rip Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

What’s that thing about getting exactly what you want?
It was a familiar refrain, somewhere around 2016 or 2017, when the Black N’ Gold version of NXT was arguably at its zenith, and arguably the best wrestling going on the planet at that moment. Any fan would watch yet another banger of an NXT Takeover and think, “Man, when Hunter (Triple H) takes over...

MLB trade deadline candidates — Arms
Don’t expect the fever dream that was last year’s deadline (Aug. 2), but there are still some impact pitchers who could be on the move....

Stubbornness and health — that’s all Russell Westbrook has left
Short guards are notorious for aging poorly in the NBA. When quickness is your best asset, losing a step can be fatal. Only the craftiest players — think Jason Kidd, or Chris Paul — can remain effective. Whether it’s changing their playing style, using so many defensive tricks it borders on dirty pl...

Not surprisingly, there’s more to the whole Vince McMahon sex scandal
Vince McMahon’s road back to his seat as World Wrestling Entertainment’s chairman and CEO just got a lot more treacherous thanks to more allegations of hush payments, ballooning the total doled out to more than $12 million over the last two decades. Those large alleged transactions were to cover all...

Corey Perry is the curse we’d all hoped he’d be
We, as fans, almost never get one over on the villains in our various sports. Of course, they’re out there, we’re up here, so the natural dynamic of the whole relationship is that we’re losers. That’s understood....

The 2022 NBA Draft’s top five picks felt like a sidekick draft
The 2022 NBA Draft’s starting lineup is exactly what we thought it would be with a zesty twist.Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Jaden Ivey, and Keegan Murray flew off the shelf to kick off the evening. After reports emerged earlier in the day that the Orlando Magic were sinking their hoo...

The most exhausted pro athletes are…
The funny thing about sportswriters complaining about how a professional season is too long is if you ask a person if they’re overworked, how many are going to say no? Any amount of work is too much. Interview me after a long shift or following a session with a therapist, and I’m ready to chase get ...

If 'We Own This City' was any indication, Baltimoreans still very much love the Orioles
During a recent vacation, I binged HBO’s We Own This City, which plays out like an epilogue to The Wire. I could go into the plot points and actor Jon Bernthal’s exquisite performance as corrupt supercop Wayne Jenkins, but all you really need to know, as it pertains to this piece is, god damn, the O...

C’mon give Jayson Tatum a break
The internet strikes again. Well, Twitter, to be exact....

Get the Mayflower moving vans ready, Baltimore isn’t a Major League town anymore
Nobody wants to hear it....

It’s time for the yearly symposium on whether this is finally it for the Penguins
This is yet another distasteful side effect of the NHL’s salary cap. Fans and observers of a certain team, especially a successful one, have to start judging just how much sand is left in the hourglass. They have to weigh the age of the best players, salaries of those players, when contracts run out...

So Derby winner Rich Strike was a heart-warming story for less than a week
I wish Vegas would’ve given the public odds on how long Rich Strike’s feel-good story remained feel-good. While it didn’t take a turn to Cancel Town in the first 15 minutes after the race, it did get there during trainer Eric Reed’s 15 minutes of fame, so my unders bet would’ve hit....

80-1 shot Rich Strike wins Kentucky Derby
Rich Strike wasn’t in the Kentucky Derby field when head trainer Eric Reid woke up Friday morning. After a late scratch to Ethereal Road, a spot opened up for a 21st horse in the 20-thoroughbred field. And one of the longest shots in the field at 80-1 at post time just won the 148th Kentucky Derby....

Is there any real relationship between NFL Combine performance and long-term success?
Every year around this time, football fans get bombarded with numbers, scores, and facts about a player’s athleticism based on their combine drills. “This guy ran a sub 4.6 40!” “Did you see so and so’s vertical?” “Joey Donuts over there has enormous hands!” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Too often t...

2022 NFL Draft: Most Likely To...
We’re only one week away from the 2022 NFL Draft. Combine measurements have been made, interviews have been conducted, Pro Day workouts have been observed — all that’s left now is to see how the next generation of stars shakes out over the league on Draft Day....

At least know why you’re voting for Patrice Bergeron for Selke
It’s an unwritten law in the NHL. If Patrice Bergeron is upright, averagely ambulatory, and plays more than 50 games, he’s going to win the Selke Trophy for the league’s best defensive forward. And it’s not easy to argue against this, as Bergeron has been the league’s smartest player for a decade or...

It’s math time with Chris Pronger boys and girls!
As one of my editors pointed out yesterday, maybe we should just be relieved that Chris Pronger can type at all given how his career was ended. That’s generally the hope for any hockey player, as forlorn as it may be. And perhaps Pronger was trying to do the right thing and illustrate how so many fo...

Just shorten the season, Chumley
One of the headlines coming out of the NBA yesterday was Adam Silver’s lament that the league’s star players don’t actually dress for enough games during the regular season. This has been a grievance lodged by the media and fans for a while now, ever since the term “load management” entered the lexi...

Beware the Prospect Perverts
As another baseball season is about to descend upon us, there’s a scourge you must be aware of that is partially responsible for the state of MLB today. While the CBA was a small step toward progress, we still are dealing with far too many teams diving for the bottom without worrying about the water...

WrestleMania Night 2 Preview
We move on to Night 2 of the Showcase Of The Immortals… or in this case, Johnny Knoxville. Who I guess is immortal in his own way. The second night looks to be decidedly weaker than the first, which is saying something, but the main event could and should be enough to justify the whole night. Let’s ...