ric Page 286 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s been a rough year in Chicago, NFL award voters, give Bears fans a hug and give Roquan Smith some love
I don’t know if anyone knew this, but the 2021 season was a rough one for the Chicago Bears. They finished with their worst record since 2017. Of course playoff hopes being extinguished before the fire ever got to really burn will anger any fanbase, but it’s not like a double-digit loss season is un...

God help me, but I’m starting to hate Nick Saban less
Nick Saban has somehow made a remarkable transformation from one of the most hated men in American sports to a begrudgingly respected and liked — if perhaps not yet universally beloved — figure. How is it even possible to make that sort of shift while remaining the coach of a team that has kept on u...

Nick Saban and Kirby Smart are totally concerned about the little guy
The NIL contracts for “student-athletes” have been an overwhelming success, according to many people, including us. They give an unpaid workforce access to a revenue stream, make for great stories when used right, and end this ruse that college athletics should be an altruistic endeavor because kids...

Don Maynard, Hall-of-Fame Jet, dead at 86
Don Maynard, a wide receiver who played in two of professional football’s landmark games during his Hall of Fame career and son of Texas, died on January 10 at the age of 86....

Rookie Quarterback Rankings: Steady play wins the race
It’s Week 18, and we’ve made it to the end of the season, and so have our rookie quarterbacks. Now let’s look at how the 2021 rookie class finished out the year and the final ranking....

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: With Alabama and Georgia set to play in national championship game again, let's look back at the players from four years ago... then and now
It’s been four years since that classic national championship between Georgia and Alabama. A lot has changed in that full recruiting cycle since true freshman Tua Tagovailoa threw that 41-yard game-winning touchdown pass to true freshman DeVonta Smith in overtime after taking a 16-yard sack the prev...

Fed up NFL fanbases lash out at teams but will it be enough to induce major change?
Sports fanatics are a passionate and loyal bunch of people who tend to defend their teams’ honor to the point of exhaustion....

We didn’t even get four hours of optimism
I, and every other Bears fan, have become far too used to this Black Monday cycle. Third time in eight years, seventh time in my lifetime. And there’s supposed to be a routine to it. News of whichever dope your team is firing leaks in the morning. You then hear of a press conference scheduled later ...

Week 18 NFL Powerless Rankings: It's over
Welcome to this week’s NFL Powerless Rankings. It’s time to wrap up the season for the league’s most powerless. So, let’s check out the worst teams to close out the regular season in Week 18....

Week 18 Takeaways: This one day in the NFL in which every second truly mattered
That’s all folks. The sad moment of the year when Scott Hanson signs off and the final RedZone touchdown montage plays. You’re momentarily hypnotized by the best catches, throws, and runs of the day, and then one moment the Miami Dolphins are in a dogpile in the end zone, and the next Nicki Minaj’s ...

Kevin Garnett compared Steph Curry to Michael Jordan and the NBA universe almost exploded
Transcendent athletes are the rarest of birds. Blue-Eyed Golden Doves, if you will....

White coaches owned the NFL’s ‘Black Monday’ before it even started
Even when you’re twice – and sometimes three times – as good, it still doesn’t matter. Because in the NFL, owners would rather lose with someone that looks like them instead of winning with a Black head coach....

The Celtics need to wake up and move on from either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown
The Boston Celtics have one of the richest legacies in North American sports, but as of late, they have not been able to get over that hump to capture another NBA championship. In recent years, their two young stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have led them to multiple Eastern Conference Finals a...

Can Tuukka Rask play center?
It is cute, if not delicious, that Tuukka Rask’s imminent return to the Boston Bruins is being greeted as something of the cavalry arriving. Because Bruins fans (and media) have never hesitated to throw whatever available cutlery was around at Tuke Nuke ‘Em every spring because he wasn’t Tim Thomas,...

Week 18 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Unfortunately, the last week of the year has arrived. On a brighter note, the column has produced nine straight over/under victories, so technically, we’re actually seeking a sweep of the second half of the season in totals. Soak it in as we enter the historic first-ever “Week 18.”...
![Fire when ready, Broncos [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/06ce103a532ef6cdcee8875d9e305d70.jpg)
Fire when ready, Broncos [Updated]
Generally, when there’s talk about interest in hiring you as a coordinator before you’re even fired as a head coach, it’s a sign that you’re seen as a good football mind. It might even be a sign that the team you’re about to be fired from ought to rethink things. Clearly you’re in demand, and maybe ...

Teenage pitcher becomes first female to play professionally in Australia
Remember that show Pitch that aired on Fox in 2016? That show revolved around the question: “What if there was a female pitcher in Major League Baseball?” The show was canceled after one season despite tremendous reviews from critics and audiences alike with the detractors calling the show “cliché”....

Why is Todd Graham still coaching Hawaii football?
Todd Graham answers the question that absolutely no one was asking....

Coach of the Year should come down to two guys
Across all sports, the Coach of the Year Award has a misleading title. It’s not about who the best coach is; it’s about which team stunned the most people, or which team overcame the most adversity while staying near the top of the league. That’s what voters are really looking for. By that criteria,...

That’s a clown lawsuit, bro
The Jacksonville Jaguars were a joke long before this season. They’ve made the playoffs seven times in their 27-year history, and four of those were in the first five seasons of their existence. This season will be Jaguars’ fifth in the last six years in which they’ve finished last in the AFC South,...