team Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Could bluebloods Kentucky and North Carolina both wind up in the NIT?
Both North Carolina’s and Kentucky’s men’s basketball teams have already lost six games this season. Two of the college basketball’s blueblood programs are struggling, and the NCAA Tournament might not be in the cards for them — but it’s not like this hasn’t happened before....
Damar Hamlin’s injury could have a major effect on youth football participation
23.6 million people tuned into Monday Night Football between the Bengals and Bills this past week. 23.6 million people saw Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin nearly lose his life. That kind of image sticks with people, and I wouldn’t be surprised if several parents think of that moment in the future when co...
Patrick Mahomes’ MVP season defied logic, now he has to elude history
Patrick Mahomes capped off what was likely his second MVP campaign with a humiliation of the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday. And yet, few expected him to be in this position four months ago. The AFC West was getting too crowded to be a monopoly, Justin Herbert was the NFL’s most gifted pocket passer,...
With Zidane news, US Soccer wags the dog — but that’s okay
We joked a couple days ago that US Soccer had become France without the success, delving into behind-the-scenes drama and parental strife. Little did we know how much like France they reportedly wanted to become. Reports started leaking out over the weekend that Zinedine Zidane had turned down an ap...
The USMNT's Gregg Berhalter saga just got weirder
As we covered this morning, yesterday a kind of strange story surrounding the USMNT’s Gregg Berhalter broke, because Berhalter got out in front of it. He released a statement claiming that someone had threatened to blackmail him over a domestic abuse situation from Berhatler’s teens, so the U.S. man...
US Soccer continues to be helplessly weird
To suggest that US Soccer is a byzantine organization would be to suggest that they have any sort of rules and protocols in place. It rarely feels like they do, and sort of just make stuff up as they go, with mostly everyone screaming about protecting their phony baloney jobs. It’s how Gregg Berhalt...
Tua Tagovailoa and Damar Hamlin are victims of the NFL’s most regressive season in ages
Prior to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin fighting for his life on Monday Night Football after collapsing in front of a horrified national audience, the ongoing NFL season was already a more regressive step back in the player safety department than any in recent memory. Hamlin being loaded into an ...
Misery loves company — and Michigan and Ohio State have each other
Sometimes the narrative writes itself. And then, when you’re extremely lucky, it just falls in your lap. The Big Ten had two opportunities to send at least one representative — either Michigan or Ohio State — to the College Football Playoff....
The Phoenix Suns are about to be owned by a real weirdo
To attain the kind of wealth that would allow one to purchase a sports franchise must automatically designate one as being off-kilter in some ways. There can be no normal billionaires, and now sports teams are valued at such ridiculous heights that only the richest of the rich can afford them. Which...
'Salt Bae' can fuck right off
For some reason, Z-list “celebrity” chef “Salt Bae” was in Qatar for the World Cup, and he tried to get up close and personal with Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina squad after the final. ...
Can we get some accountability from NFL referees for these bad calls?
Referees are a necessary part of any sporting event. It’s just unfortunate how they sometimes become the focal point of contests. This is apparent in far too many NFL games every week, and it’s at a point where some of their calls are absolutely absurd. NFL refs are constantly throwing flags that ma...
Leave it to the Raiders to exploit the rules
A week ago on Thursday Night Football, the NFL world paid witness to a pretty odd kickoff strategy from the Las Vegas Raiders during their game against the Los Angeles Rams. After the first drive of the game resulted in a Raiders touchdown, kicker Daniel Carlson had to boot the ball away, but he did...
So that’s why Gio Reyna didn’t play
Perhaps it’s a sign that the USMNT is moving into the big time that they hold their big controversies until after the tournament than before. We’ve been through Jürgen Klinsmann keeping Landon Donovan at home in 2014 simply to show everyone what a brain genius he was. Or John Harkes way back when. T...
You love roughing the passer penalties
It’s a visceral feeling. We all go through it. Team A fails to convert on third down, and yet the flag alert on the score bug pops up, and you get this sinking feeling (unless you’re a fan of Team A, that is. I wouldn’t know, as I’ve never seen Justin Fields get a roughing the passer call). The came...
Who announces their jump to the NFL first in 2024: Caleb Williams or Lincoln Riley?
To the surprise of very few college football fans, Caleb Williams lifted the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. The USC quarterback finished with 4,075 yards, 47 total touchdowns, and just four interceptions, all while leading his team to within a win of the College Football Playoff. Of all the quart...
The 10 best college football games of the 2022 season
With bowl season rapidly losing its significance and only really three games that matter remaining, now feels like as good a time as any to look back on the best of college football’s regular season. From upsets to heated rivalries and Heisman-defining moments, there was no shortage of great games i...
What’s next for the USMNT?
You know it’s over when your star midfielder is showing up courtside at Miami Heat games. Or the rumors of contract talks with the manager are heating up, while he tries to gain leverage by whispering about European club jobs. Time to call for the Lyft officially....
Gregg Berhalter deserves a lot of credit… and the exit door
At the top, we should refresh the list of things Gregg Berhalter can’t help. Everyone knows this list by now, but it deserves reinforcing. He can’t help that the US doesn’t have a genuine striker. He’s hardly the only international manager affected by such a thing. They’re just not that common. Spai...
Red, white, and the blues
How far do moral victories and actual losses go for the United States men’s national team? After failing to defeat The Netherlands at the World Cup, U.S. Soccer needs to take a hard look in the mirror....
Balls of steel
Christian Pulisic put it all on the line to score his first World Cup goal. His body did the work with his legacy hanging in the balance. If the current face of American soccer couldn’t score the goal that separated the United States men’s national team from advancing to the knockout stage in Qatar ...