smith Page 46 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Even with a promising QB, Matt Nagy could still screw this up for the Bears
When the Chicago Bears traded up in the first round of the NFL Draft and selected quarterback Justin Fields out of The Ohio State University, Chicagoland felt cautiously optimistic that maybe they finally found the franchise quarterback that has long eluded them....
Deadspin presents: Madden old GOAT/young GOAT combos
On Monday, the NFL posted a video teasing a forthcoming announcement in regards to their Madden 22 cover. The social media post suggests that the announcement will be shared at 10 a.m. Thursday. ...
Cool take: Four hours is too much baseball
Ryan Butcher started the 10th inning for the Diamondbacks in their game against the Angels on Friday night, with Jared Walsh serving as the courtesy runner at second base. But it was another of baseball’s unnecessary and irritating new rules that really wound up causing trouble for Arizona....
Nazem Kadri cost the Avs everything
Hockey is a truly vicious sport, in that the team that wins the Presidents’ Trophy — i.e. the team that is best over the largest sample size — rarely “justifies” that achievement in the playoffs. You have to go all the way back to the Hawks in 2013, another shortened season, to find a team that was ...
Ravens will take to the air
I’m going to keep talking about it until people start understanding what’s happening, because the clues just keep on coming: The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson are going to throw the football a lot more this year. ...
The Avalanche are granny shifting
It’s hard to think of a series the past few years that has been more anticipated than Avalanche-Golden Knights. Rarely do the two best teams in the NHL meet up before the third round, or more likely at all given the vagaries of hockey. But with the divisional setup this year, it was going to be hard...
The 10 coaches with the most wins in NCAA Tournament history — guess who's at the top?
Since we found out that Mike Krzyzewski was retiring after this upcoming season on Wednesday, the Duke head coach has been the lead story throughout the sports world. At the age of 74, the G.O.A.T. has decided to hang it up....
MLB doesn’t need a 'face of baseball,' and the proof is in the playoffs
Mike Trout has as many MVP awards as career playoff games played, with three, and for as much talk as there might be in baseball — even from the commissioner — about MLB’s need for the best player of his generation to take on the mantle of the face of the game, no amount of marketing can make up for...
Ja Morant’s mom won't attend Game 5 in Salt Lake City after harassment from racist fans
I know the overwhelming majority of NBA fans haven’t been throwing water bottles, or running onto the court, or spitting on players, ect. But the actions of a few Utah “fans” have caused Ja Morant’s mom to opt out of a complimentary offer to watch her son play on the road. For her, it’s just not wor...
This Memorial Day, let’s honor the real Pat Tillman
It’s Memorial Day, which means it’s time for the NFL and the right to start co-opting the life and death of Pat Tillman, a former safety for the Arizona Cardinals who passed on a $3.6 million deal to enlist in the Army after 9/11. Rarely mentioned is Tillman’s brother, Kevin, who left the Cleveland ...
Matt Nagy being on the hot seat in Chicago makes zero sense (to non-Bears fans)
When the Chicago Bears shocked the NFL world by trading up nine spots to select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields with the 11th overall pick, the entire football world applauded Chicago for such a great move. The lack of a consistent starting quarterback had been the biggest elephant on the Bears...
The Penguins tried to game the system and lost big
One of the many catchphrases that Eddie Olczyk has been trying to “fetch” for more than a decade is “Goaltending: If you don’t have it, you got no chance.” Like most of the things Eddie O says, it probably sounds way cooler and more clever in his head. It’s not a play on words, it doesn’t rhyme, it’...
NFL salary cap jacked up to over $208M per team — and here comes the spending blitz
The salary cap, like it or not, is not going anywhere. With the intention of giving all teams a level playing field in free agency, roster construction, and the ability to retain/acquire talent, it has become an ideology synonymous with American professional sports. I mean, it’s kinda bullshit, but ...
People are yelling about the Cowboys letting another player wear Tony Romo’s No. 9, because everything’s louder in Texas
Retiring jerseys is kinda a weird thing. Across all sports, each team has their own process. Some retire numbers liberally (ahem, ex-New York Yankees Nos. 1 through 10), and others have retired the numbers of seemingly unworthy players, like the Oklahoma City Thunder retiring… Nick Collison’s No. 4....
Maybe it’s about Connor Hellebuyck, not Connor McDavid
The reflex is to point and laugh at the Edmonton Oilers once again. It’s combined with frustration that the game’s best player is leashed to such a clown car of an organization, one of the most brilliant individual seasons going completely to waste. And if you’re a long-term hockey writer or analyst...
Blazers-Nuggets briefly bumped to ESPN2, still a far cry from tape-delayed 1981 Finals
The start of Trail Blazers-Nuggets was bumped to ESPN2 as Jose Ramírez and Josh Taylor fought for the undisputed junior welterweight title on ESPN, which is barely fathomable in 2021. Taylor won by unanimous decision, and ESPN switched over to the action in Denver with 6:40 left in the first quarter...
Position player pitching alert gone awry: Wilmer Difo ignominiously and historically lit up
Wilmer Difo has played second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions during his career with the Nationals and Pirates, and now he can add pitching to his resume....
Baseball America’s Top 50 names in college baseball is missing some Sharts and a Hug
Baseball America has ranked this year’s top 50 names in college baseball, and it’s a good list....
Stephen A. Smith and baseball, always an incredible combination
Just over a quarter of the way into the MLB season, it’s pretty safe to say that Shohei Ohtani has been insane. Ohtani currently leads Major League Baseball in home runs. He’s 3rd in slugging percentage, 15th in OPS, 18th in wOBA, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, he’s also been pretty damn good a...
Leave Kwame Brown alone
When you poke the bear, you best be ready for the consequences. And Kwame Brown is a 6-foot-11, 290-pound bear that was in hibernation until his rest was disturbed by two of his former teammates....