state Page 102 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
No one is prepared for the Florida Panthers to be this good
Mason Marchment had his first career hat trick Friday night, leading the Florida Panthers to a 6-2 rout of the Minnesota Wild in a game that could be a Stanley Cup Final preview....
So the Phoenix Suns are really good in clutch situations
The ability to come away victorious in close games is a great way to determine a team’s championship viability. The final five minutes of a close is when we get to see each team’s talent and coaching at the forefront. It’s when we get our best approximation of a team’s ceiling, and by golly, the Pho...
Getting a Black person to defend you against racism means you’ve hit rock bottom — the NFL proved that by hiring Loretta Lynch
Guilty people tend to do guilty things. The simple-minded do dumb stuff, like returning to the scene of the crime. The smarter ones will appoint someone from their accuser’s group to defend them. The NFL does a lot of stupid things, but they’ve never been dumb. Hiring Loretta Lynch as counsel is pro...
Jim Harbaugh can’t lose
Apparently, it’s possible to play poker, bet big on a hand, fold, and win anyway. At least, it’s possible if you’re Jim Harbaugh....
Richard Sherman isn’t ready to enshrine Matthew Stafford in the Hall of Fame
The second the Rams’ Super Bowl win over the Bengals was final on Sunday, the narrative about Matthew Stafford’s Hall of Fame candidacy took off and hasn’t slowed down since....
Deion Sanders can’t make up his mind about how long he’ll be at Jackson State
No one has mastered the art of talking without saying anything like coaches. It’s called “coach speak.” Deion Sanders, however, is his own man. Instead of saying as little as possible, he always seems to find a way to say too much — even when it contradicts things he’s said in the past....
Odell Beckham wasn’t the only Ram expecting a newborn during the Super Bowl
In a Super Bowl aftermath filled with narratives from OBJ’s unlikely comeback, to Eric Weddle going back into retirement, to discussions of whether Joe Burrow would be back, there’s been one wholesome moment that has captured the attention of football fans throughout the country — the story of Van J...
Coach K’s succession mistake was bigger than choosing Scheyer over Amaker
Hours before Coach K’s dizzy spell sent him to the locker room in Duke’s win over Wake Forest, excerpts from Ian O’Connor’s upcoming book, Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski” detailed a brief power struggle within Duke last year over Coach K’s plans to name his replacement. O’Connor’s in...
Draymond Green’s importance to another Golden State run is even more apparent when he’s not on the court
Draymond Green hasn’t been on the court for the Golden State Warriors since their Jan. 5 loss (aside from the opening tip when Klay Thompson returned) to the Dallas Mavericks. In Green’s absence, the Warriors are 13-8, but in watching the team, it’s clear to see just how important Draymond is to the...
The Phoenix Suns are going bankrupt in the attention economy
Chis Paul is the NBA’s Copernicus. He needs to be the offensive axis, and his arrival placed the Suns near the center of the NBA galaxy. The Western Conference’s heliocentric age began, and we didn’t even know it because everyone has been so eager to babble about the Lakers, Nets, Sixers, and Warrio...
Shameless LeBron tries to steal spotlight from Los Angeles Rams
LeBron James has no shame....
The Rams organization owns two of the worst rushing outputs by a Super Bowl champion in NFL history
The Los Angeles Rams are world champions after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI Sunday night. Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ passing attack put on quite the show, but the same cannot be said for their running game. LA finished with one of the worst total rushing performances ...
Kyler Murray and the Cardinals could be headed for a long contract dispute following latest reports about his leadership and finger-pointing
Over the first two months of the NFL season, it looked like Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals would have the inside track to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. We know that didn’t come to fruition, and the second half of the year was pretty much a disaster for the Cardinals, based on how stro...
Super Bowl week in Los Angeles: The slow seduction of a consumerist hellscape
It started in what looks like an airplane hangar in the bowels of the Los Angeles Convention Center. There are tables, desks, some lonely coolers, and a section of booths off to the right. That’s where the media picks up their credentials for Super Bowl week. It’s a bit more of a process than norma...
Aaron Donald’s reign of terror places him in pantheon of generational defensive players
Offensive highlights litter every catalog of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, and even fewer of those great plays involve lumbering defensive linemen. A two-yard loss isn’t as exciting as a 25-yard scoring throw or a running back trampling an entire defense. But when the story of Super Bowl...
Joe Cool after the loss
Not many outside of Southern Ohio have seen a year No. 3 from Joe Burrow as a starting quarterback. He never started a game in his three seasons at Ohio State and had two superb years at LSU. His second year taking the mantle of the Cincinnati Bengals ended with a 23-20 loss in Super Bowl LVI to the...
I’ve had it with your narratives
I used to be fine with Cris Collinsworth. I didn’t think he was God’s gift to analysis or anything. But he showed just enough passion to be lively without being cloying. He didn’t really sound like he was trying to do a Madden impression. And he showed just enough under the surface to be interesting...
Raheem Morris is the latest Black coordinator to win a Super Bowl who did not get a head coaching job
Raheem Morris got a bonus, but he won’t be getting a promotion....
Rams win Super Bowl LVI as MVP Cooper Kupp carries team on game-winning drive
Patience is a virtue — sometimes you have to wait an entire half for a makeup call. And yet I don’t think the Rams are complaining after beating the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, in their home stadium, to win their first Super Bowl in Los Angeles....