owl Page 37 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Aaron Rodgers, who played 4 snaps, somehow voted team's Most Inspirational Player
New York Jets players voted to give the team’s Most Inspirational Player Award — named after Dennis Byrd, the defensive end who was paralyzed during a 1992 game and had to relearn how to walk — to Aaron Rodgers, the guy who tore his Achilles four snaps into Gang Green’s opener and vowed to return bu...

NCAA-ESPN's new broadcast deal is great for women's sports
The NCAA and ESPN agreed to an eight-year, $115 million annual deal to broadcast 40 different championships including the women’s college basketball tournament....

From Jerry Richardson to Dave Tepper, the Carolina Panthers have written the manual on trash owners
Three million dollars (total) in fines. Two atrocious owners. One franchise. The Carolina Panthers are a mess....

Bill Belichick can go quietly — or go kicking and screaming
Nobody leaves a job with quite as much oomph as Bill Belichick. Twenty-four years ago this week, Belichick handed a note with a scribbled message signaling to New York Jets officials at a press conference, stepped to the podium, and delivered his infamous remarks. ...

Want to reduce college football Bowl opt-outs? Pay the players
The bowl opt-outs are a letdown, but we all saw what happened to Jaylon Smith. During the 2016 Fiesta Bowl — which was not a playoff game — his leg was mangled. A projected top-five pick fell to the second round. Since then, many star players have made the intelligent business decision to not play i...

Bill Belichick said he'd reveal his future on TacoCorp's MyFace offline social network
There have been persistent rumors that this could be Bill Belichick’s final season as the HC of the New England Patriots. The team is 4-12 heading into the final week of the NFL regular season, and has seen uneven QB play since Tom Brady left town....

The College Football Playoff semifinals felt like the glory days of the sport
From the moment that Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Joey Galloway breathed a sigh of relief after Rece Davis said “naysayers” on College Gameday, the College Football Playoff semifinals were off and running. With Michigan taking on Alabama and Washington going up against Texas, there were great expe...

The Bears are deluding themselves into thinking Justin Fields is their QB of the future
Near the end of Justin Fields’ triumphant win over the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears fans serenaded him with a passionate “We want Justin” chant. The chorus reached a fever pitch on a night when Fields threw for north of 260 yards and one touchdown in a blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons. Through...

Chris Mortensen, Carl Weathers and the sports figures we've lost in 2024
Here is where we look at some of the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2024....

ESPN apologizes for Sugar Bowl boob flash
What happens on Bourbon Street doesn’t always stay on Bourbon Street. In one case, it gets broadcast to millions of people. ...

Michigan’s talent level stops another Jim Harbaugh dry heave
There were many who had their headlines and stories written, piling on a third-straight CFP semifinal loss for Jim Harbaugh on top of his lost Super Bowl and two lost NFC Championship games. Nice sets come in threes and all that. And he still may add that next Monday. ...

Celebrating 2024 with the best players to ever wear 24
Happy New Year! We’re on to ‘24. Years have become synonymous with athletes and their jersey numbers recently (ask any 23-year-old how their “Jordan Year” is going). In honor of the trend, here are the greatest athletes to ever wear No. 24....

Baltimore Ravens to honor RB who assaulted fiancee in elevator
Ray Rice, the former NFL running back whose career ended after he assaulted his then-fiancee — the charges were dropped — will be honored by his former team Sunday....

New Year’s Six bowl games kicked off with a barely watchable product
The Cotton Bowl felt like a watershed moment for anyone watching — or casually following along on gamecast. The latter would’ve been the preferred method for a slap fight that featured 16 punts. Missouri mercifully gave fans a touchdown to start the fourth quarter, and would add another score for a ...

Jalen Hurts’ fugazi QB record is evidence that sometimes numbers do lie
The NFL’s Big Data complex, including Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus, would have you believe that numbers don’t lie, but the truth is that numbers can be untrustworthy little digits. They don’t explicitly generate faux stats, but accurate statistics can be framed deceptively. For instance, on...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2023: The complete rankings
Welcome to the grand finale of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities. Here’s hoping 2024 will be better. It probably won’t....

Old beef still sells. Just ask the Cowboys and Jimmy Johnson
As long as the nostalgia of 1990s beef still sells, I’ll never feel old. I was but a child then. A child who looked at box scores in the Chicago Sun-Times and followed the daily drama of the 1997 Chicago Bulls contract negotiations. Even as a youngster, I recognized that Jimmy Johnson and the Dallas...

Where will Russell Wilson go now that Denver cut him?
Updated March 4: The Denver Broncos will release Russell Wilson, as had been speculated. The team will be hit with a record $85 million dead salary cap charge for cutting the veteran QB. ...

Lamar Jackson is inching closer to joining Patrick Mahomes as the only Black QBs with multiple MVPs
Since 2023 has been filled with highs for Black quarterbacks, 2024 might as well keep the party going. And if things hold steady, Patrick Mahomes won’t be the only one anymore....
