press Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

USWNT captain Lindsey Horan said the quiet part out loud
It started to percolate during the latest Summer Olympics, delayed a year to 2021 because of the pandemic. The United States women’s national team — the former two-time-defending World Cup champions — not only looked vulnerable, but they also appeared average. Not average for the Stars and Stripes —...

Vlatko Andonovski was bad at a very tough job
If one didn’t want to kick dirt on Vlatko Andonovski as he recedes from the USWNT manager job, and kicking dirt is kind of what we do around here, it would be wise to point out the size of the task he was faced with. He took over a team that had won two World Cups on the spin, so there was really no...

The 49ers need to quit messing around with Nick Bosa
Add San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa to the list of players not reporting to training camp around the league due to contract disputes. That’s the expectation in the Niners front office and among the coaching staff, as expressed by general manager John Lynch during the team’s press conferenc...

Rose Zhang announces her LGPA presence with authority
As Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Serena Williams depart for their respective GOAT farms upstate, their respective sports are in desperate search of phenoms to replace them. Tiger’s departure from golf’s summit has cleared the way for a new generation to take the reins. On Sunday, in her firs...

Lakers and Warriors have been getting old without getting older
Fending off the advance of time is an impossible feat. The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors both spent their first-round series successfully keeping the sand in their hourglasses from pouring out. Both the Warriors and LeBron James have aged gracefully over the years, but in the next rou...

Team USA loses exhibition to 3-9 San Francisco Giants
Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Nolan Arenado, Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Kyle Schwarber. With a roster like that, you’d expect Team USA Baseball to dominate every game they play. They’re totally going to destroy Great Britain this Saturday in their first game of the World Baseball Classi...

UNSUNG GENIUS: Dissecting Dusty Baker's bullpen brilliance for his sabermetric critics
Dusty Baker “ought to be part of the conversation around MLB’s best-ever managers,” concluded Neil Paine from FiveThirtyEight after studying the most overachieving managers, and “shouldn’t need a ring to validate his career.” Agreed. Let’s go further....

Hear me out: Cristian Javier should’ve remained in Game 4
Last night, the Houston Astros’ pitching staff combined for the second no-hitter in World Series history. Cristian Javier, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero, and Ryan Pressly allowed only three baserunners (all walks) while striking out 14 Phillies en route to evening up the World Series. There were only ...

They say a good fastball is still the best pitch
It still amazes me how quickly a baseball playoff series, especially one of the seven-game variety, can pivot. ...

This World Series is a beautiful juxtaposition
If styles make fights, then this World Series is for you. While the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies have their similarities (like green mascots), they also occupy opposing poles in a lot of ways. And also the perception of them is actually opposite to reality in some ways as well. There are...

For the Houston Astros, it can be as simple as one pitch
I am guilty, as well as many others, of thinking of the Astros as the same Godzilla offense as they were in 2017, whatever means they used to get there. I hear Astros and think whatever batter they’re sending to the plate sends thousands of Tokyo residents scurrying for cover. And the Astros offense...

The change in NFL MVP voting is long, long overdue
Hark! The Associated Press is considering making changes to their NFL MVP voting process! I never thought I’d see the day....

Drew Brees can’t cut it as a broadcaster or a doctor
Even though fans decided en masse that they did not want to hear Drew Brees’ football observations on television, there are still a lot of people still wearing their No. 9 New Orleans Saints jersey that wants to know his thoughts as he watches football over the weekend....

Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison
After more than six months of incarceration since her February arrest for having less than one gram of cannabis oil in her luggage at a Russian airport, eight-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for drug possession and smuggling. That harsh but expect...

Steph-mania has seeped into the WNBA
If it were not already apparent that Steph Curry is the popular kid who dictates whether 10th graders one- or two-strap their backpacks, fans needn’t look no further than the WNBA for proof. I debated if Sabrina Ionescu hitting a game-clinching 3 and striking the Steph “night night” pose against the...

The best Twitter account of the summer is Lane Kiffin’s dog
Lane Kiffin’s dog is on a quest for lunch....

Cooper Kupp is the NFL’s most valuable player — he just won’t win it because it’s a QB award like the Heisman
Since value is defined as something of “great worth,” it means that Cooper Kupp is just that — ask Rams fans. After a season in which he led the NFL in receptions (145), receiving touchdowns (16), and receiving yards (1,947) — the receiver Triple Crown — Kupp caught 9 passes for 183 yards and one to...

Warriors’ minority owner dragged for declaring the NBA’s stance on Uyghurs out loud
“No one cares about genocide” is, to put it lightly, a concerning stance to take, but it is the stance that billionaire and Golden State Warriors minority owner Chamath Palihapitiya chose to espouse on his podcast this week....

Georgia's (5-9) men's basketball team received votes in the AP Poll — so who done it?
Georgia football is currently preparing for its first national championship game since 2017. Georgia men’s basketball, led by head coach Tom Crean, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the SEC standings with a 5-9 record overall. Their last five games consisted of a loss to George Mason, a single-...

Aaaand we’re back to the start
This is my last Mourning After of 2021, and in some ways it feels like the first. Not that we’ve been running in place, so much as we sprinted around the track and ended up back where we started. Which is how Jerry Seinfeld described horse racing, I guess. “We were just here! What was the rush?!”...