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Ever since April 2011, when Troy Tulowitzki spent four games pulverizing the New York Mets at Citi Field, making diving catches and blasting home runs over the previously unreachable fences, Mets fans have salivated for the power-hitting shortstop. Now that the Colorado Rockies have put Tulowitzki officially on the trading block, that salivation has turned into a ravenous drool. Throw in the fact that the Mets's starting shortstop hit .237 last season while Tulowitzki owns a career .299/.373/.603 slash line and ... you get it. They want him bad. But can they get him? The Rockies will ultimately want a huge return for Tulowitzki, who is perennially considered one of the National League's top three position players despite a career filled with injuries. He's a four-time All-Star who batted .340 in 91 games last season before his season was cut short yet again. Read More »
Johnny Manziel was sworn in as the Cleveland Browns's starting quarterback amid much fanfare and controversy. Less than two weeks later, Manziel was gone. Manziel left his second career NFL start Sunday, Dec. 21, against the Carolina Panthers with a hamstring injury and didn't return to action, as the Browns lost their fourth straight game 17-13. Manziel fell down after trying to get up from a hit by Panthers safety Colin Jones on a designed quarterback run, according to espn.com. "As I kept walking more and more, it just felt like something I hadn't experienced before," Manziel told ESPN. "I figured I needed to get checked out. Pretty frustrating." Manziel completed three of eight passes for 32 yards, a week after completing 10 of 18 passes, but throwing two interceptions in his debut. Manziel has still to throw a touchdown in 27 career passing attempts. Fans celebrated, cheering as Manziel was helped off the field by trainers, according to Fox Sports Ohio. Manziel's counterpart Sunday, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, reacted to the incident in a respectful way. Read More »
Romo leads the NFL in completion percentage (70.3), touchdown percentage and first-down percentage, all according to ESPN.com. He has thrown four touchdowns for every interception, with 32 and eight, respectively. He also leads the league in Total QBR, at 82.3. That number tops those of even Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers and Denver Broncos star Peyton Manning. He's led the Cowboys to more than 35 points for three consecutive games for the third time since in team history and first time since 1983. Sunday he passed Troy Aikman for the most passing yards thrown in Cowboys history, according to CBSSports.com. Read More »
For the Falcons to get in, they need to beat the Carolina Panthers in Week 17. The Lions and the Packers have both clinched playoff berths, but the winner of the Week 17 matchup between the two teams will decide who enters the postseason as North Division champions and No.2 seed and who goes in as a wild card. The South will be won by a sub-.500 team, either way. That team, either the Panthers or Falcons, will be the No.4 seed and get a first round home game, somehow. Read More »
Kelly was a star high school quarterback in the Buffalo area before signing to play at the University of Clemson. But Kelly was kicked off the Clemson football team in April for "conduct detrimental to the program," according to Syracuse.com. He then won a National Junior College Athletic Association championship at East Mississippi Community College before signing to join Ole Miss. Read More »
Breaking news: Adam Schefter's Twitter account broke another story. The NFL reporter extraordinaire's account was hacked Saturday night, Dec. 13, in what looks to be a journalism no-no: a blatant attack of privacy reported without a source's consent. OK, so the hack didn't come from an anonymous tech geek with a vendetta looking to get Schefter in hot water. But it did break a story. This one, though, has nothing to do with the NFL. "This is Adam's wife, Sharri...." the tweet began. "...hijacking his Twitter and proving that he does sleep." Sharri Schefter then posted a photo of her husband and their daughter passed out, snoozing hand in hand. The tweet was an instant hit among the ESPN reporter's 3.1 million followers, grabbing more than 2,000 retweets and 6,000 favorites in the first 20 minutes. Like most stories Schefter reports, this one seems to have legs. Read More »
Does the addition of All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo make the Dallas Mavericks legitimate NBA title contenders? That's the question of the hour. What better way to answer it then by pitting the newly-minted team against the reigning champion San Antonio Spurs? Rondo made his debut Saturday, Dec. 19, after being traded by the Boston Celtics earlier in the week in a move that brought doom and gloom upon Boston fans. But Dallas fans are happy, especially after the Rondo-led Mavericks topped the Spurs 99-93, according to "USA Today." Rondo was his usual versatile self, scoring six points and adding nine assists and seven rebounds. He entered the game averaging 10.8 assists per game, a category in which he led the league from 2011-13. On a recent ESPN poll, 74 percent of readers said adding Rondo makes the Mavericks championship contenders, while just 17 percent said they were legitimate contenders already. Read More »
