sports Page 521 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Champions League returns this week... all over the place
One of the rites of...well, not spring exactly, but a rite of reminding you that spring might actually arrive at some point before the light within you has completely extinguished, is the knockout stage of the Champions League. It drops into the sporting scene at the end of February, right after you...
Jim Caldwell talking to us about Matt Stafford is the perfect time for us to talk about Jim Caldwell
What can the Rams expect with Matt Stafford?...
Hold on to your Grapefruits, it’s time for pitchers and catchers
Spring training starts this week, with pitchers and catchers day arriving on Wednesday for eight teams, and the rest of the majors getting going on Thursday or Friday. Hopefully, this year’s ramp-up to the season will go more smoothly than 2020, when the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues had to shut dow...
A change of seasons in the February sports abyss
While basketball and hockey started at different times, there is a small sense of comfort and normalcy, as poisonous as those words can become, in the return of the February doldrums. The Sunday after the Super Bowl is always a comedown. The parades have been had, such as they were this year. Campai...
I guess I’m still supposed to care about Johnny Manziel?
I’ll be honest, I haven’t cared about Johnny Manziel since long before he was investigated for the domestic abuse of his then-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley. If you’ll recall, Manziel was charged with misdemeanor assault following allegations that he struck Crowley several times after the couple left a...
The Lightning’s talent-development assembly line is humming along again
As we’ve commented in the past, even with most seasons across sports being thrown into upheaval, be it shortened preseasons or odd schedules and lineups that change on a daily basis thanks to COVID protocols, the chalk has remained at the top of the standings....
Remembering Leon Spinks’ forgotten upset over Ali 42 years ago
Leon Spinks passed away on February 5 due to prostate cancer at the age of 67. On February 15, 42 years ago, he starred in one of sports’ larger-than-life upsets over one of the most unforgettable boxers to have ever stepped into a ring. If you compile your own Tale of the Tape retrospective, withou...
It’s been a wacky Australian Open, even if no one’s around to see it
As we’ve previously stated, the Australian Open has a surreal quality, at least on these shores, where an already-niche sport takes place in the dark for only the truly dedicated/bewildered. It’s even more so this edition, as on Friday the live spectators were shooed out of the tournament altogether...
Kyrie Irving is having the best season of his career and it's shut up his critics
Maybe, just maybe. Some of them were “pawns.”...
NCAA reveals preseason college football Top 25 … oh, nope, wait, it’s the top 16 March Madness seeds
Top-seeded Gonzaga, Villanova (6 overall), and Virginia (9) crashed a gridiron greats (and merely goods) get-together Saturday, as the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed its prospective top 16 seeds for March Madness. A preview in the mold of the pointless weekly College Football Playoff r...
HEAR IT: Whale of a performance by NWHL star with a capella 'Brass Bonanza,' because why not?
The Carolina Hurricanes are not the Hartford Whalers....
Presumptive No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence to have labrum surgery on non-throwing shoulder
Trevor Lawrence is a right-handed thrower, so surgery on his left shoulder is not the biggest concern that he could possibly have. Still, when you’re going into the draft as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick, it’s a big deal....
Seven Flyers now on COVID list, and one of them, Oskar Lindblom, just got over cancer
Friday was a rare night in the NHL with no games postponed due to COVID-19 … because there were only two games scheduled to begin with....
J.J. Watt's time with Texans is over as franchise star and Houston hero is released, free to go to... Steelers?
As Houston continues to revamp their team and try to resurrect their franchise from the lifeless pit of despair that former head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien left it in, the Texans and J.J. Watt have mutually agreed to part ways. Watt was released today, allowing him to search for a new te...
Recent stretch shows Carmelo Anthony could be Portland’s X-Factor as he climbs NBA all-time scoring ranks
Who doesn’t love nostalgia?...
Texans releasing J.J. Watt offers peek into racially coded language — what’s 'classy' & who gets to be the 'face of a franchise'?
When the Texans decided to release J.J. Watt on Friday, it marked the end of an era in Houston — and the continuation of an era in media’s use of coded language....
'Frustrated' Russell Wilson and Seahawks may be headed toward inevitable split
Deshaun Watson has some competition for the most dramatic quarterback situation this offseason – it looks like things are a little gloomy in the Pacific Northwest. Tensions are rising between Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, and as Deadspin’s resident Seahawks fan, it’s my job to try and exp...
New Jags coach Urban Meyer, a domestic abuser protector, hires guy fired for persistent racist behavior at Iowa
While problematic, Urban Meyer is always consistent....