the-u Page 90 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

LeBron James and the Lakers may need to admit they were wrong about Russell Westbrook sooner than they’d imagined
The Russell Westbrook experiment in Los Angeles has not clicked yet, and I don’t know if it ever will. LeBron James missing games with an injury doesn’t help, but things were scary even when he was playing. Acquiring Westbrook was a LeBron decision, made in place of trading for a much better shooter...

Matthew Stafford is still the same QB he was in Detroit
Welp, here we go again with Matthew Stafford. It must be extremely tough to be a fan of Stafford. Just when you think he’s rolling along and nothing can stop him, Stafford lays a giant egg in a game that he should win. It almost sounds like being a Dallas Cowboys fan. So, I get it....

Adam Silver set the precedent with Donald Sterling — he must continue it with Robert Sarver and Neil Olshey
Mark Cuban saw it coming. Adam Silver did not. ...

Thanks for volunteering as tribute, Aaron Rodgers
On Sunday, ahead of noon kickoff across the country, FOX analyst Terry Bradshaw let Aaron Rodgers have it for lying about being vaccinated for COVID back in August....

NFL Powerless Rankings: The not very good, the bad and the ugly
The NFL season is halfway done, and now we know who the contenders are and the teams we can write off as pretenders. We can talk about the contenders another time because this list is about those less fortunate teams in the league. Now it’s time to check out the worst of the worst from Week 9....

Some Minnesota Vikings made their pitch for Odell Beckham Jr. during warmups, but there are better teams that could make better use of the former All-Pro
Some Minnesota Vikings players gave their front office a little elbow nudge to make a roster move this week. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson and cornerback Cam Dantzier both played their college football at LSU and made their pitch for another former Tiger to become a member of the team — Odell Beckh...

Week 9 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Oof, a rare goose egg came out of last week’s action, though to be fair, that was easily one of the most bizarre football slates any of us had ever seen. When something like Mike White beating the surging Bengals outright to sink our teaser happens, just try to laugh and move on....

Raiders’ problems piling up
The Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of one of the most tumultuous seasons we’ve ever seen. First it was their head coach, Jon Gruden, whose leaked emails revealed racist and misogynistic tendencies from the Super Bowl-winning coach. Less than a month later, the team’s leading receiver and 2020 fi...

James Madison gets its moment in the Sun (Belt)
Conference realignment trickle-down has officially reached the Football Championship Series, as the Sun Belt Conference officially announced the addition of James Madison University Saturday by a unanimous vote of its members’ CEOs....

No shot for Kyrie to play for Brooklyn this season with no shot
Sorry, not sorry, Kyrie Irving, but those hopes that incoming New York mayor Eric Adams will relax the city’s vaccine rules to allow “World B. Flat” to suit up for the Nets after the inauguration at the turn of the new year?...

Do you believe in miracles? No! USA Hockey is an embarrassment
You would think that after the year they’ve had — after the past couple of weeks they’ve had — USA Hockey would want to steer clear of anything remotely controversial. The organization could cynically circle the wagons or engage in some reflection about its place in the sport’s toxic culture, but US...

Nobody does less with more than Texas
Oh, wow, look another Texas Longhorns football coach is underwhelming....

Report: College teams pay $500 million in dead money to coaches to <em>not</em> coach anymore
Half a billion dollars....

NFL Week 9: Backup QBs take their shots at better-than-average .500 teams
No Aaron Rodgers for the Packers. Possibly no Kyler Murray for the Cardinals. But it’s alright. Their teams are both facing opponents with four losses. Oh… it’s the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers....

Did the clock strike midnight on Mike White’s fairy tale?
Less than two weeks ago, Mike White’s mere presence on an NFL roster seemed a miracle. He muddled through a 6-7 senior season with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, had a poor performance at the 2018 Combine, and wound up a fifth-round draft pick from the Dallas Cowboys, where he was then cut from t...

What do the Packers and Patriots have in common? Their QBs both got COVID before playing in Kansas City
This isn’t a story about how Aaron Rodgers is a liar that tried to run game on the NFL, the media, and his fans. It’s one about how unfortunate things happen to quarterbacks before they travel to Kansas City....

Aaron Rodgers’ misdirection gives Jordan Love the opportunity to shine and couldn’t have come at a better time
Green Bay Packers’ backup QB Jordan Love has been like the infrequent Bigfoot sighting of the NFL. We’ve heard his name a lot over the past year and a half without much payoff, and I’m not counting preseason because established players don’t even take it seriously anymore....

The internet finally killed ESPN Classic
I guess I’m old enough to start a column with “kids these days” because I actually have a “kids these days” moment. Before you could break down, clip and analyze every pick and roll of a Wednesday night Pistons-Wizards game, kids these days don’t know how hard it was to rewatch your favorite games l...

NCAA shows it can still play God — the smiting part, at least
The NCAA is making a statement, that’s for sure — that being “don’t cooperate with us. It will only end badly for you, your players, and your school.”...