December 5, 2012
The Place for Doubt in the Celebrated Return of Ricky Rubio
With nine minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ November 16 loss to the Warriors, a middle-aged couple descended from the stands at the Target Center, ostensibly on their way out. After bypassing the exits, they eventually reached court level and paused behind the Timberwolves’ bench, where Ricky Rubio was perched in a […]
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Two Questions About This Photo of the Cleveland Cavs Locker Room
1. Why is Kyrie Irving’s locker so messy? 2. What in the name of all that is holy is Dion Waiters doing with a toy baby in a stroller?
Read moreIs This Real? Russell Wilson, Elite QB
Of all the players in the NFL last Sunday, it was Russell Wilson who turned the most heads. Marshaling a 97-yard touchdown drive with 3:40 left in the game against Chicago to take a 17-14 lead was one thing, but after the Bears miraculously tied the game in the 20 seconds left for them on […]
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The Thunder Are Better Than We Thought They Were Going to Be
Even if luxury-tax concerns were the no. 1 factor in the Thunder’s decision to trade James Harden earlier than they had to, the deal still amounted to a calculated series of basketball wagers. The most general one: that the Thunder’s current personnel would evolve quickly enough to keep this team in the title hunt, and […]
Read moreChris Brody Was Right: The Wizards Beat the Heat
A couple of weeks ago on Homeland, the often neglected Chris Brody told his surrogate father, Magic Mike, that the Wizards were beating the Heat. It seemed like yet another far-fetched scenario from a show that’s increasingly full of such situations. But then last night … I saw a tweet: Wizards beat Heat as called […]
Read moreTales From the Last Q-school
Edward Loar, a southpaw Texan, came to the 17th tee at the TPC Stadium Course in La Quinta, California, at -18 for the tournament. The hole, a nasty little par-3 called “Alcatraz” because it features an island green, demanded a short iron. Loar took out his 9 and took dead aim. At 35, he was […]
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Men in Blazers: United and Chelsea Fall Off the Pace, Beckham Says Good-bye
Over in England, Surprise Scoreline has wrestled all headlines away from lesser, more predictable characters. In yet another wild weekend in the Premier League, Rafa Benitez’s Chelsea fell yet again, Manchester City relinquished points to United, and Tottenham continued their crawl up the table to claim fourth. Michael Davies and Roger Bennett review all the […]
Read moreOutfielders a Hot Commodity in Nashville
The race for remaining outfielders is heating up in Nashville, with Josh Hamilton and Shane Victorino both moving closer to long-term deals, and one wild blockbuster rumor sparking a million tweets. The rumor that lit up the lobbies late Tuesday was a report from ESPN’s Pedro Gomez that the Diamondbacks and Phillies were discussing a […]
Read moreAbout Last Night: Break Up the Wizards!
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here’s what you missed in sports on Tuesday: LeBron James posted a triple-double, but Jordan Crawford (22 points) and the lowly Wizards somehow upset the Heat 105-101 for their second win of the season. After this loss, and a near-loss to a Spurs team playing […]
Read moreDecember 4, 2012
Bryce Brown: A Comprehensive, Wikipedia-Aided Timeline of Week 14’s Hottest Fantasy Waiver-Wire Option
December 2007: Wichita East High School’s Bryce Brown, a five-star running back largely considered to be the nation’s top junior prospect, verbally commits to the University of Miami. With no-nonsense head coach Randy Shannon, dual-threat quarterback Jacory Harris, super booster Nevin Shapiro, and Brown, a dynasty appears to be on the horizon at The U. […]
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B.S. Report: Cousin Sal
Cousin Sal joins Bill Simmons to recount his Cowboys Stadium experience, guess the Week 14 lines, and, of course, review the royal baby name betting lines. To listen to this podcast, you can download it on iTunes here or go to the ESPN.com PodCenter here. Previously on the B.S. Report: Mike Lombardi Nate Silver Cousin […]
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I Suck at Football, Week 13: Human Kindness Is Overflowing
“WheelsUp … Back to Cali on a business trip,” the Cincinnati Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict (born in Los Angeles in 1990) tells his 4,862 Twitter followers on Thursday. Between “WheelsUp” and “Back to Cali,” he types three little Emoji airplanes, like a 15-year-old girl, but still: This is a pretty casually badass way to refer to […]
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OKCoach: Dating Profiles for the College Football Coaching Carousel
If you believe December to be a month defined by its commercialist ideals — and really, there’s no other way — the dominant message is that your previous 11 months can be judged by the state of your relationship. And viewed through the lens of a moderately priced piece of Zales jewelry, there essentially are […]
Read moreHaren Heads to D.C. to Give Nats’ Rotation a Low-Cost Boost
The Washington Nationals agreed to terms with pitcher Dan Haren on a one-year, $13 million contract. It’s one of those rare cases where we shouldn’t assume the deal is entirely done yet. The reason Haren could be had on a one-year deal is the same one that will make his pending physical more than routine: […]
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BQBL: A Running Diary of the Jets-Cardinals Quarterback Failure Clinic
Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s BQBL Bowl is over. It wasn’t the BQBL points scored in the Jets-Cardinals game that made it special. There’s no way to appropriately quantify this brand of failure, no stat that captures how terrified each quarterback was, and no metric for embarrassment to measure what happened in New Jersey on […]
Read moreFourth-and-Short: Hail to the Redskins Defense
Last year, Washington’s clean sweep of the Giants was a curiosity lost amid New York’s run to a second Super Bowl in five years. It was some sort of anomaly that Giants fans wrote off in their heads as irrelevant, a bad dream with Rex Grossman impossibly slicing through the same defense that brought the […]
Read moreThe Jalen Rose Report With David Jacoby
Jalen Rose and David Jacoby break down the Lakers’ woes, the tricky athlete-agent relationship, and the NBA Moms conference. Listen to this podcast here.
Read moreNBA Countdown: Stock Up, Stock Down
Michael Wilbon, Bill Simmons, and Jalen Rose tell you whose NBA stock they’re selling and buying.
Read moreThe Hot News From the Winter Meetings
News and notes as we roll into Day 2 of the Winter Meetings … • The Rangers signed former Royals closer Joakim Soria to a two-year, $8 million deal. This marks the second straight offseason in which Texas inked a closer rehabbing from Tommy John surgery to a multi-year deal, following the November 2011 signing […]
Read moreAbout Last Night: Giants Get RG3’d
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here’s what you missed in sports on Monday: Robert Griffin III threw for 163 yards and ran for 72 more to lead the Redskins to a 17-16 win over the Giants. “At times like these, I really wish I knew some curse words,” said Eli […]
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