Month: August 2017

Where was the blocking on this emphatic sack of Jets quarterback Christian Hackenberg?

More reliable than the Jets’ offensive line on this play were the Wikipedia trolls, who changed Hackenberg’s Wikipedia page to reflect his apparent execution at the hands of the “lowly Detroit Lions.” (Hackenberg, luckily, appeared to be fine after the brutal hit.)

The Jets lost the preseason game in Detroit, 16-6, and there was no silver lining for New York. The Jets starting quarterback spot looks like it belongs to Josh McCown, though the position is still up for grabs.

Hackenberg completed 2 of 4 passes for only 14 yards. Former Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty was under center for most of the game, and completed 15 of 24 for 160 yards.

“It’s a lot more than just he’s not on the team because he doesn’t want to stand for the national anthem,” McCoy said Thursday (via ESPN). “That may have something to do with it, but I think also it has a lot to do with his play. I’m sure a lot of teams wouldn’t want him as their starting quarterback. That chaos that comes along with it, it’s a lot.”

While Kaepernick did throw 16 touchdowns to just four interceptions in 2016, his team went 1-10 with him as the starter and he completed 59.2 percent of his passes, which was better than only Carolina’s Cam Newton (52.9 percent) and Chicago’s Jay Cutler (59.1) in the entire NFC.

With Kaepernick going unsigned to an NFL team this offseason, whether as a starter or a backup, many have assumed the former 49ers QB is getting blackballed by NFL owners, but McCoy said more than once it could be more about the distraction that comes with him.

When it comes to distraction, two quarterbacks in recent memory can really be compared to Kaepernick and his situation: Michael Vick and Tim Tebow. Not because of anything either of them did, but simply the media coverage that came with them.

Paul Pierce will go down as one of the greatest Boston Celtics of all time and on Monday the Celtics gave him the opportunity to retire as one.

Pierce played his last season in Los Angeles with the Clippers. He announced that 2016-17 would be his last season before the season began. Pierce spent 15 of his 19 seasons with the Celtics and had all 10 of his All-Star appearances in Boston.
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The new terms will guarantee Johnson will stay in Miami after breaking out there last season. Johnson, drafted just outside the lottery in the 2009 NBA Draft, has bounced around the league, unable to find a situation that ever quite worked for him. It wasn’t until he arrived in Miami that head coach Erik Spoelstra was able to put his skills to work correctly, more than any other coach had done previously.

Last season, Johnson averaged nearly 13 points and 3.6 assists per game on 48 percent shooting. Johnson also proved to be a better three-point shooter than at any other point in his career, taking 3.4 and hitting 34 percent of them, both career highs. Miami developing him into a solid scorer and using his point forward abilities proved highly effective, especially in the second half of the season, when the Heat finished 30-11.

Reggie Lewis Game Jersey Still, the Heat are now paying Johnson $15 million per season to possibly come off the bench, as he did in all but five of his games in Miami last season. Johnson did average 28 minutes per night, but the Heat’s payroll keeps growing after re-upping Dion Waiters and adding Kelly Olynyk.

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No one can scare the 5’9 Isaiah Thomas on the basketball court. After being drafted 60th in the 2011 NBA draft, and doubted by the Suns and Kings, he finally found a home in Boston and it’s the perfect spot for him. He is constantly embarrassing players that are taller than him and that isn’t going to end any time soon. He’s the King of the Fourth Quarter in the most unconventional way. Left-handed and 5’9.

I am the leader of the C.J. Miles fan club and it’s the most excited I get about anything in the NBA these days. CJ is one of those players that gets traded to your team in a random summer and you don’t give him much thought until he’s suddenly your favorite player in the league. On the court, he’s a sharp shooter who is money from the three-point line if a team ever would ever him proper minutes or put him in the right situations. Off the court, he and his wife have two dogs named Shaq and Penny. He’s also easily one of the best locker room interviews in the league today. 3J forever.

Smith and Adidas have been synonymous for years now. He was a featured player in the Adidas Uprising tournament in California, where Adidas invites the top high school players from around the country to come play.
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From there, Smith went to NC State — an Adidas-branded team — and played through his freshman season while rebounding from a torn ACL and meniscus he suffered at the Uprising tournament. But Adidas has been there every step of the way for Smith, and it was expected that they’d have a bit of pull on him because of their past together.

Delano Hill Jersey The NBA revealed its schedule for the 2017-18 season, and a few players have circled special games on their calendar.

First is Paul George, who will return to Indiana as an opponent for the first time on Dec. 13 after the Pacers traded him to Oklahoma City.

Another was Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell, who appears to be excited for his first professional basketball game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in mid-November.
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David West: Spearheaded by his wife Lesley, and going back a few cities and teams, West has supported Dressed by West to bring prom dresses to young women in poorer communities who otherwise would not be able to afford them.

