sports Page 53 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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...

Dejounte Murray hurt an NBA ref's delicate feelings; wound up with a T
Atlanta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray found out the hard way Saturday night about getting on an official’s bad side. During Atlanta’s 114-102 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, Murray was given a technical foul during a timeout while sitting on the sideline. Apparently, NBA referees have resorted to handing o...

LeBron James creates the 40K club, which he’ll populate alone for a long time
The next player to eclipse 40,000 points in the regular season will have a chance at the title of the NBA’s GOAT simply because the numbers LeBron James will retire with are going to be near impossible to top. It’ll either be someone with freakish longevity, or the most prolific scorer ever. At 40,0...

It's 2024, the NFL Draft process shouldn't take this long
The NFL Draft cannot get here soon enough. In its effort to monetize every second of every month, we have to wait and sit through months of speculation and evaluation with narratives conjured out of dead air. What are the Bears going to do with Justin Fields? Why are all the elite athletes opting ou...

MLB uniform controversy; Scott Boras finally succeeds; Trouble brewing for USWNT?
While see-through pants have been the talk of spring training so far, that might not matter as much to fans (at least non-evangelical ones, Woe to Cardinals Nation), as fans don’t tend to want to buy the pants the players are wearing. Maybe you’ve got use for baseball pants in your everyday life, an...

Finally time for the Winnipeg Jets?; Let's hand out some NHL awards; Remember Wayne Gretzky as a Blue?
The Winnipeg Jets are in first place. The Jets have a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup. They have the league’s best goalie, they have depth scoring. They can win a track meet if opponents want to play that way. They can grind out chances along the boards and in the corners if that’s what’s asked. ...

Phillies fans have problem with their wieners; Kris Bryant laments move to Rockies; Ohtani, Hideki Matsui share odd marital similarity
The Oakland Athletics move to Las Vegas is no closer to completion, as the Nevada State Education Association (NESA) is preparing to file an injunction to block the $380 million in public funds for the A’s, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. - Mackenzie Meaney Read More...

Kevin Garnett accuses LeBron James of doping; 'Cream Abdul-Jabbar' rises to the top; Jordan Poole hits rock bottom
Could Bronny James score a bucket against his father, LeBron? Kevin Garnett certainly doesn’t think so. - Criss Partee Read More...

Sean Payton has a Russell Wilson problem; Cam Newton fight nonsense; Bears owners trying to get over on school kids; Patriots ruled a failure by players
Earth to Sean Payton: Russell Wilson is still on the Denver Broncos’ roster. There is nothing the Denver coach can say to make that $85 million in dead salary go away. The NFL salary cap for the 2024 season will be $255.4 million. That dead money would account for a third of their cap space, and the...

The pros and cons of proposed advancements in the NFL and college football
College football might follow in the footsteps of the NFL as the NFL mulls taking a page out from soccer. After the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, in-helmet communicators could be coming to FBS programs, as well as a two-minute timeout. The Shield meanwhile might eschew the chain gang for optical t...