sports Page 81 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Pacers acquire Pascal Siakam, last piece of Raptors' 2019 championship squad
The Raptors’ fire sale continues. The Indiana Pacers are finalizing a trade to acquire Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Woj, the Pacers will send Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round picks in the deal. The New Orlea...

The Blue Jays need to be built on fact instead of myth
In a lot of ways, feverishly watching the flight route of a plane that wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be is a pretty nice metaphor for the Toronto Blue Jays’ offseason and outlook. The Jays knew Shohei Ohtani wasn’t on that flight, but their fans certainly didn’t. That doesn’t mean that the ...

Yes, the Ravens look strong, but the numbers say 'buyer beware'
The Baltimore Ravens will play their first playoff game of the season this coming weekend after securing a bye due to being the AFC’s top seed. They finished the season 13-4, and despite not having key players like tight end Mark Andrews or wide receiver Devin Duvernay, they trampled almost everyone...

Amazon buying a minority stake in Diamond Sports is a rare win for fans
The only streaming platform fans want a sporting event aired on is one in which they already have a subscription. That’s why, on the surface, Amazon buying a minority stake in Diamond Sports is a rare win for the people who make these franchises profitable. (No, not the owners. The fans.) The move a...

Gio Reyna knows he needs to justify the noise
The funny thing about Gio Reyna, and more to the point, all the noise about him – the controversy with his family and Gregg Berhalter, the anticipation of any appearance with the national team, the confidence that he’s the country’s most talented player – is that it is built on such a tiny foundatio...

Gavin Newsom blocks proposed ban on youth tackle football
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a proposal to ban youth tackle football Tuesday night....

Mbappe bemoans lack of 'load management' in European soccer
Ligue 1 and the NBA are two leagues that usually don’t go together, but French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappé is worried that European soccer is starting to mimic professional basketball in one very specific way....

Caitlin Clark approaching women's — and men's — all-time scoring marks
Caitlin Clark eclipsed another scoring milestone Tuesday night, inching her one step closer to college basketball immortality. The Iowa Hawkeyes took care of business at home against Wisconsin, cruising to a 96-50 victory. Clark put up a game-high 32 points, passing Baylor’s Brittney Griner (3,283 p...

Bills Mafia definitely having a good laugh at the expense of frostbit Chiefs fans
It’s a good thing Kansas City goes on the road this weekend because I’m not sure their fans have thawed yet. According to reports, 69 people were treated by the fire department during Saturday’s Wild Card win, with half showing signs of hypothermia. Fifteen people were sent to the hospital, with thr...

Alabama should be applauded for defying historical trends by hiring Kalen Deboer
In response to Nick Saban’s sudden retirement, the Crimson Tide hired Washington’s Kalen Deboer and averted the mistake that’s plagued program after program over the last half-century. Bravo to Alabama for expanding beyond their horizons....

Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee are proof that ESPN only wanted Black talent to ‘stick to sports’
“It’s not what you say, but how you say it,” is a wise adage. But at ESPN, it’s always felt like who said it was more important than what was said. Aaron Rodgers and Pat McAfee haven’t been sticking to sports for a while now, which was, and still is, a privilege that former and current Black employe...

Isn't it about time the NBA forces James Dolan to sell the Knicks?
I did not know what I was getting into when I became a Knicks fan. I got into it to find a bond between my father and me. He grew up as a New York street ball legend who listened to the Knicks on transistor radios with his buddies, huddled around a car drinking tallboys and sharing a joint. As a chu...

Sex-harassment lawsuits are not a new thing for James Dolan
James Dolan has once again found himself with legal problems. His decision to ban lawyers who represented a group of ticket resellers who sued the New York Knicks team owner — a suit that was dismissed in spring 2023 — currently has Madison Square Garden’s liquor license in jeopardy. A new suit agai...

Pete Carroll is spilling hot tea all over the Emerald City
When it was announced last week that the Seattle Seahawks were moving in a different direction at head coach, the news caught many by surprise. It was framed as though Pete Carroll and the organization had mutually agreed that Carroll would step out of the way and into an advisor’s role. But now wit...

The Washington Commanders are this offseason’s most intriguing team
The Washington Commanders have new ownership and a new GM, with a new coach and quarterback presumably on the way as well. Like a dog who finally catches the mailman, fans in the DMV pined for Dan Snyder’s removal with such fervor that I’m not sure they know what to do now that it’s happened. It’s r...

A Draper not named Don threw up in a trash can on Monday
For fans of the iconic series Mad Men, seeing a person named Draper throwing up isn’t that much of a surprise. But unlike his alcoholic TV namesake, British tennis player Jack Draper didn’t have a drop of booze in him on Monday. ...

Can the Bruins win without any centers?
The Boston Bruins are the perfect team in the NHL to have the eternal-long fatalism vs. determinism debate. They sit atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference once again, just as they did last year. Just as last year, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are two of the best players in the league...

The Man City monster rises from the sea
The Premier League has reached the portion of the season when it paws at having a winter break, splitting up the 21st round of fixtures over two weeks to give half the teams the week off this week and half the teams the week off last week. Unless they have a FA Cup replay. Or a League Cup semifinal....

It’s time to give Jordan Love and the Packers their flowers
Wild Card Weekend in the NFL is a wrap and while it wasn’t as exciting as billed, it did lead to some shocking moments. One of the biggest happened in Dallas where the Packers came through like a tornado and tossed the Cowboys around like rag dolls. Everyone has been focused on the Cowboys getting o...

The Bills and Josh Allen will try to exorcise the ghosts of Kansas City
The Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs will meet in the postseason for the third time in four years on Sunday. It is the first time in the Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen era that the playoff game is not at Arrowhead, which could prove to make all the difference. ...