sports Page 82 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Everyone has a gimmick in the NFL. Until they don’t
The NFL season zips by, which might be one of the hundreds of reasons it remains our national religion. There isn’t really time to get bored with it and everything that happens in it feels truly important. Which means any team that can string a few good weeks together has turned some mythical corner...
The Jets reportedly want to trade Zach Wilson. Good luck
Way to go New York Jets. They halted a losing streak to the New England Patriots that stretched back to the Obama administration. In what might have been Bill Belichick’s final game as head coach of the Patriots, a team that he has dominated since leaving them at the altar in 2000 buried him in the ...
The 2023 Jacksonville Jaguars had an unnatural loyalty to losing
The Jacksonville Jaguars began the 2023 season with a built-in advantage as the only playoff-ready team in a division of bottom-feeders. After last January’s Wild Card comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers, Trevor Lawrence was expected to continue his ascent both in the AFC and up the ranks of e...
Derrick Henry all but confirmed his future following Tennessee’s win over Jacksonville
Titans running back Derrick Henry arrived in Tennessee in 2016 as a second-round pick following an incredible career playing for Nick Saban at Alabama. Henry has topped the 1,000-yard mark in five of his eight seasons with the team and became the eighth player in NFL history to run for more than 2,0...
Stephen A. Smith may take a late night television jalopy out for a spin next year
It’s opening night for the 2025 NBA season. After Inside the NBA guffaws its way through the opening game, a portion of the audience siphons off to Apple TV or Prime Video, where Stephen A. Smith is starting his opening monologue. Except he isn’t ranting and raving about Donovan Mitchell and Jalen B...
Despite a 13-win campaign, it’s still hard to trust the Ravens
After dominating Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Miami in consecutive weeks, the Baltimore Ravens looked like the dominant force everyone had been waiting for all season. Forget about the hiccup Saturday night against Pittsburgh (minus Lamar Jackson), Baltimore is viewed by many as the favorite to ...
The Texans are proof that serendipity is the NFL’s most valuable asset
Think about the Houston Texans’ path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn’t want to get sued also let the C...
School fires girls basketball coach, dismisses player after antisemitic incident: report
Updated Jan. 9: Yonkers Public Schools have fired a high school girls basketball coach and dismissed a player from the team as a result of an antisemitic incident Thursday night, the New York Post reported. ...
Bedard's fractured jaw robs fans of upcoming battle of the Connors
Updated Jan. 10: Bedard will miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured jaw, according to Chicago Blackhawks physician Dr. Michael Terry....
The natives are getting restless at Ohio State and LSU
There’s natural staff turnover — primarily assistants getting poached for better opportunities elsewhere — and then there’s what Ohio State and LSU are purportedly doing. Each head coach is under pressure to make changes after showings not up to program standards, and if history is an indication of ...
ESPN didn’t say Aaron Rodgers was dumb, they said his joke was dumb
The firestorm engulfing ESPN is a product of its own doing, which is what makes all of this Pat McAfee-Aaron Rodgers drama so funny. The worldwide leader hired comic relief and, shockingly, he simultaneously lit Disney and Bristol ablaze from Indiana. In case you missed the fallout from Rodgers insi...
John Fisher's move of A's may have a snag; Jim Harbaugh avoids a choke job; the strange case of Luke Littler
There’s generally little hope for fans when it’s already been announced that their team will move to another city. That hope evaporates more when a league approves it, as MLB has done with the A’s move to Vegas. And yet, there’s always a sliver of light that can’t be extinguished when an owner is so...
Jennifer Botterill exposes hockey-culture stupidity; Kraken mascot beef comes to a head; goalie trouble for top teams
There is a segment of hockey fans that have always wanted to watch the bubble of hockey men discussing hockey things get totally pierced by even just the smallest bit of logic. For that is the true enemy of most things that have been hockey ethos. So a hearty thank you to Jennifer Botterill, who dur...
Darvin Ham in crosshairs; Giannis thinks of Pacers during sex; James Harden, Clippers don't deserve your faith
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...
Jimmy Kimmel-Aaron Rodgers libel suit looms; Justin Fields is not the answer in 2024; ESPN apologizes for live, bare boob
Near the end of Justin Fields’ triumphant win over the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears fans serenaded him with a passionate “We want Justin” chant. The chorus reached a fever pitch on a night when Fields threw for north of 260 yards and one touchdown in a blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons. Through...
Texas Tech guard accused of sexually assaulting minor: lawsuit
Texas Tech guard Pop Isaacs has been accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a minor while the Red Raiders were in the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament....
In honor of the Magic retiring Shaq's number, here is every NBA team's retired jersey numbers
With the announcement that the Orlando Magic will retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey, the NBA has finally done it! All 30 teams have officially retired a jersey number for a specific player (Yes, before Shaq, the Magic’s only jersey retired was No. 6 for “The Sixth Man,” a.k.a the fans)....
Advice to sports media people: Hype any team but the Clippers
There are certain teams as a sportswriter that you simply should not trust. Despite the way the Detroit Lions are playing, their fans won’t hesitate to tell you a size-14 steel-toe boot is about to drop at any moment. We all know what tortured souls I’m talking about so let’s spare them further angu...
Naomi Osaka has returned to tennis, but will tennis treat her right this time?
Naomi Osaka is a lot of things. She’s a woman. She’s a mom. She’s great at her job. She’s Black. She’s Asian. And when you’re more than what simple people can comprehend, they usually don’t know how to treat you. Here’s to tennis learning from their mistakes when it comes to Osaka — but we shouldn’t...
Aaron Rodgers, who played 4 snaps, somehow voted team's Most Inspirational Player
New York Jets players voted to give the team’s Most Inspirational Player Award — named after Dennis Byrd, the defensive end who was paralyzed during a 1992 game and had to relearn how to walk — to Aaron Rodgers, the guy who tore his Achilles four snaps into Gang Green’s opener and vowed to return bu...