mat Page 56 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Home wasn’t the cure for the cursed Islanders
Things were stacked against the New York Islanders before a puck was even dropped this season. The new UBS Arena, which would end this weird New York area odyssey they’ve been on since that ill-fated decision to play at Barclays Arena, which didn’t ever plan for hockey, wasn’t ready until this past ...

I’m almost free
When you’re a fan of a team, you can’t really identify some threshold or benchmark before you know a coach will be fired. You can say before a season that this record wouldn’t be good enough, but you can never be sure, especially when it comes to the Chicago Bears. After all, all of us Bears fans we...

It turns out Jalen Hurts is good when he gets help from the rushing game
The Philadelphia Eagles are just one of many unanswerable questions in the NFL this year. Their record says they’re bad. Their quality of opponent and matchup data says they’re good. They just handed the Broncos a three-possession loss, and the Broncos were just one week removed from handing the Dal...

Someone please think of the children of Chicago and spare them from Matt Nagy's coaching
Can Bears’ head coach Matt Nagy do anything right? The supposed “offensive genius” currently has Chicago ranking second to last in total offense — more than 20 yards behind the third-worst team, Seattle — and tied WITH DETROIT for the third-fewest points scored in the NFL this season. Nagy has more ...

Trevor Bauer joins the worst people in America in celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse
Kyle Rittenhouse got away with murder, acquitted on all charges in the two killings that he admitted to last year, because he was able to convince a Wisconsin jury, with the help of a sympathetic-to-say-the-least judge, that he was acting in self-defense after having brought a rifle across state lin...

Sean Payton agrees with you about NFL officiating this season
For any NFL fans out there who think that officiating hasn’t been at the level it should be, you are not alone. Earlier today, New Orleans’ Sean Payton was interviewed on the Dan Patrick Show and he was asked about how long it takes him to get over a loss. Payton responded that it usually takes abou...

The WNBA unveils new playoff format
The WNBA announced a new playoff format today that will increase the number of potential games in the tournament and completely get rid of single-elimination games. It will remain an eight-team playoff, with teams seeded based on overall standings over a 36-game regular season, but the first- and se...

Cam Newton was present on the field Sunday, but Panthers need the 'old Cam' back to lead them
It has been all smiles in Charlotte since Cam Newton signed with the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2011. Last week, the Carolina Panthers went on the road and defeated the Arizona Cardinals — who were playing without two of their best, Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins — who have the best re...

These pretzels are headed for your face if you anger Matt Stafford’s wife
Don’t make Kelly Stafford angry. If you do then you might find a salted, carb-loaded treat coming your way. A person who attended Monday night’s Los Angeles Rams-San Francisco 49ers matchup at Levi Stadium told TMZ that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford’s wife threw a soft pretzel at a fan. The witn...

Marcus Stroman cuts the Yankees instead of his hair
The Yankees’ policy on personal appearance has long been worthy of mockery, and mockery it has received, for decades, going back to Don Mattingly’s appearance on The Simpsons, when Montgomery Burns kept telling the first baseman to cut his sideburns....

The Los Angeles Rams have the stars, now let’s see what the show meets the high expectations
Hollywood’s newest release will premiere tonight at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. — the post-trade deadline Los Angeles Rams. They dealt for former All-Pro Denver Broncos pass rusher Von Miller, who did not play in their loss to the Tennessee Titans immediately following the deadline, and the ...

'Spoilermakers' eye Buckeyes in Top 20 clash, and many more goodies on a big Saturday
College football fans have been spoiled rotten for the past few weekends as Saturdays have been filled with beautiful weather, unbelievable comebacks, huge upsets, and just plain old great football. In a season where it truly does feel like it’s anyone’s game, tomorrow’s slate of games promises plen...

OBJ’s move to Hollywood rocks social media, but not NFL Power Rankings
Odell Beckham Jr. has joined the Los Angeles Rams....

The U.S. needs to beat Mexico tonight, so it better act like it
There isn’t one crescendo to World Cup qualifying, but the U.S. hosting Mexico tonight is just about as close it gets. They’ll play again in the spring of course, and both have other matches to negotiate. But this is one of the games that gets highlighted as soon as the schedule is announced, and ev...

Steven Gerrard takes the next step in his journey home
There isn’t anyone involved in Steven Gerrard taking over as manager for Aston Villa that doesn’t know the deal here. The ending that Gerrard wants is that this is the route to land him as manager of Liverpool one day, the club that he — mostly single-handedly — kept relevant for his playing career ...

Kamaru Usman needs to ignore Dana White’s advice about Canelo Álvarez, especially if he’s not going to pay the champ more money
The week of UFC 268, ESPN’s Max Kellerman interviewed UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to preview his then-upcoming championship defense against Colby Covington — whom he beat for the second time on Saturday — but then Kellerman asked Usman what was next after UFC 268. Kellerman made logical s...

We’re witnessing the greatest punting seasons (PLURAL!) of all-time
Everybody hates punting. I know there’s a big movement to give punters the respect they deserve, and yes, punters are people, but you can’t deny that punting is the worst part of football. When the most exciting part of a punt is how favorably/unfavorably it bounces, you know it’s not an exciting pa...

College football teams, embrace your championship history, but don’t be like Nebraska with Scott Frost
It’s not 1971, it’s not 1983, it’s not 1995, it’s not even 2001, but Nebraska it can’t be like this. They haven’t finished a season at or above .500 since 2016. Since Scott Frost became coach in 2018, they’ve finished with a winning percentage better than .400 once. Nebraska is making some changes, ...

A tale of two Windy Cities
It was comeback city in Chicago last night, as the Bulls and the Bears both mounted fourth quarter efforts against their respective opponents, to — ahem — varied success....

Upset Sunday! In the NFL, division leaders, one loss teams, Cowboys, Bills, Rams, it doesn’t matter L’s were handed out like club flyers on Sunday
The NFL had a case of the upsets in Week 9. Some teams were dealing with extenuating circumstances, such as the Green Bay Packers without MVP quarterback Aaron “I discount double-checked the coronavirus myself” Rodgers and the New Orleans Saints trying to get quarterback Trevor Siemian to play like ...