ow Page 178 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Is this finally the year for the New York Jets?
As Aaron Rodgers steps into the Showtime spotlight of the Big Apple, he will have to do his best Magic Johnson impersonation to get the most out of his many talented options. Rodgers has two of his trusted pass catchers from Green Bay by his side in Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, as well as a rising...

10 NFL teams everyone thinks will be good this season, but won't be
Every team had a great offseason. All those gaping, even-the-blind-can-see problems your favorite team had no longer exist. Here’s where a path to greatness starts. Of course for most, that won’t be true. The heavy hitters didn’t go away and until your favorite players get hit in the mouth, all the ...

Does it matter that 3 of the AP top 5 teams haven’t named a starting QB?
AP’s college football top 25 poll debuted Monday, and there aren’t too many surprises. Texas (11) is overrated as usual, but everything else appears to be above board. The typical formula for misguided hype includes some combination of a new coach, unproven quarterback, prestigious program, schedule...

After the ESPN shakeup, we still have Hubie Brown to keep teaching us basketball
Following its highest-rated NBA Playoff in two decades, ESPN decided to take a hatchet to its game coverage of the league. Gone from the network entirely are Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. Replacing them on the No. 1 commentator team alongside Mike Breen are Doris Burke and Doc Rivers. Ryan Ruocco...

Don’t be cowards, Notre Dame. Save the Pac-12
Amid various upheavals and tectonic conference shifts, one of the nation’s most prominent college football brands has maintained its neutrality. Notre Dame is the Joel Osteen of college athletics as a football megachurch without a conference denomination. Notre Dame basketball is the garnish, but fo...

Premier League Round 1 Review: Chelsea and Liverpool play a pretty silly match after a very silly week
If it feels like Chelsea and Liverpool haven’t been able to escape each other for about 20 years, that’s probably because they haven’t. It can be traced back all the way to 2004, when Steven Gerrard was thisclose to joining Chelsea from Liverpool, and then months later they met in the League Cup Fin...

Aaron Donald rules over the institution that is John Madden Football
The release of Madden NFL ‘24 is just days away, a massive event in the gaming world. This year five NFL players will enter the season with 99 overall ratings; Aaron Donald is once again at the head of the class for a record seventh time in his career. With that, he passed Hall of Fame quarterback P...
![James Harden's Daryl Morey comments will cost him $100k [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/d3847cc53204d78a7eaacfe79e6981f5.jpg)
James Harden's Daryl Morey comments will cost him $100k [Updated]
Update Aug. 22: The NBA announced it would fine Harden $100,000 for indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team. Since Harden referred to Philadelphia 76ers president Daryl Morey as a liar and essentially threatened to sit out ...

Niners could be in for a bumpy ride on their QB carousel
Championship urgency is more real in the NFL than in any other sport. When that window is open, teams have to climb up the ladder and jump in like Sam in Clarissa Explains it All. Any hesitation and soon that hard salary cap will not allow a contending team to satisfy every talented player who deser...

The 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame class represents 40 years of growth in the sport
The way that the NBA game is currently played — the spacing, position fluidity, the resting of stars during the regular season — all of that and more has been in the works for 20 years. Prioritizing 3-point shooting to maximize room for drivers and post players did not start and end with Mike D’Anto...

Who’s more exciting: Shohei Ohtani or Elly De La Cruz?
This is not an argument about who’s the better player: Shohei Ohtani, or Elly De La Cruz. Ohtani is probably the best two-way player in baseball history, and De La Cruz has 55 games to his name. The discussion is about excitement, about who’s highlight you’re watching first, about throwing a complet...

The power brokers of the ACC (and NC State) are against their own self-interest?
At first glance, the ACC leaning against adding Cal and Stanford is one of logic and tradition. Four brave institutions are standing tall, spitting in the face of realignment, and shouting “We’re not for sale!” Then you look at who those four schools are — Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, and...

Big Ten athletes should be on the hunt for NIL deals with airlines
Soon, Big Ten teams from the Midwest and East Coast will have a “West Coast road trip,” like they do in the pros, and vice versa. But unlike professional athletes, these players won’t be getting compensated for their “jobs,” and some of them will be on commercial airplanes as they fly across the cou...

Kenyan Middleton told his truth about the White Sox, and suddenly his name was off the scoreboard
Keynan Middleton gave his opinion about his time with the Chicago White Sox. He told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he felt the organization lacked discipline and personal accountability. His stories about players napping in the dugout and missing practice sessions were corroborated by teammates. Now a me...

Tyreek Hill unwittingly tosses shade at Jerry Rice in his top 5 WR ranking
Top five rankings have become as common in sports as overused clichés by outdated broadcasters. There was a time when these were preserved for special conversations, but now, we get them year-round for every sport on multiple topics. We’re constantly flooded with some NFL list ranking the top 5, 10,...

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...

Who’s up for a non-NBA pro athlete slam dunk contest?
Everyone loves a good slam dunk contest. It doesn’t matter if it involves NBA players, college athletes, or dudes from the neighborhood. If those involved are talented, creative highflyers, folks will gather around to enjoy the festivities. Obviously, the NBA owns the crown when it comes to spectacu...

The Bengals had better hope Joe Burrow doesn’t have one of those NBA strains
Super Bowl Championship expectations are rare for the Cincinnati Bengals. Before Ja’Marr Chase was drafted they hadn’t won a playoff game since Bo Jackson played football. In 2023, the sports books have the Bengals as one of the top-five favorites to win the Super Bowl. However, they are currently d...

Whoa! The Premier League starts this weekend!
Most of the attention of the soccer world is fixed on the Women’s World Cup. And whatever’s left over is on Lionel Messi’s daily brace. But the world of soccer never stops, and in that fashion, the Premier League returns this weekend (so does La Liga but we can hold off on yet another discussion of ...

Stanford is the most vulnerable school in college athletics because of conference realignment
The domino effect of Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC (leading to the dismantling of the Pac-12 two years later) is a turn of events that would’ve been nearly impossible to predict. The catalyst for the Power Five’s west coast entry point being almost no more wasn’t UCLA and USC tra...