we Page 234 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Arsenal Have A New Manager, But Still Don't Seem To Know Who They Want To Be
Arsenal have been in the midst of an identity crisis for some time now. Once it became clear that the club’s iconic, long-serving manager Arsène Wenger had seen his once-adamantine grasp on the levers of success steadily loosen over the years—a slackening some overly unsympathetic spectators might s...

What Does A Return To Broadcast Network Television Mean For WWE SmackDown?
It’s not official yet, as everyone involved is declining to comment, but the news broke on Monday that WWE’s SmackDown Live is moving to Friday nights on Fox—as in the broadcast network that’s currently the home of Empire—in October 2019. The move marks the first time that WWE has had a weekly prese...

A People's History Of Bill Simmons Making Up Corny Things For Boston Fans To Chant
There are any number of reasons why it’s easy to goof on Bill Simmons, and all of them are honestly pretty solid. Many of these have to do with the way he acts—grandiose and aggrieved and prickly-petty and, now that he’s ascended to demi-mogul status, prone to dilatory rich-guy extemporizing on The ...

Ed Hochuli Is Off Living His Best Life
The NFL this week approved a rule that prohibits players from lowering their helmets to initiate contact. Because this seems like something that might be difficult for officials to enforce, I reached out to former referee Ed Hochuli to request an interview. Hochuli, who retired in March, emailed ba...

Tennis Player's Meltdown Ends With Smashed Racket And "Broken" Banana
One tennis player’s violent racket-smashing meltdown at Sunday’s ATP Challenger final in Busan, Korea had devastating consequences for a banana....

Saquon Barkley Might Be Worth It, If The Giants Take A Page From The Patriots
We all had a good time dunking on Giants GM Dave Gettleman a few weeks back, after Gettleman didn’t hesitate to draft running back Saquon Barkley before shaking his cane at all the analytics eggheads who questioned the long-term value of selecting a running back with the No. 2 overall pick. It’s tru...

Reports: WWE SmackDown Will Move To Fox Next Year
Multiple reports say WWE has agreed in principle to an agreement that will bring WWE SmackDown Live to Fox starting in October 2019. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox will pay $1 billion for five years....

WWE Is Poised To Hit The TV Rights Jackpot In Its Upcoming Domestic Contract
The Hollywood Reporter caused a stir on Wednesday when the publication’s Matthew Belloni tweeted that USA Network parent company NBC Universal is letting WWE’s SmackDown Live go to open bidding for a new contract. That was news, but Belloni noted that NBCU bowed out because it believed that the cur...

Ronda Rousey Whoops Three Opponents, Uses Her Armbar In WWE House Show Debut
Ronda Rousey wrestled her second-ever professional match, and it wasn’t even on television....

Red Sox Pitcher Carson Smith Suffers Potentially Major Injury After Throwing His Glove In Frustration
Carson Smith tossed one inning in relief for the Red Sox in yesterday’s loss to the Oakland A’s, giving up a home run to Khris Davis. After he left the game, he was apparently mad at himself, and he tossed his glove in frustration. That’s a normal and fine reaction, but Smith injured himself doing s...

If The Last Week Is Any Indication, The XFL Revival Is Somehow Still Alive
It looked grim for Vince McMahon’s notional reboot of the XFL when Charlie Ebersol announced his Alliance of American Football in March, given that Ebersol’s league featured more fully-realized versions of McMahon’s ideas and an earlier launch date. But, surprisingly and perhaps inexplicably, rumors...

Bill Belichick: Patriots Were Not Aware Of Matt Patricia's Sexual Assault Indictment
Before recently being hired by the Detroit Lions as their head coach, Matt Patricia spent 14 seasons coaching the New England Patriots. The team brought Patricia into the NFL’s coaching ranks back in 2004, and he worked his way up from an offensive assistant to defensive coordinator. In response to ...

Hafþór Björnsson Is Officially The World's Strongest Man
Hafþór Björnsson, who portrays Gregor Clegane on Game of Thrones, was the world’s second strongest man last year—not without controversy—but in this year’s competition in Manila, he finally reached the top of the mountain....

Kylia Carter's Speech Against The NCAA Model Got Right To The Point
On Monday, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics hosted a series of panel discussions focused on the NCAA’s amateurism model. While important names like Jay Bilas and Tom Yeager served as headliners, the most refreshing comments of the morning came from the mother of former Duke standou...

The Double Nutshot Match Ending, As Called By WWE Announcers In 9 Languages
Last night, A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura wrestled in a singles match for the WWE championship for the third time in less than a month. They are two of the best wrestlers in WWE and their match work over the last few years puts them among the best wrestlers in the world....

Yadier Molina Undergoes Surgery After Taking Fastball To The Dick And Balls
On the list of worst-case scenarios for baseball catchers, this sequence has got to rank somewhere near the top: getting nailed in the junk by a deflected 102-mph fastball; requiring surgery for anything having to do with getting nailed in the junk by a deflected 102-mph fastball. But that appears t...

Sweaty Balls
Meet Peoria sportscaster Jim Mattson, whose segment on WEEK tonight was perspirative and gonadic. His broadcast partners were... surprised?...

The Final Installment Of The Engelb Vielma Tracker, Featuring The Greatest Anagrammed Hits
Many—most?—Orioles games feel vaguely pointless right now. The end result is usually clear before the game is underway, and while there’s plenty of different ways for the team to reach that result, those differ only in substance rather than sentiment. It’s all going to be pretty depressing. This was...

Rey Mysterio's Career Victory Lap Is Almost Here, And That's A Good Thing
The dubious politics of WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble card in Saudi Arabia have taken center stage in the sport over the last week, but there were still some bright spots on the card itself. One of those was 2018's second WWE guest appearance from Rey Mysterio, this one coming in the titular 50-man Ro...

Report: Donald Trump Spent Quality Time Last Week Talking Football With Bill Belichick
In 1993, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen found time between Full House episodes to record an album called I Am the Cute One. Songs include “I Am a Kid,” “I Love to Scream,” and “No One Tells the President What to Do.” The last of those is a celebration of the truth of its title—the president can do whate...