ward Page 26 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Coaching HBCU football is a stepping stone for Deion Sanders, but a brick wall for his peers
The spotlight Deion Sanders has brought to historically black college football programs has been unparalleled. Interest is at an all-time high and Sanders has championed multiplying exposure for the talent at HBCU programs. Sanders was specifically referring to the players, but the same sentiments c...

ESPN’s <i>College GameDay</i> has its new resident jackass — and he’s not the worst
In its heyday, College GameDay was the de facto No. 2 studio show behind Inside the NBA. Pregame shows are notorious for filling the air time with a panel of experts struggling to find opportunities to make points or move the conversation into a meaningful discussion. I challenge you to watch the Su...

Yeah, Brady vs. Manning has nothing on Mahomes vs. Allen
Surely many of you believe that Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills should’ve been the Sunday Night Football matchup. It’s arguably the two best players and best teams in the league, played in front of a crowd that would be worked up into a lather no matter the weather....

College Football Marty McFly Rankings Week 6: Tennessee, L.A. football, and Texas are all back
Like a poorly thought-through movie-to-TV series, it appears the Marty McFly rankings are on life support. The actor I hired to play Michael J. Fox’s character is no Michael J. Fox, the de-aging for Christopher Lloyd is too expensive, and the DeLoreans keep breaking down. Never mind that these are t...

Oh yeah, it’s Fat Bear Week!
Look, normally in this space in the a.m., I’d have to talk about Hockey Canada’s chair pulling a “Not All Men!” act in front of the Canadian parliament. Or a couple of owners in NWSL relinquishing “day-to-day” operations of their teams, but not selling their teams and disappearing into the cave wher...

FTR is so good Tony Khan can’t book them
FTR — Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler — are the best wrestlers in the world....

The Rams should take down the banged up 49ers on Monday Night Football, but only if they shore up a key weakness
Opening night was a grand affair for the Los Angeles Rams. In their shiny facility in Inglewood, Calf., they were able to relive the night that they became the second consecutive team to win a Super Bowl in their home stadium. They got the rings, unveiled the banner, and three hours later they were ...

Rafael Leão is carrying AC Milan, and should punt Cristiano Ronaldo off of Portugal
In a lot of ways, AC Milan mirrors Serie A overall. They’re incredibly fun, and were able to take advantage of Juventus’s slide into the abyss and a blip from Inter to win the Scudetto last year. But how good they actually are, much like the league as a whole, is hard to pin down. Considering that t...

Week 4 NFL Most and Least Valuable Players: Baker Mayfield watched Patrick Mahomes’ transcendent talent from the NFL cellar
Justin Jefferson’s 10 catches for 147 yards in London buoyed the Vikings’ win over New Orleans, Saquon Barkley once again took on multiple duties in the Giants’ zero-quarterback offense and Seattle’s Geno Smith earned the weekend’s highest pass-rating, but in Kansas City’s resounding win, Patrick Ma...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: Kyrie Irving and Brett Favre are taking over this list
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, the world-famous series in which we enumerate and mock idiots. Everything is bad and the internet was a mistake....

Don’t write off the Bucs and Chiefs just yet, unless you desire to make poor predictions
Wow, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs are really good NFL teams. What a surprise that well-run organizations can overcome injuries and a hard salary cap to make an entertaining Sunday Night Football game....

J.J. Watt plans to play just days after having his heart shocked back into rhythm
Arizona Cardinals’ defensive end J.J. Watt posted an alarming Tweet Sunday morning just hours before kickoff of the team’s game on the east coast against the Carolina Panthers. Watt stated that some news about him had been leaked and was going to be reported today. Immediately, most who caught this ...

Please, Tony Khan, pull the trigger on Jamie Hayter
For those of us hoping that Saraya’s arrival in the AEW women’s division would signal an instant uptick in the time allotted, a dedication to new stories and feuds, and just an overall feeling of momentum, well…we’re still kind of waiting. ...

Top 5 potential landing spots for Saquon Barkley
New York Giants halfback Saquon Barkley is in the final year of his rookie contract. In that time, he’s won a Rookie of the Year Award, had two 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and...scored just four times in the last two-plus years due to injuries....

Dick Butkus: Comedy icon
When the NFL’s 100 Greatest Players of All Time list was assembled back in 2010, legendary Chicago Bears middle linebacker Dick Butkus was voted 10th by the panel. He was presented by longtime Indianapolis Colts offensive line coach Howard Mudd. A story he told about Butkus pretty much sums up the l...

Let's break down Thursday Night Football's series of bad beats
Sports betting is a cruel, fickle mistress. One day, you’re elated after hitting a two-game parlay, the next you lose all your money plus your dog and your firstborn. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that either goes off the rails or ends in thrilling excitement, begging winners to return. ...

Dwight Howard has open WWE invite extended by Triple H
Whenever NBA star Dwight Howard decides to officially hang up his basketball sneakers, he may already have his next career endeavor waiting on him. The 36-year-old Howard, who’s currently a free agent, had a WWE tryout over the summer and apparently impressed during his session. New WWE head man, Pa...

Apparently, people will say anything after a couple glasses of Sav Blanc
Even though the NBA season is about a month away, it still feels excessive to write about Ben Simmons. He never plays basketball outside of (I’m assuming) heavily edited Instagram videos, and yet he’s still in the public discussion. He could’ve had all his basketball skills drained from his body by ...

College football's Marty McFly Rankings Week 3: And then there was one team from Florida left
Merriam-Webster has four different entries for “back,” but none of them apply to college football teams. So it’s left up to people like me to determine what “back” actually is. Being back to Miami is not the same as being back to Washington. Also, can you get back if you never technically got anywhe...

60 is such a round number
It was a number we didn’t even think about when we were kids. Only if you were born in a specific time, where you were an impressionable youth between 1998-2003, would 60 seem reasonable, or even reachable, or something to be expected to happen semi-regularly. It was never even talked about....