russ Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

10 NFL players, team units everyone thinks will be bad this season, but won't be
Assumptions can be a dangerous thing. Take the preseason conversation surrounding Tua Tagovailoa last season. There were signs that the Miami Dolphins’ third-year quarterback was about to make a quantum leap, but he was mostly ignored in lieu of cheapshots at his arm strength. The same is true for 2...

OK, but what if Spain winning the World Cup is actually a good thing?
If you bounce around the non-Spain or England-based internet, you may find that this World Cup Final is a Final no one wanted. Australia would have been more exciting given the noise that would have accompanied them. One of the real upstarts like Colombia would have been a real story. USWNT fans don...

Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, and the NFL players facing a make-or-break year
One thing we love about the NFL is all the storylines that carry over from one season to the next and those that are created during the offseason. Whether we’re asking if this is the year Dak Prescott finally gets Dallas over the hump or if Jordan Love has what it takes to make Green Bay forget abou...

10 NFL teams everyone thinks will be good this season, but won't be
Every team had a great offseason. All those gaping, even-the-blind-can-see problems your favorite team had no longer exist. Here’s where a path to greatness starts. Of course for most, that won’t be true. The heavy hitters didn’t go away and until your favorite players get hit in the mouth, all the ...

World Cup Day 21: This tournament will be remembered for how far the women’s game has come
We have our final four. When you get this deep into a tournament, anyone who’s not seen as chalk has done something grand, like Morocco’s men’s team last year and Colombia’s women’s team would’ve been this year. The South Americans entered as the lone surprise to make the quarterfinals. They benefit...

Kenyan Middleton told his truth about the White Sox, and suddenly his name was off the scoreboard
Keynan Middleton gave his opinion about his time with the Chicago White Sox. He told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers that he felt the organization lacked discipline and personal accountability. His stories about players napping in the dugout and missing practice sessions were corroborated by teammates. Now a me...

World Cup Day 18: And then, sometimes, you just win
If the previous day’s lesson, at least for the USWNT, was that soccer sometimes just decides you’re going to lose because that’s what it wants, then the current European champions England showed that sometimes you just win, even when all logic dictates that you shouldn’t. Who knows what’s left on th...

This is what an Ohio pro sports renaissance looks like: Joe Burrow carted off the field
At some point on Thursday, before seeing the news that Joe Burrow was carted off the practice field, I was running over some story ideas in my head as one does in late July when very few sports are in season. The half-baked concept I was playing around with was: Are we in the middle of an Ohio pro s...

Denver Broncos' HC Sean Payton hates on Hack, New York Jets
Sean Payton knows a little something about reclamation projects. Nearly two decades after he rescued Drew Brees’ career following a torn labrum in the QB’s throwing shoulder, Payton has turned his attention to the revitalization of Russell Wilson. Like Brees, Wilson is an undersized passer, who thri...

Gifting Broncos fans with tickets is a good way for Russell Wilson to get back on the city’s good side
The 2022 NFL season was a forgettable one for Denver Broncos fans and one they’d love to tuck away and pretend never happened. Most of the blame for last year fell on the offense under one-year blunder, Nathaniel Hackett, who got the ax last December. Denver got rid of Hackett, but the other part of...

You have to marvel at the wretchedness of the Chicago White Sox
There are certainly a host of disappointing teams in MLB this year. More so than usual it feels like, with the Mets, Padres, and Cardinals face down in a muck they never considered being in back in the spring. You can throw the Mariners on there if you’re feeling truly dispirited and want to take it...

Russell Wilson attends Tyler Lockett’s wedding, proves charisma not totally gone
Russell Wilson is back in the good graces of his teammates — at least a couple of them. The longtime Seattle Seahawks quarterback attended the wedding of past No. 1 receiver Tyler Lockett. There’s even photographic evidence of the party so Wilson now has proof of affability when he gets back to Denv...

World Cup Group D Preview: Can England complete the set?
The question in all sports has been that once you break through and win, does winning again become easier? Is the mental block gone? Or does the pressure simply build even more, as triumphs go from hoped for to expected? This is only one of the few things that England will be wrestling with at the W...

Saquon Barkley’s only option is to threaten to end the Giants’ season before it starts
A big second contract for an NFL running back is a rarity. Derrick Henry shared carries during his first three seasons as a pro, following his nearly 400-carry junior season at Alabama. In Year 4 he became the best running back in the NFL and received a new 4-year contract in 2020. Saqon Barkley has...

Dan Le Batard was right — ‘Embrace Debate’ has destroyed sports television
Too much of anything is bad for you. Excessive amounts can be catastrophic. Dan Le Batard hinted at this a few months ago. And after the reported cancellation of Bomani Jones’ Game Theory on HBO, it’s become quite clear — “embrace debate” killed sports television shows. ...

Damian Lillard and James Harden need to exchange travel plans
The two superstars residing on the NBA’s bustling trade block have their bags packed. Damian Lillard has been hinting at Miami as his preference for weeks while the mutual interest between Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers is hard not to notice. Check back in a year and Harden may change his mind ...

Lakers have their sights set on key Nuggets role player
Free agency and the drama surrounding it in the NBA officially begins Friday at 6 pm EST. We’ve already heard of some of the trades set in motion and rumors about certain free agents and where they might end up, but June 30 is when the frenzy really jumps off. The Los Angeles Lakers will be in the s...

The Reggie Evans Bad Basketball Basketball Hall of Fame 2023 inductees
Studies have shown that negative news garners more of the public’s attention than positive news, so with that knowledge, I propose an alternative to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame has the prestige, but it doesn’t generate as much conversation as Twitter ramblings f...

First-round NBA Draft grades on a pass/fail system
If you’re like most underachievers and procrastinators, the letter grade doesn’t matter as long as you pass. I’ve lived most of my life by the mantra that “C’s are for degrees” and look where it’s gotten me: Writing about sports for living, and passing judgment upon others without retaliation....

A chaotic NBA season punctuated by a chaotic championship finish
The perfection of basketball offense. The shooting is too great. There is no way to defend the entire floor. The 3-point shot has ruined basketball. The Denver Nuggets had one of the greatest statistical offenses in NBA history during the 2022-23 NBA regular season, and defeated the Miami Heat in Ga...