port Page 353 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The baseball is deflated again
I’m cribbing heavily from Joe Sheehan’s newsletter again, but in his latest missive he points out that things keep getting better and better for pitchers. Thanks to technology and greater study, they discover new pitches or tweaks to existing ones as they keep throwing harder and harder. At the same...

Enough with Barry Melrose
Dear God, don’t ever let Barry Melrose broadcast another hockey game ever again....

Paging Mr. Ben Simmons: Would you please report to the court?
Ben Simmons still has not played a game for the Brooklyn Nets. ...

Marcus Smart’s move to point guard earned him DPOY
The most surprising aspect of the Boston Celtics in-season turnaround was that the team did it with a position change rather than trading a major asset. Acquiring Derrick White helped with some much-needed guard depth, but really Marcus Smart being allowed to run point solidified his role and gave h...

Nikola Jokić looks flustered and angry
The man who is expected to win one the closest MVP battles in recent memory has supplied fuel to his detractors....

Well look here, the NBA got smart and finally hired social media’s favorite sports broadcaster
Imagine attempting to run a necessary errand before the start of Monday’s first playoff game. It’s the only time that you have during the day to complete this task. You scramble, get it completed and head home safely, but also with purpose, to get home and see as much of the first game as possible. ...

It runs in the family
Say what you will about NIL — you can’t deny it’s giving the world some incredible content. Legendary golfer John Daly’s son, 18-year-old John Daly II, has officially inked a sponsorship deal with Hooters, and gave us the most incredible statement of all time:...

Record-breaking Hobey Baker winning goalie suspended for trillionth of a gram of banned substance
In the age of NIL and PEDs, college athletes must be cautious about every ingredient in any protein shake or supplement is reckless....

The Japanese pitching sensation that refuses to let hitters reach base
One of the biggest stories in Major League Baseball right now is the dominance of 27-year-old Japanese rookie Seiya Suzuki. In 10 games Suzuki is slashing .429/.564/.929 with four home runs and 11 runs batted in. With Suzuki’s early success and Ohtani’s 2021 MVP campaign fresh in everybody’s minds, ...

Let’s open up Marshawn Lynch’s portfolio
One of the names you may not have expected to be mentioned as an up-and-coming business tycoon is former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. For many fans, Lynch is primarily known for his infamous phrase, “I’m here so I won’t get fined.” He wasn’t always the most agreeable player during h...

Tom Brady ESPN exclusive provides zero answers
OK, seriously — does Tom Brady have dirt on someone at ESPN? Does ESPN have a large chunk of its investments tied up in Brady? Wait — actually, yeah, they do. That should explain the PR puff piece they just put out on the Bucs QB a week after the news broke that Brady had planned to become a part-ow...

George Karl has a history of making a punching bag of DeMarcus Cousins and Black players
Behind closed doors, George Karl probably calls successful Black people “uppity.”...

The NWSL has some good Twitter beef
If Drive to Survive on Netflix has taught us anything, it’s that people love the story behind the story, and it can rocket the popularity of a sport if they allow people to see it. But you don’t need a Netflix special to get into some personality and character. Twitter can do that for you, as long a...

Reboot USFL will be remembered for its chicken salad, not the football
The contemporary USFL is the chicken salad of spring professional football leagues. In theory, it may feature the name of two ingredients people love, but it’s a stomach-churning and second-rate mixture in practice. For example, USFL running back De’Veon Smith was cut by his Pittsburgh Maulers team ...

This is what the Warriors can still do
The Warriors seemed to have reconstituted death, if you can put aside all the goth connotations that spring from such a sentence. It’s in reference to their past Death Lineup that used to disappear opponents in the third quarters of most games when the Warriors were winning championships. ...

Thanks for allowing us to exhale, Jake
Jake Arrieta announced his retirement yesterday, though the league had basically announced it for him about two years ago. Still, I’ll never forget his run that really started in 2014 and carried through the 2016 World Series....

The Colts were a trendy Super Bowl pick last season, this season they want to be a favorite
The Indianapolis Colts were certainly not thrilled with the way that their 2021 season ended. It started in disappointing fashion by losing their first three games. They improved, but still lost twice to division rival Tennessee Titans, including a heartbreaker at home — 34-31 in overtime. Then the ...

Green Bay has 11 picks in this year’s draft, but replacing Davante Adams won’t be easy
As the 2022 NFL draft approaches, the Green Bay Packers find themselves in retool mode after handing Aaron Rodgers a colossal contract extension and trading away All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams. The good part of that equation is locking up Rodgers for the next few years and acquiring extra first...

Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown and Terry McLaurin want, and deserve, new contracts
It is mid-April, which means the NFL Draft is a couple of weeks away, OTAs are around the corner, and Week 1 is a mere five months away. Besides the draft, most teams have made their major offseason moves. Several record-breaking contracts have been signed since this offseason, and a few young stars...

The USMNT is crafty in the middle but dangerous at both ends… to themselves
Being panicky and reactionary about the USMNT is now part of the deal. Perhaps it’s a sign we’re growing up. Fuck, three weeks ago, the US qualified for next fall’s World Cup (and got something of a favorable draw), Christian Pulisic was starting regularly for Chelsea — looking good doing it, too — ...