rant Page 36 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
James Harden has the most to prove of any star player this postseason
The NBA postseason is nearly upon us, and each year you can pick out a few players that have something to prove. Giannis Antetokounmpo did it last season (no matter how many breaks they got along the way), leading Milwaukee to the title, and LeBron James the year before when he led the Lakers to the...
ESPN’s latest MVP straw poll...explain yourself
This year’s NBA MVP Award has several contenders: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, Devin Booker, Luka Dončić, etc. However, most fans and analysts would agree that the award is really a two-horse race between Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and the reigning MVP, Denver’s Nikola Jokić. It’s been that way...
Paul George looks like he hasn’t missed a beat
The Clippers appear to be operating like a team that’s extremely aware of its mortality. Paul George returned from injury Tuesday to help lead LA to a comeback win over the Utah Jazz, scoring 34 points in 31 minutes. If his right elbow — which could’ve been repaired via surgery but he opted to play ...
The White Sox are getting to their proper level of cantankerous
The term “White Sox” in baseball basically means anger. Or at least a heavy pinch of it to go with however else it might be defined. There is always an undercurrent of seething with the White Sox and their fans. It’s part of their identity. The White Sox are a symbol of their part of Chicago, the So...
Three teams that could be next in line to improve drastically in a short amount of time like the Memphis Grizzlies
In the NBA, teams with stars and veteran leadership usually make waves in the postseason and win championships. It’s rare to see a team of young inexperienced players going deep in the postseason, no matter how talented they are. Of course, there are outliers to everything....
Kyrie Irving’s full-time status doesn’t guarantee Brooklyn anything
After months of back and forth, protests, and outright refusing to get vaccinated, Kyrie Irving got his wish and was able to return as a full-time player in Brooklyn on Sunday. Irving scored just 16 points in his home debut, a Nets loss 119-110 to the Charlotte Hornets. All that build-up and noise a...
Fictional Hooper Bracket: The Elite Eight
Welcome to the Elite Eight of the Fictional Hoopers Tournament. All the fat and sinew (Sandy Lyle and Steve Urkel) have been trimmed, and the characters left are all from powerhouse pictures. No one has been able to knock off either of White Men Can’t Jump’s main characters (celebrated last night at...
The Ja Morant/Allen Iverson comparisons are actually kind of legit
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is having a sensational season. Morant has led his team to the second-best record in the NBA and they’ve eclipsed 50 wins for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign. And Memphis still has the chance to set a franchise record for regular season wins (56) with seve...
Let’s not put Chet Holmgren in the Hall of Fame just yet
One of the favorite pastimes of sports enthusiasts has always been player comparisons. That’s especially true with college players heading into any professional sport. With basketball prospects, these comparisons begin in high school and follow them through college and into the NBA for those that ma...
Kevin Durant says Dirk Nowitzki is the best shooting big of all time, but it's actually Kevin Durant
I’m not surprised that Kevin Durant has a great deal of respect for Dirk Nowitzki’s game. Prior to Dirk becoming one of the best players in the league, all the basketball players who were bigger than most of the other basketball players were scoffed at for not playing with their back to the basket. ...
Social athlete-fan interactions keep getting worse
Player fan relationships moved into an entirely new realm over a decade ago when social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter began to pop up. Not long after came Instagram and later TikTok. These platforms have become staples in our lives, not just in the United States but around the ...
A tribute to the omnipresent NBA stars who never played a minute
Let’s pour one out for the lost souls of the 2021-22 NBA season. This season was a void on their resumes for a select few stars. An entire missed season can be an opportunity to step back, reevaluate and return for a bounce-back campaign. Or they can smack into the 2023 season like porcelain against...
This Kyrie situation is starting to feel like the Mayor of New York is trying to beat him in a game of one-on-one
I know this is March Madness and NFL Free Agency season, but the NBA Playoffs start in less than 30 days. That last, and most entertaining, mile of the NBA season, but maximum entertainment value is only achieved if all of the stars are playing. That appears to still be in jeopardy with Kyrie Irving...
I MF’d Barcelona
There’s no hiding, not after yesterday. Not after Barcelona, just months ago the biggest figure of fun in world soccer, waltzed into the Bernabeu, and kicked eight different kinds of shit out Madrid to the tune of 4-0. It could have been 8-0 or 10-0. It probably should have been 5-0 or 6-0. This was...
The Cavs have again swept up the ashes left by LeBron’s departure, and built something impressive
They did it again, damn it. The Cleveland Cavaliers have somehow avoided the hellish purgatory typically levied against small-market teams in between superstar stints. The first time LeBron James left, after an initial seven-year stretch with Cleveland, it only took four seasons and four top-four Lo...
Fictional Hooper Bracket: Rucker Region
This region is a little more unconventional than the Venice Courts. There are old favorites like Tommy Sheppard, but also characters from anime, commercials, and a Ray Allen appearance that you might have forgotten about from the early 2000s....
The 76ers won last night, but their problems remain the same
The Philadelphia 76ers held on Wednesday night, on the road, to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers. It would be an impressive win against a playoff-bound team, except the Cavs were without their all-star center, Jarrett Allen, and the 76ers fouled Caris Levert on a layup with eight seconds left which pu...
Kyrie Irving has his way with Orlando, scoring 60 points one game after Durant drops 53
If I told you Kyrie Irving was cooking on the court last night, you’d probably say, “OK, what’s new,” right? But Kyrie was on an entirely different level in Tuesday night’s 150-108 win against the Orlando Magic, going for 60 points in only 35 minutes of game action. Irving had 41 in the first half, ...
NCAA prospects who could turn into NBA All-Stars
As March Madness kicks off in a few days, the next class of NBA regulars will play in their final college games before transitioning into pre-draft prep, doing everything they can to hear their name called higher on June 23. Most of the top prospects for this summer’s draft will display their talent...
How to fill out a March Madness bracket and other lies
Welcome to “How to fill out a March Madness bracket and other lies” where I’m going to give you five truths and five lies, and you have to figure out which ones are going to give you the edge in your office pool. If I’m giving away free advice, it’s going to come with a catch. (I am getting paid to ...