Month: October 2024

I don’t know if I’ve ever exactly forgotten about Blake Griffin, but certainly the time spent last season toiling away on irrelevant Clippers and Pistons squads didn’t help restore any of the prestige lost during three seasons spent mostly in injury hell. It seems like whole eras have passed since Griffin was the next big thing, to the point where he is now mostly thought of as a bad idea Stan Van Gundy never should’ve been allowed to execute. He’s not the same guy. Five years ago, Blake Griffin was the most feared dunker in the world. Now he’s mostly earthbound, an uneven finisher who gets dunks punched away by the likes of Jarrett Allen. So the highlights aren’t what they used to be, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t highlights. Tuesday night, Griffin more or less c…

Young Sabres center Jack Eichel missed 21 games with an ankle injury, eventually finishing this season with 24 goals and 33 assists, good for 57 points in 61 games. That’s a 0.934 points per game average, which was 11th in the NHL this season, just behind Leon Draisaitl’s 0.939. As infinitesimal as that 0.005 margin was, it will cost Eichel $2 million. Cap Friendly noticed the razor-thin margin this morning, and the Associated Press later confirmed that Eichel had a clause in his contract guaranteeing a $2 million bonus if he finished in the top 10. Draisaitl was trailing Eichel heading into the final game of the season, but Eichel didn’t score or notch an assist while Draisaitl had both a goal and an assist. Eichel didn’t mention the near-miss, but he lit into his Sabres te…

Atlético Madrid goalie Miguel Ángel Moyà gets a little carried away with his creep toward the far post, not believing that there's a scoring chance to be had. But he was not counting on the combination of Pablo Hernández's left heel and imagination. That's a beaut, right there. Atlético has since bumrushed Celta Vigo, though. It's currently 2-1 Atlético. …

11. Wesley Morris, " On Brady's Hair" 10. Michael Weinreb, " Growing Up Penn State" 9. Dave Eggers, " Wrigley Is Wrigley, and Nothing Else Is" 8. Hua Hsu, " Watch the Throne: Let Them Eat Cake" 7. Anna Clark, " Ty Cobb as Detroit" 6. Bill Simmons, " If I Ruled the (NBA) World" 5. Chris Jones, " The End" 4. Bill Simmons, " The Movie Star" 3. Jay Caspian Kang, " The Circular Ruins" 2. Shane Ryan, " The Wrestler in Real Life" 1. Jonah Lehrer, " The Math Problem" …

data-mm-id=”_845s0bczv”>Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and solidified his spot as the top quarterback available this year. There have been a number of changes to the draft board and to draft positioning since our last mock draft. Here's our latest projection for the 2020 NFL Draft. (Order determined by record through Week 15)1. Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow, QB, LSUAndy Dalton appears done in Cincinnati and with the Bengals holding the top pick, it's time to invest in a young quarterback. Joe Burrow is officially the Heisman Trophy-winner and his stock is rising at an incredible rate. Given head coach Zac Taylor's experience with a QB of similar skills with Jared Goff, this fit is really nice. At 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, Burrow has the size and arm strength to make a…

data-mm-id=”_t2eu567kc”>Indiana and head coach Archie Miller made a pretty big statement Tuesday night during the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Despite missing their presumed starting point guard, the Hoosiers hammered No. 17 Florida State in Bloomington. The win proved that Indiana's 7-0 start wasn't a fluke and that Indiana might have something special cooking this season. Oh, and they probably don't want to hear any more questions about their first seven opponents.The Hoosiers beat a good Seminoles team 80-64 at Assembly Hall and got a stellar performance from senior guard Devonte Green. Green, a captain, poured in 30 points, added 6 rebounds and 3 assists and was a plus-24 on the night. It was the best game he has turned in since he arrived in Bloomington. He was shooting t…

data-mm-id=”_7wxwj61u0″>The XFL ratings dipped again in Week 4. Los Angeles at New York averaged 1.9 viewers Saturday on ABC, per ProFootballTalk. The late-day FOX matchup between Seattle and St. Louis drew 1.8 million viewers. Houston-Dallas aired to 1.1 million on FS1 Sunday, which was followed by a 1 million average from the ESPN2 viewing of D.C. and Tampa Bay.Three of the four games declined from the previous week. FS1 drew slightly below 1.1 million in Week 3.The continuous week-by-week decline is still not alarming. As we've been saying, it was expected. The key now will be how much further the viewership goes south. The XFL still has some wiggle room where the numbers can drop while remaining viable. Four weeks in, the viewership for the XFL is on par with the NBA&#039…

data-mm-id=”_qmcuh8i01″>UPDATE: The leaks (below) were accurate. Here are the Rams new uniforms. Here are the #Rams new uniforms, finally raveled.pic.twitter.com/3PofxBuHx0— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 13, 2020The Rams' new jerseys are being released today. At least that's what Jared Goff indicated on Twitch yesterday. Jared Goff revealed when the Rams’ new uniforms will be released while on Alex Bregman’s Twitch stream READ: https://t.co/wsp1l2k3X4 pic.twitter.com/OeXnZd34E4— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) May 12, 2020You can hear him say tomorrow and then try to backtrack quickly and say this week. But let's assume, for the point of this exercise, that he was being honest and they will be released today. Of course, we're an impatient species and can&#…

data-mm-id=”_iaw4sjply”>Alex Cora is speaking out months after being suspended for a year due to his role in the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. The general narrative about the scandal is that Cora and Carlos Beltran came up with and ran the operation. While Cora accepted blame for his actions during an interview with ESPN, he refutes that version of events. Cora was the Astros' bench coach in 2017 when the scandal occurred and Beltran was a designated hitter in the final year of his major league career. Obviously, both men were instrumental in Houston's run to a World Series title that season. Here's what Cora had to say about the prevailing narrative:””There has been a narrative out there of what happened. Ever since mid-November until the commissioner announced …