rad Page 111 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Coach K’s succession mistake was bigger than choosing Scheyer over Amaker
Hours before Coach K’s dizzy spell sent him to the locker room in Duke’s win over Wake Forest, excerpts from Ian O’Connor’s upcoming book, Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski” detailed a brief power struggle within Duke last year over Coach K’s plans to name his replacement. O’Connor’s in...
The path to an NBA championship is increasingly volatile
Neil Young gets credit for the line, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” but Kurt Cobain made it infamous. That dichotomy stuck with me, and it’s impossible not to see it in sports....
Kamila Valieva’s saga sets a dangerous precedent for skaters
It wouldn’t be a proper Winter Olympics without a figure skating melodrama. It’s earned a reputation as the Olympics’ closest equivalent to soap opera. In 2002, a judge cheating scandal led to a reform of the entire scoring system. Tonya Harding’s sabotage of Nancy Kerrigan before the ‘92 Olympics a...
Super Bowl week in Los Angeles: The slow seduction of a consumerist hellscape
It started in what looks like an airplane hangar in the bowels of the Los Angeles Convention Center. There are tables, desks, some lonely coolers, and a section of booths off to the right. That’s where the media picks up their credentials for Super Bowl week. It’s a bit more of a process than norma...
Aaron Donald’s reign of terror places him in pantheon of generational defensive players
Offensive highlights litter every catalog of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, and even fewer of those great plays involve lumbering defensive linemen. A two-yard loss isn’t as exciting as a 25-yard scoring throw or a running back trampling an entire defense. But when the story of Super Bowl...
OK, let’s talk about Matt Stafford’s Hall of Fame chances
I know you probably read the headline and thumbed your way to Twitter already to mock me for my recency bias, but I don’t think it’s that far-fetched anymore. Stafford has always been one of the most statistically-gifted quarterbacks in the NFL. However, the knock against him was always his inabilit...
Raheem Morris is the latest Black coordinator to win a Super Bowl who did not get a head coaching job
Raheem Morris got a bonus, but he won’t be getting a promotion....
Rooting for Stafford because ‘Burrow will be back’ is a dangerous game
There are a lot of good reasons to cheer for both sides in this Super Bowl. Perhaps you like the underdog story of the Bengals so you cheer for them. Maybe you like the incredible career arc of Matthew Stafford so you’re opting for the Rams. It could be the emergence of Joe Burrow, the greatness of ...
Super Bowl LVI NFL Betting Primer: Best over/under, spread, teaser and prop bets
There’s nothing quite like Super Bowl Sunday, but sadly, the drama and theatrics that come with it also bring about the realization that we’ll be making our final football wagers until early September (or August for those who very daringly elect to bet on preseason action)....
What were the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history?
As of Saturday, the line on Super Bowl LVI is Rams -4, one of the closer spreads in the big game’s history. Though the Bengals are technically the home team, the Rams are, of course, playing in their own home stadium, so the current line suggests these are two evenly matched teams. Though the Super ...
NFL award winners haven't been Super in the big game
Super Bowl LVI will feature four NFL Honors Awards winners: Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase (OROY) and Joe Burrow (CPOY) as well as the Rams’ Cooper Kupp (OPOY). Rams’ offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth also won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, but that’s not important for the context of this pie...
Aaron Rodgers wins another MVP… wake me up when it’s another Super Bowl
By most metrics, Aaron Rodgers is a better quarterback and person than Brett Favre. He throws considerably less (Stannis Baratheon: fewer) interceptions, completes a higher percentage of passes, has a better win percentage, hasn’t been a creep, and didn’t bilk a charity out of money for an appearanc...
Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner’s gold is more than Super
Lindsey Jacobellis’ gold medal, 16 years after she stumbled to silver in Turin, and after three other Olympic disappointments, was a good enough story on its own, but now it’s even better....
Remember the Ickey Shuffle?
For me, the highlight of my week has been Ickey Woods doing the griddy....
Kristaps Porziņģis, in search of a version of himself that doesn’t exist, traded to Wizards
This post could take longer than it has to because Kristaps Porziņģis once averaged 22 points for the Knicks. It won’t, though, because that player is no more. What’s left is a shell of a unicorn in search of a situation that will allow him to at least chuck as much as his former self....
Top 10 Super Bowl one-hit wonders
We all know Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, and Roger Staubach. People like them made a name for themselves by coming up big in the Super Bowl on numerous occasions. Their ability to stay calm and play phenomenal football on the game’s biggest stage is what made them all-time NFL greats, but...
Can Joe Cool solve the NFL’s Gen Z problem?
Much has been written about how deeply cool Joe Burrow is — and that’s really the only word anyone can come up with to describe him. Sometimes, there’s no further adjective that can really capture the appeal of a public figure than the simple, self-explanatory “cool.” As OBJ said, “If you look up co...
The best (worst?) Super Bowl celebrations
For all the cultural impact the Super Bowl has built up, from the game itself to the ridiculous ads to the high-budget halftime show, it’s honestly a crime that the following Monday hasn’t been declared a national holiday yet. While the average watcher may be going into work not feeling quite in tip...
Avert your eyes, either Stan Kroenke or Mike Brown will get to hoist the Lombardi
Mere mention of the names Stan Kroenke and Mike Brown, owners of the two NFL teams facing off in the Super Bowl on Sunday, triggers largely negative emotions from fans of teams they own. (LA Rams fans are nihilists, dude, so discount them.) Talk to Bengals fans, former St. Louis Rams fans, Arsenal f...
Meet Deadspin’s Super idiots
The Super Bowl is the biggest stage in sports, where stars are made, legends are born… and embarrassment lives forever. There are plays that just don’t get made, sure — like Scott Norwood’s field goal at the end of Super Bowl XXV — but there’s a difference between not getting the job done, and screw...