rte Page 33 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The USMNT's Gregg Berhalter saga just got weirder
As we covered this morning, yesterday a kind of strange story surrounding the USMNT’s Gregg Berhalter broke, because Berhalter got out in front of it. He released a statement claiming that someone had threatened to blackmail him over a domestic abuse situation from Berhatler’s teens, so the U.S. man...

Could Brock Purdy catapult past Trey Lance as the future in San Francisco?
The San Francisco 49ers have been cooking in ways Russell Wilson hasn’t experienced in years. Since starting the season 3-4, the Niners have reeled off nine wins in a row and have already clinched another NFC West title. Much of that winning streak has come with Brock Purdy leading the way under cen...

US Soccer continues to be helplessly weird
To suggest that US Soccer is a byzantine organization would be to suggest that they have any sort of rules and protocols in place. It rarely feels like they do, and sort of just make stuff up as they go, with mostly everyone screaming about protecting their phony baloney jobs. It’s how Gregg Berhalt...

Wait, Luka Dončić did what?
How long are the Mavs going to keep doing this? We’re 11 years removed from 2011 (almost 12), and the organization still has a franchise player surrounded with just enough talent to keep him from demanding a trade. If you missed it, Luka Dončić broke the Dallas record for points in a single game, po...

The James Harden and Houston Rockets reunion is a pie-in-the-sky dream
James Harden is a deeply unserious franchise cornerstone. However, in the midst of a pivotal, legacy-defining season for his career, Harden may be eyeing a return in free agency to the Rockets franchise he forced his way out of two years ago, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. ...

Stay away, Gronk
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that Rob Gronkowski is considering a return to the NFL. Gronkowski tweeted “I’m kinda bored,” on Dec. 21. According to Rapaport, a handful of teams reached out to him to see if he was serious. ...

One and done: NFL head coaches who only lasted a season or less at the helm
Not surprisingly, the Denver Broncos fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett after the team was embarrassed — AGAIN — in primetime. The Los Angeles Rams beat them 51-14, and Russell Wilson was once again dog shit. ...

Sports is sometimes disheartening as a profit-margin-focused enterprise, but it does produce some great stories
Yes, sports is like all other major American industries — run by a handful of people who made out like bandits in this economic system of great wealth disparity. Because they have accumulated such vast wealth, they believe that is a sign of intelligence and that hubris frequently leads to poor decis...

The New York Rangers have gone back to what worked, but kind of didn’t work, but they’re winning so screw you, New York numbah 1 baby
As the New York Rangers lurched and stumbled their way to the conference finals last year (two seven-game series to get there, and needing the Penguins to dress up the beer guy as a goalie to get by them. And a farting beer guy!), it was harder and harder to convince anyone that they were all smoke ...

And now back to the shitty side of international sports
It’s not that the World Cup on the field erased what we all know about the World Cup off the field. It is actually possible for something to be two things at once. Qatar got what it really wanted out of all this, which was a heaping pile of money the size of Kilimanjaro. Only they will know whether ...

Best in the West
The Golden State Warriors lost again last night. On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns dropped a game to the lowly Houston Rockets for the second time this month. Those two wins account for 22.2 percent of the Rockets’ victories this season....

The disastrous Russell Wilson still has more MVP bets than Patrick Mahomes... what?!
Russell Wilson has been arguably the biggest disappointment of the 2022 NFL season, and that’s saying a lot considering the Los Angeles Rams are fresh off a Super Bowl and currently hold a top-five draft pick. Wilson was brought to the Mile High City in exchange for a king’s ransom, but he was worth...

Which NBA title contender will Jae Crowder join?
Championship NBA teams have always revolved around star players, but the glue guys/role players make it possible for franchises to become title contenders. There are stars all over the Association, but only those with the best supporting casts can make deep runs into the postseason year after year. ...

So that’s why Gio Reyna didn’t play
Perhaps it’s a sign that the USMNT is moving into the big time that they hold their big controversies until after the tournament than before. We’ve been through Jürgen Klinsmann keeping Landon Donovan at home in 2014 simply to show everyone what a brain genius he was. Or John Harkes way back when. T...

What’s next for the USMNT?
You know it’s over when your star midfielder is showing up courtside at Miami Heat games. Or the rumors of contract talks with the manager are heating up, while he tries to gain leverage by whispering about European club jobs. Time to call for the Lyft officially....

Make the Heisman Trophy more than the 'Best QB' award it’s become
The Heisman Trophy has been college football’s most prestigious award since University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger was awarded the first stiff-armed prototype in 1935. Since then, Chicago has dumped its football program and the award has morphed into a Quarterback of the Year award. That lazin...

The Mets prove you don’t have to have holes if you don’t want to
The Mets don’t have to be unique. There are plenty of teams that wouldn’t have to use the departure of a player like Jacob deGrom as an excuse to declare it’s all over for them, that they’d have to find a new way, and to take a step back. You can get away with that if you’re the Astros and your mino...

Trae Young and Nate McMillan are surviving instead of thriving with each other
Here’s a multiple-choice essay question. You’ve got a blossoming superstar in Trae Young who has plateaued after some early career triumphs. Young is 24, played in a conference finals two seasons ago, but he’s also got a penchant for taking too many heat-check shots which are exhilarating to watch g...
