mat Page 43 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Old Football Man hates those sissy rules that protect players
Cue the “old man yells at cloud” Simpsons headline — Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant, who turned 95 yesterday, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he thinks the “boring” parts of football, including fair catches, kneels to end the game, and touchbacks, should be removed from the game. Now, to you an...
Here’s to feelin’ good all the time
The NHL’s second round hasn’t gotten off to the most rousing start. The Lightning did that efficiency thing where they play just well enough for just long enough to win, even if it did involve Nikita Kucherov turning Aaron Ekblad into a tetherball set. The Avalanche looked unstoppable, and the Range...
Gary Bettman must make the Oilers wear their ‘80s jerseys for the second round
Much like the Canadiens-Leafs series last year, this is why the NHL rejiggered its playoff system nearly a decade ago. To get things like the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Calgary Flames in the playoffs. OK, Gary Bettman’s NHL was only really concerned with getting Penguins-Capitals as often as possible a...
For the Bucks to win a third game in Boston, it’s going to take one helluva homecoming for Pat Connaughton
The Milwaukee Bucks did not have enough to finish off the Boston Celtics in Game 6 at home on Friday. Just like in the Bucks’ win on Wednesday night in Boston, they were down double digits going into the fourth quarter after a third-quarter Celtics run. The Celtics would extend the lead early in the...
Leafs on precipice of some kind of history
Nobody ever tweeted about a Florida Panthers playoff series victory before last night, when Carter Verhaeghe, off a pass from Claude Giroux – trade deadline acquisition and bringer of tons of vicarious Panthers fans from Philadelphia – lifted Florida to a 4-3 overtime win over the Capitals, and a 4-...
If the Leafs fall in overtime, do their fans make a sound?
I’m usually a sucker for reaction shots of big public viewings of playoff or World Cup games. Seeing that much unbridled joy amongst a group of strangers makes me believe in a better world or that there is a purpose to this silliness....
The GOP is obsessed with dunking on the NBA
Conservative politics and professional sports leagues have long been intertwined as bedfellows. However, that attitude has shifted since the Trump era. Now, more Republicans despise the NFL than ever, according to a L.A. Times/SurveyMonkey poll conducted early this year. Despite watching it on Sunda...
AEW answers the age-old question: ‘What if we just made the whole match of Jeff Hardy?’
AEW put on another sterling episode of Dynamite last night, by sticking to their simple ethos: give the people what they want (unless it’s a second women’s match). Don’t overthink it, don’t tell them what they like or purposely nosedive their hopes by doing the exact opposite. Just put on great matc...
Roman Reigns has become stale, but does Vince even want a way out?
At the top, I should state that I’m all for anybody making their bag with putting their body at less and less risk. If Roman Reigns wants to continue to make his millions by wrestling only 20 times a year, you get that, my friend. If he wants to do it by removing all risk and and just going to make ...
The stars come out in the NHL
Hockey followers love to taut that not only is hockey the ultimate team game — everyone gets a shift after all — but that the playoffs highlight this. It’s somewhat true, though it’s usually a top-end player or goalie taking home the Conn Smythe as the playoff’s most valuable player when all is said...
Can we get a more bingeable NBA Playoffs, please?
As we near the halfway point of the NBA Playoffs, it’s a good time to take inventory of what’s working, and what’s driving viewers to dive for the mute button any time they hear Lizzo’s “Now here go!” at the top of that commercial for cruise ships. While I could do an entire post about how I’d rathe...
COVID-19 is still the biggest X-factor of the NBA playoffs
The fat lady may be singing, but the coronavirus and all of its variants are still dancing like the party just started....
It isn’t Barry Trotz, it’s Lou Lamoriello
There’s no question that Barry Trotz has a shelf life with any team he coaches. His high-intensity defensive style is never going to be something players are going to want to do year-after-year, especially now when more and more teams are crashing in goals left and right. He was in Nashville forever...
It comes down to minute levels of control
The Premier League title chase took a massive turn this weekend. Liverpool dropped points at home to Tottenham, drawing 1-1 on Saturday afternoon. Buoyed by watching that, and in the wake of trying to recover from their Champions League collapse, Manchester City rubbed Newcastle’s ass in the moonshi...
The Dallas Stars, the piss in the cereal
The NHL playoffs haven’t had the most amount of drama so far. There’s only been two overtime games in the eight series combined, and not too many more that have been all that close or in doubt in the closing minutes of the third period. Some scores have been blown up by multiple empty-net goals, but...
The Falcons played with Matty Ice and got burned
Matt Ryan is a Falcons’ legend. He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in passing yards (by more than double the next closest), passing touchdowns (by more than double the next closest), and Approximate Value. He also led the team to one of their only two Super Bowl appearances and won the franchise’s...
How every team will lose in the 2022 NHL playoffs
As the chase to the Stanley Cup begins, the Eastern and Western Conferences have completely different outlooks. Colorado or Calgary look the part to be the Western Conference champions, and I’m not sure there’s anything the rest of the field of six can do about it. The Eastern Conference is as wide ...
FOX puts its college football crew in a tough spot by potentially bringing Urban Meyer back
When Urban Meyer first got hired to talk about football on TV for FOX, it was after he left Ohio State due to a scandal that he could have avoided if he weren’t such a trash human being. And since history loves to repeat itself, it looks like Urban Meyer is about to get hired to talk about football ...
Quarterbacks and Nakobe Dean fall in the NFL Draft. Also: Draft Matt Araiza, you cowards!
Well, the second round passed without a QB in sight, making this draft just the third in the past 30 years to only see one quarterback selected in the first two rounds. And perhaps even more surprisingly, Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder went ahead of projected favorite Malik Willis, who the Seahawks pas...
2022 NFL Draft Day 2: Who are the best players available?
Round 1 is done, and it came with drama, surprise picks (you don’t see a Chattanooga guy in the first round to the Patriots every day), and some big names left on the board for Day 2. Before the second and third rounds kick off tonight at 7 p.m. EST, we’re looking at some of the best players left on...