v Page 1564 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Steelers and Mike Tomlin may be done this year, but they aren’t going anywhere
Before the Steelers got run out of Kansas City like everyone predicted (including their quarterback), Pittsburgh was up 7-0 five minutes into the second quarter. I thought that maybe they had a chance because all this team has done with a problematic corpse or Mason Rudolph playing QB over the past ...

Here are the Penguins again, hanging around, hanging around, can’t get rid of them…
In a world where the Patriots didn’t exist (and what a world that would be), perhaps the gold (and black) standard for bucking against the tides, refusing to be victims of a salary cap and system specifically designed to prevent sustained success, and just general obstinance would be the Pittsburgh ...

Darren Rovell is why White America needs to leave MLK Day alone
If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. magically rose from the dead, he would be dumbfounded by what America has become — and still is. But, he would soon realize one thing in particular that hasn’t changed: how infuriating the white moderate remains to be, as sports business analyst Darren Rovell decided to...

So about those expanded playoffs…
The NFL got its first Monday night playoff game. It’s got its first expanded playoffs in a non…well, less COVID season (barely). And it was all something of a bust. One good game, five ass-kickings, some wondering what all the fuss was about....

Please, please, please let’s all commit to no more Ben Roethlisberger than absolutely necessary
The word cloud was way too much....

Tonight we'll find out who Matthew Stafford really is
The moment of truth has arrived....

Novak Djokovic threw a temper tantrum for the ages
Novak Djokovic has effectively chosen to remain unvaccinated over his bid to break the men’s Grand Slam singles record. That may not have been his aim, but his choice nonetheless has consequences....

Mike Zimmer may have left the Vikings quietly, but he let them know how he felt while he was there
Black Monday was last week in the NFL and with a slew of coaches receiving their pink slips, it was time for another tradition in pro sports: Teams anonymously skewering their recently-axed coach, especially if the firing came as any sort of surprise....

Buh-bye, Boys
Dallas did it again. It got your hopes up only to do what it always does....

Leave Bruce Brown alone — it was a foul, not a flop, that injured Kevin Durant’s knee
It has been an up-and-down, one-step-forward one-step-back kind of a season for the Brooklyn Nets. Their next 4-6 weeks might go down, back, and off to the side as resident MVP candidate Kevin Durant will be sidelined for that span. The Nets today announced the results of an MRI, which showed that D...

The NBA All-Star voting process seems to up the ante on ridiculousness every year and 2022 is no exception
Let’s be honest, the NBA All-Star balloting process is one of the most absurd in professional sports. Growing up, I was never a fan of the fan vote, basically determining who plays in the game. But I don’t blame the fans entirely because fan is short for fanatic, after all. I blame the NBA for keepi...

Novak Djokovic finally loses in Australia
It’s finally over. Novak Djokovic’s appeal of the revocation of his visa by Australia’s Immigration Minister was rejected, and the country finally got to punt his water-mutating brain elsewhere. Which means Djokovic will not be breaking the record for most Grand Slam titles in Melbourne, though that...

There would be a beautiful symmetry to Newcastle getting relegated
It’s unusually harsh on Newcastle supporters, who are one of the more tortured fanbases in any sport you can find. Imagine if Pirates owner Bob Nutting owned a soccer club, that’s what Newcastle fans just went through. Mike Ashley was not only a raging asshole, but incredibly cheap when it came to t...

Which team could use Calvin Ridley most?
Atlanta Falcons’ wide receiver Calvin Ridley has been the subject of much criticism this year. His decision to step away from his team in the middle of the season was admirable, but not exempt from the criticism of NFL “fans.” Even when he was playing, Ridley underwhelmed. After finishing tied for f...

Wild Card NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
The playoffs are upon us, including the first-ever Monday Night Football postseason affair. Of course, it was all fun for those who were tailing the column throughout the campaign, but getting content would be just silly. We want more, like extending this 10-game over/under winning streak that we cl...

Man City is running away with the Premier League title, so what can the rest of the EPL teams still win?
Slow starts, midseason swoons, and collapses are ways soccer clubs can blow a title race, but if you’re Man City, those don’t happen. Pep Guardiola’s team beat Chelsea for the second time Saturday, 1-0, and are now 13 points clear of the second place Blues and 14 points clear of third place Liverpoo...

The Rangers are a mystery that analytics can't figure out
The best way to determine the best teams in any sport is to look at the standings, right? If they’ve been playing well, they’ll be near the top of the league. As Bill Parcells said, “You are what your record says you are.”...

Can’t spell ‘razzle dazzle’ without grabbing an L
Perhaps LaMelo Ball wanted to get some of the ink that his brother Lonzo has been? The younger Ball made one of the plays of the year on Friday night, deflecting a pass and then racing up the court, where instead of going for an easy layup or throwing down a dunk, he weaved the ball between his legs...

Bo Jackson Curse? The Bengals aren’t cursed, they’re just inept
In my perusal of Wild-Card Weekend storylines to write about, I found the curse of Bo Jackson particularly interesting. If you’ve never heard of Bo Jackson then my god are you young, but if you’ve never heard of the Bo Jackson Curse then, like me, you’re new to this borderline contrived curse....

Who’s facing more heat on Monday night: Kliff Kingsbury or Matthew Stafford?
If the Cardinals had beaten the Lions, Arizona would be NFC West champs right now. Let me repeat that...IF THE CARDS HAD BEATEN THE 1-11-1 LIONS, THEY WOULD BE NFC WEST CHAMPS!...