to Page 696 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Vaccine passports could be the ticket back to full stadiums
Ah, baseball’s opening weekend, fans in the stands and the Nationals sidelined by the coronavirus....

Shohei Ohtani’s performance last night was something to marvel
I’ve written about Shohei Ohtani before in this space. About how he almost certainly can’t be all that he teases, and the Angels are losing out on all he can be as a hitter or a pitcher by allowing him to be both. ...

Your guide to the most interesting MLB walk-up music, then and now
You can tell a lot about a person by what music they listen to....

Carter Hart looks good in return, but the Flyers still suck
Carter Hart made his return to the net after an eight-game “reset” for the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, and no, let’s not go with any rising from the dead analogies, but he was looked to as the savior of the franchise....

Jalen Suggs turned a ho-hum NCAA Tournament into one for the ages
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament hasn’t really been all that exciting this year. Sure, there have been upsets, and a handful of close games, but particularly in a year without Duke and Kentucky in the field at all, and several other traditional powers in the doldrums, not to mention the whole to...

MLB umps play Keystone Kops in punishing wrong guy in bench-clearing non-brawl
Nicholas Castellanos was angry about being hit by a pitch from Cardinals right-hander Jake Woodford, so when the Reds’ right fielder came in to score on a Woodford wild pitch, sliding into Woodford in the process, he made his feelings known....

Grant Hill named director of USA Men’s National Basketball Team
You could go so far as to say Grant Hill was always meant for this. ...

Thunder, Warriors stinkers further evidence that NBA means ‘Nasty Blowout Again’ this season
The Thunder’s starting lineup on Friday night was Aleksej Pokusevski, Théo Maledon, Moses Brown, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, and Isaiah Roby. If none of those names is familiar, don’t worry, they’ve combined for 285 games of NBA experience — 280 before Friday night. ...

Francisco (not Frankie) Lindor, Roberto (not Bobby) Clemente, and the unintentional disrespect of Americanizing Latin names
Nicknames are endearing, but they’re not always respectful. ...

McDonald lifts Arizona over UConn, will face Stanford in all-PAC-12 Final
Stanford vs. Arizona will be the matchup for the women’s national title, and the Pac-12 will have its first national champion since 1992, when the Cardinal — then, as now, coached by Tara VanDerveer — won its second title....

Which team played the villain role best?
With the Houston Astros now wearing the crown as the most hated team in professional sports — as indicated by the chorus of boos and piercing screams of “CHEATER!” that rang through the Oakland Coliseum (whatever ridiculous name it has today) last night on Opening Day (ahh… welcome back baseball, an...

The players we’d most like to see in the Big 3’s new season
According to a report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, the Big3 is returning after their 2020 cancelation due to COVID....

On Opening Day, the signs of how much we’ve lost were everywhere
After getting the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, I was pretty out of it on Thursday, which meant that Opening Day was a different experience than usual. I woke up in the morning, had breakfast and walked the dog, then went right back to sleep, setting an alarm to be able to watch the first inning...

Justin Fields, Dan Orlovsky, and the never-ending degradation of Black QBs with age-old stereotypes
I find myself often being perplexed by the way some things are happening. Currently, one of those situations is the seemingly-inexplicable decrease in draft stock of a quarterback prospect I love, Justin Fields, who before the season was the consensus second-best quarterback behind Trevor Lawrence. ...

At least Biden realizes that packed ballparks are still a bad idea
I know we all want to get back to normal, but Texas’ “fuck it all, we’re completely open” approach seems a Texas-sized amount reckless. We’re close. More people are getting vaccinated by the day, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but we still need to be smart and do exactly the opposite of wha...

Miguel Cabrera hit the first home run of the season in the snow and thought it was a double
Miguel Cabrera now has 488 career home runs (350 as a Tiger), and it’s possible that none were as unique as this....

The ones that do the least during games make the most money. No wonder baseball is America’s pastime
When I was in elementary school, we used to take annual field trips to the old Tiger Stadium. One year, Detroit was playing the Royals. I remember those blue jerseys. Our school was sitting in the outfield and somebody who wasn’t in our group pulled a beach ball out from nowhere. It eventually bounc...

Once you can return safely, here are One Lucky Fan’s picks for the best at MLB parks
It’s Opening Day… and the vast majority of Americans are at least 550 days removed from their last trip out to the old ballgame. We all know about the 2020 shortened season and the cardboard cutouts and we are trying hard to forget it. As such, I know that I am looking heartily forward to my second ...

Francisco Lindor extension shows Steve Cohen can’t go back on his promise to build a contender
In June 2019, right after drafting Tyler Herro and K.Z. Okpala, and before trading for Jimmy Butler, Pat Riley said the following:...

April Fools, these fake sports tweets probably got you too
We all want to be first. First in line for whatever you’re buying, first to discover new talent, first to see that blockbuster hit. In the media, we also want to be first to a story. You probably do too. That might be why you’re on Twitter — to follow the “Woj Bombs” or Schefter’s BREAKING news. But...