March 9, 2012
2012 MLB Season Preview: Toronto Blue Jays
For most of the past decade, the Jays have been a good team, occasionally a very good team. Yet they have nothing to show for it. The loaded AL East has suppressed the team’s win totals and prevented them from cracking the postseason. That killer competition also prompted J.P. Ricciardi to overreach at times, handing […]
Read moreStatement Game: Magic-Bulls
What Was At Stake Faith in each team’s current construction as they move forward. Stan Van Gundy’s comments after his team’s 100-84 loss against Charlotte on Tuesday had a strange sense of both reason and reservation. “Our guys are satisfied that we came in with the third-best record in the East and the fifth-best record […]
Read moreJoakim Noah’s Offensive Game
The 33-9 Chicago Bulls have the best record in the Eastern Conference, and while Derrick Rose deservedly receives most of the credit for their success, Joakim Noah has played one of the best seasons of his career and he’s been a surprisingly effective offensive player, with a PER of 18.84. According to Synergy Sports, Noah […]
Read moreFree Agent Countdown: Teams That Should Lay Low
Our preview of free agency continues today with those teams who should go into free agency and hold steady, even if that’s not what they actually end up doing. Of the four groups of teams that make up this free agent preview, this is the closest one to a “Leftovers” set, but there’s no shame […]
Read moreDrama and Other Concepts at the ACC Tournament
“The ACC tournament doesn’t start until Friday,” is a phrase I heard more than once Thursday, the day on which the ACC tournament actually started. I was especially prone to hearing that sentiment, considering my penchant for complaining about the lack of quality basketball. Still, all good drama needs a setup; those first two establishing […]
Read moreFive Minutes With Royals Super-Fan Rob Riggle
It’s Rob Riggle’s turn to take his cuts in the batting cage at Royals camp. Only he’s not ready. While the next group of KC hitters paces around, Riggle’s standing off to the side, fiddling with his iPhone. “Rob, stop tweeting!” heckles Royals outfielder and team cut-up Jeff Francoeur. “You and Hosmer, geez!”
Read moreSyracuse and UConn Play for History
Before the season began, Syracuse and UConn were deemed two of the finest teams in the land. Since then, fate has flung the two powerhouse programs in very different, but equally chaotic, directions. Coming into Thursday’s meeting in the Big East tournament, Syracuse had experienced a charmed season — on the hardwood, at least — […]
Read moreAbout Last Night: Peyton’s Choice
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here’s what you missed in sports on Thursday. Sources indicate that Peyton Manning, released by the Colts on Wednesday, is planning to pick a new team within the week. “Have you totally ruled out evil coaches who would sign you just to bury you on […]
Read moreB.S. Report: Magic Johnson
In advance of the debut of The Announcement, Bill Simmons and Magic Johnson sat down in the Grantland Studios to record a two-part podcast, which will air this weekend as a special program immediately after the ESPN Films documentary. (You can watch The Announcement at 9 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.) In Part 1 of […]
Read moreMarch 8, 2012
Lakers Get a Quick 2 to Stay Alive
With 43 seconds remaning, the Lakers trailed the Wizards by five on Wednesday. Late in games, coaches need to understand the clock and score in order to determine whether they need a 3-point shot or a quick 2. Last night, the Lakers’ staff decided on the quick 2, and they ran a play designed to […]
Read moreGrantland Network Podcast: The Jalen Rose Show
We are not going to talk about Peyton Manning. Not even a little. Jalen and I have collectively decided that we don’t care about where Peyton Manning is going to play next year, until he is actually there, playing. What do we care about? Dwyane Wade emerging as “the closer” in Miami, Ricky Rubio’s organization […]
Read moreOn the Pleasures of Championship Week
They played a championship game in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, at one of those raucous little gyms that holds 1,700 people and, when packed to the gills, feels like it might collapse in on itself at any moment. It was contested to determine the winner of the Northeast Conference, a conflagration of small schools that […]
Read more2012 MLB Season Preview: Tampa Bay Rays
Last offseason, the Rays lost their star left fielder, number-two starter, mainstay first baseman, starting shortstop, and an entire bullpen … yet still clawed their way into the playoffs, thanks to the biggest September comeback in baseball history. They enter the 2012 season with no significant player losses, the deepest starting rotation in the game, […]
Read moreACC Tournament Bubble Watch: NC State and Miami
As the ACC tournament kicks off in Atlanta, two teams are in a dog fight for their NCAA tournament lives. The committee is notoriously mum about bubble teams in the week leading up to Selection Sunday, and nobody quite knows where NC State and Miami stand at the moment, but the consensus is that there’s […]
Read moreStatement Game: Sixers-Celtics
For the remainder of the NBA season, The Triangle will be breaking down the biggest games of the week. On Wednesday night, the Sixers, led by Evan Turner, demolished an exhausted Celtics team 103-71 in a battle for the Atlantic Division lead. What Was at Stake The division lead in the division no team seems […]
Read moreMessi! Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi!
Lionel Messi scored five goals Wednesday in Barcelona’s 7-1 razing of Bayer Leverkusen, sending the defending Champions League trophy holders through to the quarterfinals. When Messi is on his game (which is usually), he is completely unplayable. I am not Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Cormac McCarthy, so I feel a little ill-equipped to accurately sum […]
Read moreFree Agent Countdown: Teams That Can’t Spend
With just four business days left before the start of the NFL free agency period, it’s high time for us to start the final portion of our sprawling, seemingly endless free agent preview. After standing in for agents, scoffing at the largesse of owners, and identifying comparables for the pool’s key players, it’s finally time […]
Read moreAbout Last Night: Peyton’s Gentlemen Callers
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here’s what you missed in sports on Wednesday. Multiple sources reported that at least 12 of 32 NFL teams contacted Peyton Manning’s representatives after he was released by the Colts. Two were misdials meant for Andrew Luck, three were pranks, and six were condolence calls […]
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