mike Page 68 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Which team played the villain role best?
With the Houston Astros now wearing the crown as the most hated team in professional sports — as indicated by the chorus of boos and piercing screams of “CHEATER!” that rang through the Oakland Coliseum (whatever ridiculous name it has today) last night on Opening Day (ahh… welcome back baseball, an...

On Opening Day, the signs of how much we’ve lost were everywhere
After getting the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, I was pretty out of it on Thursday, which meant that Opening Day was a different experience than usual. I woke up in the morning, had breakfast and walked the dog, then went right back to sleep, setting an alarm to be able to watch the first inning...

The ones that do the least during games make the most money. No wonder baseball is America’s pastime
When I was in elementary school, we used to take annual field trips to the old Tiger Stadium. One year, Detroit was playing the Royals. I remember those blue jerseys. Our school was sitting in the outfield and somebody who wasn’t in our group pulled a beach ball out from nowhere. It eventually bounc...

Vlad, Fernando, Francisco and more: The players who’ll make this baseball season interesting
Every year we discuss how baseball’s become boring, how it could grow more enjoyable for younger fans, and how we long for legitimate progress of our national pastime. ...

What to expect in the AL West
Can anyone rise over .500 and challenge the A’s? How will the Astros do without George Springer? Can the Mariners surprise a few people? Will we hear anything from Mike Trout and the Angels? And how bad will the Rangers be?...

AL West Preview: Now without the noise, what are the Astros?
There are many who thought the Astros got off light before even hitting spring training last year. While the response was always “immunity,” only a couple managers and a GM suffered with the loss of their jobs. ...

Deadspin’s MLB Gambling Guide/Futures Bets to make for the 2021 season
One year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic resided through its infant stages, the baseball world was looking on helplessly and having to wrestle with the thought that there might not be a season....

NL West Preview: The Rise of San Diego, the reign of L.A.
With Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, the Padres have the best left side of the infield in baseball and two MVP candidates to lead their lineup....

NL East Preview: Are the Mets good enough to topple the Braves?
You could make a definitive argument that the National League East is the strongest 1-through-5 division in Major League Baseball, so long as no one fucks this up....

If white athletes took a knee after mass shootings, we’d have gun reform
The most glaring misconception about white privilege is that some white people believe it angers people of color not to have it. That’s a lie. We’re upset because we have to watch as you waste it, knowing all the good we would do with it if we had it....

NBA buyout market roundup: For once, you are allowed to be excited about it
The NBA’s buyout market is generally overrated....

Mike Bell, of famed baseball family, who scrapped his way to majors, dies of kidney cancer
Without ever having met Mike Bell, who died on Friday at the age of 46 from kidney cancer, the story of his baseball life says a lot....

Dodgers fans buy billboard outside Fenway to taunt... someone
I wouldn’t sit here and try to argue that Red Sox Nation is undeserving of being kicked while they’re down. They’ve had it their way for a very long time, though they would say they didn’t have it their way for a much longer period of time. And obviously, there isn’t anyone they didn’t annoy even ju...

Tanks a lot! Rockets going from 44-28 to 11-28 is putrid, but not most historic NBA drop-off ever
On Feb. 4, the Rockets went to Memphis and beat the Grizzlies by 12 points for their seventh win in eight games, moving to 11-10 for the season. Certainly, Houston was outperforming expectations after trading away James Harden, but nobody knew how bad things were about to get....

Duke? UNC? UConn? Ranking the best NCAA national champs over the past 20 years
Selection Sunday will be the first time we’ve been able to fill out a bracket in two years. A lot has changed since then, especially in college basketball, as it’s been as upside down as the rest of the world is. Juniors and seniors are the biggest draws this season, as only a few freshmen like Okla...

Signing Andy Goddamn Dalton is the most Bears move ever
Fuck my entire life....

The best NCAA Tournament performances ever
The NCAA tournament is one of the most captivating sporting events of the year. For an entire month, the world of college basketball takes center stage and the world is introduced to young, new stars trying to make a name for themselves. Many players have had great NCAA tournament performances over ...

The best national champion teams of the 2000s
As the NCAA Tournament returns next week after missing a year due to COVID-19, one of the conversations that have been hovering over the sport is when will the NBA get rid of the “one-and-done” rule....

It’s happening to Erik Karlsson again
Erik Karlsson has always generated an infuriating debate amongst hockey observers, where the “old school” — i.e. Molson-filled and incontinent old Canadians who somehow fell out of a duck blind and into a TV studio — could never reconcile Karlsson’s style of not eating pucks regularly and his desire...

Which football powerhouse could cut down nets at the Final Four?
The Madness is finally back, and the matchups are finally set for what will be one of the strangest NCAA tournaments in recent history. Not only will COVID-19 likely have an impact on the games within the Indiana “bubble,” but this year we are missing some of the most storied programs in all of coll...