September 20, 2013
39-Day NBA Warning: The Glory of JaVale McGee DOT COM
“JaVale enjoys Cinematography.” That’s an actual line from Denver Nuggets folk hero JaVale McGee’s biography, taken from his recently relaunched website, JaValeMcGee.com. The line is found in the section of McGee’s bio titled “Philanthropy.” Because JaVale McGee’s mere existence is a charitable donation to the world.
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The MLB Weekend Top 10: Loving and Hating the Wild Card
Only two more weekends left in the regular season, and to use one of my favorite clichés, these guys have EVERYTHING to play for! Let’s get to it. 10. How the Nationals Will Destroy the NL Central (MIA-WAS) At exactly the moment in the season when it was pretty much too late, the Nationals started […]
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Biting the Hot Hand: Basketball's Enduring Streakiness Debate Rages On
The “hot hand” has been mostly dead for the last half-decade — the province of irrational believers in “the zone” and “clutch hitting” and other amorphous concepts that haven’t withstood killjoy statistical analysis. Almost every search for the alleged “hot hand,” from the mid-1980s and onward, has either come up empty or found the opposite […]
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Week 3 NFL Viewing Guide: Are the Dolphins for Real?
Sneaky Good Game of the Week Falcons at Dolphins, 4:05 p.m. ET One of the NFL’s greatest traditions is the annual stream of quotes during the first organized team activities of the spring. Being back around teammates and back throwing and catching footballs is enough to get some players to say just about anything about […]
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Grantland NFL Podcast: Chiefs-Eagles Recap and Week 3 Preview
Robert Mays and Bill Barnwell review the Chiefs defense’s notable game against the Eagles on Thursday night, and then preview Week 3. You can listen to this podcast on the ESPN Podcenter here, or subscribe to the Grantland Sports podcast network on iTunes here.
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Cousin Sal's Week 3 Prop Bets
So it’s official. I’ve figured out this whole football gambling thing. Let’s recap last week: I gave out Seahawks in the first half over the Niners, David Wilson to NOT fumble vs. Denver, and won another three-team teaser without blinking an eye. And then I lost a couple prop wagers, too, but we won’t get […]
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Who's That Guy? Stanford Running Back Tyler Gaffney!
Who’s That Guy is an orientation tool for use in college football’s vast landscape, and is filmed in front of a live studio audience. Who Is He? Stanford running back Tyler Gaffney. Where Is He From? San Diego, California (Cathedral Catholic). Years Played: He played three years of college football at Stanford (2009-11) before taking a […]
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Pass Atlas: Brady and the Scamps
I’m not saying the NFL takes itself too seriously, but there’s this video called “Bledsoe to Brady: The Hit That Changed History” on its website. There’s no question that when Mo Lewis leveled Drew Bledsoe in 2001, it changed the course of one professional football team’s immediate future, but history?! C’mon, man! It also changed […]
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We Went There: Candace Parker Wins WNBA MVP Before the Sparks Fall to Mercury
The management at my apartment complex guaranteed that I would have a good time Thursday night. They offered each resident complimentary tickets to Game 1 of the Sparks-Mercury Western Conference semifinals. Being a huge sucker for free sporting events and grabbing desperately for any reason to avoid doing the dishes sitting in the sink, I […]
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Where Have All the Premier League Goals Gone?
