summer Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

This is the best idea to solve the NBA’s midseason lull
After throwing slop at a wall like everybody else trying to figure out the best route for the NBA regular season and All-Star break to matter, I have the ultimate solution. There is no better idea, and even though it won’t happen, the potential to overwhelm the news cycle is so alluring that Adam Si...

The 2023 basketball HOF finalists have a legacy worthy of the honor
The list of finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is a snapshot of an era. Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade headline the class, having met twice in the NBA Finals, splitting the titles between them. Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Becky Hammon are forever San Antonio Spurs. And t...

2023 NBA Anti-All-Stars: The dregs of the West
The NBA All-Star Game is an honor bestowed upon the most distinguished hoopers every season. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing here. Their time will come. However, the NBA’s worst rotation players deserve to receive their dead flowers too. Stare into this dark void with me and commemorate t...

Tom Brady's not the only star who couldn't quit the spotlight
For the second straight Feb. 1, Tom Brady retired from the National Football League. His first retirement lasted all of 40 days, coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minutes after the NCAA Tournament field was chosen on Selection Sunday. He’s now retired “for good” and the entire sports world kno...

I would rather light my franchise on fire than validate Kyrie Irving
Eventually, some time way down the road, after amassing hundreds of millions of dollars, Kyrie Irving is going to get his. By that point though, it’ll be way too late in life to teach him that he’s ever done anything wrong. When the news broke that Irving demanded a trade from the Brooklyn Nets on F...

New York Liberty now a super team with Breanna Stewart signing
After leaving fans trying to decipher her cryptic tweets in Taylor Swift style about where she would end up next season, Breanna Stewart has gone back to her home state of New York. ...

Tom Brady’s pre-Super Bowl retirement makes things awkward for Fox’s Greg Olsen — but here’s a solution
The comeback king may finally be done, but Tom Brady’s football obituary should begin with his error of making one comeback too many. The venerable Patriots legend Tampa Bay Buccaneers mercenary-for-hire announced his retirement in a no-frills social media post on Wednesday morning....

Qualifying for Copa America 2024 should only help the USMNT
Here’s a compliment sandwich. The 2024 Copa America, South America’s premier international soccer tournament, will again be played in the United States after America hosted the showcase for the first time in 2016. Despite being the host nation, the USMNT hasn’t directly qualified to play in the even...

The Sports Nihilist: Like life, defense shouldn’t matter
When someone goes for 85 points in an NBA game this season, please don’t downplay the accomplishment. I know Kobe Bryant’s 81 is immortalized, and Lakers fans don’t have much to keep them warm at night nowadays, so they’ll cling even harder, but it feels like someone is going to approach the modern-...

I need a ruling on how we’re supposed to feel about Bronny James
Despite being the only prospect outside of the top 23 that made the McDonald’s All-American team, Bronny James is the game’s headliner. The 34th-ranked recruit in 2023 is getting a dramatically larger brand bump from his last name than Arch Manning, and I don’t know whether to be outraged or sympath...

So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
Tommy Paul didn’t play collegiate tennis. Instead, he came up through the junior circuit and turned pro in 2015. He’s one of the rare Americans who plays best on clay, yet his career breakthrough has come on the hardcourt of the Australian Open. Paul took down fellow American Ben Shelton on Wednesda...

Will Dearica Hamby’s accusations force the WNBA to finally deal with its mommy issues?
The Las Vegas Aces kicked off the WNBA free agency negotiation period on Saturday, Jan. 21, by kicking Dearica Hamby from the sidewalks of Sin City to the curbs of the City of Angels. Neither “The Heave,” which made Hamby into both a fan favorite and a household name among league aficionados, nor he...

Since reboots are what’s hot these days, let’s crank up Cowboys vs. 49ers again
Reboots from the previous millennium are all over television these days. If this is the direction that entertainment is heading, of course the NFL would bring back one of it’s classic programs, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs....

Bronny's bound to be a Buckeye
Has there been an athlete ever more hyped before becoming a professional, and lived up to those expectations, more than LeBron James? How many other high schoolers got solo covers of Sports Illustrated? Kevin Garnett graced the magazine’s front before James, while Sebastian Telfair did after. It’s c...

Now we know why Naomi Osaka is stepping away from tennis for 2023
For those who had questions about why Naomi Osaka dropped out of the Australian Open, or if she still cares about being a professional tennis player, you just got your answer....

Hey Adam Silver, glossy new trophies won’t fix the NBA’s regular season
They say millennials are obsessed with trophies, but our elders have been expanding the ones propping up that industry. Commissioner Adam Silver’s quest to revitalize the regular season’s infrastructure has been his pet project for almost his entire eight-year stint. One day after Kawhi Leonard expr...

Players and recruits shouldn’t trust Kim Mulkey, who was useless when it came to Brittney Griner
Editor’s note: This column has been updated to include a comment from Kim Mulkey....

Brittney Griner is free
At long last, a deal has been struck to release WNBA player Brittney Griner from a Russian prison. She was sentenced to a draconian nine years after a small amount of cannabis oil was found in a vape cartridge in her luggage....

Zach LaVine is grumbling — and so are Bulls fans
The contemporary NBA has conditioned basketball fans to seek out unhappy All-Stars like lions stalk the most vulnerable wildebeest. The Chicago Bulls dropped to 6-10 on the season after a one-point home loss to a Paolo Banchero-less Orlando Magic on Friday, and Zach LaVine set off some alerts....