well Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Michael McDowell nets pole at World Wide Technology Raceway
MADISON, Ill. -- It was with an obvious sense of pride that Michael McDowell reveled in his pole-winning run on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.,McDowell claimed his third Busch Light Pole Award of the season -- and of his career. This one, however, came at a quirky flat track, ...

Orioles starters John Means, Tyler Wells out for season
The Baltimore Orioles will be without starters John Means and Tyler Wells for the rest of the season.,Baltimore general manager Mike Elias told reporters Friday that Means and Wells need surgery to repair damage to their ulnar collateral ligaments and will miss the remainder of the 2024 campaign.,Me...

Braves sign OF Ramon Laureano, call up pitching prospect
The Atlanta Braves signed free agent outfielder Ramon Laureano to a minor league contract and called up top pitching prospect Spencer Schwellenbach to start Wednesday night against the visiting Washington Nationals.,Laureano, who turns 30 in July, spent his first six seasons with the Oakland Athleti...

Braves' Spencer Schwellenbach to make debut vs. Nationals
The Atlanta Braves have recalled one of their top prospects from Double-A to open the third contest of their four-game home series against the Washington Nationals.,The teams have split the first two games, with Washington posting an 8-4 victory on Monday and the Braves winning 2-0 on Tuesday.,Atlan...

Nick Saban retired, so why is he acting like he was forced out?
For those of us who hoped Nick Saban retiring would be the end of Nick Saban, this idle/jilted version of him might be even more insufferable. In an ESPN story about how Alabama pivoted from Saban to Kalen Deboer in 49 hours, the seven-time title winner revealed that “player attitudes” and the NIL e...

When Emmitt Smith talks about race, people should listen
Emmitt Smith is probably not the first athlete people associate with Black people’s American struggle. He wasn’t at the press conference with the then-Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Bill Russell, and Jim Brown in support of Muhammad Ali electing to not serve in the United States mi...

It's make or break for the Los Angeles Clippers
Curses run deep. They fester in bloodlines, foundations and scorched Earth and are lamented in prose, lyric and declaration. From Shakespeare to Dostoevsky, curses are a part of the canon of human creativity. After the Boston Red Sox broke theirs in 2004 and LeBron James brought a championship to Cl...

How blatantly does Eric Bieniemy have to fail to fail upward?
I just want to point out that coaches like Bobby Petrino and Hugh Freeze, who should be banned for life from the collegiate ranks, are still getting high-profile coordinator and head coaching opportunities. Yet Bieniemy, who isn’t a saint but also didn’t wreck his motorcycle with his mistress on the...

The NBA dunk contest is crapshoot that lacks star power
NBA All-Star Saturday was a hit once again, but one of the main events may have missed the mark. The slam dunk contest at one time was the highlight of the entire weekend. Now it’s hit or miss, year-to-year, whether we’ll be talking about it for weeks or if it’ll be forgotten by Monday afternoon. Th...

Sports agency wants NFL prospects to avoid pre-Draft test that C.J. Stroud reportedly bombed
The S2 cognition test may go the way of the Wonderlic. According to a report from The Athletic one sports agency is directing its NFL Draft prospects to not participate in any cognition tests in their pre-draft process this year. The organization, Athletes First, emailed NFL teams last month to noti...

Remember that time Michael Jordan wore No. 12?
Michael Jordan is synonymous with the No. 23. Sure, he wore 45 when he returned with the Washington Wizards, but he always had the same jersey number with the Chicago Bulls — except for a lone game against the Orlando Magic 34 years ago today. ...

SB LVIII even too expensive for the rich; A Swifties guide to the game; Poor Mama Kelce; What's Brock Purdy have to do with Lee Harvey Oswald?
Unfettered capitalism is putting some restraints on the top one percent enjoying one of its biggest parties of the year. With the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, luxury suites have reached the highest of high-roller prices. These seven-figure suites are out of the price range for even some of the biggest s...

NFL players have had it with artificial turf and you can’t blame them
NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell told the media on Tuesday that 92 percent of NFLPA members want to play on natural grass, citing rates of injuries, general soreness and burns as the reason most of the union wants to move away from artificial turf. ...

50 things to be excited about 50 days before MLB Opening Day
We are 50 days away from the MLB’s opening day, so let’s take a look at 50 things of note for the 2024 season....

It's time for the Mavericks to fire Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison
No team in recent memory has failed to build around a generational superstar more than the Dallas Mavericks have with Luka Dončić. We are not talking about Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Dončić is a consistent top-five MVP candidate and First-Team All-NBA every season, one of a handful of players of ...

Eric Bieniemy should be preparing for the Super Bowl. Instead, he’s out of a job (Updated)
Updated 3:15 p.m EST: ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn has said Bieniemy will not return to Washington’s staff....
![92 percent of players prefer grass over turf: NFLPA [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/e57da684ba20d8cb65d03d6156acee40.jpg)
92 percent of players prefer grass over turf: NFLPA [Updated]
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell continued the turf field debate Wednesday at the NFLPA news conference, pointing out that a vast majority of the player’s union wants to play on natural grass fields. ...

Why wasn't Eric Bieniemy named Commanders head coach?
(UPDATE, 11:20 am, Feb. 1): ESPN is reporting that Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has been named Commanders head coach.)...

There aren’t enough wealthy team owners on Earth to save the PGA Tour
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are engaging in an arms race for the future of golf, with the former getting a $3 billion injection of cash from the Strategic Sports Group this week, while the latter is content luring defectors with massive contracts. The endgame for the PGA Tour? Try to keep golf as clos...

The case for — and against — Joel Embiid for MVP
Joel Embiid, the world’s best regular-season player, is closing in on his second consecutive MVP if he remains upright. When active, Embiid is a force of nature, bending defenses to his whim and simultaneously wielding an unduly influence over Philadelphia’s defense....