professional Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s been the best and worst of AEW this week
If a newcomer to the wrestling world wanted an exhibition on why AEW makes so much noise for such a new company in the industry, this past week would be it. It has showcased everything the company does well, as well as exemplified the problems it has, and more importantly how it addresses those prob...

When in doubt, more Brock Lesnar
You had a feeling when it was announced hours before Sunday’s Day 1 PPV premium live event that Roman Reigns had tested positive for COVID, and that Brock Lesnar was going to be moved to the Raw title match, what would happen. That feeling only grew when then-champion Big E delivered his backstage p...

A date has been set for the unveiling of the Washington Football Team’s new name, if they could only set a date to stop being a clown show
It took some years but the Washington Football Team is finally going to have a name that is neither a racial slur nor the name a middle schooler would choose in create-a-franchise mode, if forced by parents to play Madden instead of Grand Theft Auto. Washington announced today that on Feb. 2 its new...

There’s no getting around it, the NFL despises women
There was a time in my life when nothing was as exciting as the start of the NFL season, the Bears season, here in Chicagoland....

Cardinals vs. Cowboys in NFL Week 17’s most important game
The top matchup of the week features the Dallas Cowboys (11-4) and Arizona Cardinals (10-5) will clash at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. While the Cowboys are still in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the Cardinals, on the other hand, are looking for help in capturing the NFC West title....

No, you’re not getting worked by Cody Rhodes
I realize that I’m biased, being one of the louder and more consistent “Cody Sucks!” voices around. But if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s the idea that we just have to wait around and bow to the booking of major wrestling companies, and accept that they will all eventually come good and make ...

Hear me out: The NHL should split up its schedule
The NHL schedule has been jumbled by the league’s latest COVID-19 outbreaks, resulting not only in games being postponed now, but the withdrawal of the game’s top players from the upcoming Olympics....

Some great wrestling matches from the year that was
That time again. This year’s list feels a little more genuine, as wrestling (outside of Japan at least) was able to get out of the TV-studio era and back in front of the crowds it so desperately needs. Whether that was or is a really good idea at the moment, we’ll save for another time. Trying to ju...

Check it out: The reason we know what players get paid
Just before Major League Baseball’s lockout began, the Mets signed Max Scherzer to a three-year, $130 million contract, a $43.3 million annual average that set a new record and also set a talking point for the labor dispute to come....

Tiger Woods and his son Charlie put on a show at this weekend’s PNC Championship, a show that provided a glimmer of hope for a Tiger summer
Tiger and Charlie Woods almost pulled it out on Sunday. They broke out the red shirts and Tiger and his cub were on the prowl throughout the final day at the PNC Championship. Team Woods made a tournament-record 11 consecutive birdies at one point, but still finished two shots behind the tournament ...

Week 15: COVID messed up this week’s schedule, and three teams might have messed up their postseason
Week 15 of the NFL season provided us a very much not needed throwback to the 2020 NFL season. Players and coaches have tested positive at times in 2021, but this past week COVID hit like a Spider-Man movie. It was everywhere and re-acquainted us with a familiar friend: Re-scheduled games....

Covidmania is here and it's attempting to ruin sports… again
Well, here we go again. It’s Covidmania in professional sports right now, and no league seems exempt from the ramifications of powering through the pandemic. The NBA announced early Sunday afternoon that it had postponed five games due to the glut of players in COVID-19 health and safety protocols. ...

WWE finally wins one
The new addition to wrestling discourse in the past couple years, and this year especially with the raft of releases from WWE, is to dream of which wrestlers will go from WWE to AEW, whether by choice or by force. And also, to dream what they will do when they get there, to fantasy book your dream m...

They just give this to you for free
As I’ve said a few times, I’ve only been a wrestling fan again for about six years now. So while I’ve done my fair share of research and rewatching, my grip on wrestling history isn’t as strong as a lot of people’s....

Matt Nagy doesn’t know a halftime adjustment when he sees one
Nagy gonna Nagy!...

NFL Week 14: The battle at the bottom of the NFC playoff picture
Most NFL fans will tell you that in recent years the AFC has been a better conference than the NFC. Despite an NFC team winning the Super Bowl last season, they also had a 7-9 team (Washington) reach the playoffs by winning their division, along with an 8-8 team (Chicago) as a wild-card. Meanwhile, ...

Jeff Hardy was everyone’s favorite wrestler
If I told you I spent most of my freshman year of college doing The Hardy Boyz finger-guns entrance pose in the dorm hall with a couple buddies, A. you would hardly be shocked and B. I would only be one of several hundred thousand college freshmen in that year doing so. The main point of being a wre...

And just like that… (poof)... NXT is gone
It’s not that it was surprising. Back when WWE announced it was completely reshaping it’s junior brand, NXT, I wrote that it would be the end of what fans of the black and gold had come to love. I guess I’m just impressed (while simultaneously depressed) at how ruthlessly and efficiently it came to ...

Major League Soccer has a better ‘Rooney Rule’ than the NFL
Eighteen years ago, the most prejudiced sports league in American professional sports (Major League Baseball is a close second) created their version of “affirmative action” when they came up with the Rooney Rule — named after the legendary Steelers owner Dan Rooney — in hopes of helping diverse can...

Wait, I thought the NBA was lowering the age for draft eligibility?
The G League celebrated its 20th season of competition this season but is only on its second of genuine interest to NBA fans. Instead of the occasional player who makes the leap from AAA to a rotation player or a raw draft pick trying to hone their skills, there wasn’t too much to get amped about un...