spl Page 238 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Life without Tom Brady: For the first time since 1999, here are all the things we (thankfully) never have to think about again
As far as we can tell, Tom Brady is retired from the NFL. That doesn’t mean he definitely won’t change his mind once Week 1 is underway and Brady is sitting at home, asking people if they think he can throw a football over them there mountains, or whatever. He’s kinda sorta retired before, only to c...

Why have there been so many WNBA broadcasting blunders this season?
Broadcasters in the 2023 WNBA season are mostly pronouncing players’ names right. Considering the frequency with which on-air talent mispronounced players’ names (or misnamed players) in recent years, this is a triumph....

NIL and the reckoning of college athletics
When you give someone an inch to placate their desire for a mile, don’t be surprised when they still ask for a mile. For college football players and other student-athletes, name, image, and likeness deals were not the final step in fixing the flawed system that is college athletics, but rather a fi...

Dennis Schröder wasn’t having any of his FIBA World Cup coach's foolishness
Most NBA players see it as an honor to represent their country in the FIBA World Cup, especially those from outside the United States. These players usually won’t pass up the opportunity to play for the bragging rights of becoming “real” world champions. But like most players today, the old way of c...

Team USA’s lack of size was exploited in men's World Cup loss to Lithuania
The United States Senior Men’s Basketball Team got its feelings hurt on Sunday. In the final game of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Group Stage, they suffered their first international defeat of 2023 with a 110-104 loss to Lithuania....

CM Punk and Tony Khan took a molehill and made it Three Mile Island
It’s hard to know which aspect of AEW firing CM Punk yesterday is more frustrating: How much both sides left on the table, or how easily it would have been for them to solve whatever the problems were so long ago. ...

Skip Bayless’ new <em>Undisputed</em> bombs in Week 1
Week 1 of the new and “improved” Undisputed with Skip Bayless on FS1 proved to be anything but an improvement, according to most. The numbers don’t lie either, as the season debut last Monday peaked at 131,000 viewers and has only gotten worse from there. By day three on Wednesday, Undisputed was ch...

Saturday's 'Coach Prime' coverage was off the charts
Now that it’s evident Deion Sanders and Colorado are unavoidable, there needs to be some parameters in place. The Buffs upset No. 17 TCU, 45-42, on Saturday in a thrilling game regardless of what you think about Coach Prime....

CM Punk fired from AEW after altercation with Jack Perry
CM Punk has been fired by All Elite Wrestling. The 44-year-old wrestler allegedly got into a backstage altercation with Jack Perry before AEW’s All In pay-per-view in London on Sunday, and was subsequently suspended before his dismissal....

Ronald Acuña and Aaron Judge made history, but which feat is more impressive?
Arbitrary arguments are as much a part of baseball as spit and crotch scratching, so in the spirit of lazy September standings, here’s one between two of the biggest names in the league. Which accomplishment is more impressive: Ronald Acuña Jr’s 30 home run-60 stolen base club, or Aaron Judge reachi...

If you’re not watching Coco Gauff, you’ve got Spectrum
After a week of US Open coverage, two things are apparent: You need to see Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz in person to really appreciate them, and for some tennis fans, that might be the only option. A carriage dispute between Charter Communications and Disney led to the Mouse pulling all its channel...

The ACC is the least powerful Power 4 Conference — even with Cal, Stanford, SMU
It’s better to be proactive than reactive, right? Unless you consider what the Atlantic Coast Conference is already doing to be reactive, scraping up the leftovers from the Pac-12 Conference instead of having enough power in the college athletics landscape to attract more lucrative schools of their ...

How much is Travis Kelce worth if TJ Hockenson can get $17M annually?
TJ Hockenson’s new contract makes him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end. The former Detroit Lion — who last year was traded to NFC North division rival Minnesota mid-season — will earn $17.125 million per year after receiving more targets, hauling in more receptions, and gaining more yards than only ...

Saudi money putting an expiration date on soccer stars’ charisma
There’s a weird gray area for soccer stars after they turn 30. They’re still good, maybe not great, yet are so established that they command larger sums of money than a younger player or two who is not yet a household name and could Moneyball their teams the same production. In past instances, those...

From Northwestern to San Diego, college football hazing isn’t going away
From the billion-dollar Big Ten to the “mighty” Pioneer Football League, hazing is allegedly alive and well in college football....

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Luis Rubiales, John Angelos, and the elusive White Sox park shooter
Welcome once again to the latest edition of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, where we rant insanely about people we don’t like! Up yours, woke moralists!...

Julie Ertz, the USWNT’s most irreplaceable player, retires
I’m a sucker for a midfielder. Especially one like Julie Ertz. It’s not that I played there or anything. It’s just something about a player who sees all the angles on both sides of the ball before being anywhere near it that gets me, I think. Xabi Alonso is my favorite Liverpool player of all time. ...

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gets blunt on Pat Bev Podcast
Say what you will about Dallas Mavericks governor (team owner) Mark Cuban. One thing you’ll never be able to say is that he doesn’t speak his mind. Cuban’s been keeping it a buck in NBA circles for almost a quarter century and shows no signs of slowing down. Recently, Cuban sat down on former NBA de...

Houston is getting the Oilers back ... for a day, at least
Unfortunately, there is no reason for the Houston Cougars to have an oil derrick on their helmet and trademark law wouldn’t permit it anyway. Still, the nostalgia was clear as a cloudless blue sky as the program elected to don the old Houston Oilers colors for its first game as a member of the Big 1...
