sports Page 349 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
What of Alex Ovechkin now?
I haven’t made any attempt to hide my enjoyment of Alex Ovechkin when writing about him in the past. I find his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record to be one of the more fascinating aspects of the NHL right now. His metronomic yet stratospheric production over 17 years now is really astonishing, ...
Coach K’s all-Duke ‘Duke’ Team
After Saturday’s regular-season finale against North Carolina, the last time Mike Krzyzewski will take the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Duke Blue Devils are only guaranteed two more games this season between the ACC and NCAA Tournaments....
Two athletes, including American hooper Mo Creek, escaped from Ukraine
There are a lot of harrowing things coming out of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, including sports figures who are literally coming out of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Maurice Creek, an American basketball player trying to make a career overseas, and Paulo Fonseca, a former soccer player turned manager...
So what happens if you have tickets to Opening Day?
So far, the Major League Baseball lockout is only really hitting home for 19 of the 30 franchises. That’s because, with only the first week of games canceled – so far – there still are 11 teams who don’t yet have to deal with the mess of rescheduling a home opener....
James Harden says he's finally found a ‘home’ in Philadelphia — give me a break
James Harden made his much-anticipated home debut for Philadelphia on Wednesday in a win over the hapless Knicks. He delivered a casual 26, 9 and 9, and could be seen smiling and giggling like a sociopath who just stepped on a couple children to get to the front of the ice cream line. ...
Did Lovie Smith ever have a moral compass?
Somewhere at the beginning of his head coaching career, Lovie Smith got the label of being a pretty good guy. Maybe it’s because he went to church. Maybe it’s because he has a soft delivery when he speaks. He certainly commanded respect from his players, though that’s not indicative of much. Lovie c...
Strikes and Balks: A list of things ailing Major League Baseball
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire aren’t walking through that door....
NBA players who shone during their NCAA tournament runs
Welcome to March! Selection Sunday inches closer. The upsets, heart-racing moments and brilliant individual performances are also near. We’re looking at ten of the best individual NCAA Tournament performers of all-time, with one big qualifier — their teams actually won the national title....
Tiger bests Lefty again, wins PIP initiative
Sorry, Phil — Tiger might be out of the game for now, but you’re still sitting at second best....
Joey Gallo: Will strike out for food
The Major League Baseball lockout isn’t ending anytime soon. There was some hope that the Jupiter meetings could lead to a new CBA, but those meetings proved as useless as Pat Light against anyone not named Mike Trout. Now, with Opening Day canceled along with the first two series of the season, som...
Kliff Kingsbury has never accomplished anything
The Arizona Cardinals are a team on the verge of ruin, draped in Gucci. Their situation appears ideal from the outside looking in, but underneath the aesthetic of an exhilarating No. 1 overall pick and a stacked offense is a team who took a dirt nap after their 10-2 start. Going 1-5 in a crucial por...
The biggest NFL Combine busts
The NFL Scouting Combine starts this week, and top prospects from colleges throughout the country will travel to Indianapolis to perform a series of physical challenges and medical evaluations that may determine their future in the NFL....
Jaylen Brown injury speaks to the fragility of Boston’s makeup
I almost wrote about the Celtics on Tuesday because I heard about these projections that had them with heavy title odds, but when I went to FiveThirtyEight to try to find them, it felt like I was trying to decipher binary code. So I held off to wait to see if anything came of the research I loosely ...
The best NCAA Women’s Tournament teams at each seed
For the first time this year, the NCAA Women’s Tournament will expand to 68 teams, matching the men’s showcase, which expanded to that number of teams chasing a national championship in 2011. That’s more chances for a longshot to make a run and take down the sport’s elite....
Hear me out: Derek Jeter for MLB Commissioner
We’re going to be without big league baseball for the foreseeable future, launching a sport that’s already been on the decline into what feels like its death throes....
The Avs are really going to trust this to Mr. Darcy?
Once again, the Colorado Avalanche are the Showtime of the NHL. They were last year, though last season being what it was it doesn’t really count for evaluation/analytic purposes. But reverting back to an actual NHL schedule (or something closely resembling one) hasn’t slowed the Avs much. They pick...
I want baseball to die
Not that Rob Manfred would care, but his smirking and laughing visage as he announced the first cancellations of the 2022 regular season, which caused just about every baseball fan to have an urge to reach through their screens and thrust their fist through to the back of his skull, is the image tha...
Mike Zimmer fired partly for saying what Minnesota Vikings still refuse to admit
Wait, there’s still a debate about the quarterbacking abilities of Kirk Cousins? I thought we were past this, like the, “Is Joe Flacco elite?” argument. Apparently, new Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell will continue living out a Twitter argument in real time....
Making a case for the Utah Jazz
It wasn’t supposed to go this way. This essay was going to make a case for why the Utah Jazz could finally win a championship this season. But when it was all written out, the facts just didn’t line up. Can the Utah Jazz do it? Can they win it all? It seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Especially with the ...