At the start of the tour, San Quentin Public Information Officer Sam Robinson refers to North Block as a housing unit. By the loosest of definitions, San Quentin and any other prison could be considered a type of shelter or dwelling. But calling it a housing unit strips San Quentin 鈥?and all prisons 鈥?of their brutal reality: people stacked on top of one another, filthy conditions, racial segregation, violence and deaths. The inmates live in cells in the same way that dogs live in cages in a shelter.

To refer to them as making up a housing unit is the kind of PR spin that stifles discourse. A visual representation of the PR spin can be found on the San Quentin website, which very much resembles a website for any state park … as if San Quentin is a pleasant place people should want to visit on vacation.

Although clear and well-meaning, declaring any community the wrong place is somewhat problematic. Children do not have a say in their births or the communities into which they are born. Babies do not select the color of their skin or the type of society they enter into when pushed from the womb.

The Chiefs were aggressive during the 2017 NFL Draft, and traded up to select quarterback Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 overall. Saturday night, he showed why the team did just that.

In his two drives during their preseason game against the Bengals, Mahomes was impressive. He showed his ability to step up in the pocket, and make some pretty sharp throws. He finished the night 10-of-14 passing with 88 yards and two touchdowns, as well as three carries for 29 yards.

Smith, 22, last played football in January 2016 when he was a consensus All-American at Notre Dame. He was primed to be the first linebacker taken in the 2016 NFL draft, but suffered tears of his ACL and LCL in the Fiesta Bowl — which was his final collegiate game.

The nerve damage from the injury was so severe that there were questions whether or not he’d ever play again, but the Cowboys rolled the dice and took Smith in the second round.

Smith didn’t appear in a game as a rookie, and now — more than a year and a half after suffering the injury — he’s finally on the field in a Cowboys uniform.

He’s unlikely to be the starter in the regular season with Sean Lee ahead of him on the depth chart, but his return to the field is a story all its own.

Elliott’s appeal will be heard by Harold Henderson instead of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Henderson, a former NFL executive vice president, has previously heard appeals from Greg Hardy and Adrian Peterson, and will hear Elliott’s on Aug. 29.

Elliott was accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend in July 2016. She alleged that Elliott had abused her on several occasions over a five-day period. Elliott was not arrested or charged with any crime and he has denied any accusations from the beginning.

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The NHL regular season ended Sunday and the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs are set to begin Wednesday, which means we’re getting closer to June’s NHL awards ceremony.

There are several tight battles for the NHL’s most prestigious awards: Sidney Crosby vs. Connor McDavid for the Hart Trophy; Auston Matthews vs. Patrik Laine for the Calder Trophy; Brent Burns vs. Eric Karlsson for the Norris Trophy; and Devan Dubnyk vs. Sergei Bobrovsky for the Vezina Trophy.

[Matthews] wasn’t playing it, Siboko said. He came to get it and he came to show his name. Basically that’s what everything is about. I’m trying to come in the music game. Like, ‘Hey, this is me; this is what I have to offer.’ He came through and hit em’ with the four. I’m coming through just like that.

And just like that, a cult classic was born, though the song almost never saw the light of day.

I was surprised. Personally I wasn’t even going to release it, Siboko said. It was more for the people around me hearing it and being like, ‘Yo, release that, release that.’ I ended up putting the whole video idea together. I was like, ‘Let’s just chill in the hockey rink.’ Put it out there. It wasn’t even like a stunt or anything, it was just more like having fun.

Authentic Womens JuJu Smith-Schuster Jersey The Penguins punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive year after stomping the Capitals 6-2.

A four-goal surge 鈥?two courtesy of Sidney Crosby 鈥?from Pittsburgh forced Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau to yank goalie Semyon Varlamov in favor for Jose Theodore. Washington’s offense struggled as well, shutting down the powerful Alex Ovechkin on the most promising of breakaways.

Ah, a different dynamic. The Royals aren’t new to this scene. They’ve contended before. They’ve won before. They’ve made savvy trades and ridden them all the way to the World Series. The question is if it makes sense for them to do it one more time.
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Marcus Williams Authentic Jersey Like the Twins, the Royals are outperforming their Pythagorean record — 42-49, which is a boost of three wins. Like the Twins, they have some obvious holes that they’ve tried to patch internally, with little success.

Unlike the Twins, the Royals aren’t set up particularly well for the future. They’re going to lose at least two or three of their core players to free agency, and that’s if they don’t lose five or six of them.

The extra money from winning the World Series is gone. Jorge Soler, a young player they added in the hopes of reversing some of that, was just demoted to the minors. The small-market reaper is coming for them, as the prophecies foretold. If they’re going to avoid the imminent decline, they’ll need a lot of help from their farm system to fill in the gaps, especially in the rotation. That’s one strategy: Keep who you can, and supplement the roster with low-cost organizational options.

All three could fail to make the majors. All three could dominate and turn this into a Grady Sizemore, Bartolo Colon, and Cliff Lee-type trade. But you know this, and it’s useless for you to read the evaluations of someone uncomfortable evaluating prospects. So I’d like to grade the timing of the White Sox.

