. Ideally, one of the side effects of the running back...

Julio Rodriguez refuses to make any outs
Baseball fans can lose track of the Mariners, all tucked away down there, pretty easily. They’re on late at night, and they don’t come with any of the glamor of some of the other West Coast teams. Though they entered this season as one of the more promising units after last year’s exploits, a pretty...

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023 - PPR Kicker (K)
This slideshow is based on 2022 NFL season data from Sportradar. Rankings were compiled by an AI engine that were then reviewed and edited by the editorial staff....

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023 - PPR Wide Receiver (WR)
This slideshow is based on 2022 NFL season data from Sportradar. Rankings were compiled by an AI engine that were then reviewed and edited by the editorial staff....

Fantasy Football Rankings 2023 - PPR Quarterback (QB)
This slideshow is based on 2022 NFL season data from Sportradar. Rankings were compiled by an AI engine that were then reviewed and edited by the editorial staff....

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...

Count Tua Tagovailoa among the Sound of Freedom’s ‘forgotten viewers’
The movie rage hitting the theaters this summer extends beyond Barbie, and Oppenheimer. There’s a hidden treasure, one could even call it forgotten, and the independent, umm, film has brought in nearly $175 million. The Sound of Freedom — an action thriller about a child trafficking ring starring Ji...

The bubble is bursting on NBA draft picks
A rather innocuous roster move by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday could foretell the future for teams loaded with future draft picks. The Thunder waived TyTy Washington Jr., the 29th pick of the 2022 NBA Draft who played his first season with the Houston Rockets. Both the Rockets and Thunder hav...

10 NFL players, team units everyone thinks will be bad this season, but won't be
Assumptions can be a dangerous thing. Take the preseason conversation surrounding Tua Tagovailoa last season. There were signs that the Miami Dolphins’ third-year quarterback was about to make a quantum leap, but he was mostly ignored in lieu of cheapshots at his arm strength. The same is true for 2...

If ever there was a year for unbridled Jets enthusiasm, this is it
If you are or have ever been a New York Jets fan, this is the year to double, triple, and quadruple down on the team. If you quit the franchise like Fireman Ed, this is the year for a reunion. This year, more than any since Broadway Joe, is the year to root for gangrene. ...

Bill Belichick is up to his same old tricks, and they may not be good enough anymore
The Ezekiel Elliott signing was a solid move by Bill Belichick. Elliott may no longer be the athlete who cleared opposing defenders the way that he cleared high hurdles as a high school track and field star, but he is still a football player who can contribute to a winning team. Any extra depth is w...

Boy, noise sure does follow CM Punk
In a sense, CM Punk can’t help it. Given every twist and turn and crash and surge his career has had, eyes are going to be on him wherever he is, even when that’s off camera. And if you believe there are those who still have knives out for him within AEW, well it’s not much of a surprise he’s being ...

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...

Hello, my name is America, and I have a sports gambling problem
The current handling of sports gambling in this country is American exceptionalism at its most American. Investigations, or suspensions, are cropping up almost weekly, but due to the nature of the violations, or the parties involved, nothing has seriously resonated. One offensive lineman didn’t know...

Wait, suddenly Philly fans are great?
It was only Michael Lorenzen’s second start with the Phillies since he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline. And he threw a spectacular no-hitter, no doubt about it. A whole 124 pitches, with none of them leading to a hit, was special. Lorenzen offered his thanks to everyone involved on h...

It shouldn’t be horrible for the next American to suit up with Chelsea
How American soccer players are treated in the Premier League has always been an interesting conundrum. Unless you’re a goalkeeper or somehow wind up at Fulham, heightened levels of scrutiny are at your doorstep that don’t appear in other top leagues around the world. There have been a few other saf...

USWNT’s treatment is the latest example of right-wing hatred for ‘nasty women’
Indigenous Americans were almost eradicated. Black people were enslaved. Asians are mistreated. Millions still want to “build a wall.” People of color have been oppressed for centuries, and each group has its own plight. But misogyny has stood the test of time. The overturning of Roe v. Wade, the re...

The Phillies are riding a good wave
The good vibes are starting to spill out of South Philly again. The Phillies might not catch Atlanta, but then they proved last season they don’t really care about that sort of thing. Last night, Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter in his second start for the Fightins, and his first at home. It is th...

World Cup Day 18: And then, sometimes, you just win
If the previous day’s lesson, at least for the USWNT, was that soccer sometimes just decides you’re going to lose because that’s what it wants, then the current European champions England showed that sometimes you just win, even when all logic dictates that you shouldn’t. Who knows what’s left on th...