team Page 23 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Winning fourth ring and first finals MVP would quiet critics and crush many narratives surrounding Stephen Curry’s legacy
On the cusp of returning to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors find themselves in prime position to silence critics. With a 3-0 lead, the Warriors are all but guaranteed to have a spot saved for them on June 2 when the Finals begin. Winning a four...

Roger Angell knew baseball was about people, not stats
Roger Angell loved baseball in its purest form. Throughout over half a century of covering the sport for ‘The New Yorker’, Angell saw the game dip, duck, dive, and dodge its way through rule changes, scandals, and fundamental changes, yet his love for America’s pastime never faded....

No more excuses: 2022 needs to be Tua time in Miami
Year Three will be a make-or-break year in Miami for Tua Tagovailoa. While the former Alabama QB has been decent for the Dolphins, he’s yet to lead them to the postseason. There’s absolutely no reason that shouldn’t change in 2022 with how the team has been restructured to focus more on the offensiv...

USWNT finally gets paid
Today is the first day that the US men and the US women’s soccer teams will earn the same wages for performance on the field. The US women’s team has won four World Cup gold medals and four Olympic medals. In 1930, the US men had their best result in World Cup play, finishing third. ...

The USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits have a turnover whip — wait, what?
Having a mascot/nickname that’s intimidating is essential in sports. There’s a reason why teams are never called the “librarians” or the “kittens.” And ever since Miami Football introduced the turnover chain a few years ago, we’ve seen multiple teams replicate the gimmick. But, every now and then, s...

We have a feeling Michael Jordan took this personally
Adam Silver might be receiving a call from somebody very soon. It’ll be a friendly call from one of the NBA team owners saying that he will be in New York for a visit shortly. He will suggest that the two of them play golf soon, and as soon as that request is made, the commissioner should turn his p...

If the Leafs fall in overtime, do their fans make a sound?
I’m usually a sucker for reaction shots of big public viewings of playoff or World Cup games. Seeing that much unbridled joy amongst a group of strangers makes me believe in a better world or that there is a purpose to this silliness....

Miles Robinson’s injury leaves USMNT in a bind
The conversation can’t be delayed. Procrastinating about specific personnel decisions that will expose Gregg Berhalter’s future at the helm of the United States men’s national team are now harmful to delay after this weekend. Miles Robinson went from World Cup lock to out of the 23-man roster being ...

Dolphins, keep Tua’s wounded ducks to yourself
Hey there Miami Dolphins. Just thought that I would throw you a couple of friendly reminders....

Christian Pulisic’s dad is every U.S. soccer fan right now
Christian Pulisic is the closest thing to he who was promised for American soccer fans who have been pining for a legitimate star. I’m not sure what’s the equivalent to being brought onto Chelsea after a successful start to a career at Dortmund, but the closest approximation I can think of is going ...

The Warriors’ wild ride
It feels like yesterday that everyone hated the Golden State Warriors, save for those living in Oakland. It was one of the few things NBA fans agreed on in unison. When the Warriors signed Kevin Durant in 2016, he temporarily broke the NBA. The Warriors had already won a championship in 2015 before ...

Yes, Nets got swept, but Kevin Durant still has time for Barkley and everyone that has something to say about it
If nothing else, you have to respect Kevin Durant for staying on brand at all times. The Brooklyn Nets completed one of the most disappointing seasons of all time by being swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics, and being the first team eliminated from the 2022 NBA Playoffs. Their experiment...

Vince McMahon was just waiting for the dust to clear
It is hard to miss that Monday Night Raw has been built around, in large part, Riddle and Austin Theory of late. Riddle is one half of the wildly popular RK Bro tag team champs with legend Randy Orton, and appears to be on his way to headlining the company’s next PPV. You might wonder why he isn’t “...

Hunter Greene is who Major League Baseball would promote more if it cared about diversity
Playing baseball is hard. Living up to the hype is a bit harder. But so far, Hunter Greene seems up to the task. It’s too bad the league he plays in isn’t....

AEW is leaning into its cult status, and I love it
The best way to enjoy AEW is to forget the ratings, at least past the point where you know it’s doing well enough to be successful, and is going to stay on the air and in existence. However it compares to whatever Chicago show is on NBC or whatever gas Tucker Carlson has been huffing that night, doe...

The baseball is deflated again
I’m cribbing heavily from Joe Sheehan’s newsletter again, but in his latest missive he points out that things keep getting better and better for pitchers. Thanks to technology and greater study, they discover new pitches or tweaks to existing ones as they keep throwing harder and harder. At the same...

The NWSL has some good Twitter beef
If Drive to Survive on Netflix has taught us anything, it’s that people love the story behind the story, and it can rocket the popularity of a sport if they allow people to see it. But you don’t need a Netflix special to get into some personality and character. Twitter can do that for you, as long a...

Reboot USFL will be remembered for its chicken salad, not the football
The contemporary USFL is the chicken salad of spring professional football leagues. In theory, it may feature the name of two ingredients people love, but it’s a stomach-churning and second-rate mixture in practice. For example, USFL running back De’Veon Smith was cut by his Pittsburgh Maulers team ...

The USMNT is crafty in the middle but dangerous at both ends… to themselves
Being panicky and reactionary about the USMNT is now part of the deal. Perhaps it’s a sign we’re growing up. Fuck, three weeks ago, the US qualified for next fall’s World Cup (and got something of a favorable draw), Christian Pulisic was starting regularly for Chelsea — looking good doing it, too — ...

USMNT in the knockout round! An Argentina-Brazil semifinal! Oh, Canada! (and more World Cup predictions)
Instead of a World Cup taking place in the summer, we’re waiting until the late fall for the festivities to start to get to a manageable playing temperature in Qatar. The 2022 FIFA World Cup draw took place a few weeks ago, giving a path to the 37 teams still in contention to lift the trophy. Four w...