NFL must rectify Rooney Rule failure
The Rooney Rule is clearly not working. Instituted in 2003, the rule is a hiring policy requiring organizations to interview coaches of color for head coaching positions. Today, the number of African-American head coaches — three — is the same number as when the rule was implemented.
Time for Brady to bolt New England
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is undisputedly the best quarterback of all time — just let his six championships do the talking.
He has long been known for doing the most with the talent put around him, but this year his supporting cast was weak. That, combined with the GOAT being 42 years old, set up the Pats for a wild-card round playoff exit.
Dodgers must trade for final piece of the World Series puzzle
The Los Angeles Dodgers must make a significant trade after striking out on all the top MLB free agents this offseason.
LA entered this offseason as a contender for top free-agent pitchers Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, as well as third baseman Anthony Rendon. After last week's winter meetings, Cole is a New York Yankee, Strasburg stayed with the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals, and Rendon went down the 5 to play in Anaheim with the Los Angeles Angels.
NFL playoff reseeding would sow greater competition
Have you ever left the trash in the kitchen for weeks, months, or even years without taking it out? That’s what the NFL is doing, and has done, for years by not reseeding the playoffs.
In 2019, the dumpster-fire division is the NFC Least, er, East. The two teams tied for first place are the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, each with matching 6-7 records.
The best college football bowl game names this year
The final College Football Playoff rankings will be released Sunday, at which point some combination of LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and a fourth team — either Utah or Oklahoma — will be squaring off for the national championship.
Almost as exciting are the nearly 40 other bowl games that will take place to celebrate the teams that were good, but not quite great, this year. But the best part of the bowls are the names of the games.
Jackson’s MVP run a true underdog story
Coming into the 2019 NFL season, Baltimore Ravens second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson was given 50-1 odds by the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook to win the 2019 NFL MVP.
These odds were actually cut in half from when he opened at 100-1 in June.
NFL’s PI challenge a complete blown call
It’s time for the NFL to bid farewell to its most recent and most significant rule change of the offseason: allowing coaches to challenge pass interference calls, or the lack thereof.
The league simply has decided that it will change a call about as often as you will go 80 miles an hour down the freeway in LA.
Australian soccer gets equal pay U.S. deserves
The United States prides itself on both being a world leader and on equal rights for all. However, in the case of equal pay for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, neither is the case.
On Nov. 6, a deal nearly as historic as the invention of the wheel was made in Australia. A four-year collective bargaining agreement between Football Federation Australia and Professional Footballers Australia was struck to allow the Australian women’s national team, the Westfield Matildas, to earn the same as their male counterparts, the Caltex Socceroos.
Sports superstitions are stuff of legends
The NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys were down 9-3 in the second quarter of Monday night’s game against the lowly New York Giants when suddenly out of nowhere, a black cat ran onto the field.
It would have been a cat-astrophic loss for the Cowboys, but the animal seemed to jinx the Giants. After the animal long associated with curses ran onto the field, Dallas outscored the G-Men by 25 points the rest of the way to earn a 37-18 victory.
Will Brees and Brady meet in Super Bowl?
With the 2019 NFL season at the halfway mark, we have two undefeated teams and two winless teams remaining.
The undefeated New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers are pacing the league, while the winless Cincinnati Bengals and tanking Miami Dolphins are gunning for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft.
But a Patriots-Niners game is not what we’ll see in Miami in February.
NBA season preview: Embrace the parity
Sports reporting is often a hot-take business. In fact, many television and radio personalities have made a career off of predictions. However, this year, we should all embrace a level of competition for the title not seen in more than a decade.
No fewer than four teams, and as many as eight, have a legitimate chance to win the NBA championship this season.