sam Page 25 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
It was hard not to get a little giddy about the USMNT
Being a USMNT fan usually involves seeing things that aren’t there, or at least things that could be there but aren’t yet. It’s usually what the team could develop into, or dreaming about flashes being carried over into a full 90 minutes one day, or when an injured player or two returns or makes his...
El Tri comes through in all its embarrassing, pathetic glory on an interesting night for the USMNT
US-Mexico games that count for something, even the CONCACAF Nations League, usually are more than just a result. They are a comment on where each program is at that moment, and most of the time where each is heading. Thursday night’s semifinal may have been the most definitive statement on both, inc...
Gregg Berhalter is pretty sure he’s getting the USMNT job back
There is something so very U.S. Soccer about taking nine months in their search for a new USMNT manager, going through two interim managers because the first one didn’t want to wait around and took a full-time job in the Middle East, and then ending up back where they started by re-hiring the guy th...
The least Rob Manfred could do is leave the Athletics name in Oakland
I don’t like to be fatalist, or wave a white flag to unchecked capitalism. I want to believe, at some point, that the fans’ voice matters. That the runaway chase for profits and growth that ignores and bulldozes everything around it eventually crashes into a wall. And certainly, Oakland A’s fans’ vo...
The NHL Playoffs have turned players from heroic to selfish
It’s now an NHL playoffs tradition right up there with the handshake line. Right after a team is eliminated, usually starting with the second round, and beyond, the losing team’s coach or beat reporters or both will start to announce what injuries various players had been carrying throughout the spr...
The Oakland A's can't draw fans, yet get stadium deal hinged on attendance approved
It won’t be that much of a shock that the Oakland A’s were able to wait out the Nevada State Senate and get approval for their grift of a stadium deal. It still has to go through the House, but we know how politicians like to roll over on these things no matter what their constituents think. As Geor...
Here we go with this Kylian Mbappe nonsense again
Some transfer/trade/free agency stories go on for years, which is what it appears Kylian Mbappe is intent on creating. We all knew about LeBron James’s first free agency three years beforehand as ESPN turned it into its own Odyssey. And his second one a couple years before. Kevin Durant’s next desti...
The Rockets are the NBA’s most ambitious offseason franchise
After the Denver Nuggets championship parade, it will be the Rockets time to shine. The Houston Rockets’ ‘Light the fuse” mantra has encapsulated their offseason machinations since Jalen Green’s bold IG Live set the tone for the summer by vowing to reach the postseason in 2024. That’s easier said th...
Meet Jimmy Butler, the NBA’s Neymar
They go about it in opposite ways, but Neymar and Jimmy Butler end in the same place. They’re both very good to great players. They’re billed as epicenters. It’s just as important, if not more so, that they’re seen as THE guys than just being them. Neymar goes about it with flash and showmanship, wh...
The Commanders haven’t had an 11-win season since 1991. Will the longest streak in the NFL end?
It’s been so damn long since the now-Washington Commanders have won 11 games in a regular season. The year was 1991, the same campaign that represents the franchise’s last trip beyond the divisional playoffs and the then-Redskins’ most recent Super Bowl victory. As the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bul...
Don’t worry folks, the St. Louis Cardinals still suck
We’ll get the “motherfuck” possibilities out of the way at the top, and perhaps immediately speaking to them will hold them off for a little while longer. But they will happen. 1. The NL Central is complete clown-shoes, and no matter how bad the St. Louis Cardinals play they’ll never be out of it. 2...
Tomorrow is going to have to wait on Novak Djokovic
Eras don’t end on schedules. There wasn’t an assigned time when Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal exited the royal hall of the ATP Tour, it was just sort of a nebulous “time.” Federer’s knee eventually gave out, it might be that Nadal’s hip has done so as well. It would appear that Novak Djokovic is not...
Manchester City are so good they can survive a Pep Guardiola brain freeze
The joke had become the only hold for any non-Manchester City fan out there. The joke was that Pep Guardiola would always out-Pep himself in the Champions League, and find a new, and creative way to blow it for a team that probably should have won the trophy a while ago. The joke was certainly based...
Donald Trump taking away Miami's spotlight like OJ's Bronco chase
June is typically the unofficial end of the sports calendar and a month-long sporting season finale. Once the calendar flips to late July, MLB’s All-Star festivities, intermittent tennis Grand Slams, and international football competitions are the major scheduled events to keep us going until the NF...
EA’s new NCAA College Football video game is already outdated
The two groups most often on the losing side of college athletics’ neverending lust for revenue are its unpaid workforce and the fans. The latest example is the alleged payout system, or lack thereof, for those who opt-in for the rebirth of the NCAA College Football video game franchise. Reports hav...
The Florida Panthers get their sharp ends back
Most want to attribute some kind of special potion or Cornwallis-like strategy cooked up by coach Paul Maurice and GM Bill Zito to explain the Florida Panthers’ success. After all, there has to be something mystical that got the lowest-seeded team to the Stanley Cup Final. But it isn’t that hard. Ma...
Lionel Messi is the only person who can move tickets like Taylor Swift
This article is a veritable dream for those enslaved (or in love) with SEO-driven content. Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi in the same headline? If I could fold in the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Yankees, and Dallas Cowboys, I’d be up for a $10 Starbucks gift card. While I’m not ruling that out — I n...
What Lionel Messi coming to MLS means — and what it doesn’t
MLS, arguably, have already gotten what they wanted from the signing of Lionel Messi. They were in the headlines the past couple days, a place the league has struggled to stay in. It is something, for the league, that ESPN.com has a Messi headline right next to a headline about Liverpool signing Ale...
Why is it 'Playoff Jimmy' and not 'Playoff Jokic?'
How many triple-doubles do you have to pile up before you get your own playoff persona? When do the pundits start referring to “Playoff Jokic?” to differentiate Nikola Jokic from what goes on October-April? One would hope that Jokic is close to it by now, seeing as how he racked up his 13th out of ...