rant Page 39 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bo Jackson Curse? The Bengals aren’t cursed, they’re just inept
In my perusal of Wild-Card Weekend storylines to write about, I found the curse of Bo Jackson particularly interesting. If you’ve never heard of Bo Jackson then my god are you young, but if you’ve never heard of the Bo Jackson Curse then, like me, you’re new to this borderline contrived curse....

Blame Dr. LeBronenstein for creating this monster
It’s easy to just want to blame Russell Westbrook....

Without Paul George, a Kawhi Leonard return means nothing this year
After advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the first time last season, this year has been an up and down struggle for the Clippers with key players in and out of the lineup. Kawhi Leonard hasn’t played a game yet this season after tearing his ACL in the second round of the playoffs against...

A Cowboys-49ers playoff game means so much more than just another wild-card game
January 10, 1982, is the day it all started. Most longtime Niners and Cowboys fans will point to this day as the start of a rivalry that lasted the better part of two decades. The 1981 NFC championship game at Candlestick Park between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys was the beginning of a...

Can Russell Westbrook even fix this?
It’s not breaking news that things are not going well for Russell Westbrook with the Lakers, but things reached a particularly embarrassing point on Wednesday night as the Sacramento Kings’ game ops trolled the former MVP with an “Ice Cold Player Of The Game” scoreboard graphic, on a night when the ...

This is what happens when you get the aristocracy’s attention
A good portion of fans, most I would say, fail to recognize just how long the NBA season is. Goes for the NHL and MLB ones, too. It’s always hard to explain to a lot of them that there are nights in the middle, or maybe on the second of a back-to-back or the last of a four games in six nights, when ...

In a league of inconsistent-to-bad teams, Memphis is neither
There are currently nine NBA teams hovering around .500 and in or tied for the playoffs/play-in tourney. If that seems like an abnormally high number, that’s because it is, and the Mavs barely missed out on this list because they’re technically four games above .500....

The world felt a just a bit less chaotic with Klay Thompson back on an NBA floor last night
Those lovable, plucky underdogs, the Golden State Warriors. A couple of tough seasons — really one terrible season and another season that ended in disappointment, proved to be a mere traffic jam on the Warriors’ freeway of dominance....

See? Americans love ties!
You could feel the collective frustration of every sports fan outside of Pittsburgh last night. It was as if we all punched the couch at the same time. You could hear it in the wind, a spiritual “THUNK.”...

Unvaccinated man can’t come to work, co-workers suffer
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of Kyrie Irving’s own actions....

This will eventually bite the Nets in the ass
Kyrie Irving is back with the Nets but that doesn’t mean a fairy tale ending to the season is guaranteed...

The fight for the USMNT’s #9 spot moves to the European theater
As it’s always been (and sometimes it feels always will be) that the one big hole on the US Men’s international team is the one up top, a central striker. You never want to be in a place where you’re wondering if there’s any way to make Jozy Altidore 10 years younger. It’s Jozy Altidore, after all. ...

Out of shape? James Harden says absolutely not after returning home for Christmas to pound on the Lakers and Clippers
Christmas at home might be the turning point in James Harden’s 2021-22 season. The Brooklyn Nets played at Crypto.com arena against the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27, and in between those two games, Harden’s high school in Lakewood, Calif., retired ...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR #7: Kyrie Irving, who dunked mercilessly on rational thought
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR #10: Thom Brennaman — and there’s a deep drive by Castellanos
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:...

The best from bowl games with non-New Year’s Six names
Making fun of lesser bowl games is easy and fun. Do we really need a Boca Raton Bowl? Or a LendingTree Bowl? Or a Gasparilla Bowl? Or a Cameilla Bowl? Or a Hertz Bowl? Or a Guaranteed Rate Bowl? (Only one of those is fake.) No, probably not. The answer to “Who’s better: Eastern Michigan or Liberty?”...

Ja Morant says he’s taking social media break after being heckled at home
The internet leaked into real life again as living, breathing faceless Twitter profiles took human form, came to FedEx Forum and told Ja Morant to go back on the injured list during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Thunder on Monday. If you missed it, Memphis won 10 of 12 against an easy schedule, includi...

Rutgers is going to a bowl!
Rutgers’ claim to fame is playing in the first college football game, which the Scarlet Knights — then known as the Queensmen — won by the first scorigami ever, 6-4....

Kevin Durant takes his bad guy persona to new heights
Ever since Kevin Durant abandoned Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, he’s worn the black hat and played the heel role as well as anyone we’ve seen in recent memory. Sometimes he gets in his feelings and can go a little far with it, but now Durant has gone to a whole other level of jerkness on Twitt...

Joe Burrow: Cincinnati is too boring to get COVID
As COVID wipes out swaths of NFL rosters throughout the country, Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow has offered up his theory on how the Bengals have stayed relatively healthy during this time. No, not extra testing or vaccine mandates — it’s literally just that Cincinnati is, well, boring....