smith Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
‘Ambassador’ Karl Malone, bumbling Knicks, and more forgettable moments from All-Star Saturday Night
All-Star Saturday has always had cookout vibes, and McClung earned another invite for next year. But someone had to bring the unseasoned cole slaw. Karl Malone’s presence as an ambassador and a judge who got entirely too many nods from the NBA and the broadcast made things way too awkward. Malone — ...
2023 NBA Anti-All-Stars: The dregs of the East
The NBA All-Star Game is an honor bestowed upon the most distinguished hoopers every season. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing here. Their time will come. However, the NBA’s worst rotation players deserve to receive their dead flowers too. Stare into this dark void with me and commemorate t...
Jim Caldwell having to work under Frank Reich is a slap in the face
The Carolina Panthers — who are owned by a man who claims to be trying to end the “old boys network” within the NFL despite hiring a white head coach over a qualified Black one — have a new coaching staff that’s led by the trio of Frank Reich, Dom Capers, and Jim Caldwell. The hierarchy in Carolina ...
Chad Henne’s retirement should be bigger news — the Chiefs now need a reliable backup
He’s a Michigan legend and was clutch whenever the Chiefs needed him. On Sunday night, after the conclusion of Super Bowl LVII, Kansas City backup quarterback Chad Henne called it a career, announcing that he was hanging up his cleats after collecting his second ring. It’s understandable why retirem...
Travis Kelce was Chiefs' top pass catcher, but without JuJu Smith-Schuster they don’t win the Super Bowl
Juju Smith-Schuster did not enter the NFL with the goal of being a role player. His sophomore season at Southern California, he hauled in 89 passes for 1,454 yards and 10 touchdowns on a disappointing 8-6 team. The next season, the Trojans went 10-3 and won the Rose Bowl. His yards and receptions to...
Super Bowl LVII refs put on a show nobody asked for
Don’t ask me how many yards or touchdowns Jalen Hurts ran for or how many yards Patrick Mahomes threw for. The officiating crew for Super Bowl LVII put on one of the all-time great “I’m Him” collective performances in league history on Sunday night. Their profound impact on the game was felt for all...
The NFL will not leave Pat Tillman alone
The NFL being an official advertising wing of the US military is nothing new. From the war terms applied to the game itself by analysts and commentators, to the official camo swag, to Gronk advertising insurance only for military members and their families, the two have been arm in arm for decades. ...
Kansas City Chiefs need Patrick Mahomes to be legacy-defining great to upset Philadelphia Eagles
Super Bowl LVII is almost here, and if you’re like any objective observer, you’ve been staring at this matchup on paper for so long that you’re second-, triple- and quadruple-guessing yourself. The line hasn’t budged at all since settling in at Eagles -1.5, and that should tell you one thing: Stick ...
Who's going to win Super Bowl 57 MVP?
As the lights are brightest, some step up and have truly unforgettable efforts. And some don’t, because they suck and that’s life. And one person from Super Bowl LVII will become the game’s MVP. The chances are high it’ll end up being one of the two starting quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen...
The New York Jets made history — and not the wrong kind for once
The NFL announced its end-of-the-season awards Thursday night, and the list of recipients was largely predictable. While every winner should be proud of the season they had, why stop the competition there? Each standout player and coach accomplished a lot, but who was the most impactful? When we loo...
Let's put an end to the NFL combine
This Super Bowl week has been a busy one. Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes have dominated storylines as they’ll be the game’s first two Black quarterbacks. The Kelce brothers — Jason of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis of the Kansas City Chiefs — are playing on opposite teams. Rihanna is performing...
Keep an eye on these 12 non-QB playmakers in Super Bowl LVII
Plenty of the attention during Super Bowl week will deservedly go to Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts. The pair of quarterbacks who led two of the best offenses in the NFL colliding in the biggest game of their lives. Due to how important the quarterback is to any team, the chances of Hurts and Mahom...
Of course the NHL makes teams wear St. Patrick’s Day jerseys
In the NHL’s current procession into the gutter, the New York Islanders were the latest to announce that they wouldn’t be using rainbow jerseys or stick tape for their Pride Night. While odious on the surface, digging a little deeper it gets…slightly less odious. The Islanders have never done so, th...
Passing pioneers: A list of the Black quarterbacks in Super Bowl history
Sixteen years after Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears faced off against Tony Dungy and his Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI, making history as the first two Black head coaches to reach that game, Jalen Hurts and his Philadelphia Eagles and Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are making hi...
57 facts you need to know about Super Bowl LVII
Super Bowl 57 is a smorgasbord of storylines and matchups. If you’re not careful you’ll miss one, two, or a dozen of them. With everything else on your plate, we’ve accumulated every vital piece of information that’s trailed the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs to Glendale, Ariz. If Arian ...
No, 'Bama fans, you don’t get to claim Jalen Hurts
We need a ruling on which campus gets to claim which player now that college players are transferring at a record rate. Is it where the player finishes his career? So much about being a college football fan is about measuring your program against everybody else, and one of the ways we do that is by ...
The best games on the NBA schedule the week of Feb. 6 — the NFL season is over, get used to it
Sunday is the season finale for NFL 2022. All that is left until post-Labor Day is free-agent signings, trades, the NFL Draft, and position battles in practice. Sure some of you are looking forward to the speculation, but that can’t possibly compare to seven hours of actual game action. For those of...
Was Dallas’ Kyrie Irving pickup a troll job, or do they actually expect results?
During a season in which league-wide parity has been the overarching theme, the drama-free Dallas Mavericks dove headfirst into unknown depths by acquiring team arsonist Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets. All it took was Dorian Finney-Smith, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, some second-round picks, ...
Kyrie Irving wanted out of Brooklyn, and he got his wish
Kyrie Irving got his wish, and the Dallas Mavericks became a much better offensive basketball team. The Athletic’s Shams Charania is reporting that the Brooklyn Nets are trading Irving to the Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a first-round pick, and a handful of second-rounders....
If David Tepper wanted to end the ‘old boys network’ he would have hired Steve Wilks
David Tepper is saying all the right things — he just isn’t doing them. The Carolina Panthers owner made waves this week when he insisted that he was doing his part in breaking up the NFL’s “old boys’ network” of wealthy white owners that seldomly hire Black people and minorities to positions of pow...