The White Sox traded Chris Sale roughly at the peak of his value. That is, at the peak of his value once it was reasonable to trade him. Once it was clear that the team had no idea how to build a winner around him, and that they wouldn’t figure out how to do that until he was much closer to free agency, they traded him for a stellar package that included a radar-breaking flamethrower and one of the very best prospects in the game, if not the consensus best. They timed it perfectly.

Elite Zdeno Chara Jersey The Twins are reportedly close to acquiring Jaime Garcia from the Braves, as Ken Rosenthal reports. Other pieces in a potential trade package have not yet been revealed. Multiple teams supposedly made inquiries to Atlanta about its veteran starter, including the Yankees and the Royals, who have both been looking for pitching help.

Elite Derek Norris Jersey Contributing to the probability that this trade goes through soon, the Braves scratched AAA pitcher Aaron Blair from a planned start, presumably so he could slot in for Garcia’s next start once the deal is done.

Garcia is a free agent after this season and currently sports a 3-7 record in 17 starts with a 4.33 ERA. Not incredible, but enough that he could help a team in the hunt like the Twins, who are currently a half a game back of Cleveland for the division lead.

We thought it would be a good time to show support of our teammates and coaches that have to deal with a lot more adversity in their home country than we do right now. I don’t know the details of the whole situation (in Venezuela). I just know that I don’t have to worry about people in North Carolina the same way they have to worry about people in Venezuela. So it’s the thought: We love you guys and we’re praying for you guys and we’re wishing the best for you guys.”

It’s a show of support. Major League Baseball, minor league baseball. Players, coaches, staff. There’s a lot of people that have ties to Venezuela. It’s a show of support that it’s a difficult time right now.”

With the Rays’ game against the Red Sox on Wednesday night on national television, it’s a high-profile opportunity to draw attention to a political and human rights situation that many baseball fans may not know about.

Chargers rookie Mike Williams will not take the field until October, NFL.com reported.

Even though the wide receiver is recovering well from a herniated disc sustained last spring, the Chargers want to be careful with their top draft pick.

Williams has been seen sprinting on a treadmill, which indicates he is close to being 100 percent and won’t need surgery.

For now, the Chargers will make sure Williams practices in September so he is in top shape for his October debut.

It’s unclear how the roster will pan out. It hasn’t been said if the Chargers will have Williams on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

Ultimately, that depends on how the rest of his recovery goes.

For the first time, the Chargers Pro Bowl running back will play an NFL game in front of his father, Melvin Gordon Jr., who was released from prison in December.

“It means a lot to have my dad out here,” Gordon said (via ESPN). “I’m definitely excited to have him out here and see me go. I think it will be a good one. I know that he’s happy that he can be a part of it now and don’t get left out of the loop.”

The elder Gordon, known as Bo, was sentenced in 2012 to 10 years for trafficking cocaine and served time in a federal prison in Ohio. A court reduced that original sentence, and he got early release last year. Although he and his son communicated regularly during his prison term, Bo had to follow the first two years of his son’s NFL career only through highlights.

Since his release, however, Bo Gordon has been a regular attendee at Chargers practices. The man who inspired and helped develop Melvin Gordon’s NFL career is making up for lost time.

“I embedded it in his head that he was going to the NFL,” Bo Gordon told ESPN The Magazine. “Almost like Floyd Mayweather’s dad. He trained his son from the time he was a baby, and look at him now. It’s the same thing with Melvin.”

Relaxation didn’t come with Mike Borzello’s offseason getaway.

Authentic Youth Curt Schilling Jersey Just days following the Chicago Cubs were brushed out of the 2015 NLCS by the New York Mets, their catching coach received a phone call from team president Theo Epstein.

They’re also showing little shame in finding excuses to issue threats. On Tuesday, club attorney Leo Beus jumped on the news that pipes inside the stadium burst and caused water damage in June. Beus said (per the Arizona Republic) that MLB was very, very concerned about the condition of Chase Field, which opened in 1998, and thus about the D-backs’ future there. (MLB declined to comment to the Republic.)

Authentic Youth Gustav Nyquist Jersey To the county’s credit, there’s little indication it will give the club all that cash. And why would it? It knows it has the leverage, not least because the stadium lease runs through 2028.

The Diamondbacks are the facility manager. When a pipe breaks, that is a Diamondbacks problem. And that is, in fact, what happened. They got out the mops and they mopped it up, and life goes on. It’s a big facility and sometimes pipes break. So what? Cameron Artigue, an attorney representing the county, told the Republic.

Hideki Matsuyama, bidding to become the first Japanese male player to win a major championship, continues to impress. This was his seventh top-10 in a major. Although he said afterward that he did not have the technique to be confident enough on Sunday, he nonetheless was in the mix until he bogeyed the 16th hole.

Matsuyama tied for fifth with Rickie Fowler, another guy in search of his first major who made a spirited back-nine run with four consecutive birdies to get to 5 under par. At the time, it appeared that if he could get one more, he might be sitting comfortably in the clubhouse, perhaps with a chance at a playoff.