us Page 362 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

No big deal, just a four-year veteran backup QB out-performing the entire NFL in his first-ever start, winning a bettor 2.5X that player’s salary
The person who was the happiest after the Kansas City Chiefs bounced back after an ugly loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football was likely not in the home locker room at Arrowhead Stadium after the game, and probably has no association with the Kansas City metropolitan area. That perso...

Derrick Henry is hurt
The Tennessee Titans have been on a tear in recent weeks. They have won four consecutive games, including back-to-back victories in weeks 6 and 7 against the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday’s win gave them a comfortable three-game lead in the AFC South — but disaster has struck the Tita...

Gary Bettman isn’t paid for this, and it shows
Maybe it’s only people of older generations, of which I’m a part, who still perceive the position of “commissioner” as some sort of custodian of a particular sport. Even though we know in our minds that all they’re just the hand of the owners, and exist to ensure maximized profits, our hearts still ...

NFL Week 8 Takeaways: The NFL had a scary movie in Week 8, <em>The Day of the Backup QB</em>, staring Mike White, Trevor Siemian, and Cooper Rush
For the average NFL viewer, the true horror didn’t arrive on Halloween, it arrived in Week 7 with six teams on a bye week. Not only were there less games, but the ones that were played were much less entertaining than a Saw movie marathon....

Zack Greinke saves the Astros
Well, not really, Of course not. We all know that’s a ridiculous notion. But what my book presupposes is...maybe he did?...

Week 8 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
A 3-1 week or better is always the goal. Fortunately, we were able to reel off another such showing last weekend, this one coming at a crucial time following the one and only below-.500 performance of the year. Let’s shoot for the same result....

The baseball is good at the World Series, but Baseball is horrendous
Once you get past the Astros merely being there again after suffering no meaningful consequences for their cheating, and the racist Chop, and the scheduled attendance of Donald Trump at Game 4, and the idea that losing awaiting-trial-on-felony-charges Marcell Ozuna was some kind of “adversity” that ...

Trying to save Face(book): Meta-style rebranding campaigns for sports teams and figures
Facebook tried to go full pivot yesterday with a rebranding of its name. For those of you who haven’t figured out that Facebook is a bottomless pit of frustration, despair, bigotry, misinformation, etc. and deleted your account — or forgot your login and don’t have access to your college email anymo...

NFL Week 8: Hear me out… The winless Lions are not terrible
The Detroit Lions are the last remaining winless team in the NFL. Coincidentally, the Detroit Pistons are the last winless team remaining in the NBA, but that’s irrelevant right now. The fact is that, despite the Lions record starting with a zero, they’re one of the best terrible teams we’ve seen in...

AJ Green and DeMar DeRozan whiff, as unbeaten teams fall short in late comebacks
We had a pair of fourth quarter thrillers on our hands last night, as two surprising unbeaten teams in the NBA and NFL tried to keep their winning streaks alive. The Bulls mounted a late comeback against the Knicks, which would be a largely meaningless phrase if both teams hadn’t shocked their long-...

The Athletics begin their Major League’ing
The news flashed out of nowhere, which is probably the most worrying thing. The Padres hired Bob Melvin as a manager, which is great for them. Melvin has been making the most out of whatever he’s been given in Oakland for a decade now, and a lot of that time it has been a mishmash of misfit toys. He...

I feel you AI, but let’s keep it 100, Philly fans can be something else to deal with
Philly’s favorite son, Allen Iverson, has been keeping a close eye on the 76ers’ dilemma regarding Ben Simmons wanting to leave town. Iverson gave Philadelphia the best years of his career and even led the team to its last NBA Finals appearance in 2001. There aren’t too many athletes who know that r...

Mark Ingram returns to New Orleans, but far gone from his 2017 form
Yesterday, the Houston Texans traded their lead running back, Mark Ingram, to the New Orleans Saints along with a swap of late-round draft picks....

Russell Westbrook went all 'unwritten rules enforcer' last night and that’s a shame
Ugh. Russell Westbrook has become a “guardian of the game” guy, and it couldn’t be more disappointing....

Thursday Night Football, Week 8: Injuries and COVID — it’s beginning to feel like 2020 again
Thursday Night Football has a reputation for being underwhelming. Just look at the seven Thursday games we’ve had thus far this season. Only two were really enticing matchups: Week 1's Cowboys-Bucs and Week 5's Rams-Seahawks. Luckily, in Week 8, we get another thrilling matchup between the 7-0 Arizo...

The Nets miss Kyrie, but his absence isn’t the only reason for their slow start
Take two for Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Ky….well, the third member of Brooklyn’s big trio is on a leave of absence, and maybe that is part of the reason for the Nets’ struggles early on this season....

Perhaps it’s time for Barcelona to recognize what they are
It couldn’t end any other way, especially when you bone it and get zipped by Rayo Vallecano to fall to ninth in the La Liga table....

No, your favorite team doesn’t ‘know something’ you don’t
(TW: Sexual assault)...

What will history make of JJ Watt?
“JJ Watt is out with what looks to be a season-ending injury.” ...

'Analytics understander' A-Rod logs on and fails in October once again
Does Alex Rodriguez know what “analytics” means? You would think he should, being a television commentator for baseball in 2021, but life is full of surprises — such as A-Rod praising the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the World Series for an “anti-analytics inning.”...