nil Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Suni Lee steps in for Biles and everything she touches turns gold
An American gymnast has won the gold medal in the women’s individual all-around… again. For the last five years, since the 2016 Rio Games, it has been assumed that the gold medal would be returning to the United States, with Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, expected to do the honors f...

Lots of great players were drafted, then immediately traded — and went on to be All-Stars
The weirdest thing about the NBA draft is the longstanding practice that once draft day comes, there’s no more trading draft picks. It makes some sense within the framework of the league rules and salary cap, but every year, it results in weird situations where a player is drafted by a team that he’...

Olympics are confirming what we already knew: NBA officiating is trash
It’s safe to say at this point that the USA men’s basketball team has not lived up to its expectations. The team consists of some of the best players in the world, and yet, despite the abundance of talent, Team USA continues to fall short against lesser opponents. No matter what head coach Gregg Pop...

NIL cash already in the millions for Bryce Young, who has only taken a handful of snaps
Since the new NIL rules have gone into place, which allows college athletes to profit from their own likenesses, the new starting quarterback for Alabama has already made a whole pile of money. Bryce Young, the sophomore former-five star recruit, has only 22 pass attempts in college football....

How do you spell cool?
Zaila Avant-Garde is a really cool kid. At 13 years old, she won the 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee last night, becoming the first Black winner of that competition. She’s also a total baller. Literally....

NIL is live and HBCU athletes could be getting a bag
This is a new day in college sports....

Now we can all laugh about Bobby Bonilla Day
With the Wilpons out of the picture in Queens, Bobby Bonilla Day has changed....

Down 2-1, the Hawks are still capable… if Trae Young is active
John Collins has a point....

As expected, ‘The Process’ failed
When Keyzer Soze infamously said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist,” at the end of The Usual Suspects, he wasn’t just talking about the con he’d just gotten away with. He was also foreshadowing what Sam Hinkie would do to Sixers fans....

Well, these playoffs took some unexpected turns in the past week
Less than a week ago, the second round of the NBA playoffs seemed like it was on its way to wrapping up quickly, with the 76ers and Nets looking far superior to the Hawks and Bucks, the Suns on the verge of sweeping the Nuggets, and the Clippers down 2-0 to the Jazz with no answers for Utah’s abilit...

Mike Polisky stepping down as Northwestern AD is something we can all celebrate
It’s still a week where some states’ proposals to “placate” athletes’ desire to be compensated for their work and likeness still involve schools poaching 75 percent of said athletes’ income from such things. But still, it’s fun and satisfying to mark when a school has to take a step back, admit it w...

Turns out Northwestern’s controversial new AD has close ties to a mega-donor
The calls are growing louder for Northwestern University to reconsider its decision to hire Mike Polisky as athletic director....

Why won’t Northwestern talk about their new AD?
Early this week, Northwestern University announced the hiring of Mike Polisky as Athletic Director. To date, there has been no press conference, Polisky hasn’t spoken to the media, and Deadspin’s calls and emails to both the university and the athletic department, as well as Polisky himself, have go...

Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme screwed the Mets for years, dies in prison
Bernie Madoff tried to get clemency from Donald Trump in 2019, and last year asked to be released from prison because of kidney disease. He didn’t get the presidential get-out-of-jail-free card, and didn’t get the compassionate release, but Madoff is now off the hook for the remaining 138 years of h...

Mississippi will join Florida as first states to enact NIL legislation on July 1
If the NCAA isn’t going to move on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), apparently states will. Mississippi is the latest example....

NIL could help get rid of pay disparities, and it’s time for NCAA to get it together
It’s only a matter of time before college athletes get paid in some form or fashion....

More NBA players are beginning to get vaccinated, which is what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wanted weeks ago
We often discuss progress, but we’re seeing some in the NBA as it relates to vaccinations....

50 years ago today, Ali and Frazier stepped into the ring and delivered a divided nation its greatest sporting spectacle
Professional boxing had come a long way in the half-century that preceded March 8, 1971, the night Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali stepped into the Madison Square Garden ring for what remains history’s greatest heavyweight championship fight....

'Woj Bombs' vs. 'Shams Wows': Who won opening night of the NBA free agency salvo?
NBA free agency opened on Friday, and with the usual whirlwind of signings in the first few hours after the 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time start of activity, it’s not easy to say what team really did the best....

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day! The Mets are still paying $1.19M each year to a guy who retired decades ago
July 1 in baseball is Bobby Bonilla Day, when the Mets pay $1,193,248.20 to their former third baseman, who hasn’t set foot on a major league diamond since 2001, as part of a deferred payment plan. It’s a check the Mets have been cutting annually since 2011, and they will send a seven-figure sum to ...