port Page 196 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

When did the NBA playoffs become the NHL playoffs?
The first round of the NBA playoffs usually isn’t all that good, which doesn’t stop people from complaining about it. The difference between the top seeds and lower seeds is large enough that those series should result in nothing more than dress rehearsals for the true powers and the later rounds. W...

US Soccer might have actually made a good decision
There is always a suspicion that US Soccer has fucked up. They’re too insular, too greedy, too cheap, and too weird to ever get out of their own way. Even when it looks like they’re taking a step forward, they’ll find a way to sabotage it. The Berhalter-Reyna mess is perhaps the perfect example of j...

Deion Sanders lost his breakout wide receiver from Colorado’s Spring Game 24 hours after the exhibition
ESPN made a business decision. Montana Lemonious-Craig did too....

Five players the Dallas Cowboys could select at No. 26 in the 2023 draft
Every Dallas Cowboys draft is an adventure, just trying to figure out which direction Jerry Jones will go with the team’s first-round pick. Over the past decade, Jones and company have placed more stock in the draft than in free agency. Contrary to popular belief, Jones, his son Stephen, and the tea...

Well, Pat Bev knocked one team out of the playoffs
Even though he’s nearly 35 years old and basically a journeyman at this point in his career, Patrick Beverley always feels slighted whenever a team moves on from him. When the Lakers traded him to the Bulls after half a season, he said his goal was to “knock them out of the playoffs.”...

Josh Hart is the playmaker the Knicks needed
Jalen Brunson is the straw that stirs the drink for the New York Knicks. My mea culpa on his free agency will come at a later date. All of that being said, the Knicks were in the Play-in Tournament and their record was a mere three games over .500 on Feb. 10. On that date they lost to the Philadelph...

The Grizzlies should regret the NBA’s decision not to suspend Dillon Brooks
I’m only halfway through Netflix’s Beef series — chronicling the escalating conflict between two unstable drivers on opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum and the reverberations of their road rage incident in Southern California, but it fits Dillon Brooks’ plight. Dillon Brooks’ one-sided beef...

The Warriors vs Kings chaotic Game 4 finish was just delightful
Chaos should be absorbed in moderation. Watching the Succession characters act as if they’re on a Jerry Springer Show reboot, in which guests are from the top one percent is amusing chaos. A think tank/lobbyist organization called Foundation for Government Accountability working to get legislation p...

The Grizzlies sure are some whiny villains
I wouldn’t have thought giving someone a vanilla nut-tap on national TV and in front of 18,000 was actually a media conspiracy. I’m glad Memphis’ Dillon Brooks taught me better. ...

The Maple Leafs won the game they should have lost, which they never do
It’s almost always futile to look for “signs” or “omens” in playoff hockey. The next bounce off someone’s ass doesn’t really care what happened before, and apparently, this season, neither will the next call the ref misses but still manages to leave your D-man maimed, and the opposing forward an ope...

Did not foresee the 76ers being the most impressive team in the playoffs
Game 4 against the Brooklyn Nets is a game that would normally be a disappointing loss for the “Trust the Process” era Philadelphia 76ers. The opportunity to close out a first-round series against an inferior team, along with a Joel Embiid injury to navigate....

Whether genuine, stunt, larf, documentary fodder, or indulgence, Wrexham delivered to those who matter
As I said in an initial review, Welcome To Wrexham, the show isn’t really for me and my ilk (nor should most anything be, really, we’re a broody bunch). It wasn’t meant for the diehard soccer fan, who already is at least somewhat familiar with promotion, and relegation, the football pyramid in Engla...

Defeating Ryan Garcia was just the beginning for Tank Davis
During a contentious news conference Thursday, Gervonta “Tank” Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) threatened to break Ryan Garcia’s jaw. Turns out that was a misdirection. In the seventh round, Davis glanced a left hook off the side of Garcia’s abdomen that stunned his opponent, giving Davis the 27th knockout of ...

Breaking the jaw, breaking the jaw
Boxing is a shell of its former self. Under the right circumstances, it can break through sports purgatory and be genuinely exciting. Enter two undefeated fighters in Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, with one of the duo no longer having an unblemished record after this weekend’s catchweight bout. Bey...

Is the Cubs hot start a mirage? Will the Astros remain under .500? Let's examine
It’s about 20 games into the MLB regular season. It’s a small sample size, but no longer so small that we can completely dismiss it. Just like every year, there are some teams that are over-performing and underperforming expectations, but which of these surprising records are actually telling the tr...

Detroit Lions WR Jameson Williams among 5 NFL players suspended by league for gambling policy violations
Always take the over. On Friday morning, the NFL announced the suspension of five players for gambling policy violations. Quintez Cephus, C.J. Moore, Stanley Berryhill, and Jameson Williams of the Detroit Lions, and Shaka Toney of the Washington Commanders apparently all ignored how Calvin Ridley mi...

Baltimore Ravens WR Odell Beckham Jr accused of assault at Hollywood hotspot
New Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been named as a suspect in an assault investigation, per a TMZ report, where a woman claims Beckham allegedly put his hands around her neck at a Los Angeles restaurant. However, representatives for the wide receiver and the restaurant’s owner ...

The Herschel Walker grift worked — his campaign has spent over $1 million already in 2023
In politics, candidates win and lose elections all the time. And despite the outcome, a lot of the money is left over from what was raised during the campaign. But, Herschel Walker was never like any other political candidate. He was just a “country boy” who wasn’t “that smart,” remember? Well, he’s...

East Coast folks, get over yourselves if you can’t stay awake for a late playoff game
I’m well aware that the most visible of the loud sports fans reside between Boston and Washington. In that nearly 450-mile stretch of I-95, there are more than 16 million television households along with ESPN’s two main studios. Of course that will inevitably lead to East Coast griping about sports ...