It hasn’t exactly been a scintillating start to the Premier League season. With 40 games played, there have been a grand total of 78 goals scored. That average of 1.95 goals per game is significantly behind last year’s average of 2.80, and also below the Premier League’s historic average (since 1992) of 2.63. It’s been […]
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The Remarkable Evolution of Bruce Chen
For the first 10 years of his career, Bruce Chen was the quintessential baseball journeyman. He played for nine teams in those 10 seasons. He’d already played for four-fifths of the National League East by age 25, prompting a groundswell of support for a trade to the Marlins that would complete the set. He broke […]
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About Last Night: Dodgers Wear the Crown
In case you were out accidentally revealing that you named a loved one Cosmo, here’s what you missed in sports on Thursday: The Dodgers clinched the NL West title with a 7-6 road win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, before angering the Diamondbacks’ organization by celebrating in the pool at Chase Field. “You can’t have a […]
Read moreSeptember 19, 2013
Week 3 Fantasy Football Preview: Nickels, Dimes, and Mind-Blowing Trades
Did you listen to my opening advice last week? I sure hope not. I told you all to stop trying to be so sexy, but now the Browns are showing us why that’s a terrible message. Career third-stringer Brian Hoyer is now the starting quarterback, franchise running back Trent Richardson is now an Indianapolis Colt, […]
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Putting for Dough: Analyzing the $10 Million FedEx Cup Finale
If you’re a golf tournament, and your name isn’t the MastersBritishOpenU.S.OpenPGAChampionshipRyderCup … well, you have a prestige problem. And by prestige problem, I mean that the average sports fan probably doesn’t care about you. This is the nature of golf, and it’s why Tiger Woods can dominate a PGA Tour season and still have talk […]
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The Trenchie Awards: Dwight Freeney Spins, Dontari Poe Swims, and the Rest of Week 2’s Best Line Play
Almost without exception, there’s one thing you can count on from every NFL rookie — at some point, each of them will be completely, hilariously embarrassed. This isn’t really their fault. Even the highly drafted, quickly effective brand of first-year player is bound to face this type of moment. Whether it’s at the end of […]
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Text Messages to Gregg Popovich From a Spurs Fan: A Shark Ate All the Babies
Gregg Popovich is a human with a cell phone, so I sent him some text messages. Me: Pop-a-doc! Pop: oh no Me: oh come now. I’ve not talked to you in so long. Pop: not an accident Me: you didn’t miss just a tiny amount? Not even thismuch Pop: I did. Me: : ) Pop: […]
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Derek Jeter's Diary: Circling the Drain
The baseball season is a long and lonely road. To preserve his sanity, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter keeps a diary. These are excerpts from The Captain’s private journal. Wednesday, September 11: at Baltimore Orioles Cashman came down to Baltimore to tell me the news. He brought the surgeons, the trainers, the psychological performance coach, some […]
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The Sports Guy's Thursday NFL Pick
Chiefs (+3.5) over EAGLES Am I crazy or is this our first entertaining Thursday-night game, like, ever? Even if it’s difficult to think of “The Andy Reid Bowl” being anything other than a plastic bowl overfilling with beef brisket and BBQ sauce, let’s figure out how Skunk of the Week can bizarro-improve to 0-3 this […]
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40-Day NBA Warning: John and Jan and the Wizards Against the World
What’s that? You were wondering exactly how many days until the start of the NBA season? Well, you’re in luck! The Triangle is counting down the days for all of us. Want to talk about the Wizards? Let’s talk about the Wizards. We knew it was coming. There was too much optimism from outsiders. Too […]
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Borussia Dortmund Stumble Out of the Gate and Their Manager Blows His Top in the Champions League
With the first round of Champions League group stage play came the first matchup of potential European champions: last year’s runner-up Borussia Dortmund versus Italian runner-up Napoli. Both of these teams have the quality required to make a run to Lisbon (home of this year’s Champions League final), but first they’ll have to emerge from […]
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The Totally Insane Story of Chris 'Birdman' Andersen and the Catfishing That Nearly Cost Him His Freedom
In the last 10 or 12 years, technology has evolved to the point that we can almost paper over the yawning soul-voids found within our earthbound flesh. Want to look at attractive people? You can do that. Want to look at attractive people having sex? Yes you can. Want to send a message to your […]
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The Browns Hit Reset (Again) With an Unprecedented Trade
Well, I’m certainly not going to doubt Jim Irsay again. When the outspoken Colts owner went on Twitter yesterday and started with his big-news-is-coming tweets, my mind started racing through possible practice squad players and washed-up free agents; after all, the last time Irsay pulled that one out of the playbook, it was for Darrius […]
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About Last Night: The O's Stay Alive
In case you were busy wishing you could just be a linebacker, and not the go-to name when someone gets tricked on the Internet, here’s what you missed in sports on Wednesday: Chris Davis’s 12th-inning single gave the Orioles a 5-3 win over Boston, leaving the Red Sox’s magic number for clinching the AL East […]
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