sports Page 38 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Devils waited too long to make a change
It was only slightly over a year ago that New Jersey Devils fans were apologizing en masse to Lindy Ruff. They had called for his head early last season, and then when the Devils caught fire they all were ready to admit they had egg on their face. New Jersey would go on to the second round of the pl...
Which NFL players received the franchise tag from their teams?
With free agency around the corner, the NFL is currently engaged in its age-old tradition of taking some of the best names off the market. The franchise tag period allows teams to hold onto premier players just a bit longer, extending the negotiation window for a long-term deal while still maintaini...
Don't count on the LA Clippers — they're sure to let you down
The Los Angeles Clippers have been a delightful surprise in the NBA since bouncing back from a rough start once James Harden joined the team at the end of October. ...
The Rangers have a big, dumb sideshow: Matt Rempe
It was natural to think the New York Rangers “got it” after they traded in the misguided clenched jaw ways of Gerrard Gallant behind the bench for the usually up-tempo ways of Peter Laviolette after the Devils essentially skated them out of the building last spring in the first round. The Devils wer...
If you can’t trust Anthony Edwards, you can’t trust the Timberwolves
I’m not anti-analytics, because data matters, but there’s no way to factor in things like your best player missing tipoff because he was a late arrival, or a coach pulling his second-best player when he’s on pace for a 70 burger. The Minnesota Timberwolves are a very good basketball team, by record,...
Rajah Caruth’s historic NASCAR win is a feel-good story we should all celebrate
It’s simple. Since America loves an underdog, America should be applauding Rajah Caruth....
Do the Thunder have a Josh Giddey problem?
Need any more evidence that Gilbert Arenas’ bellyaching about Europeans and foreigners ruining basketball with their sweet outside strokes is all hot air? I’ll give you one: Josh Giddey. Now that his legal woes appear to be in the rearview mirror, the whispers about his liabilities in the Oklahoma C...
Damian Lillard finally played like the superstar the Bucks expected him to be
It is tempting to say that the Milwaukee Bucks turned a corner on Monday night. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup, they were still able to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers, 113-106, and remain undefeated since the All-Star break. Damian Lillard did not play his best game of the season in An...
Russell Wilson, the most sound and fury signifying the most nothing
One can’t help but wonder if Russell Wilson had just thrown that last pass in Super Bowl 49 into the third row how the rest of it might have played out. Seattle would likely have had consecutive Super Bowls, he’d be a god in the PNW, and perhaps everyone would have had more patience for the mountain...
The most realistic (and logical) option for the Buccaneers now is Baker Mayfield
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have decided to keep wide receiver Mike Evans in the fold for a couple more years, announcing an agreement on an extension Monday. Now Baker Mayfield is sitting around waiting for that same call or text from his agent with the same news Evans received. It only makes sense af...
The Buccaneers finally came to their senses with Mike Evans
Mike Evans is a Hall of Fame talent. His 1,255 receiving yards last season makes him the only player in NFL history to record 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first 10 NFL seasons. Regardless of whether the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is Tom Brady, Jameis Winston, Baker May...
AEW's Sting sendoff was perfect in so many ways
Darby Allin crashed some 20 feet through a plate of glass onto the floor, spent a good five to 10 minutes having ringside medical staff picking shards out of his back, leaving Sting to perform his last-ever comeback and win, and it might have only been the third or fourth best match on the card for ...
It's time for FS1 to do something about Skip Bayless and 'Undisputed'
Skip Bayless’ “Undisputed” has hit a dry spell since the departure of NFL Hall of Famer and current ESPN “First Take” analyst, Shannon Sharpe. Bayless’ new crew, which includes former NFL stars, rappers and a highly respected media personality, hasn’t been able to captivate the nation in the same ma...
Liverpool pulled another rabbit, but its pixie dust might only last a week
While I really shouldn’t let my frustration with how MLB has sullied their regular season into my soccer coverage, it was hard not to think about how Rob Manfred just discarded those moments during the regular season that portended to more down the line as I watched Darwin Nunez dig out a Liverpool ...
It's make or break for the Los Angeles Clippers
Curses run deep. They fester in bloodlines, foundations and scorched Earth and are lamented in prose, lyric and declaration. From Shakespeare to Dostoevsky, curses are a part of the canon of human creativity. After the Boston Red Sox broke theirs in 2004 and LeBron James brought a championship to Cl...
Kneeling is a quiet gesture. Bob Melvin’s decision to make the Giants stand for the national anthem is a loud one
After making it known that he wants players to have “a voice” in a volatile Election Year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell still had six months before preseason games started in which he didn’t have to worry about any potential on-field demonstrations. But thanks to new San Francisco Giants skipper B...
The Penguins lasted longer than they were supposed to
In the salary-cap era of the NHL, no team gets to go out on their shield, really. The Datsyuk-and-Zetterberg era of the Wings fled to the Eastern Conference, took a couple first-round beatdowns, and then slipped into the playoff-less ooze that the organization only might just be emerging from. Ovech...
Increasing the NFL season to 18 games is a terrible idea
An 18-game NFL regular season has been looming over the league at least since it was clear that the 2011 lockout was an inevitability. What the league wants, the league — more specifically the team owners — usually gets. The revenue split used to be 50/50 with the players, but now a greater share ha...
Turns out America loves the Denver Nuggets
Most of the state of Colorado can’t watch the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets. However, the rest of America is enjoying the show. NBA insider/analyst Ethan Strauss dove into some viewership data for a recent post on his substack....
Gilbert Arenas xenophobic NBA rant is the nonsense JJ Reddick warned us about
Why anyone listens to former Memphis Grizzlies guard Gilbert Arenas is beyond me. He could be an entertaining listen if he had the self-awareness to realize where the limits of his sense of humor are. Or he could regale his listeners with stories of what it was like to share the floor with former De...