state Page 26 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s going to take a lot to subdue Kevin Durant and Devin Booker
One of the most glorious occurrences in all of sports is when an NBA player goes on a heater in the playoffs. Think Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray in the Bubble, or Damian Lillard against the Nuggets a couple of years ago when he dropped a double-nickel while hitting shots that take a level of ma...

The Gang Enters The Soccer Tournament
This is a fever dream for soccer, or a fever nightmare depending on what team you root for. The Soccer Tournament, or TST for short, was announced this week as a 32-team showcase taking place in early June in North Carolina. Based on The Basketball Tournament, it’s a winner-take-all, 7-on-7, $1 mill...

New York and California Attorneys General are investigating the NFL, but it won’t change anything
On Thursday morning, the Associated Press reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have issued subpoenas to NFL executives in both states, as the pair are investigating allegations of hostile workplace discrimination at the NFL for racial and se...

The expanded college football playoff schedule is going to test a lot of livers, waistbands, and relationships
Anyone who’s ever been to Las Vegas will tell you two nights is the perfect length for a trip, and proceed with caution after the 48-hour mark, or you’ll risk going full James Harden and slapping your buddy outside the club. Three days on the strip is excessive even for the most degenerate of addict...

Overanalyzing Jordan Poole’s shot is NBA voyeurism at its finest
After nearly 48 minutes, the Los Angeles Lakers were spent as the Golden State Warriors were hitting their stride and discovering their second wind. Following a late flurry of points, the Warriors trailed by three in the final seconds when Jordan Poole launched a three-pointer from the parking lot. ...

Enes Kanter Freedom is auditioning to be the next Herschel Walker
In the wake of Herschel Walker losing in Georgia’s December runoff with Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Republican Party didn’t just suffer a crushing defeat —they missed out on having an athlete in politics that could garner attention. But never fear, Enes Kanter Freedom is here. And it f...

Is Caleb Williams the real deal or more fool’s gold from Lincoln Riley?
Caleb Williams is the 2024 NFL Draft’s most anticipated gem. A perfect, gleaming, status-altering figure who’ll lift the fortunes of the team that drafts him — but also completely out of reach for now. The Washington Commanders, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints all sit in p...

The Stanley Cup will be lifted by the Oilers-Golden Knights victor
Among a final eight that feels like a changing of the guard in hockey more than most years, with old standbys proving their age by exiting the ice until the fall, the duo of the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers stand out like a sore thumb. Not necessarily because they don’t also repr...

The NBA playoff ratings have been FANtastic
Well, Phil Jackson, it turns out that the NBA has not woked itself out of the American television landscape. Some news that you won’t find on the disingenuous provocateur in Nashville’s timeline is that the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs was a smash hit. ...

Another year, another Chris Paul injury
One of my favorite title teams ever was the 2006 Miami Heat, and it wasn’t because of Dwyane Wade or Shaquille O’Neal. There were three elder players on that squad who I thought deserved the validation that comes with a ring, and it was great seeing happiness ooze out of Gary Payton, Jason Williams,...

Every Black football coach should be rooting for Reggie Barlow in the XFL Championship Game
When Fritz Pollard became the NFL’s first Black coach in 1921 people of that time viewed it as progress. Later this month, Reggie Barlow could be the first coach, of any race, to win the XFL Championship in the league’s inaugural year in its new iteration when Barlow’s D.C Defenders take on the Arli...
![Has Antonio Brown already turned the Albany Empire into a burning landfill? [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/60aa3832f0ca5fc41962a9ae8c4b54fb.jpg)
Has Antonio Brown already turned the Albany Empire into a burning landfill? [Updated]
Every week, Antonio Brown provides the football world with a smoke signal update that reminds us that he’s an agent of chaos. That smoke signal is usually indicative of a fire. Since March, Brown has been running a semi-professional football team in Albany New York like it was George Bluth Sr.’s Ori...

Jerry Reinsdorf, why don’t you stop talkin’ for a while?
We can’t be far from sports teams and organizations banning any of their management team from speaking at any kind of conference or forum. It’s what started the whole Gregg Berhalter fiasco, even if he thought it was a private, closed event. Jerry Reinsdorf pulled the same trick yesterday, and with ...

Lakers and Warriors have been getting old without getting older
Fending off the advance of time is an impossible feat. The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors both spent their first-round series successfully keeping the sand in their hourglasses from pouring out. Both the Warriors and LeBron James have aged gracefully over the years, but in the next rou...

Weston McKennie is not having a good time
Soccer moves fast, and it moves faster in the January transfer window. All the things Weston McKennie had to consider when a move to Leeds United from Juventus was probably thrown at him in a matter of days, if not hours. Questions of role, money, future, and the allure of moving to a country where ...

Mike Brown’s team went ‘full Mike Brown’ during the perfect Mike Brown moment
In sports, there are some things you can set your watch to. A Tom Brady game-winning drive. An early upset in the NCAA Tournament. A dramatic offseason for Aaron Rodgers. And a playoff letdown from a team coached by Mike Brown. And no matter how it may appear that times have changed, some people/thi...

Steph Curry, Playoff Jimmy, and the NBA players who willed their teams to Round 2
The first round of the NBA playoffs is over, and it was quite the show. From coast to coast, great players across the league made their presence felt in the least important round of the playoffs. Normally, the first round results in chalk, but many of the best teams of the 2022-23 NBA season have be...

Credit the Warriors for their resilience as much as their shooting
Stephen Curry signed his rookie contract extension with the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 30, 2012. That day was the start of the 2012-13 NBA Regular Season. At that time Curry had never been named an NBA All-Star or to an All-NBA Team. The Warriors went on to make the playoffs for the first time si...

Kickers are people, too
I guess if you’re the San Francisco 49ers and you’re set at most positions, you can afford to take a kicker in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. The team selected Michigan’s Jake Moody, who owns the Wolverines’ records for points, field goals, and 40-yard FGs, 99th overall. ...
