ti Page 612 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The NBA retires Bill Russell’s number
The NBA retired its first number ever Thursday, and Bill Russell’s No. 6 couldn’t be a better choice — if it’s not the only choice. A transcendent figure as a player, as a coach, and as a civil rights leader, Russell’s legacy takes dictionaries’ to define. Of the four major professional sports in Am...

How bloated are the preseason win totals for the NBA teams fans love to hate?
When oddsmakers release NBA win-total futures, most casual fans scan right to their teams’ over/under and say, “My team’s better than that.” After a prolonged and misguided rant about sharps who do this for a living doing their job, the next move is to find the franchises they hate and bitch about t...

How rare is the HR cycle?
Since 1900, a player has hit three home runs in an MLB game 624 times. Only 16 times has a player hit four. Nobody has ever hit five....

Let’s not crown the Dodgers just yet — but let’s sure as hell enjoy the excellence
The 2022 Dodgers may be the most dominant regular-season team we’ve ever seen. And they have a chance to solidify it....

Front offices are bitching about the pitcher limit, which probably means it’ll work
I get caught in the trap as much as anyone, but I’m an impulsive guy. Baseball isn’t like other sports, where you can change one rule, any rule, and see the effects on Opening Day. In baseball, everything takes some time to have an effect....

Front offices are bitching about the pitcher limit, which probably means it’ll work
I get caught in the trap as much as anyone, but I’m an impulsive guy. Baseball isn’t like other sports, where you can change one rule, any rule, and see the effects on Opening Day. In baseball, everything takes some time to have an effect....

The only thing worse than the owners are their kids
Were you in the mood for a world-class bus-tossing? Did you want to start your day with the sound of an express pulverizing an unsuspecting individual DJ Jazzy Jeff’d into its path? Does the morning need a kickstart with a thunderous “THWACK?” Friendo, you’re in luck:...

Welcome to Blah-gust, the worst time of the sporting calendar
Mark it down: 9:35 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10. We’ve reached the peak (nadir?) of sports’ slow season. You know it’s the doggiest of dog days when ESPN is killing time with Little League World Series coverage. No disrespect to the youth, but I’m not going to subject myself to watching children’s athlet...

Brenden Aaronson is going to be just fine
Amongst the excitement of any US player heading overseas, there’s always a tremor of trepidation (I’m usually anti-alliteration but here we are). This angst is sure said player will fail, and will cast a pall over any future Yank moving to that team or even that league. We’re probably past that, giv...

Cale Gundy is the latest example of white America’s obsession with the N-word
For Eve, it was the forbidden fruit. For Cale Gundy, it was the N-word. Entitlement is the downfall of people who aren’t satisfied with having everything....

Mariners' outfielder Jarred Kelenic has been off to a historically bad start to his career
Seattle Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic was supposed to be a savior. He was supposed to help pull a franchise that had been mostly irrelevant in the annals of baseball history into World Series contention. He was a very popular pick for the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year Award last year....

Please don’t let WWE get its greedy paws on The Rock’s new VICE TV series ‘Tales from the Territories’
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has taken Hollywood by storm since he left the WWE, producing hit after hit on the big screen. Even with Johnson’s mainstream success, he’s never forgotten his pro wrestling roots. Now The Rock is teaming up with VICE TV on a series called “Tales From The Territories.”...

And, voila, Cameron Smith’s charisma is gone
We’ve reached a point where a golfer has to take a blood oath on their mother’s grave while stabbing a voodoo doll of Greg Norman for me to believe that any of these amoral sociopaths are staying with the PGA Tour. My hopes weren’t high for Cameron Smith, the young Australian who just won the Open C...

The Seahawks’ unofficial depth chart is officially certifiable
“What if — and this is purely hypothetical — we float out an unofficial depth just to see how they react?” — (Probably) Pete Carroll buzzing around a 3 a.m. coaches meeting, a few Adderall and five sugar-free Red Bulls deep, trying to figure out how to ease Seattle fans into a reality where Geno Smi...

Here’s Aaron Rodgers’ path to a third straight MVP award
Aaron Rodgers can win his third straight NFL MVP this coming season....

Expect more illegal contact calls from refs this NFL season
It is bad enough how bold the league is about its financial goals. The NFL wants to bring in $25 billion in revenue by 2027. It has been two years since the start of the pandemic, and the league generated $11 billion per Sportico. That number includes no local revenue dollars....

Serena Williams calls it a career
One of the greatest athletes ever has signaled the end of her playing career. Serena Williams will hang up the racket after the US Open, tennis’ final major of the calendar year, she confirmed to Vogue Magazine in a personalized essay. Williams, 41, has one final chance to tie Margaret Court’s all-t...
