will Page 28 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The best games on the NBA schedule this week — only one back-to-back
Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially w...

The AFC Championship Game’s weakest links
A championship-caliber unit is only as strong as its weakest link. Entering Championship Weekend, the rosters are so deep, and refined that it gets tougher to find dents in their armors. These aren’t the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears. The Kansas City Chiefs found a way around their lack of go-to ...

So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
Tommy Paul didn’t play collegiate tennis. Instead, he came up through the junior circuit and turned pro in 2015. He’s one of the rare Americans who plays best on clay, yet his career breakthrough has come on the hardcourt of the Australian Open. Paul took down fellow American Ben Shelton on Wednesda...

Lakers and Pelicans stars should be back...sometime soon
Somehow the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans are simultaneously in different and similar situations. One major commonality they share is all-star caliber talent due to soon return to action — Anthony Davis for the Los Angeles Lakers and Brandon Ingram for the Pelicans....

Is it the coach or the team?
Determining an NFL head coach’s value is difficult as hell. Sometimes it’s easy, like with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Urban Meyer, or the New York Giants and Brian Daboll. But most of the time, figuring out how much of a team’s success is based more on the coach or the talent on their roster is an...

Sports networks will invest in just about anything before women’s sports — including pickleball
In a sign that ESPN and other networks can choose to devote broadcast hours to new and emerging sports, the American sports cable channel announced that it was adding pickleball to the lineup....

No, we don't need a rule change due to Tony Pollard and Patrick Mahomes' injuries
When it comes to injuries, one of the ways in which the NBA and the NFL have similar dangers are ankle injuries. Harm to that area of the body is why the San Francisco 49ers are currently starting the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft at quarterback in the playoffs, and why Patrick Mahomes completed t...

Andy Murray can’t help himself
Andy Murray must really love tennis. At least he’d better, considering what he puts himself through every match in the past few years and over his whole career. It’s like he can’t get off the court when there have definitely been times he should get off the court, both in making his wins easier and ...

Los Angeles Chargers doomed to waste Justin Herbert's prime
Here we go again with the Chargers. This franchise has what should be another life-changing, mega-talented quarterback in their building, and management’s response is to waste his prime. That’s where the situation seems to be heading in Los Angeles. Instead of showing Brandon Staley the door in favo...
![Ed Reed, Bethune-Cookman split — no more celebrity football coaches at HBCUs [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/d6fc743081eda781c014447f243a40e5.jpg)
Ed Reed, Bethune-Cookman split — no more celebrity football coaches at HBCUs [Updated]
In less than a month as the new head football coach at Bethune-Cookman University — a Historically Black College & University (HBCU) — Ed Reed has already unsurprisingly proven why he never should have been hired. Over the weekend, the College and Pro Football Hall of Famer took to social media to r...

How enticing are each of the offensive coordinator openings?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Leftwich just finished up his fourth season as Tampa’s OC, having reached the playoffs each of the last three seasons — or every season with Tom Brady at quarterback. However, despite the playoff berth, 2022 was hard to watch. The ...

It's not just football fans who are tired of bad officiating
Poor officiating during a Week 18 game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks has NFL referees under scrutiny....

We’ve reached the Ringling Bros. part of the NBA schedule
You know we’re nearing peak NBA midseason slog when teams resort to parlor tricks to attract fans and viewers. Case and point: The San Antonio Spurs hosted a game at the Alamodome on Friday that broke the NBA attendance record. ...

Could bluebloods Kentucky and North Carolina both wind up in the NIT?
Both North Carolina’s and Kentucky’s men’s basketball teams have already lost six games this season. Two of the college basketball’s blueblood programs are struggling, and the NCAA Tournament might not be in the cards for them — but it’s not like this hasn’t happened before....

Here are the 11 best possible Super Bowl LVII matchups
The NFL postseason is upon us, and as usual, anything can happen when it’s, win or go home. This year’s AFC field feels like a three-team race, while the NFC looks pretty open. Some teams don’t have a great shot, but it’s always fun to play matchmaker and look at the most exciting potential Super Bo...

Do ex-ESPN employees suing Disney over 2021 vaccine mandates have a legit case?
Two former ESPN employees, reporter Allison Williams and producer Beth Faber, are suing the Worldwide Leader. Usually, when something like this happens, there’s some salacious accusation at its core. However, some lawsuits are so frivolous they’re clearly a cry for attention....

The sports figures we lost in 2023
Here is where we look at some of the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2023. That list includes football legends Jim Brown, and Dick Butkus, basketball HoFer Willis Reed, former men’s college basketball coach Bob Knight, hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, Heisman Trophy-winning running back Ch...

Now we know why Naomi Osaka is stepping away from tennis for 2023
For those who had questions about why Naomi Osaka dropped out of the Australian Open, or if she still cares about being a professional tennis player, you just got your answer....

Larry Johnson should be jettisoned into the abyss for Damar Hamlin take
It’s difficult to out-blowhard Skip Bayless. The internet troll come to life had a searing Damar Hamlin take the night of the young Buffalo Bills’ cardiac arrest, but as is the case in the online age, it didn’t take long for someone to hand Bayless their beer to hold. Enter Larry Johnson, the former...

9 backup QBs have won a Super Bowl — could Brock Purdy be next?
Sixty-eight quarterbacks started at least one game in 2022. That’s a list that includes signal-callers like Mike “F’n” White, David Blough, Trace McSorley, Skylar Thompson, Desmond Ridder, Jarett Stidham... and “Mr. Irrelevant” Brock Purdy....