sports Page 363 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Oh look, the East is finally better than the West again
Remember the, I don’t know, decade stretch when the East was so bad and the West was so good that people were shouting at the NBA to put the top 16 teams in the playoffs regardless of conference because the 38-44 Brooklyn Nets made the playoffs and the 45-37 Oklahoma City Thunder did not?...

What was the fastest score in Super Bowl history?
The fastest score can be looked at two ways. Either by number of plays or time taken off the clock. In Super Bowl XLI, Bears speedster Devin Hester scored on the opening kickoff, speeding from one end of the field to the other in 14 seconds. One play, one score....

If you thought that Mike White bet paid out big, conference championship weekend paid out more than quadruple that on a free wager
Remember when Mike White was the darling of the NFL? I know, Halloween feels like it was three years ago instead of three months, but that is when White threw for the most passing yards in the NFL that week in leading the New York Jets to a 34-31 victory against the current AFC Champion Cincinnati B...

No Ben Simmons, no problem: Joel Embiid is carrying Philly on his shoulders like a backpack
Unless you live in Philly, most of you probably haven’t paid much attention to the 76ers over the past four to six weeks. Philadelphia has been on quite the roll, winning 16 of their last 20 games since having their Dec. 19 game postponed against the New Orleans Pelicans due to COVID-19. Philly had ...

Who kicked the shortest field goal in Super Bowl history?
You can’t kick a 9-yard field goal anymore, but two players did it. Jim Turner kicked one for the Jets in Super Bowl III, having already made kicks from 32 and 30, and Mike Clark did as well in Super Bowl VI....

The only team to not punt in an entire Super Bowl
The New England Patriots in a Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles....

Shohei Ohtani is on the cover of MLB the Show 22, much to the chagrin of Stephen A. Smith
When you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube, or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he’s saying....

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: The usual suspects are back at it
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the most electrifying ceremony in sports media. Following up on the hotly contested 2021 IDIOT OF THE YEAR awards, we have for you today, well, many of the same ninnies and twits who appeared on that vaunted list. The calendar year, it turns out, is not some...

What was the shortest touchdown play in Super Bowl history?
Terry Brown and Derrick Jensen share this record, both on blocked punts that were recovered in the end zone. So the answer is 0 yards....

What was the closest Super Bowl final score?
In Super Bowl XXV, Bills kicker Scott Norwood lined up a 47-yard field goal with the hopes of giving Buffalo its first Super Bowl title. With the score 20-19, the Giants held a slim one-point lead....

Tom Brady went out in the most obnoxious way possible because of course he did
Aaaand there it is. After one of the more dramatic weekends of sports news in recent memory, the “is he or isn’t he” question has been answered by the man himself. It’s time, as TB12 wrote on Instagram this morning, to “focus [his] time and energy on other things” than football....

Joe Burrow’s diamonds are as real as the fact that the Bengals are in the Super Bowl
Quarterback is the position in football in which swag comes with the job. Quarterbacks are the only players on the field who constantly have the ball in their hands. They make the calls in the huddle, organize the team at the line of scrimmage, and once the play begins, it’s their show. No one moves...

So after Mason Greenwood, what will Manchester United do about Cristiano Ronaldo?
Not that we don’t know the answer, but it will make for even more awkward viewing than United’s on-field performances have been anyway....

It’s time to put the lid back on all the Chiefs dynasty talk
After Sunday’s AFC Championship loss at home to the Cincinnati Bengals, I think it’s time we come to realize that these Kansas City Chiefs are a great team, but they are not a dynasty. Not currently, anyway. Dynasties usually include multiple Super Bowl victories, not just getting there and taking s...

Another day, another injury for the Los Angeles Lakers
Health doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony Davis had just returned from a 17-game absence due to a sprained MCL. He was back in the lineup last Tuesday and the Lakers defeated the Brooklyn Nets — sans Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden — 106-96. Th...

OK, maybe it’s time to have a talk about Gregg Berhalter
The natural inclination is to arm the nukes to drop on USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter after his comments that the U.S. “dominated” Canada, despite losing 2-0 and managing just three shots on target. The initial reaction is that he’s completely deluded, doesn’t know what he’s watching, and all while h...

So it wasn’t Matthew Stafford’s fault all those years in Detroit playing for the Lions
Matthew Stafford has prevailed against all the odds and critics as he’s set to lead the Los Angeles Rams into Super Bowl 56 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Of course, a few out there picked the Rams early then kinda rolled off the bandwagon during the season, only to jump back on once the postseason...

Don’t forget ‘cheater’ when you recite Tom Brady’s résumé
Tom Brady is a cheater....

Rafa Nadal had just enough
Whether Rafa Nadal likes it or not, and he probably doesn’t mind because he seems an amiable sort, he’ll be more closely linked to Roger Federer than Novak Djokovic. It was Federer who was unchallenged for years until Rafa built a base on clay, and then slowly ate into his advantages on grass (beat ...

Whatever happened to ‘shut up and dribble?’
Pundits like Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Will Cain are at the forefront of the “culture wars” on the right. Each has built a career stirring the pot and “owning the Libs.’’They, just like their liberal counterparts, focus on hot-button social issues instead of issues plaguing all Americans’ ...