Saturday, Dec. 20, marked the nine-year anniversary of one of the greatest NBA performances of all time, one that could have been even better. On Dec. 20, 2005, Kobe Bryant torched the Dallas Mavericks for 62 points in a game the Los Angeles Lakers won 112-90. The most amazing thing about the performance? Bryant scored all 62 points through just three quarters, according to ESPN. After three quarters, the score was Bryant 62, entire Mavericks team 61. This year is shaping up to be a swan song of sorts for Bryant. The Lakers are one of the worst teams in the NBA at 8-18 and sit in 13th place in the Western Conference. Plans to rebuild around Bryant have not gone well, due to roster construction and injuries. But Bryant recently passed Michael Jordan for third place on the all-time NBA scoring list, and his presence still provides the Staples Center with sell-out crowds. So it's a fitting time to remember one of his best performances. Read More »
The saga continues. New video surfaced late Friday, Dec. 19, of former NFL star Ray Rice and wife Janay Palmer kissing in an elevator shortly after Rice punched Palmer in an incident that earned him a league-wide suspension and national disgrace. The video, obtained by ABC News, shows the aftermath of the now-infamous incident in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino. Palmer is seen crying and handcuffed while being talked to by security officials after the incident occurred Feb. 15, according to Fox News. Rice was handcuffed and his information was taken. Then the video shows him being escorted, along with Palmer, into an elevator, by security. The two then spend the ride nudging and kissing, while Rice's hood is pulled over his head. ABC released about 2 1/2 minutes of the video, which is closer to 45 minutes long in its entirety, Fox News reported. Fox News also reported that Rice entered a facility for treatment after the incident in order to drop the charges and that the charges against Palmer were dropped. Read More »
We can grieve for formerly great closer Brian Wilson, who was released Friday by the Los Angeles Dodgers despite $9.5 million left on his contract. Or we can grieve for the part of him that's most worthy of grieving for: his spectacular, congenial beard. That's right, the best beard in all baseball, the one that parties with Charlie Sheen and ruins his host's chances of signing with the New York Yankees, according to CBS Sports, is now officially unemployed. Wilson rose to fame as the shutdown closer of the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants. That year, he recorded his third consecutive 30-plus-save season, led the league with 48 and pitched to a 1.81 ERA in 70 appearances. He was dominant in the playoffs, and as his success grew so did his facial hair. Fame followed right behind it and his mustache began to curl and you wondered just how deep down there his chin actually lived. But a mediocre season in 2011 left Wilson in need of Tommy John surgery and he missed all of 2012 before latching on with arch-enemy Los Angeles in 2013. The Dodgers gave WIlson the eighth-inning job with intentions of having him set up for incumbent closer Kenley Jansen. Wilson struggled to recover and was awful in 2014, posting a 4.66 ERA in 61 appearances. The struggles of Wilson and the rest of the bullpen were one of the only things standing between the Dodgers's excellent roster and a World Series appearance. Read More »
At 6-foot-5-inches, Thad Moss, the song of Randy Moss, has the size to be a dominant offensive and blocking force. He also has his father’s speed, which gives him the ability to outrun defenders and beat them to the end zone. In the end, the son, who is a top recruit in the 2016 class at the tight end position, may turn out to be even better. Read More »
"You do the lead in, I'm too bummed out," ESPN Grantland basketball hour and Grantland.com editor-in-chief host Bill Simmons said. Hours after Simmons' beloved Boston Celtics traded point guard Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks, Simmons could barely speak. Read More »
For so much of the past 20 years, it almost seemed like the San Diego Padres didn't even know who the good players were. Now, in just a week, it seems like they've acquired all of them. Who are these Padres, the ones that just traded for Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Justin Upton and Derrick Norris? Who are these Padres, the usually flint-sticked team that now has enough hitting to make 2014 All-Star Seth Smith expendable? And where did they come from? Read More »
