sports Page 213 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Shannon Sharpe, Memphis Grizzlies nearly scuffle at halftime: 'They didn't want this smoke'
The Memphis Grizzlies have always exuded extreme black Air Force energy. It’s one thing for their trash talk to agitate LeBron. However, their penchant for trash talk nearly approached Malice at the Palace levels on Friday night before halftime of a Friday night ESPN matchup against the Los Angeles ...

Will this year's MVP also win the Super Bowl?
Patrick Mahomes. Joe Burrow. Jalen Hurts. Josh Allen. One of these four quarterbacks has a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in 23 years — win the MVP and the Super Bowl in the same year....

It's not cheating if everyone's doing it, right?
With Divisional Weekend right around the corner, it’s easy for fans to look for any reason to believe their adversaries should be disqualified. What better way to advance than by default, am I right? Recently, Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott — and the entire Eagles’ special teams unit for th...

The 8 remaining NFL playoff teams ranked
We’re down to the final eight. No one would’ve picked some of the teams still playing to be here at the beginning of the season, while others were givens. Yet, all are three wins away from winning the Super Bowl. The defending champions never looked the part and the defending runners-up are still pa...

Jim Harbaugh just had a cookie, he doesn't need another one
There’s a difference between “working at the pleasure” of your alma mater and holding it hostage, and Jim Harbaugh is slowly creeping toward the latter. The University of Michigan coach made an overt pass at the Vikings opening a year ago at this time, and spent parts of this offseason chatting with...

Maybe Byron Leftwich should have taken that Jacksonville Jaguars' job
Not long ago, former NFL QB Byron Leftwich was a hot-shot coaching candidate du jour. Last offseason, the moribund Jacksonville Jaguars — the team that drafted him — in particular, were ready to go all in on Leftwich as their next head coach....

Brett Maher won't miss his kicks this Sunday
Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett “The Triple Threat” Maher was anything but automatic during PATs during last Monday’s Wild Card Round victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was the first Cowboys’ playoff road win since 1992, but Maher certainly didn’t help. He went 1-for-5 on PAT attempts, with zer...

’90s rules, agency wars, and other ideas for an NBA midseason tournament
I know I’m not the only one rolling my eyes at the NBA trying to come up with a midseason tournament format worthy of getting players to compete at the highest level. This is going to be like summer camp for teams once they’re eliminated, and if I was in the league, I’d think about throwing a contes...

There may be no saving Everton now
Perhaps the most damning thing you can say about Everton FC is that most fans probably didn’t know the Premier League had financial fair play rules. It is hard to remember any other club that has come within a mile of being in violation of these rules that no one knows, and seem pretty nebulous when...

NCAA to Congress: Stop us before we NIL again
The NCAA needs a reality check. This week the vanishingly relevant college athletics institution has once again asked Congress to help it stabilize the college sports system, but unless Hunter Biden is suiting up at linebacker for LSU next season, it’ll be hard to motivate the people in charge to fa...

Go your own Brey
Mike Brey’s 23rd season as Notre Dame’s head men’s basketball coach will be his last as he’ll reportedly step down at the end of this season. Brey is the winningest coach in Fighting Irish and had an overall record of 481-269 since moving to South Bend in 2000. Before coming to Notre Dame, Brey spen...

NFL Network graphic insinuating Brock Purdy is smarter than Dak Prescott is a bad look
I understand that the content must be constantly shoveled into the furnace known as the 24-hour news cycle. That’s a lot of wood to keep on fire, especially when dealing with live television. All of that being said, what NFL Total Access did in comparing Dak Prescott to Brock Purdy looked disrespect...

The Sports Nihilist: Anything but a Dallas-Philadelphia NFC title game
It’s odd how many NFL teams I hate despite not technically having an NFL team I root for. And I don’t feel like I’m in the minority on that either. Not the teamless fan part. The “I hate all of these teams” part. I refused to watch Patriots-Philadelphia Eagles and Patriots-Rams Round Two Super Bowls...

Andy Murray can’t help himself
Andy Murray must really love tennis. At least he’d better, considering what he puts himself through every match in the past few years and over his whole career. It’s like he can’t get off the court when there have definitely been times he should get off the court, both in making his wins easier and ...

Rob Gronkowski gives Aaron Rodgers the business over MVP comment
Former Super Bowl-winning tight end Rob Gronkowski has never been shy about sharing his opinion. The four-time Super Bowl winner was on Up & Adams with Kay Adams this week, and she asked Gronk about Aaron Rodgers’ recent comments about winning more MVP awards. Rodgers said that he thinks he can win ...

Raise your hand if you want a Denver Nuggets-Memphis Grizzlies Western Conference Finals
If you directly asked the NBA powers how they would feel about a Memphis Grizzlies-Denver Nuggets matchup in the Western Conference Finals, I think they’d offer a “We’d love that.” However, if you asked the same people the same question in an anonymous poll, I’m pretty sure the responses would be so...

Does LaMelo Ball’s tortuous season have a light at the end of the tunnel?
LaMelo Ball’s lost season was cursed before it even began. On Wednesday night, the Charlotte Hornets guard sprained his ankle after teammate P.J. Washington landed on it during a rare win over the Houston Rockets. Entering the night, Houston was the only team in the league with a more hopeless recor...
