sports Page 246 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Should a player’s legacy be defined by postseason results?
Justin Verlander has a great shot at winning the American League Cy Young award this year. He pieced together a dominant season — at age 39 — after recovering from Tommy John surgery and helped lead the Houston Astros to another World Series. ...

Still amazed by the Phillies? You haven’t been watching them
The Houston Astros entered the World Series perfect for the postseason. They extinguished the sizzling Seattle Mariners, and then sent New York Yankees fans spiraling. And in Game 1 of the World Series, they looked inevitable, getting out to a 5-0 lead after three innings with Justin Verlander perfe...

NFL Week 8: The Falcons are the least pathetic team in the pathetic NFC South
Another week means another heavy underdog getting tons of money thrown its way. This is interesting because the dog seems to win when bettors throw a lot of money behind it. Just this season, most of the reviews I’ve written about have surrounded the 6-1 New York Giants. Big Blue has an incredible a...

LeBron James dropping the Dallas Cowboys over ethical reasons yet somehow rooting for the Cleveland Browns? Who wants to tell him?
Noted frontrunner LeBron James has switched his NFL allegiances because it’s clear the Cowboys aren’t going to win the Super Bowl — oh, wait. He’s actually dropping Jerry Jones and Dallas because of the owner’s stance on players kneeling. If the story stopped there — and of course, it doesn’t becaus...

There are 10 unbreakable NFL records
Nowadays, in the NFL, it feels like there’s a record broken every week in almost every game. Once the league moved to an 18-game schedule, certain records — such as most catches by a rookie, or a team’s single-season mark — have been surpassed. But then there are those feats that have — and will — s...

Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen file for divorce
Tom Brady’s playing career isn’t over, but his marriage to Gisele Bündchen is, according to TMZ Sports....

Gus Johnson, not Ian Eagle, should succeed Jim Nantz as the voice of March Madness
Ian Eagle is really good at his job. Gus Johnson’s just better....

Tom Brady and the infinite sadness
Thursday Night Football is usually a pretty sad occasion as ritual, given the mess that it tends to be with the short rest and everyone still very much sore from the game they played just four days prior, and the lack of practice time dulling any sharpness. But last night was particularly acute. ...

I could play this New York Times umpire game for hours
I love umpires. I don’t love to hate them like other baseball fans do, though. I’ve always leaned in the direction of leniency. I know that officiating in any sport is difficult, thankless, and downright hazardous to your health in some situations. Umpires get it the worst though, perhaps because th...

A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...

Gisele lays down the law
Tom Brady made his name in the NFL as a pocket passer, handing the ball off to a teammate or staying behind his offensive line and trying to connect with his receivers downfield. His on-the-fly decision-making has made him one of the greatest of all time on the gridiron. That isn’t the scenario Brad...

World Series X-Factors: Who needs to step up for Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies to win the title?
The World Series kicks off tomorrow night between two teams with wildly different expectations heading into the postseason. On one hand, the Astros were the top seed in the American League. Houston reached the World Series in three of the last five seasons and reached the ALCS in all five. Everyone ...

Westbrook definitely needs to be traded, but he’s far from the only reason Lakers are losing
Russell Westbrook was out Wednesday night with a hamstring injury as the Lakers were soundly defeated on the road against a Denver Nuggets squad missing Michael Porter Jr. and featuring a sub-100 percent Jamal Murray. Truthfully, the Lakers could have used Westbrook’s energy. Someone needed to stand...

This World Series is a beautiful juxtaposition
If styles make fights, then this World Series is for you. While the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies have their similarities (like green mascots), they also occupy opposing poles in a lot of ways. And also the perception of them is actually opposite to reality in some ways as well. There are...

Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...

Eagles looking to open championship window as wide as possible
The Philadelphia Eagles don’t have a lot of flaws, and if they do, we haven’t seen them. The only undefeated team in the NFL has barely trailed at all this season, with first-quarter deficits to the Lions and Jaguars being the only times thus far that they’ve been on the wrong side of the scoreline....

Three playmaking wide receivers the Cowboys need to have their scope on
The Dallas Cowboys are currently in a position to make the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since the beginning of the Tony Romo era in 2006 and 2007. They’ve been good thus far, standing 5-2 after seven games, but if they wish to do more than make the playoffs, they’ll need to ma...

Early returns for NBA stars… returning
While it’s too early to define the theme of this NBA season, the first week-plus has showcased stars returning from serious injuries. Damian Lillard, Zion Williamson, Jamal Murray, and Kawhi Leonard all saw their first action after lengthy absences, and the reviews have been all over the place....
