rant Page 40 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s 2021, time for college football bowls to branch out from Gatorade dumping
As french fries rained down upon the head of Wyoming head football coach Craig Bohl against the bright blue background of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl yesterday in place of the usual victory Gatorade bath, I thought to myself as I (and many others) do every year — why don’t all bowl games do somethi...

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. ...

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving become eighth, ninth Nets players to enter COVID protocols
Kevin Durant and, yes, Kyrie Irving, have entered the chat, err, COVID protocols, becoming the eighth and ninth Nets player to do so, and Brooklyn seems to be going the way of the Chicago Bulls, who are on a break from action due to a similar rash of positive tests....
![[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/0124ba961e791e1e056e5b9b9ac99d38.jpg)
[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols
Less than two hours after this piece was published, the Nets announced that Kyrie Irving has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, because of course he did....

It’s not even a debate
Last night the basketball world held its collective breath as Steph Curry was only two 3-pt field goals away from breaking Ray Allen’s record and becoming the NBA’s all-time leader in made threes. It only took him a few minutes into the first quarter for him to grasp the brass ring, which caused the...

Kevin Durant slays Skip Bayless on Twitter after tweet praising the Net’s play
In case you’ve ever wondered where you stand with somebody like Kevin Durant, send out a Tweet and just mention his name. He’ll let you know his feelings explicitly. This is exactly what happened last night after Durant dropped a triple-double on the Toronto Raptors in a 131-129 overtime victory. Sk...

Do you have to pay attention to the Anaheim Ducks?
Surprise hockey teams don’t come around in the same way as they do in the NBA. In professional basketball, generally the newest team that you have to watch has one or two young stars that are starting to find it. Like Memphis with Ja Morant of late, or the meteoric rise of the Suns. Not only do you ...

Draymond Green’s style of leadership is great, but can be divisive if not handled properly
Since Draymond Green’s arrival in the NBA, he’s been a loud, outspoken team enforcer who’s gone above and beyond as the vocal leader of the Golden State Warriors before, during, and after their championship run. After a two-year hiatus, the Warriors are playing at a championship level again. Green i...

No-clutch Steph Curry is not the best shooter of all time
Hold the confetti....

So, about that pandemic…
The Detroit Lions, finally in the win column after beating the Vikings last week, head into their game on Sunday without 19 percent of their roster due to injuries and coronavirus....

Nikola Jokić's performance brings up the age-old question: ‘How good must your team be in order to win MVP?’
The Denver Nuggets are currently 12-13, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh in the Western Conference. Despite having Aaron Gordon for the entirety of this season, the Nuggets just can’t seem to get going. After starting the season 9-4, the Nuggets dropped six straight games and fell below .5...

CJ and Dame have been fun, but if the Blazers want to salvage this season it’s time to say bye to McCollum
It’s far from all CJ McCollum’s fault the Portland Trail Blazers are struggling, and currently the 10th seed in the Western Conference with an 11-14 record. His field goal and free throw percentages are down, but he’s still averaging 20.6 points per game and shooting nearly 40 percent from the 3-poi...

It’s almost time for college football’s most vacuous tradition: Bowl season! We tell you which bowl games are worth watching and why
Christmas approaches quickly, but college football fans are acutely aware that the real late December holiday is bowl season. Just when visions of the CFB content stream finally slowing to a crawl is dancing in your head, the NCAA presents the most meaningless postseason tradition in American sports...

These Bulls are so much goddamn fun
I won’t lie to you, dear reader. Things are pretty bleak around here in Chicago, sports-wise. And actually beyond sports-wise, but I’m not qualified to discuss those things, really. Our center, the Bears, are an elaborate prank played on all of us by a trickster god, or at least they’d better be. Fi...

No, Chet Holmgren isn’t too skinny to be great
Gonzaga freshman Chet Holmgren was the top high school recruit in his class and is the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. As such, he’s subject to a lot of scrutiny....

These are not your daddy’s showtime Lakers
As one of the cornerstone franchises in the NBA, it’s a rarity to see a Los Angeles Lakers game bumped from a scheduled National television slot the day before that game. But that’s what’s happened to the Lakers-Clippers matchup that was set to tip-off Friday night on ESPN. Instead, we get the remat...

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...

The votes are in, and Aaron Judge is NYC’s (sports) mayor!
The Board of Elections in New York has released the full results of the mayoral election, confirming that Democrat Eric Adams got 753,801 votes, more than doubling Republican Curtis Sliwa’s tally of 302,680. Of course, we already knew that Adams won in a landslide — we knew that it was going to be t...

Scottie Pippen writes a book and all of a sudden he’s judging everyone’s greatness
Ever since Scottie Pippen’s memoir, Unguarded, was announced months ago, and excerpts were leaked of him taking wide-open shots at Michael Jordan, it feels like the onslaught against the GOAT has been unwavering. Now Pippen has taken aim at another recognized GOAT in seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom...

HBO filmed Colts’ Nyheim Hines fanboying out on Tavon Austin and it’s very sweet
I had no idea that Tavon Austin was playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Nine years ago he was the most explosive player in college football at West Virginia, and arguably one of the most dynamic players in the history of the sport. At 5-foot-8 and under 180 pounds, he was still the No. 8 overall p...