The Phillies have steamrolled the National League this year, and it seems like they've been doing that a lot lately. But they've done it without their soft-tossing lefty on-field mascot, Jamie Moyer, whose slow, painful, surprising march to 300 wins was undone last year by his ulnar collateral ligament. But now Moyer, who turns 49 in November, is rehabbing, hoping to pitch again. Via Todd Zolecki: Jamie Moyer is giving baseball one more shot. He is going to be continuing his rehab from Tommy John surgery at the Phillies' Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The Phillies have not signed Moyer to a contract, so he remains a free agent, but he asked the Phillies if he could use their facilities. "We're providing him our space in Clearwater and our expertise,&…
• Charlton 1-0 Portsmouth. You know who's the best team in the Premiership? Portsmouth. Alright, probably not, but… they're at the top of the table right now. They got there by beating Charlton 1-0 today courtesty of a 73rd minute goal from the awesomely-named Lomana Tresor LuaLua. They add this to their wins over Wigan, Middlesbrough, and Blackburn, and a draw with Man City. Not exactly a murderer's row, but hey, points are points. • Sheffield United 1-2 Reading. It took Sheffield exactly 16 seconds to give up a goal to Reading today. The Royals are also acquitting themselves quite well in this Premiership season, beating Sheffield today and sitting at 5th in the standings, tied with Chelsea. Sheffield meanwhile, remains firmly on track for relegation. • The bi…
data-mm-id=”_4r1vp87k5″>It takes a special kind of collapse to lose a game in which your quarterback throws nine touchdown passes, but somehow the Washington State Cougars pulled that off Saturday night in losing 67-63 to UCLA, and in so doing, falling victim to the third-largest comeback in NCAA FBS history. Mike Leach was candid after his team stepped off their home field last night: “We collapsed in every phase of the game: offense, defense and special teams. Every phase."You forgot one thing, Mike. Coaching.Yes, the Bruins deserve to celebrate their victory. It not only saved their season, it may have saved coach Chip Kelly's job, at least for the time being. But an even greater share of the credit for the result belongs to Mike Leach's squad for their hideous, hid…
data-mm-id=”_pgtntsjbf”>Everyone expected the Boston Celtics to be a fine team this season. Through the first month and change of the NBA season, they're better than fine. In fact, they're one of the best teams in the league by both record and statistical metrics. While they dropped a close one to the Los Angeles Clippers last night to fall behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the best record in the league, their performance over the opening 14 games of the season seems sustainable. The 2019-20 Celtics are no fluke. The most impressive, and surprising, part of this early surge has been the team's defense. The biggest loss this offseason wasn't Kyrie Irving (going from him to Kemba Walker is as lateral a move as you're going to get when it comes to star point guard…
data-mm-id=”_nm4nsd3at”>The New York Knicks are beginning their search for a new head coach and, according to The Athletic, have a familiar name atop their wish list. Yes, Tom Thibodeau is apparently the team's preferred choice at the moment. From the report by Shams Charania and Mike Vorkunov:”The New York Knicks and president of basketball operations Leon Rose will soon embark on the search process for a new head coach and Tom Thibodeau is atop the list of targets, sources told The Athletic. The Knicks are believed to be targeting a decision in the next few weeks, sources said.”Oh man, would this be a disaster. Thibodeau spent seven-plus years as the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves. In that time he put together a record of 352-246 (.589) and took his t…
data-mm-id=”_jpwcxnaa5″>Speculation over what ESPN will do with the Monday Night Football booth is one of our nation's greatest exports right now with most of the industry shut down. Extremely plugged-in reporters may say they missed out on Tony Romo but my lesser sources tell me there were some rather significant logistical hurdles (like the money) that rendered this barely a pipe dream anyway. The latest scuttlebutt comes from Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.”ESPN is looking almost exclusively at its existing talent to possibly succeed analyst Booger McFarland and play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, according to sources. “The network declined comment about potential turnover, as they've done about the previous stories about potential turnover. Some possibilites cu…
data-mm-id=”_8htst22bj”>The Miami Marlins have made a historic hire by naming Kim Ng as the first female and Asian-American general manager in Major League Baseball history. This is a universally applauded move and an incredible achievement for Ng.Making history by bringing a lifetime of excellence, Kim Ng steps to the helm as GM. #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/UrYESbjTHe— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) November 13, 2020Ng started her professional baseball career as an intern with the Chicago White Sox in 1991. By 1995 she was assistant director of baseball operations. In 1998 she was hired as an assistant general manager by the New York Yankees. She then joined the Dodgers as vice president and assistant GM in 2001. She interviewed for the GM position in LA in 2005. She also interviewed wit…
data-mm-id=”_tuhpim845″>The Milwaukee Bucks made an extremely powerful statement on Wednesday afternoon when they decided to not take the floor and officially boycott Game 5 of their playoff series with the Orlando Magic. The team is boycotting due to the shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times by police in Keonsha, Wisconsin over the weekend. The decision was met with an outpouring of support from their fellow players. Rumblings of a boycott began yesterday, when Celtics and Raptors players told media members they were considering doing so. The Bucks became the first team to take the big step from discussion to action — and they won't be the last. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets agreed to boycott their game shortly after the Bucks' protest began. Dec…
data-mm-id=”_q0p2pmzs5″>Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is your AFC Player of the Month. Allen has gotten off to a scalding start in 2020. Some might call it even MVP-level. I'm not there quite yet, but the numbers are impressive. He leads the AFC in most statistical passing categories. He's thrown for 1,038 yards, 10 touchdowns, and only one interception through three weeks of football. His team is undefeated. Some of Allen's big issues from the first two years of his career (holding the ball for much longer than he should, wildly overthrowing receivers) are still seen in his play, but by and large he's shown significant progress since we last saw him on the field in Buffalo's season-ending loss to the Houston Texans in the 2019 playoffs. But can he keep …
data-mm-id=”_t882s75mh”>It was another ho-hum night for Bradley Beal on Monday as the Washington Wizards guard scored 34 points on 12-22 shooting. Another night of buckets in a season where he's averaging 34 points per game. The big difference is that, last night against the Suns, the Wizards actually won the game, only their third of the year. So far, it looks like it'll be another season of Beal going wild on the stat sheet while his team fails to win anything and, as Beal said the other night, can't defend a parked car. Beal deserves better because he has evolved into one of the NBA's most dangerous scorers in the years since John Wall went down with a torn Achilles. Beal was forced to take on the mantle of the No. 1 option on the team after slowly growing into h…