ric Page 168 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Chinese Basketball Association’s extreme punishment for tanking is what the NBA needs
If the NBA wants to look into discouraging teams from strategic tanking, they should borrow from the Chinese Basketball Association’s playbook. In the basketball exchange program, the rest of the world learned the game from watching the NBA, American hoopers integrated the Euro step into their skill...
So are the Carolina Panthers drafting C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young?
There is a 99.999 percent (with unlimited 9s) chance former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud or former Heisman Trophy winner and Alabama signal-caller Bryce Young will be the No. 1 overall selection in next week’s NFL Draft to the Carolina Panthers, who traded up eight spots to get a key cog in th...
Jalen Hurts’ new contract is a sign of limited elite quarterbacks, not just his play
That’s how you stick by your man. Guess they don’t know how to do that in Baltimore. Jalen Hurts doesn’t have to worry about whether Philadelphia loves him or not, well, or at least Howie Roseman does. And he might as well speak for the City of Brotherly Love, except for how you’d get treated at Wel...
Overreacting to Game 1 of each NBA Playoff series
One game into each NBA postseason series feels like a good time to make some premature, bold declarations. The postseason tipped off with a fury of finishes that ranged from exciting to anesthesia. But Game 1 is a starter kit that we’ll try to extrapolate on. It would be wise to tread carefully in t...
The NHL Playoffs Attention Meter
It’s that time again. When the loudest and most obnoxious guy in the bar tells you it’s the best time in sports, the NHL Playoffs. There will be a few tweets coming across your timeline that say something that has some combination of puking and snorting coke together, and they’re likely about watchi...
Half of the road teams took 1-0 leads in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs — welcome to April Madness
Just weeks after March Madness gave us an NCAA Tournament that provided multiple historic upsets during its first weekend, it looks like the pros in the NBA took that personally. Four of the eight matchups from this past weekend’s Game Ones were won by the road team. And one of them was the Miami He...
Hey NBA— stop allowing players to 'defend' with bogus charge calls
I was born decades after the Great Depression, so I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. James Naismith. I know that he wanted a game without contact but to make an honest attempt at that goal, players on defense should not be allowed to slide in front of players on offense whose feet are at most o...
Russell Westbrook — flaws and all — was crucial in the Clippers’ Game 1 victory
For those who may be too young to remember Russell Westbrook’s best work, show them from the 1:08 mark in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Clippers 115-110, 2023 Game 1 playoff victory against the Phoenix Suns, to when the clock stops at 10.1 seconds....
Finding the NBA playoff X factors
The NBA playoffs are where superstars can add to — or subtract from — their legacies. They may come up clutch, or absolutely choke under the spotlight. The same goes for coaches. But there are always subplots around certain youngsters, role players, and unknowns who can make a name for themselves. T...
Isn’t it ironic, don’t you tank?
The Dallas Mavericks went from the Western Conference Finals to being fined for punting on the postseason in less than a year. As a result of a decision to sit key guys and play Luka Dončić only a quarter in essentially an elimination game against the Chicago Bulls on April 7, Mark Cuban’s pockets a...
How can you get credit for games served when you’re not in the NBA?
The NBA on Friday announced that Charlotte Hornets restricted free agent forward Miles Bridges — who pleaded no contest to a felony count of injuring a child’s parent in exchange for three years probation and no jail time after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in front of their two children — wil...
A sale isn't enough — Dan Snyder needs to face the consequences of his actions
Washington football fans are rejoicing this week as two bids for the Commanders have reportedly come in that would shoot Dan Snyder into the strata of the atmosphere occupied by Donald Sterling, Robert Sarver, and other discarded ex-owners of professional sports franchises. Let’s call it Irrelevancy...
How every NFL team should draft, but won't because GMs are dumb
The NFL Draft is arguably the second-biggest event on the league calendar behind the Super Bowl. Every team participates and shapes its roster for the next season. And every franchise will go into the month of May thinking it has made the right moves to get closer to a championship. But of course, o...
These NFL players have the best nicknames
Sweetness. The Refrigerator. Broadway Joe. Over the years, the NFL has seen some great players step onto the field, and some of them have garnered nicknames that fit them to a tee. A good or great nickname should explain something about the person it’s attached to. Something about their personality,...
Which is more impressive: Tampa Bay's win streak or Jordan Walker’s hit streak?
The best team in baseball has one of the hottest hitters of this young season, but there’s a young hot hitter also on his own 12-game streak, so I thought it’d be fun to debate over whose accomplishment is more impressive: The Tampa Bay Rays’ 12-game winning streak, or St. Louis Cardinals rookie Jor...
Jeff Hardy and Darby Allin blur the lines for AEW, but not in a good way
The idea that the wrestling world and the real world are separate entities has generally been urinated on in recent times. With wrestlers and companies using social media to forward storylines and feuds, as well as the “dirt sheets” moving into their own industry with fans gobbling up whatever backs...
A team should reach for Bijan Robinson in the NFL Draft
No position in the NFL has more turnover than running back. Most teams have switched to a by-committee approach rather than one superstar. And even the 49ers have suitable backups to Christian McCaffrey. With the NFL Draft two weeks away, former Texas standout Bijan Robinson will be the first tailba...
Realistically, how many concussions should Tony Stark have?
It’s time for another rousing rendition of: Does. the NFL. Care?! America’s favorite game show where we rate how much the Shield protects its players. Today’s question centers around a shiny new helmet “designed to reduce QB concussions.” The NFL and NFLPA approved the use of the Zero2 Matrix QB hel...
The good, the bad, and everything in between of Bryce Young
Stop the presses if you’ve heard this one before, but Bryce Young is building a reputation as one of the more polarizing quarterbacks to ever hit the draft process. Blessed with creativity akin to Salvador Dali, Young can work wonders on a football field, but his diminutive size and frame are anomal...
DeMar DeRozan’s daughter drop-kicked basketball analytics
Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill said in Goodfellas that your killers “come with smiles.” The Toronto Raptors’ killer was a nine-year-old girl who surely arrived at Scotiabank Arena with a smile on her face, because her father allowed her to miss school. Once the game began though, Diar DeRozan was more rele...