si Page 180 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
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 NFL and NBA players associations are taking questionable leadership routes
The first collective bargaining agreement in the history of professional sports was signed by the MLB and MLBPA in 1966. At that time the executive director of the MLBPA was the late Marvin Miller, formerly a union negotiator for workers of U.S. Steel. His fierce advocacy for labor rights is largely...
Simone Biles' return to competition needs to be applauded before her first routine begins
The GOAT is back. The best to ever appear on the floor, beam, vault, and uneven bars is returning to competition after nearly two years away from gymnastics. Simone Biles last competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was of course delayed a year because of the pandemic. Her return to the sport in...
Stop hating on the NCAA for being spineless
Criticizing the NCAA is the lowest of low-hanging fruit. You can essentially pick the apples up off the ground, and have a roiling take. The latest punishments, or lack thereof, handed down to LSU football and men’s basketball last week were predictably lax and anything but a hindrance for schools t...
We have a new Michael Jordan gambling-related conspiracy theory
Michael Jordan’s sale of his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin prompted a new strain of conspiracy theories pertaining to the relationship between MJ’s purported half-billion dollars in stock losses due to the GameStop meme-stock short squeeze in January ...
Connor Bedard’s impending Chicago arrival needs the proper context before it’s overhyped
It’s Connor Bedard Day. The long-sought-after Canadian is more popular than Justin Trudeau (although I’m not exactly sure how high of a bar that is these days) will be selected No. 1 overall by the Blackhawks during tonight’s NHL Entry Draft. Any other move from Chicago with the top overall selectio...
NHL Draft: Who is going to take hockey's Sidd Finch?
The NHL Draft, which takes place tonight and tomorrow, isn’t quite the NFL Draft. Most of the players taken won’t show up for a season or two with their NHL teams. It’s also not the MLB draft, where it’ll be a long time either and everyone spends those middle years going off Twitter videos from vari...
DeAndre Hopkins is the latest pass catcher Bill Belichick wants from the department store
Once again, Bill Belichick is shopping for No. 1 wide receivers at Ross. Which is not to say that it’s impossible to find good clothing there. Customers simply have to be willing to pour through the racks and try on a lot of clothing— especially tops — if they want to find a Randy Moss at 60 percent...
The Angels need to do everyone a favor and free Shohei Ohtani
I’m probably the last person to discover that Shohei Ohtani is a Skrull. How else can anyone explain the Angels’ shapeshifting MVP? He’s simultaneously leading the league in smashing balls into orbit and the next he’s striking out batters at a more prolific pace than all but three pitchers while kee...
Sandro Tonali’s transfer from AC Milan to Newcastle demonstrates the heartlessness of it all
The real goals of “sportswashing” may not be things that apply to the plebes like you and me. If Middle Eastern regimes wish to burnish their image simply by buying European soccer clubs (and maybe soon American sports clubs, too) and turning them into world powers, it seemingly has only heightened ...
Damian Lillard’s tune appears to have changed since April
I’ve heard that the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous. Waking up every morning with a spectacular view can do wonders for self-esteem. Maybe the view of the luscious greenery surrounding whatever palatial estate that $40 million per year can buy in the Portland area, makes it difficult for Damian Lillar...
NewCo is a perfect nondescript moniker for the PGA Tour-LIV partnership
If you were looking for evidence of the PGA Tour’s reluctance to partner with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, just take a gander at the new name of the proposed new company. May I present to you: NewCo. It’s as if one, if not all sides, said “Let’s get this over” before hashing out the deta...
The off-putting history of Spencer Strider, and the incredible weirdness of the NHL Awards
I won’t pretend what follows makes any sense. It is simply a matter of taste, and my tastes have warped and mutated often into a territory I can no longer explain. If you’re an Atlanta baseball fan, Spencer Strider is a titan walking among men. Cobb County probably has dubbed it “Strider Day,” a gam...
The lazy man’s guide to Victor Wembanyama slander
If I have to hear one more TV, personality, or Twitter bird squawking about the NBA’s top draft pick, Victor Wembanyama, missing a couple of perfunctory jumpers between photo shoots, I am going to throw myself in front of Shaq next time he barrels toward Inside the NBA’s video board....
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...
MLB, NHL vying to see which league can botch Pride representation more
If you put NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a maze, which one finds the cheese the quickest? In recent weeks, both rat overlords of their sports have taken stances — veiled or otherwise — against Pride in order to “protect their players.”...
Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada might be AEW’s biggest dream yet
At its heart, AEW’s working ethos has always been to give fans what they want. What that means, most of the time, is to put on matches that seemed impossible before, or that their fans have been hoping to see one day. Whatever the hiccups at times, whatever the drama, whatever the long way around th...
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....
Victor Wembanyama won't be NBA Rookie of the Year
Every betting site has Victor Wembanyama installed as the runaway favorite to earn Rookie of the Year. In case you want to start engraving Victor Wembanyama’s name on the award already, take a moment to consider this. Rookie of the Year hasn’t always gone to the incandescent talent from every draft ...